StyleWe Review 2024: Legit or a Scam?

StyleWe is a China-based cross border fashion store that offers women’s clothing and fashion accessories. It was established in 2014. StyleWe is an international online fashion store – but with a twist. It offers fashionable clothing designed by independent fashion designers. In its words: “StyleWe is not just an online shopping store but a community shared by both designers and customers”.

StyleWe explains the model thus: the independent designers come up with amazing designs, after which StyleWe uses its high-quality production and digital marketing capabilities to bring the designs to fruition and make them available to the customers.

According to it, the e-commerce store does not just feature fashionable clothing, but also its designers. Thus, fashion designers and fashion consumers can communicate, share ideas, and recognize each other. Customers get to share their fashion dreams, and designers get valuable insight into improving designs when launching new concepts. Thus, the StyleWe goal (according to its website) “is to empower designers so that they no longer feel hidden behind the brand”

In our fashion crazy world; people chase the latest fashion trends. This chase is not just for the good looks, but also as a way to highlight personality. Being that fashion keeps changing the face, this chase is never-ending.

Thus, fashion designers are always at work to fulfil the fashion wishes of various persons from various backgrounds. As such getting the best fashion designers is equal to getting high-quality fashion latest. This is where StyleWe comes in. StyleWe advertises as an online fashion shopping platform featuring independent fashion designers. It says that it is committed to providing shoppers with original, high quality, and exclusive fashion products from independent designers.

This raises many questions. For example, how does the designers’ inclusivity of StyleWe make it different from other fashion stores out there? Does StyleWe actually offer high-quality fashion latest? What about their services; does it offer quality services (such as easy ordering, fast delivery, easy returns, etc)? In the first place, is StyleWe legit or just another scam outfit?

Yes, StyleWe is legit. It is not a scam fashion store because they will never take your money without shipping the item you purchased. And all your financial details are well secured on the platform

This StyleWe review will examine StyleWe in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more?

StyleWe review at a glance

• It is a China-based online fashion store founded in 2014
• It uniquely offers a collaborative platform for fashion designers and fashion consumers
• It offers a range of fashionable women’s clothing and accessories
• Ships merchandise worldwide
• The return window is 30 days from the delivery date
• Free shipping is offered ($99+ minimum order requirement)
• Customer support is available via email (services@stylewe.com), telephone (+1 877 2777 209), and live chat

Products

When shopping, you’ll want to find a wide product range so that you can buy all you need in one place. This is convenient, as it saves you the time and effort of checking multiple stores. It also leads to cost savings (e.g. from large order discounts). Thus, the ideal online fashion store should offer a wide product range. StyleWe does relatively well in this regard.

StyleWe focuses on women’s clothing, so it cannot be used for clothing for others in the family such as men and kids. However, it provides the full gamut in its women’s niche. When shopping in StyleWe, the product categories (and some of the items you’ll find in each category) are as follows:

• Dresses – summer dresses, midi dresses, maxi dresses, mini dresses, plus size dresses, casual dresses, bodycon and sheath, vacation dresses, party dresses, prom dresses, wrap dresses, bridesmaid dresses,
• Tops – Blouses. Spring and summer tops, tunics, t-shirts, tanks and camis, plus size tops,
• Set and jumpsuits- work set, casual set, plus size set, casual jumpsuits, work jumpsuits, etc.
• Outerwear- coats, jackets, blazers, etc
• Bottoms – skirts, wide-leg pants, straight-leg pants, jeans, plus size bottoms,
• Knitwear – cardigans, sweaters, plus size knitwear, knit set.
• Swimwear – bikini sets, one-piece, swim cover-ups.
• Accessories – scarves, hats, and jewellery.
• Shoes – sandals, heels, pumps, slippers, flats, boots, wedges, oxfords, snicker, loafers

Using StyleWe

You can browse the website and view its range of products; but to make any purchase, you’ll have to register as a member. This can be off-putting if you’ll rather not submit registration information on every e-commerce platform that you use.

It should be said that some fashion stores cater to registration-averse customers by allowing guest orders – buying without registering as a member. Unfortunately, like many of the China-based cross-border stores, StyleWe does not welcome such “guests”.

However, registration is easy. You can register with your Facebook or Google+ account, or simply by submitting your email account. Placing an order is also relatively easy. You’ll have to go to the product categories to find something that you like. Alternatively, you can use the search tool on the website. Type in a description of what you want and products related to your search inquiry will be shown.

Clicking on an item will take you to its product description page, where you can view details of the item including its different product images. You can quickly add it to your cart. Clicking on the bag icon at the top of the page will take you to your cart. You can easily remove an item from it at any time, or proceed to checkout and make payment.

Once an order is placed, you will receive an email about the order information. Sometimes, customers will want to cancel an order immediately after placing one. Thankfully, StyleWe allows for order cancellation. At any time before it is dispatched for shipping, an order placed with StyleWe can be cancelled.

However, it is only when the order is cancelled within 24 hours of placing it that you’ll receive a full refund. For orders cancelled after 24 hours (but before the order ships), StyleWe will accept cancellation but will apply a 15% cancellation fee; meaning that your refund will only be 85% of the item’s purchase price. Once the order ships, you’ll be sent an email confirmation with the tracking number for the order. You can track your order through the website (You > My Order).

Another interesting thing about StyleWe is that there are different membership statuses. These are ordinary members, silver members, gold members and platinum members. You attain the statuses simply by making purchases on the website; every $1.00 in payment will earn you 10 points.

Everyone starts out as an ordinary member; and you’ll need: 3000+ points, 6,000+ points and 15,000+ points to be a silver member, gold member and platinum member respectively. The loftier your membership status, the more privileges you’ll enjoy in StyleWe.

For example, silver members get a 3% members discount, gold members get 5%, while platinum members get 10%. Also, silver, gold, and platinum members can access “ships in 24 hours” items and can get reimbursed for return shipping. As we’ll see in later sections of this review, ordinary members have a relatively longer order processing time and must bear return shipping costs.

Also, while all other members get “free Standard Shipping”, only platinum members can get “free Express Shipping”. Thus, with StyleWe, the more you shop, the better your buying experience will become.

Is StyleWe safe?

StyleWe is safe. Except a store is safe, sensitive information that you share with it (think: credit card details) will leak out to third parties, which will leave you exposed to fraudsters out there. Thus, the legit store should also be safe.

StyleWe ticks the box in this regard. All sensitive information supplied is encrypted via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL encryption is bank-grade and the industry standard for private connections between two devices communicating over the internet. With the use of this technical security measure amongst others, it is safe to say that StyleWe is safe.

Pricing and Related Policies

Pricing

When it comes to costs, we’ll want to be able to pay the lowest possible when shopping. China-based fashion stores are known for their rock-bottom prices. Unfortunately, StyleWe differs from its Asian based cousins in this regard.

However, while you’ll not be seeing floored prices, items are not necessarily expensive either; most of their prices are in the middle range, or just beginning to knock on the expensive door. For example, at the time of writing this review, the dress section had many items costing $39 – $86.51.

In the same vein, the Tops section had items ranging between $27.31 and $82.11. To put this in perspective, you’ll be hard-pressed to find these items above $50 in the cheap stores; while the expensive stores always feature many of these items in the three figures.

That said; when buying from StyleWe, you’ll not be having the “price advantage” as it is with most low and affordable Chinese clothing stores.

Promotions

For best value, you’ll want fashion stores with lots of promotional offers because these allow customers to get items for free or for less than the items’ full prices. Thankfully, StyleWe runs a lot of promotions.

Like any promotion-generous fashion store, the landing page of the StyleWe website is plastered with these promotional offers. At the time of writing this review, there were different Flash Sales knocking off up to 60% from prices. Other specific offers include 20% off prices for downloading the StyleWe app; getting 10% off orders over $269; up to $30 discount coupons for new users, and others.

Many of the promotions change from time to time, so you’ll have to check the website from time to time to know what offer is on at any one time. Alternatively, you can submit your email in registration for the StyleWe newsletter, and you’ll be given regular alerts of exclusive deals.

Payment Methods

For easy payment, you’ll want a store that supports a range of convenient payment methods. StyleWe does. It uses PayPal to facilitate payments, which means that you can use credit cards and debit cards (Master Card, Visa, Maestro, Discover Card etc), PayPal Wallet, Bank Account, eCheck, and any other payment methods that PayPal supports.

Thus, with the supported options, you should be able to conveniently pay for your StyleWe order no matter where you are resident.  Also, because of the buyer protection that PayPal offers, it is usually the first choice of many online shoppers anyways.

Shipping

Because any online purchase has to be moved from the store’s warehouse to your shipping address, important shipping considerations include: whether the store ships to your location (shipping destinations), how long it’ll take the store to deliver your order (delivery time), and how much it’ll cost to receive your order (shipping costs).

Shipping Destinations

The ideal online store will be one that ships to many worldwide locations so that your location is more likely to be covered. Thankfully, StyleWe ticks this box. Just like many of the cross-border China-based stores, it ships merchandise to virtually every country in the world.

Delivery Time

After placing an order, you’ll not want to wait forever before you receive delivery of it. So the ideal online store will offer fast delivery.

Delivery time is determined by how long it’ll take after placing an order before the package is dispatched for shipping (order processing time), and how long it’ll take after the package is dispatched for it to get to the customer’s shipping address (shipping time). For fast delivery, both order processing time and shipping time will be relatively fast.

In this regard; StyleWe advertises that it has an order processing time of 3 – 5 business days. On the delivery page of its website, it even warns that depending on the product, order processing could take as much as 10 business days.

Needless to say, this is not the fast processing time that we’ll want. With every order taking at least 3 business days to process, it means StyleWe cannot offer super fast delivery options such as Same Day Delivery, Next Day Delivery or 2 Business Days Delivery.

In terms of shipping times, StyleWe offers two shipping options. There is a Standard Shipping, which takes 7 – 12 Business Days; and there is an Express Shipping, which takes 2 – 5 business days. These advertised shipping times are relatively fast for a China-based store.

Shipping Cost

Except free shipping is offered, the total expenditure on online purchase is made up of its purchase price and its shipping cost. This means that high shipping costs can easily make an item too expensive. Thus, the ideal online store should offer shipping costs that are as low as possible.

In this regard, StyleWe ticks the box. The actual amount you’ll pay as shipping cost varies depending on the country the order is shipping to. The Standard Shipping starts at $5.00, while the Express Shipping starts at $12.00. However, you’ll always find that the shipping cost is relatively okay no matter where you are shipping to.

Interestingly, StyleWe offers free shipping. All members can get free Standard shipping for all items over $99.00. It’s important to state that the qualifying amount for free shipping is relatively okay. Though, there are stores offering free shipping that quotes significantly lower minimum order requirements, $99+ to get free shipping is relatively fine.

Another important thing about StyleWe is that, for most of the countries that it ships to, customers do not need to pay import fees, duties, or VATs. Such fees only apply to a few countries, especially European Countries like Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, etc.

Returns

It is not news that online shopping has always received the eyebrows. Since its blind purchase, there is the fear that what will be delivered will not be satisfactory. To allay those fears, the ideal online store should allow returns. Customers should be able to return any unwanted item and get a refund or a replacement item. Like any serious online store, StyleWe allows returns.

Return Window

However, you don’t have forever to return an unwanted item. Stores accept back only items that get to them within a time frame (usually from the date of delivery). Thus, so that your unwanted order will not get to the retailer late and be rejected, you’ll want an extended time frame.

StyleWe does very well in this regard. It offers a return window of 30 days from the delivery date. Any StyleWe order that you have to return will have to get back to its warehouse at most 30 days from the date it was delivered. The 30 days return window is the industry’s average and should be enough time to affect any returns.

Return Process

You’ll want an easy return process so that the frustrations of a difficult return process will not add to that of receiving an unwanted item.

In StyleWe, if you are not entirely satisfied with an item, you’ll need to submit a return request through the “My Order” page. After that you’ll have to send StyleWe an email (services@stylewe.com), where you’ll state the reason for wanting the return/ exchange; you’ll have to include photos and videos (where necessary) which clearly show the defect. The Customer Care team of StyleWe will get back to you within 24 hours with an approval email that’ll contain return instructions and return address. After which, you’ll have to package the unwanted item using its original packaging, then send it back to StyleWe. You can use any shipping carrier for your returns.

While the return process can be followed through, it is not near the best in terms of customer experience. Not least is the double contact required – return request via My Order page, and email contact. Having to get approval before making the return shipping is also fraught with issues – most often than not, the retailer will not see the “defect” that the buyer is claiming.

Eligible Return and Conditions

Just as it is with every online store, not every item purchased can be returned to the retailer. In this regard, you’ll want a store with not too many restrictions.

Swimwear and items designated as “final sales” are not eligible for returns. This is not different from what is offered in many online stores. But it isn’t the friendliest of policies anyways. For example, there are some fashion stores that accept returns on swimwear if the hygiene strip is unbroken. Also, all items to be returned must be in their original conditions – unworn, unwashed, unaltered, and undamaged.

Return Costs

Whenever costs are involved, you’ll want to pay nothing but the lowest possible. Some online stores can really frustrate with such things as restocking fees. Thankfully, StyleWe does not charge restocking fees.

However, returning a StyleWe item will still cost the buyer via return shipping. The buyer will have to bear the cost of shipping the item to StyleWe as well as any other related costs. This usually presents a problem because StyleWe return shipping address is in China, and it’s almost cost-prohibitive for most customers to ship an unwanted item back to China.

Refunds

You’ll not want to wait for too long after mailing the return package before the store will issue you a refund or send a replacement. Thus, you’ll want a store that processes returns and issue refunds fast.

In this regard, StyleWe advertises that processing of returns takes 3 – 5 business days after receiving the return package. If it does process returns in that time and swiftly issues refunds thereafter, it will be one of the fastest stores in terms of getting refunds. However, as we’ll find in the complaint section of this review, most often than not, refunds are not as fast as StyleWe advertises.

Customer Support

You’ll want a store with an effective customer support service. There’ll be questions you’ll need answers to before you commit to an online store, and you may have issues with orders after making online purchases. So you’ll want to find a store that effectively answers your questions and resolves any issue that may arise.

In this regard, StyleWe supports a range of contact channels.

First, there is an FAQ page accessible from the “Help Center” link on the landing page of the StyleWe website. The page contains a lot of self-help articles that’ll answer many of the questions you may have. For easy navigation, the articles are grouped by subjects such as Accounts, Ordering & Payment, Size Chart, Shipping & Handling, Coupons & Discounts, Return & Exchange, and Customer Support.

There is the “My Order” page which you can use to make contact about items in your order that you’ll want to return. There is also an email service, where you can drop inquiries/ queries using services@stylewe.com. For instant feedback, StyleWe supports telephone service and live chat service. The telephone number for calls is +1(877)2777 209, while the live chat can be accessed from the StyleWe website.

However, telephone and live chat services are not available round the clock. You can reach out only between the hours of 9 am – 6 pm (EST) on weekdays, and between 9 am – 5 pm on weekends.

Complaints

Late Delivery

StyleWe items are processed and shipped from China, and the long order processing time does not help, so it’ll take time to receive your order. Many StyleWe reviews reveal this.

From the many late delivery reviews about the company, it seems that many StyleWe orders are delivered later than the already long delivery time that the company quotes. Thus, you really should not be in haste when buying from StyleWe.

Quality Issues

One of the biggest complaints you’ll find about StyleWe is quality. In the popular independent customers’ review platforms (including Trust Pilot, Site Jabber, Complaint Board, etc), you’ll find many quality complaints. These include: the actual items delivered not matching the product images viewed; the actual items made from of poor quality materials, being horribly made, etc.

However, it must be said that while the quality complaints are actually significantly high; statistically, there are more customers satisfied with the quality of their orders. For example; StyleWe is rated: 3.2/ 5 in Sitejabber.com (2,394 reviewers), and 6.4/10 in Trustpilot.com (by 779 reviewers).

Difficulty getting Refunds

One complaint about StyleWe that is popular on the customer’s review platforms is that getting a refund is not easy-breezy. Many customers on these platforms even say that getting a refund from StyleWe is impossible. You’ll easily find customers who complain that StyleWe did not agree to a full refund; you’ll find those who have returned an item to StyleWe but have not been refunded; you’ll find many who had to force the hand of StyleWe by calling their card company to dispute the charge; and more. Given the sheer volume of this complaint on the web, it’s safe to say that getting refunds from StyleWe may be a long walk.

When this issue with refunds combines with quality problems, it’s easy for a store to be labelled a scam. This is why you’ll find that StyleWe is called a scam by customers in many forums.

Poor Customer Service

Another complaint about StyleWe is that its customer service is bothered on non-existent. In independent online customer review platforms, you’ll find many reviews of customers who submit support tickets/ emails only to have to wait and wait before getting a response.

There are complaints of having to submit support requests multiple times before finally getting a response from StyleWe. One reviewer even wrote that it was only when a PayPal dispute was initiated that StyleWe responded.

We understand that no matter how effectively a store operates, there’ll be the occasional negative review. However, in the case of StyleWe, there were just too many complaints of poor customer service (such as no response, late response, ineffective response, etc.). Thus, poor customer service came out as a real problem plaguing the store.

Sites Like StyleWe:

• BangGood
• TopHatter
• Rosewholesale
• Wayfair
• NakedWines

Pros

• Host a range of independent fashion designers from around the world
• Offers a wide range of women’s products that include dresses, tops, bottoms, shoes and accessories
• Ships merchandise to worldwide countries
• It offers free Standard shipping (with a $99+ minimum order requirement which is relatively low)
• Has a generous 30 days (from delivery date) return policy
• It has a loyalty program that rewards long-term customers with special privileges that include members discounts, free Express shipping, free return shipping, and more.
• Supports a range of channels for contacting Customer Care (which include email, telephone, and live chat)

Cons

• Does not process guest orders – you must register to make purchases
• Only women’s items are provided
• Relatively long order processing time
• High return shipping cost

Conclusion

StyleWe is a legitimate site online shopping store with so many features. Its selling point is that it allows you to know the actual small-time designers that are behind the items it sells.

Specializing in women’s fashion, it offers a wide range of women’s fashion trends. It ships to many countries; it offers free shipping with relatively low minimum order requirements; and where free shipping is not applicable, shipping costs are relatively low.

However, it’s not all smooth sailing with StyleWe. Reviews show that quality is often a problem, delivery takes longer than desirable, the return process is not as easy as customers will want and getting refunded even more problematic.