Ethical Consumerism and Lolita Fashion

[honeyteaclover]

In my everyday life, I'm one of those consumers who scrutinizes labels on every product in the grocery store. I try to be a conscientious shopper. I've started thinking a little more about my consumer choices when it comes to lolita clothing, and I thought I'd present a particular issue to the EGL community and gather your thoughts.

Comments

[teacupcracked]

I was never suggesting people should accuse people of anything without solid evidence; or that we should do any sort of a witch hunt. And I would never support anyone bringing up evidence as a way to haggle or get the price reduced; that is definitely harassment (if not blackmail) and should not be allowed.
All I am suggesting is that, based on some of the in-store horror stories being mentioned in this thread, if a dress comes up for sale on the comms and it, say, had the exact same stains and damage as a piece of the exact same type from Closet Child (to the point you can match-up CC's and the seller's pictures) mere hours or days before (by days, I mean less then a week)... Someone should be allowed to point it out. Nothing should be "done" about it but rather just that it should be allowable to comment with evidence (and the seller should be allowed to comment on the evidence / should be allowed to disprove it or offer information) so that consumers can make informed decisions.

So again, I am totally for people who scalp to be allowed to sell their product on the comms and other sites; but in order for people to be able to make an independent, informed decision on their own they need to be able to access information. I myself might one day buy from a scalper for whatever reason, but I would be frustrated if I did so without having the ability to know. It is always important and ultimately on the customer to do their own research but research is impossible if knowledge is withheld.

[rainedragon]

But see, the thing is, you don't know if that person bought it and it doesn't fit, or if they got it and it turned out to be the wrong color, or if they suddenly had a family emergency and need the money, etc, etc.

I could see this easily turning into a witch hunt where people where attacking people who legitimately screwed up and bought a dress that didn't fit, then resold it and factored in what they paid in shipping, fees, customs, etc.

[milkteamilk]

Unless you had video footage of someone buying that dress, you're literally never going to be sure if that was the dress they purchased. And if you're posting secret video footage of people buying a dress they are selling, that's a whole different problem.

There's nothing to point out just because someone bought something and then sold it, as mentioned by rainedragon, even if you could prove, without a doubt, someone bought a dress then instantly went around and sold it, you have absolutely no way of knowing how "legitimate" their reason for selling is. Frankly, that is a witch hunt.

If you're so concerned that you might buy a dress at a higher price than it is worth, it's up to you to be aware of what the current value of the dress is. It's not withholding knowledge that people are not allowed to post screen shots of where people think they may or may not have bought the dress before selling it, there are hundreds and hundreds of sales posts on the sales comm right at your finger tips for you to browse around to get an idea of what the average going price for any one dress is. No one is withholding the knowledge of how much any one dress is worth, it's simply none of your business how much someone bought a dress for previously nor their exact reasons for buying it, nor is it your responsibility to police the "why" and "how much" of dress selling.