Free People Review 2024: Is It Legit or a Scam?

Free People is a legit fashion store. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money and credit card details. And if you make an order, it will be shipped to your destination without a problem.

Free People was founded in the 1970s by Richard Hayne. The brand left the scene was it was renamed Urban Outfitters, but had a rebirth in 1984 and has been operating ever since. The online fashion retailer currently operates as part of Urban Outfitters, Inc.

FreePeople has only grown bigger ever since. They opened their first brick and mortar store in 2002, in New Jersey. They milestone was followed up by the establishment of many more stores (all over the US, Canada and the UK), and they now have over 136 freestanding stores.

FreePeople specializes in women’s clothing. The goal of free people is to be not just a clothing brand but to create a lifestyle. The store is the destination for bohemian fashion that features the latest trends and vintage collections. For all the old classic and dazzling latest; they have the styles that you need to break the shackles and be free. These range from the perfect special occasion dresses, to chic outerwear, to irresistible intimates.

That suggests exquisite fashion styles. The question is whether FreePeople really provides such styles that will have you freely expressing yourself no matter the occasion or season. How about their quality, their prices, and other services; do they offer top quality clothing, affordable products, and excellent service? In the first place is Free People genuine?

This Free People review will examine FreePeople in order to provide information that will help you answer those questions.

Free People at a glance

• Fashion store established in 1984, and is part of URBN
• Specializes in women’s fashion
• Hold a wide product range that includes clothing, fashion accessories, intimates, shoes, beauty products and more
• Worldwide free shipping
• Allows returns within 30 days of delivery to get a refund issued through the original payment method
• Accepts payment from credit and debit cards, PayPal, and gift cards
• Offers a financing plan
• Has iOS app

Is FreePeople Legit?

Free People is legit, not a scam. It is now a must to first determine that an online store is legit before placing an order with them. There are just too many online scam stores on the internet for one not to worry about whether a store is legit or a scam. And what is more, you cannot tell a fake online store by simply looking at the website. However, there are simple tests that can be used to tell a legit store from a fake one; and we will put FreePeople through these test.

First is the capacity to fulfil orders. To many customers, a scam store is one that will not deliver to you when you make payment for items listed on their site. They do not fulfil orders because they cannot. Usually, fake online stores exist only virtually; the website is not backed by physical production centres, warehouses, stores/ showrooms or products. On the other hand, FreePeople has a physical existence.

As mentioned, they have physical stores all over the US, Canada, and one in the UK. From these locations, they ship merchandise to worldwide locations. The capacity to fulfil orders is one thing that marks FreePeople as a legit online store.

Another is the sheer length of time that the company has been operating (the test of time). FreePeople is older than many of its customers. Since their rebirth in 1984, FreePeople has continuously operated, which gives them 34 years of operation.

In a fast fashion industry where the latest style today is old-school tomorrow, a store that keeps up with the trend for decades must be legit. In fact, there’s simply no scam store, in any industry, that can continue in its scamming operations for years, not to talk of decades.

Also, FreePeople is a duly registered company, and its parent company (Urban Outfitters) is also a duly registered company. This means that the company has legal recognition. No scam store will seek legal recognition by way of company registration. Also, the operators of FreePeople are known and visible (Margaret Hayne currently serves as the chief creative officer); this is in sharp contrast to scam stores where the operators are behind the scenes and unknown. You can also see sites like Free People such as Dresslily, Pretty Little Thing etc

Is Free People Safe?

Free People is safe. It is not likely that FreePeople will rip you off because the store is legit. However, it’s also important to make sure that the store is safe. This is because a store that is not safe will leak your sensitive data to third parties. I don’t know any person who would want sensitive information like credit card details to be intercepted by cyber fraudsters.

In this regard, FreePeople uses industry-standard data protection measures. Among them is SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology with 128-bit encryption. SSL is the standard method for creating a secure link between a device and a web server. Thus, this technology ensures that when you communicate with FreePeople to complete transactions, your transaction details are transmitted over a secure link. The data packets are even encrypted before being relayed to ensure that even if captured cannot be read.

FreePeople also pledges not to disclose personal and sensitive data of their customers to third parties, except when such disclosure is necessary for the service. With these measures, it is safe to say that FreePeople is safe.

Features

Website Accessibility

First experience matters. A brick and mortar store that is untidy will probably see your back. It’s the same in the online spheres. A website that is untidy, cluttered, and not easy to navigate will see many people leaving. Fortunately, the website (https://www.freepeople.com/) of FreePeople created a good first impression; and moving around in the site sealed it. The site is simple, not cluttered; it’s set on a white background, and it is not packed with texts. It’s also easy to navigate, as you have links appropriately placed to take you to the background where everything happens.

Mobile Compatibility

The website is also compatible with mobile devices to allow accessing the store at any time from anywhere. It supports all mobile operating systems such as iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows phones. The site doesn’t just support mobile devices; it is fully mobile optimized. Thus, it resizes to fit the small screens of mobile phones.

This is all for a better customer experience because you’ll not have to drag the page left and right to view the full page.

iOS App

FreePeople is one of the online fashion retailers that have invested in a fashion app. The decision whether to buy straight from a store’s website or their app is usually tilted to the app for many reasons. Fashion Apps make purchases easy.

You can have the installed app on your device, and accessing the online store is a click away. Also, it allows you to save certain personal information so that you don’t have to type them in every time at checkout. Most importantly, fashion apps use notifications to alert customers of new arrivals, special offers and promotions. Thus, you’ll be positioned to take advantage of these offers and have cost savings.

If shopping with an app is a concern, FreePeople will be worth looking at. However, they have only an iOS app, which can only be used by those with Apple phones and tablets. The app is a heavy 157.9 MB file; but it has a 4.9 out of 5 rating on the app store, which tells you that it is highly effective.

That said, many of the other online stores that invest in their own apps offer at least apps for iOS and Android platforms. Thus, FreePeople would want to launch an Android app to keep up with the competition; and most importantly to also cater to customers with Android devices.

Product Range

Free People Dresses:

Free People Shoes:

You want the ideal online store to have a wide product range with a lot of different items in their inventory. That way, you’re more likely to find an item that you like because of being able to make a choice from a big selection. Also, a wide product range makes it possible for you to get all your related products from one place. That way, you can have significant cost savings from bulk purchase discounts and one order shipment.

In this regard, FreePeople ticks the box. FreePeople is a speciality women’s clothing brand, and they provide the full gamut in women’s fashion from apparel to accessories, and to beauty products.  The product categories (and different items) in each category in the store are as follows:

• Clothes – Dresses, Tops + Tees, Sweaters, Sweatshirts, Kimonos, Jackets, Denim, Pants, Skirts, Shorts, Jumpsuits, Rompers, Sets, Bodysuits, Swim, Endless Summer, FP Beach
• Dresses – Maxi Dresses, Midi Dresses, Mini Dresses, Bodycon Dresses, Day Dresses, Party Dresses, Night-Out Dresses, Printed Dresses, White Dresses, Black Dresses, Sweater Dresses, Knit Dresses, Sets, and Jumpsuits
• Denim – CRVY Jeans, Flare Jeans, High-Rise Jeans, Skinny Jeans, Wide-Leg Jeans, Boyfriend Jeans, Straight-Leg Jeans, Cropped Flare Jeans, Overalls, Shorts, Denim Jackets, and Vintage Denim
• Sweaters – Pullovers, Cardigans, Tunics, Turtlenecks, Sweater Jackets, Statement Sweaters, Sweater Dressing
• Shoes – Boots, Flats + Menswear, Clogs, Sneakers, Heels + Wedges, Sandals, Socks + Tights, Slippers
• Accessories – Jewelry, Bags, Hats, Gloves, Sunglasses, Scarves, Belts, Kimonos, Socks + Tights, Hair Accessories, Tech
• Intimates – Bras, Undies, Slips, Tops, Bottoms, Bodysuits, Rompers + Jumpers, Sleep + Lounge, Sets, Seamless
• Beauty Products – Wellness, Makeup, Skincare, Vegan Beauty, Body, Sun Care, Hair, Oral Care, Fragrance + Aromatherapy, Tools + Tech, and more
• FP Movement – This is a fitness-inspired category that features activewear and athletic clothing such as One-Pieces, Workout Gear, Wellness Essentials, Practice, Perform, Too + From, Yoga, Dance, Fit, Run, Bras, Tops, Leggings + Bottoms, Hoodies + Sweatshirts

Price, Promotions and Payment Methods

Price

Price is the most important consideration in any purchase because you will not want to pay what is unreasonable for your fashion styles. Therefore, it’s important whether the prices offered by an online store are affordable.

In this regard, it is safe to say that FreePeople is not known for its affordability. For example, you’ll find that many of their dresses are $60 – $200; you’ll be hard-pressed to find a denim piece that is less than $60, and you’ll have to hold at least $40 to get a legging. Their sales page did its best to slash down prices, with some items cut by as much as 50%. But because their main price was high, the discounted prices still stand high. For example, you’ll find tops: slashed from about $80 to $50; mini dresses brought to about $80 from three figures and so on.

That said, if shopping-cheap is a primary concern, FreePeople may not be the best place to be looking.

Promotions

Online fashion stores run promos from time to time, and a review of these promos is important because when a customer takes advantage of them, they can lead to significant cost savings.

We are used to seeing online fashion retailers advertising their promo codes on their homepage, but that was not the case with FreePeople. In fact, going through their website, it would seem that they do not offer any promo, as there was not even a link to promotional offers or bonuses. The only reference we saw of a promo is on the shipping page where free shipping was offered for all order amounts on certain items.

However, we saw that FreePeople does run promos from time to time. We’ll want to see more information on their site about these.

Payment Methods

You don’t want to come up with a headache just to make payment for merchandise in an online store. Thus, you want the store to support a range of options so that some will be available to you no matter where you are shopping from. You’ll also want the supported methods to be convenient.

In this regard, FreePeople does not blow the roof off with a long list of payment options, but they support global options that you can easily grab for use no matter where you’ll be playing from. These options they accept for payment are Master card, Visa, American Express, Maestro, PayPal, Visa Electron, Solo, and Free People Gift Cards (issued in Pounds).

This is pretty much what the online fashion retails stores offer. However, given the popularity of e-wallets and cryptocurrencies for online payments, I’ll want to see some of these options supported.

Also, FreePeople technically supports only one currency because all transactions are made in US Dollars. Though prices and the order total at checkout are listed in a variety of currencies, these are simply estimates based on currency conversion rates. Refunds are also credited back in UD Dollars using the current exchange rate. That said, I will like to see FreePeople support different currencies so that many international customers will not have to worry about currency conversions when making purchases.

Shipping Policy

A review of the shipping policy of an online fashion store is important for many reasons. You’ll want to know if the store ships to your country; you’ll want to know how much shipping cost because high shipping cost can make the total expenditure on an item unacceptable, even if the item itself was acceptably priced; and you’ll want to know how long shipping will take because you don’t want to wait forever for the item to arrive.

For the first, the good news is that FreePeople ships to over 100 countries worldwide. These countries are:

• North America

United States, Canada, and Mexico

• Africa, Middle East, & India

Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Botswana, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Reunion, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, South Africa, St. Helena, and the United Arab Emirates

• Asia Pacific

Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of China – Taiwan, Republic of Korea (South),  Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam

• Europe

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine

• Latin America & the Caribbean

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Virgin Islands (British)

However, FreePeople ships oversized home items to only the 48 continental US states. The company does not support the shipping of these items to international locations, U.S. territories, Alaska, Hawaii, P.O. boxes, and APO/ FPO addresses.

In terms of shipping cost; customers want rates that are as low as possible, therefore free shipping is the ultimate deal clincher.

Fortunately, FreePeople offers free shipping. However, like always your order has to be up to a particular amount to qualify for free shipping. For the US, Australia, and Canada, free shipping is valid for orders over $100 (US Dollars), while for every other that FreePeople ships to, free shipping are valid for orders over $150 (US Dollars).

For the international shipment, it should be noted that the free shipping only applies to the merchandise; all duties and taxes assessed by custom will be the responsibility of the customer. Free shipping is not available for oversized home items.

Most customers don’t like having to spend too much in order to qualify for free shipping, and will closely look at the free shipping order qualifying amount. Customers from the US might not like what they see because there are some online fast-fashion shops that require spending only $50+ to qualify for free shipping (to US addresses).  

That said, one thing that makes the free shipping offer of FreePeople is that it applies to both domestic orders and international orders. If you’ve checked other online fashion stores, you’ll find that many of them offer only free domestic shipping; and since the bulk of these stores is US-based, only US customers (and at most Canadians) get to enjoy free shipping.

At the time of writing this review, FreePeople was offering free shipping on their “November Catalog” styles. The juice of this offer is that your orders don’t need to be over $100; any style from the catalogue that you pick gets shipped to you free of charge, no matter its cost. However, the domestic audience gets preferential treatment – the offer is only available for shipping within the US.

Where free shipping is not applicable, FreePeople charges flat shipping rates which means that your shipping cost does not increase with an increase in the size or weight of your order.

For domestic US shipping, there are different shipping options that you may choose from. There is Standard shipping which takes 5 – 7 business days and cost $7.95 USD; there is Express shipping which takes 2 – 3 business days and cost $10 USD, and there is Overnight Shipping which takes 1 – 2 business days and cost $20 USD. Orders for Express shipping and Overnight Shipping will be dispatched the same day if the orders are placed before 1 PM (EST).

Only standard and express shipping are available for Canada orders. Standard shipping takes 3 – 10 business days and costs $7.95 USD; while Express shipping takes 3 – 5 business days and costs $10.00 USD. Australia also has Standard and Express shipping; the former takes 6 – 12 business days and cost $7.95 and the latter takes 3 – 6 business days and cost $17.95. Shipping to all other international addresses is via Standard shipping that takes 3 – 10 business days and cost $35.

Returns and Exchange Policy

Returns

The sad reality of online purchase is that: what you see is not always what you get. There are so many factors that can make you want to return the item to the store after receiving delivery of it. Therefore, it’s important to check that the online store you want to buy from allows returns.

Like almost every other online store, FreePeople allows returns. When you receive your order, and you are not totally satisfied with any of the items, you can return the item to them, and they will issue you a refund. The return policy of FreePeople makes for good reading. First, any merchandise purchased in-store must be returned to the store, while those bought online may be returned by mail or in-store.

Also, they allow a 30 days returns window; which means that you have 30 days from the time of receiving the item to get it back to FreePeople. If the returned items are received within 30 days, FreePeople will issue a refund by crediting your original payment method. This is a very generous returns window, as it means that you won’t have to race against time to get in your returns.

You’ll find some online stores offering return windows of only 18 days. Also in many of the online stores, if your returns do not get to the store within the allowed time, the items will be rejected and you will not qualify for a refund. However in FreePeople, if your returns do not get to them within the allowed 30 days window, it doesn’t disqualify you for a refund.  You’ll still be refunded, but the refund will be issued as store credits.

However, there are some things that can cause returned items to be rejected and disqualify the customer from being refunded. Returns are only accepted if they are unworn, unwashed and not defective. Also, all original tags must be intact; and the items must be in their original packaging.

Beauty and Wellness products must be unopened, and swimwear and intimates not only be in their new and unused condition but must have their sanitary strips in place. Swimwears with broken sanitary strips cannot be returned; also items from the vintage collection (Vintage Loves and Vintage Revival) cannot be returned.

FreePeople includes a prepaid returns label which makes it easy to return an item to them. If you opt for the return, all you need do is pack the item appropriately, attach the returns label, and drop off the package at a USPS facility, with your postal carrier, or schedule a pickup at www.usps.com. The one small dent on the returns policy of FreePeople is that customers bear the return shipping cost. Where you use the returns label, a fee of $5.95 will be deducted from your refund per return shipping. However, the “November Catalog styles” offer also carries free returns. If you must return any of the qualifying items, the $5.95 return fee will be waived.

After the returned item is received by FreePeople, you should allow for about one and a half weeks for the returns to be processed; and after the processing, you should allow 1 – 3 business days for the refunds to be received to your original payment method. This means that it can take over two weeks for you to receive the funds. In my opinion, this is one area where FreePeople could use some improvement. They should try to bring down the return processing time so that refunds can be issued quicker than it is currently done.

Exchanges

If you return an item, wait for the returns to be processed and wait again to be refunded, before placing another order, a lot of time can pass before getting your item. But the process can be optimized if you can simply return the first item for an exchange (get another item in its place). Thus, it’s also important to check if stores allow product exchanges. Thankfully, FreePeople does. However, product exchanges are available for only US customers. All international customers that may have received a wrong or defective item will have to contact the company and start the returns process for a refund.

Other Services

Price Adjustment Program

In their commitment to making prices as low as possible, FreePeople provides a price adjustment program that allows you to get items for a price lower than it was marked. This happens when you pay the listed price for an item that is out of stock, and the item when on sale happens to be listed at a lower price.

If you contact FreePeople within 14 days of the original delivery date (or of making the payment if it is an in-store purchase); they’ll credit your original form of payment with the cash difference.

AfterPay

It’s sad if you’ve fallen in love with an elegant fashion piece but cannot completely pay for it at the moment. If you must have it at that time, you needn’t worry too much because FreePeople has a financing plan (AfterPay) that allows you to buy now and pay later.

Another interesting thing is that the AfterPay plan is interest-free; the total you pay is the order amount. AfterPay financing is available only for orders of $35 – $100. It requires you to submit your credit or debit card (Master Card or Visa) details.

The total order will be split into four instalments; you’ll have to pay the first instalment at the time of purchase, and the remaining three will be deducted automatically every 2 weeks. Thus, AfterPay is a 6 weeks financing plan. If you miss a payment (that is, funds are not in your account when payment was due), you’ll be charged a late fee of $8, and if that’s unpaid after 7 days, an additional $8 fee is added.

However, AfterPay financing is only available to customers with a US billing address; customers with international billing addresses cannot create an AfterPay account. That said, the financing plan is a good perk that is not often seen amongst online fashion retailers.

Customer Support

Customer support service is an important element of any store’s service, whether online or brick and mortar. You may have questions about the merchandise or about the seller, or you may have issues with your purchase, and you’ll want a store that will adequately provide the needed assistance. Therefore, it’s important to review the channels that FreePeople provides for addressing customers’ inquiries/ complaints.

They provide a FAQ that holds self-help articles that answers some of the questions you may have about shipping, returns and payments. It must be said that FreePeople extensively treats these topics in clear and simple language. However, if you must contact a support agent, they provide for that via email, telephone and live chat.

The email service can be accessed using a contact form on the website. The company pledge to answer all email submissions within 24 – 48 hours. While this is fine, we’ll like to see an improvement in the response; at least within 24 hours.

However, for those who wouldn’t want feedback, the live chat and telephone service provides instantaneous feedback. Also, these options are available round the clock (24 hours a day). You can access the live chat feature from their website; for the phone service, the number to call is 800.309.1500.

It should be said that many customer reviews of FreePeople have scored their customer service very poorly. With some of the issues identified (like paying extra charges upon receipt of international orders, long refund periods etc), you’ll expect customer support service to be busy. And it would appear that many customers weren’t satisfied with how their issues were handled.

Summary

Who does not want freedom? FreePeople promises to make you live free through fashion. First, the online fashion retailer is legit and safe. FreePeople is one of the oldest fashion retailers in the business, and they are still fulfilling orders, and also using industry-standard measures to ensure a secure buying environment.

That said, the company does have the styles to help you break the shackles and live free. As a women specialist brand; they have a wide product range that covers every women’s clothing, accessories, shoes and beauty products. They cherish creativity in design, and you’ll see that reflected in their right-for-the-occasion clothing which invokes attributes of femininity as well as fire. The quality is also top-notch. However, you’ll find that their prices are not always “just-right”. This is where promotional offers will be appreciated, but FreePeople is not as vocal as we’ll like about discounts and promos.

However, there are more reasons to head to FreePeople for your online shopping than there are for not heading there.

Cons

• Free shipping to every location, both domestic addresses and international addresses
• Allows exchanges
• Offers an interest-free 6 weeks financing plan
• Has a price adjustment program that allows you to get merchandise for lower than its listed price at the time of payment
• 24/ 7 customer support via email, telephone and live chat

Pros

• Limited payment options
• Prices are on the high side
• Payment of additional charges upon receipt of the package
• No information on promotional offers
• Relatively long returns and refund processing time (can take up to 2 weeks)
• Support only one currency (US Dollars)

Do you have any experience with Free People? If yes, kindly use the review section below to give us your brief Free People review.