Scarfgate

We love a rumored scandal as much as the next person, but we found ourselves on the wrong end of that guilty pleasure this week when a post on fashion blog Vie Society questioned whether we misrepresent the value of goods. The writer had seen a cashmere scarf for $128 on Gilt (original price: $300) then found it at Neiman Marcus retailing for $195. By the time it hit our radar, it had spread across the blogosphere like swine flu: Scarfgate!
Since I agree with Rahm Emanuel that you should never waste a good crisis, I thought I’d use this opportunity to explain our pricing policy and procedure.
The retail prices we quote on the site come directly from our vendors. If a vendor sells to consumers through their own stores, it’s simple: The full price is right there on the tag. If they are wholesalers, we ask for the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price). For the sale in question, all prices were confirmed with the vendor when the order was placed. But because we take pricing integrity seriously, we’ve set up a process to check our numbers: The week before a sale goes live, our merchandising team does their own comparison shopping, googling each and every style and then screening the brand on several major sites. Despite all that, we missed the scarf on neimanmarcus.com (slightly different sku but close enough that we should have caught it). We reached out to the blogger and apologized for the error — and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that the prices quoted on Gilt are accurate.
While I have you… one more note: Our brand partners are incredibly important to the success of Gilt and we support them whenever and wherever we can — not just through sales but by sponsoring special events and fashion shows, like these during last month's New York Fashion Week.
As always, keep those comments coming! We love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Susan Lyne
CEO
Gilt Groupe

Posted by susan on October 2, 2009

Add a comment (12)

Please check your spelling of Neiman Marcus!

By heatherchan2000 on October 3, 2009 at 01:18:27 PM

This isnt the first time this has happened. It also happened with your first Rebecca Minkoff sale and you had to issue quite a few refunds.

By deborahsjunk on October 6, 2009 at 08:53:58 AM

I bought a Judith Leiber and the sale ad indicated the retail price was something over $2100. When I received it the tag indicated msrp $1895.00. I don't think it is accurate to represent that Gilt takes the price off of the tags. The CEO states "it's simple: the full price is right there on the tag." Not true, because the price listed as original price was higher than the tag price.

By jcastillo4 on October 6, 2009 at 12:06:39 PM

This comment is not about pricing, it's about items that have been put on wait list. I've recently been putting several items on wait list in the hope that they may be come available. But to much disappointment my items have not been becoming available. I've been a Gilt customer since March and I love, love, love the website. At fist when I would shop and I would put things on wait list I would get a little email two maybe three weeks later letting me know my item was available. Now this is just not happening anymore and I'm very saddened because of this. I was wondering if there was any way that you can have items on wait list become more readily available like before. : (

By bellavignea on October 7, 2009 at 11:48:10 AM

The M+j Savitt sale is not working today - it says there is nothing in my size catefgory even though I have "all" listed as the size. Just wondering why this one portion of today's sales isn't working. If everything were sold out at least I would get to see the items and perhaps waitlist something

By jagjeg on October 8, 2009 at 01:02:20 PM

I find it incredulous that I shop Gilt asap and I am still closed out on items. Are people getting to shop ahead of the noon time? Also, I go to purchase an item and then it pops up as in someone's cart. Why does it not show that on the shopping site immediately?

By rkzinteriors on October 14, 2009 at 02:22:14 PM

WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO SHOP FROM CANADA, I WAS ABLE TO DO SO ONCE BEFORE WHAT'S THE HOLDUP!!

By antemily2 on October 14, 2009 at 02:32:03 PM

People seem to be missing the fact that N-M was selling it for 195.00 and Gilt had it for 128.00. That is real savings. At the same time, integrity of the original price is a key issue. We know you know that but it does not hurt to remind you that for many people the issue is not how much they spend but how much they save. If the savings aren't legit then the buying/owning experience is significantly soured.

By johnfredette on October 14, 2009 at 02:37:42 PM

I think everyone should shut their snouts. It's you lazy losers that sit on a computer / TV all day and complain about everything because nothing better goes on for you. If you don't like Gilt then close your account and shop at the Salvation Army.

By mattosrodrigo on October 14, 2009 at 02:48:45 PM

wow that last comment got approved? so much for community guidelines.

By mylink41335 on October 19, 2009 at 11:41:07 AM

Honestly, don't get all the hype with this company. I understand, the invitation only "private" sale idea is designed to make you feel like you are one of the chosen few to get the bargain of the century on amazing designer items. But in reality, the collections are at least 1 year old, the sizes and styles are so limited and the original prices are a bit stretched. I just think you are better off shopping the designer boutiques, department stores, or even the company outlet stores. Chances are, even the 80 percent off outlets will have more recent collections for sale.

By mbogomolnaya on October 19, 2009 at 03:00:55 PM

Can you put what the designer is offering at the sale... the first one said Jewelery so I skipped it. time is money if you are a working person on the net

By rsharon0 on October 19, 2009 at 09:26:39 PM