Pixel Posybytes of life

I thought I’d do a little write up about my experience with Ideeli.com, a site devoted to hosting member only sales on mostly department store brand merchandise.

The member’s only thing isn’t really that exclusive. The site is free to join, you just need someone to give you their invite link. Here’s my invite: http://www.ideeli.com/invite/nibbled.

Once you sign up you have access to all of their sales starting at 11:00 AM and the surprise give-a-ways.  Or for just under $85 a year, you can become a 1st row member and shop an hour earlier than the free members. Personally, I’m just a free member and only a handful of times have I really wanted something that was sold out before it went on sale to the general members. Maybe this will change with time as Ideeli grows, but for right now I’m pretty comfortable spending that $85 annual membership on something else.

I’ve found the prices to be well below other online prices for the same item, I always do a quick search while the 15 minute checkout timer ticks away. The brands seem to be things I could easily find at the mall and for the most part are recognizable. Shipping is a little high in my opinion at $10, especially since merchandise won’t ship until sometimes weeks after your actual purchase. For example I snagged a handbag today that won’t ship until the first or second week in April.

My purchases:

• A winter coat that ended up being canceled on Ideeli’s end. Some kind of manufacturer fluke that resulted in Ideeli not being able to fill the orders. My card was never charged and I was given a credit of $25 for the inconvenience. I was sad that the coat wasn’t arriving after the long wait, but I felt appreciative of the credit.
• A sweater with a Holiday Bonus $25 gift card arrived with the gift card missing. A quick email to customer service and my account was credited for the mistake.
• A handbag that I was super excited about was delayed by a few days from the estimated ship date. Ideeli waived the shipping fee and credited my account $10 for free shipping on a future item. Unfortunately my credit card was charged for the shipping anyway. Again a simple email to customer service and Ideeli corrected the over charge to my card. The handbag was packaged nicely and arrived in perfect condition.
• Still waiting for a pair of shoes that also had a delay on the estimated ship date. This time I was credited $10 for free shipping, but since my purchase had not shipped yet I was able to apply the credit immediately to the shoes.  I’m not sure if shipping will also be waived on this item as it was done for my handbag. Time will tell as I’m still waiting for a shipment confirmation.
• And lastly I’ll be waiting on the handbag I just purchased today to ship in early April.

So all in all, Ideeli has great prices on nice stuff from well known department store brands. Their customer service is very quick to act and simple to contact through email. BUT as you can see I’ve had some kind of customer service issue on every single one of my purchases, save the one I just ordered today. The deals I’ve found have been worth the wait and the site credits were much appreciated as compensation for late or in one case missing  merchandise. But the deals come at a different price and patience is a must with their lengthy shipment dates and a little caution is in order if you need an item by a specific date.

Happy deal hunting, feel free to check out what Ideeli has to offer by using my invitation link at: http://www.ideeli.com/invite/nibbled

Not since the first season or two have I followed the Bachelor or Bachelorette shows, which now has some crazy 19 editions. Only one of these shows has produced an actual marriage, although the count may go up to two in a few weeks. http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/01/27/abc-to-air-jason-and-mollys-wedding/

This season with the benefit of Hulu I was sucked back in with the whole Rozlyn Papa scandal. If you haven’t heard, basically a Bachelor show staff member had some sort of inappropriate relationship with contestant, Rozlyn Papa. The staff member was fired and Rozlyn was kicked off the show. What was aired didn’t really reveal much so intrigued I decided to do a little googling on the situation. That’s when I stumbled onto a blog by a guy dubbed Reality Steve.  He claims to have an inside source and considering that much of what he has published is spot on, he probably does. If you’re into the show, I don’t advise checking into Reality Steve’s commentary until the show is over, as it does give away spoilers, like who wins and who has been asked to be the next Bachelorette. But for me, his commentary makes the show that much more interesting to watch. Well worth a look: http://realitysteve.com/

Reality Steve hates the Bachelor and Bachelorette for the insanity that they try to portray as reality on the show. He presents what he considers to be the truth and the combo of the two makes for some awesomely bad TV. Fun guilty pleasure and so glad it’s on Hulu to watch while I work.

I found a ridiculous site that lets you upload your face and try on a bunch of different make up and hair styles. The colors are all connected to actual make up brands. Not sure how true to life the colors are, but it’s way more fun than the virtual model.

I discovered the online game Miss Bimbo after reading some of the negative press the site had received and I was quickly addicted, as is my mother.

The premise of the site is a fashion game. Goals include finding a boyfriend, studying to acquire better jobs and buying your own place. You earn Bimbo Dollars through your Bimbo’s job or through playing word and logic games. It’s a recent start up so the depth of the game is still pretty shallow.

The negative press is drawn from the assumption that young girls are being influenced by the stick thin yet curvy look of their Bimbo dolls (much like Barbie or a Bratz doll IMHO) and how they could buy diet pills or get face lifts and boob jobs for their doll. The latter two being actual goals in the game.

Not exactly a feminist dream… But in my experience, the message boards are filled mostly with women in their late teens and twenties. The focus is usually on who can pull together the coolest looks and everyone eagerly awaits new clothing to come out. The women here are proud to be Bimbos, and not in the dumb blonde with an IQ to match her bra size type, but in the girl power, reclaiming the word type.

Can a younger girl distinguish the difference? That’s not for anyone to decide, but her parents. And hopefully those parents that don’t agree with the concept of Miss Bimbo are being active participants in their child’s online time.