Gilt Group Shipping to Canada in 6 Months

[Mr.Pinchy]

Hi Chris,

Alexis passed along the note that you sent her yesterday. You made a number of great points, and I wanted to share where Gilt is in the process of addressing them. The reality is that we haven't yet been able to offer each of the services that we eventually will. When we introduce a feature or service, we want the launch to go smoothly. Shipping to Canada is a good example of a service that we want to offer. However, we have some improvements we to make in our US-based distribution before we commit to extending our distribution outside of the US.

We would also prefer to offer the service directly, rather than a workaround that might make it easier to ship to a friend in the US. Part of the reason for that is that our current billing requirements are fairly effective at helping to identify requests that aren't as sincere as yours (i.e. are fraudulent), and unfortunately, we see as many of those as other companies in similar businesses. My hope is that we'll be offering service to Canada within 6 months, though that is dependent on our ability to accomplish our short-term goals in the US.

On a separate note, I was hoping you could give me some detail on our interaction with our customer support team. Are there any specifics from your conversation that you can recall? We are trying to build a helpful team that generates good will with our customers. I'm curious what your inquiry was, and what sort of response you received.

Best regards,
Will @ Gilt.

Should be good for those of us who don't want to use proxies; not that proxies are bad but expensive.

 

[holymadness]

Yessssssssssss.

 

[Tarmac]

My hope

hope vs reality, 2 different things

 

[Philip1978]

Interesting since I recieved this correspondence, February 2, 2009.

Re: Canada

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Quote:
Originally Posted by DrCool1978
Hi,

I noticed that there was some talk of opening things up to canadians in one thread. I was wondering if it had come up again in your meetings and if there was a plan for us clothing starved canuks, lol.

Philip

It's not in the plans to ship to Canada.



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[Mr.Pinchy]

Well at least we know it's one of their goals, after getting the U.S. site 'improved'. I don't know what kind of improvements they can make.

I got the message by mailing the head of Gilt am @ gilt.com. Try giving them a shout and report back what they say.

 

[Tarmac]

I'm sure they also hope to be able to ship to Nigeria with a 0% fraud rate. I am eagerly waiting for that to happen.

 

[zshaver]

You kind of question of the complexity of shipping to a country with which one has a free trade agreement? Although Canada is one tenth the size of the US, it is a fairly good test bed before deciding to ship across continents. As it has been months, I would likely not hold my breath.

 

[malefic]

Even if they end up shipping to Canada it will probably be through some horrid courier that's going to charge 50% of the total value again upon delivery.

Saks does this (they charge it all up front, so if I try and check out with a $750 Dior shirt it increases to $1200 before I get to the credit card screen -- **** that), and Raffaello Network (and LuisaViaRoma I think?) do it the same way with all customs fees included in the price. Bluefly ships with UPS/FedEx, who charge you a huge handling/delivery/brokerage fee to receive the item, I paid $105 on a pair of $240 shoes ffs; so I don't expect Gilt would buck the trend.

RevolveClothing ships USPS which is nice but they don't carry that many worthwhile brands. And I think Diabro does something to help customers avoid customs fees but I can't remember.

 

[trader]

^ +1

if a place doesn't ship by USPS it's a deal breaker for me unless the item is at least a few hundred dollars.

 

[ErinN]

It's more important that the Gilt group offers express shipping, preferably through UPS or Fedex. I received the same response from giltman.com when I contacted them. Express or faster shipping includes the carrier's customs handling charges that you are so unhappy about. Standard shipping is a complete rip off with anything but USPS. UPS express shipping is very fast to any big city in Canada, especially Toronto in the case of the New York based Gilt group, and it is almost always cheaper than paying for slower standard shipping and the customs handling charge together. Especially for light items like clothing. Do this, and you will be happier with both UPS and Fedex. I found this out long ago the hard way. Benefit from my mistake.

Best, Erin.

 

[CutandSew]

I'm hopeful, but afraid that customs and brokerage fees will add to the cost significantly.

 

[Philip1978]

So are they starting than?

 

[exodus]

hello, just stumbled upon the site when I was googling how I could order from Giltman and have them ship to Canada.

Anyone have updates on the process? Or even to have it done in a roundabout way? Unfortunately I don't know anyone from the US that could ship items back to me...

are there companies that do proxies?

 

[FidelCashflow]

Originally Posted by exodus

are there companies that do proxies?

Post something on B&S or WTB, I'm sure there are SF'ers who would be a proxy for you.

 

[voxsartoria]

Made for Gilt for Canada.


- B