LightInTheBox Scam Review- Is It a Scam?

Welcome to my LightInTheBox review!

 

Do you want to save a few dollars on the products you purchase? Want to do all the shopping online, to save you the stress of walking down the street to get something? Everyone is looking for someone to make their experience so easy and at a very good price.

 

When it comes to shopping online, people are always looking for the best deals and bargains to help save money on their purchases. Now, there is actually an online retailer that offers all of these and more.

 

The retailer “LightInTheBox” is where shoppers can buy the best deals and bargains for items sold online. The best thing about this company is that shoppers can even get discounts for up to 95%

 

But you probably doubts about this. And you may be asking that is LightInTheBox a scam? Does they hold up to their promises? If I buy from them, will I get scam with poor quality products merchandises and loose my money?

 

Within this LightInTheBox review, I will be showing you whether they are your new go-to online retailer or if you are better off exploring other options to shop online.

 

So, by the end of this review, you will be fully informed about who they are and what they do. let’s get right to it, shall we?

 

 

What Is LightInTheBox All About?

LightInTheBox is a company which is an online worldwide retailer of products that their various customers buy from everywhere around the world. The company is one a successful E-commerce company in the world and its main focus is to serve as online market place to sell merchandise directly to consumers.

 

However, they are not carrying all their products. As online marketplace, they allow independent small businesses and factories in China to sell directly to individual customers around the world.

 

The company advertise its lifestyle products through websites like lightInTheBox.com, MiniInTheBox.com and others to attract customer world wide which are available in over 26 languages.

 

LightInTheBox also offers App for customer. If you download the app, you can save up to 90% when you shop on their marketplace.

 

Here’s a Short Video on LightInTheBox

LightIntheBox was founded by Quji (Allan) Guo, Xin (Kevin) Wen, Liang Zhang, Jun Lui and Chit Jeremy Chau in 2007 and is headquartered in Chaoyang District, Beijing China. They also have 2 other physical addresses including Seattle, Washington USA and Fitzrovia, London UK.

 

They also happen to be listed with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website but they are not accredited. They have the lowest possible rating an F at the time of this review. Although I don’t believe a BBB rating is the only thing you should rely on, this rating may apply lousy, inconsistent or unpredictable business practices for some of you.

 

How Does LightInTheBox Work?

When you visit lightInTheBox website, you will find different types of products at a very good price, which can be categorized into three categories: Clothing, accessories and various gadgets, and garden and home items.

 

And all of these categories will still have subcategories on Sales, Phones, Health and Beauty, Events, Electronics, Toys and Hobbies and etc. In fact, the company is specialized in electronic, various appliances, home decoration, and a variety of apparel.

 

Similar to other online marketplace, they offer a huge variety of products that span pretty much anything you can think of.

 

Some of the popular products you will find on their marketplace include LightInTheBox dress, LightInTheBox wigs, Shoes & Bags, car tech and more.

 

Here’s a Short Video on LightInTheBox Wedding Dress

However, many of their customers claim that the company is not what they claimed to be. LightInTheBox has a bad reputation for carrying cheap, worthless junk. So, a common question I get asked is whether buying from them is worth it and is lightInTheBox safe?

 

The review below should be able to do justice to all of those doubts and determine if they are a good online retailer to order from or the one to stay away from.

 

LightInTheBox is based in China where the cost of labor is cheap, so products on the platform tends to be significantly cheaper than anywhere else in the world including the US.

 

Keep in mind that though they have several offices in many countries where you can return orders, the bulk of the orders are been processed from China.

 

While LightInTheBox is great for finding wholesale pricing on miscellaneous or difficult-to-find items, particularly if you are interested in buying larges cases.

 

They are also designed for wholesale sales which mean you can also place bulk orders directly from them. By placing bulk orders, you can customize or personalize products for private label selling which allows you to create a unique product that no one else is selling online.

 

LightInTheBox is a legitimate form of company, that offers their customers a lot of goods at a good rate. If they are not legit or a great place to buy online, they  wouldn’t be a success online marketplace. However, most reviews have not clearly stated the various opportunity the company tends to offer their customers.

 

What I Liked About LightInTheBox

Varieties of Quality Products

LightINTheBox provides wealth of products such as wedding dress, fashion clothes, shoes, electronic, cell phones, car tech, home and garden products, health and beauty products and so on.

 

All these products are selling at reasonable price and it is hard to find quality products in such a low price in other places. So, whenever you want to shop online, they may be a good choice for you.

 

If you are interested in wholesale, LightInTheBox is also an idea choice for you since you can get quality products in an incredible wholesale price.

 

Save and Secure Payment

They offer a Google Checkout service: Google Checkout helps make payment online, the advantages are to make the payment process seamless. And most customers found it to be secure and fast to use.

 

They also allow payment via the Western Union: While everybody won’t want to offer their account information to a lot of people out there, paying for anything you are buying through a trusted wire transfer company even made LightInTheBox more reputable to most customers.

 

They also accept payment through PayPal: Since PayPal, help make payment to every part of the world in a very safe and efficient way. So, LightInTheBox also offers you the opportunity to use this trusted company to make your payment, and if you are not satisfied with what was delivered to you, you know you can always run to PayPal to dispute and have your money back.

 

No matter whether you choose to pay by PayPal or Credit Card, you are protected either way. So, It is completely safe to buy from them.

 

Buyers Protection Program

They guarantee that if your product doesn’t arrive on time or describe in the listing, you can get a full refund. You don’t have to do anything since you are protected.

 

However, in the event that your product never arrive or is a complete junk, here’s a way how to open dispute with them.

• First, you will want to contact their customer service to report the problem with your order. The seller will also be notified and has the options to correct the situation.
• If the seller is not willing to help, they you can open dispute with LightInTheBox.
• If the seller doesn’t respond to your complaints, then LightInTheBox will return your money.

 

Once LITB resolve the dispute in your favor, you’ll usually get you money back within 2 weeks. For most part, you are protected from getting shipped junk merchandise or getting outright ripped off, but the dispute process take time.

 

LightInTheBox’s VIP Membership Program

LinghtInTheBox now offers extra-special savings, rewards, and exclusive benefits for all their VIP members.Their membership fees are ranging from $20 – $ 150 per year.

 

When you sign up with them, you will get:

• • Special discounts- Get money off every purchase
  • Annual rebates – Spend and save
  • Dedicated account manager – To help you searching out the best bargains for you.
  • Newsletters – Receive sales announcement to you first plus special deals.
  • Free shipping – Get free shipping on selected categories.
  • Speed service – They will put your orders first priority.
  • Free samples – You will get some free samples on some product’s categories.

Here’s a Snapshot of the VIP Membership Benefits

 

They are listed in New York Stock Exchange

The company operated as LightInTheBox Limited until March 2008, when it was restructured and incorporated as LightInTheBox Holding Co., Ltd. acting as the ultimate holding company.

 

They are listed on the New York Stock Exchange after going through various processes of applications. Now they are opened for trading on the NYSE and their ticker symbol is (LITB).

 

What I Didn’t Like About LightInTheBox

Poor Quality Products

Some of the products here may not be as they seem. As the company grow and new vendor are added to the platform, the quality of the products suffer because some vendors don’t care about the quality.

 

As with any online marketplace, there are always going to be unscrupulous sellers who are out to make a quick buck at the expense of the customers. It’s very unfortunate they have taken on those unscrupulous vendors.

 

The main reason Light In The Box products carry such a bad reputation is because of unrealistic expectation. With LITB, you are often buying directly from unskilled vendor where is very little quality. As a result, it can sometime be a crappy product what you’ll actually receive in the mail.

 

Poor Shipping And Handling

Since LightInTheBox headquarters is from China and orders are process oversea, you may not get the products as quickly as you want to be when shopping with them.

 

The processing time is just lengthy few of their orders are been processed in 24 hours, while the others will have to stay in their warehouse for as long as fifteen days before they will actually process it.

 

They get to United State within 10 to 30 working days. This simply means you may have to wait for as long as six weeks to have what you ordered for.

 

 

They have a standard shipping which speeds up the shipping process and brings the goods to you in just one week. The Expedited Shipping is a little expensive form of shipping but has your order delivered to you in just 3 to 5 days maximum.

 

Order that will be ship via the super saver option will take a whopping nine weeks for you to get what you ordered. I will advise you to wait for at least 45 business days when the order should have been delivered to you.

 

And you can also do a good follow up by asking the customer care for the tracking code on your order to know if it is still on its way.

 

Poor Customer Service

Most customers complain that they can’t reach out LightInTheBox’s customer service when they run in with products or services issue.

 

Here’s a screenshot of the customer complaint

In the “Contact Us” page, they only offer a ticket system with a few FAQ and the information you get in their FAQ is very general. Most of the time, you need to use the bar when you are looking for a specific information.

 

If you don’t find an answer related to your problems, then you need to submit a ticket for their customer service representative to help you figure out the problem. Generally, they will respond to your ticket with a business day. If you’ve already submit a ticket, you can check your status by checking out “Check My Ticket” button.

 

Should I make LightInTheBox My Online Retailer?

Since we have gone through the various ways the company operate and how long they will deliver the ordered items to you.

 

While the review of the company tends to be favorable, you alone determine if you can wait that long for most of your ordered items to be delivered to you.

 

Most of the products are shipped from China and take a long time to arrive to your door. You might even forgot what Light In The Box order at the time you receive it.

 

But in some cases if you are lucky,  you will find an items can be shipped from a local distributor in your country. In my experience, this is rare, but it could happen.

 

Overall,  the company will be a good place to buy your custom made clothes in bulk.

 

Final Thought: Is LightInTheBox A scam?

The company has many payment options that scam site won’t offer you. If you think you are still not fine with the company, you may decide to order for a cheap product and see if they deliver it to you as promised.

 

Light In The Box is composed of random mix of individuals, small business, and factories selling their goods online. Poor quality products is definitely a factor. As long as you don’t expect superior quality products, you should happy with LITB purchases overall.

 

In my opinion, the company is legit and offers their customers lots of quality products with competitive price. However, the majors issues with the company are they take a long time to processed the orders and their membership fee.

 

Overall, I have seen times as short as 2 weeks or as long as 2 months to receive my products that I shopped from them. In fact, it really depends on where you live and the time of the seller is processing your order.

 

Apart from that, everything about Light In The Box is just fine.

 

So, when it comes to shopping with them go with your instincts and don’t try something it it sounds too good to be true because it probably is.

 

There are much better much better ways to shop online. And not all of them are such in bad reputation. If you are interesting saving money on everything you are purchasing online, take a moment to check out my no. 1 recommendation. 

 

I welcome and appreciate any questions, feedback, opinion or comment you may have to offer. Please leave them in the comment box below and I will be right back to you.

 

Thanks for reading.

All the best!

– Maun

 

LightInTheBox at a Glance

Name: LightInTheBox

Owners: Quji (Alan) Guo, Xin (Kevin) Wen, Liang Zhang, Jun Liu and Chit Jeremy Chau

Membership Fee: $20- 150 a year

Overall Scam Rank: 4.2 out of 10

Verdict: Legit, But It’s Good Place to Shop For Those Could Wait About 9 Weeks for Products to Deliver.