Question on layaways

[wanilla_bean]

Hey everyone~
Just a quick question about buying.

Does anyone know if it's possible to buy something on layaway through a shopper service or anything?
I've spotted a gorgeous Infanta coat, but I don't have the money for it. ; v;
As far as I know, no stores offer layaway or any sort of payment plan other than upfront payment in full.

Thanks! :D

EDIT:

Comments

[shincaru]

If you're very good friends with a person running a shopping service, maybe, but the rest are all business people who have been burned badly by customers with all the good intentions of the world but no money.

Put the coat on your wishlist and keep working/saving money. If it disappears, it disappears; if it's still there, that's great. It happens a lot in lolita and fashion in general, and the faster you develop a thick skin for it (or also strategies to obtain it later lol) the less frustrating it will be.

FWIW coats are usually recycled designs so one iteration will usually come up again next season.

[wonderfinch]

Since the shopping service has to pay the shop up front in full, most services do not accept payment plans or partial payments. Even if you pay in a method that doesn't allow you to unfairly claim a refund from them, they're still on the line for the full amount if you happen to flake out, so for many services it's just too risky to accept partial payments!

Some services do have items in-stock, though, rather than purchasing them made-to-order (I believe both QCute and Clobbao have these sorts of items), so since they already paid for the item they may be more willing to do a payment plan or accept a layaway.

[shiverling]

I suppose if you are a US resident you can pay them by paypal and use Billmelater, though I have no idea how much they actually charge to let you defer the bill by acting as a short term loanshark. You can also get decent coats from Bodyline for ~$100 including shipping as a cheaper alternative, since an Infanta coat will run you more like ~$160 when shipping and fees are accounted for. Some sellers on egl_comm_sales are open to payment plans, and you might even find a seller who ships domestically which is a plus since coats are heavy.

To be absolutely honest, no taobao shopping service would accept a payment plan. If you were to back out due to a lack of commissions, the shopping service would be stuck with a custom sized coat in production they would've had to pay upfront for, but cannot sell unless another person with the same size and customization wishes as you happened to come along - and the odds of that won't be too great.

[wonderfinch]

Additionally, please remove the bit where you're advertising art sales and commissions. We don't allow sales here and if you're interested in taking commissions, please advertise on our sister sales community, egl_comm_sales.

[wanilla_bean]

Removed!

[rainedragon]

Most lolita things on taobao are made-to-order, so it's very risky for the taobao shop (or the shopping service) to produce the item without a guarantee of payment. Layaway, when offered in most department stores, is a throwback to store credit in the era before credit cards, except instead of putting the item on your tab, they force you to pay before they turn over the item to minimize risk. In other words, it's a way for them to offer credit to people who may not qualify for a credit card. The store is betting on people not being able to save up for the item and/or forgetting about the item, unless they are under contract to buy it, so instead of telling them to go save up for the item, they set up a plan for the person, and thus increase their sales. In a department store, this is relatively low risk. While the item they put on reserve does need to be stored, if the person doesn't complete the payment plan, they can simply put the item back on the shelf and sell it to someone else. However, for a lolita item that is custom made, it