Why?
Because I'm a Canadian. Sephora deals hardly ever apply to Canadians. Unless someone complains, then some sort of bonus is thrown in, but never as good as the original deal. And then we get called "freeloaders" for thinking this new deal blows.
So what am I talking about?
The Sephora Friends & Family sale is something given to employees to let their friends and family get a 20% of dealio. The added bonus, once it gets known online, ANYBODY (in the US) can get this discount online only. You don't have to know a damn person.
But if you are Canadian, you do need to know an employee. There's a card or something you will need. Well that's just fine, let me go through my basket of spare employees I have lying around. WAIT! I don't have a magical basket of employees just sitting here. Well there goes that plan.
Someone said "woah woah settle down everyone, you're freaking out over 20%, really, REALLY. its not that much considering we pay a 12% tax, so really you're not paying the tax and then what, eight dollars less... it wont even cover the shipping, you're really not missing out on much. so stop bitching. besides, these products are full sized and its a pretty sweet bag."
Not all provinces pay the extra 7% sales tax. Alberta only pays 5% tax, so they'd be saving 15% still.
Sure they are offering full size items in to make up for the NON-SALE, But it's shit I'd NEVER WEAR. I do not want more makeup I WON'T WEAR. I have enough of that now. And I find the tote ugly, I don't care if it's a Vera Wang Princess tote. Something tells me I can get this from the Bay as a "free gift with purchase".
So yeah, there's the non-sale, and the fact that we already pay a pretty high markup.
Take the Urban Decay BOS III. $54 until I hit "Canadian checkout" then TADAAAAAA, $65. $11? Really? I understand our dollar is lower than the US dollar, but, OH HEY IT'S @ 0.97! Where the hell does the $11 dollar price hike even come from?
We have 22 stores open in Canada. Each one does crazy amounts of business, I sort of have to shove my way through to get to my section (UD, Too Faced) but somehow will all that crazy business and with the stupid ass mark-up, Canadians just aren't deserving of a discount like ALL OF THE US IS?
In the last year I bought maybe 3 things. 2 I needed for my cousin's wedding and the 3rd I bought in the States, because it was $35 in Vegas compared with $44cdn+tax.
Also, if you are going to call it a friends & family sale, why not make it so it actually is friends and family, like regular retail stores.
Ohhhhh, you wouldn't want to piss off your American consumers...
But I'm just a Canadian. After I type this, I have to go outside and tell my moose to get back here with my extension cord to hook my igloo up to that maple tree to keep it from floating away on an ice flow. While a hockey player with no teeth tries to retain peace within the beaver/goose community.
And next week I get a flushing toilet! No more outhouse!
hahahahaha That last paragraph was awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe markup. Rawr. I *hated* that when I bought something from Sephora online (my province doesn't have a store!). UDPP cost me $22 instead of $18. (I was looking at TSFI, but that was even worse - I think it was like $25.) I really wish that the site would just display the actual Canadian prices instead of having to go through the checkout to see them.
ReplyDeleteOur free shipping limit is higher ($120, wtf? Essentially twice what Americans pay?). Most freebies aren't applicable to us. It just sucks, really. I sometimes go window shopping on the website, but then I look at the prices, realise it's going to be at least $4 more for some baffling reason, throw in the 13% tax (or whatever it is, I can't keep up with the changes) and then ten dollars more for shipping, and suddenly the shine comes off. :/ It also doesn't help that a lot of brands aren't available in Canada in any other way, so they pretty much have you if you want something (and of course, there's still other brands that you just can't get full-stop because Sephora won't ship them to Canadian residents - I'm looking at you, Bobbi Brown and Illmasqua). It's basically stupid that Canada loses out all the time. (And I'm not even going to get into the bit with customs and the stupidly low amount that we have to keep to not get hammered with handling fees and extra taxes...) The F&F sale is more or less salt in the wound.
/rant off, sorry. It bugs me too.
Oh dear, I really did not know about this. I'm so sorry. :(
ReplyDeleteomg, I love you. I especially love the last paragraph. I totally agree, it's so annoying that we don't ever get the sales applied to us up here. If all 22 stores are doing well, I don't see why they wouldn't. It would bring in even more business, and would be a great marketing move to bring in more customers. Oh, but we're just Canadians. It's not like we like/want makeup or anything *eye roll.*
ReplyDeleteOnce I complained about this directly to Urban Decay, because their website was having a sale that excluded Canadians, and the darlings didn't bother to get back to me. Silly Canadians and their complaints.
It doesn't make sense to me why your prices in Canada would be so much higher if you have local stores AND your dollar value is almost the same as the USA dollar (and your dollar was worth more for a few years!!!) :( I'm sorry that you get ripped off.
ReplyDeleteI always love reading your posts because you are so funny! It sucks the friend and family sale doesn't apply to Canadians :(
ReplyDeleteHow lame >:[ If you really want BoS3 and wanted to paypal me the money, I could just hop over to the post office and ship it right to you when it gets here. Companies always totally rip you guys off on shipping. International shipping is really not expensive, I ship packages all the time and it's never been over $5 for anything.
ReplyDeleteThat really blows. I'm sorry about that- I want the new Urban Decay BOS, too- I got the one they released last year and it's been great for when I travel because I don't have to bring all those eyeshadows and have them rattling around. But I can't afford it right now cos I'm STILL unemployed.
ReplyDelete:D It does feel good to get a little rant out!
ReplyDelete@Ashley it really annoyed me that we can't order from Urban Decay either. I wanted the primer potion from the squeeze bottle and sephora online is our only chance but it's just limited edition there, but urban decay will have it as part of their site. But I don't feel like paying a stupid amount from Sephora just for a primer.
@Phyrra I know! It's nutty, and some people's argument is "well it's always changing so best make it a set price so they don't loose money" except our dollar hasn't been that low since I can remember. We hit parity again a couple of weeks ago.
Durn it
@ladyinatophat It is pretty asshole-y. Chritmas time sucks too. All these holiday freebies and junk, US only! GRRRR
@Heather, no worries lady! I made up a cart and figured out the savings and while it was UBER AWESOME I remembered I still wanted to make a Meow order and I tend to use my loose shadows before palettes so Meow won the contest lol. But THANK YOU!!!
EVERYBODDEH ELSE! We is gonna team up with SilhouetteScreams and get stabby!! :D
Hahaha the part about the moose made me laugh! It's a shame Canada doesn't get to partake in the sale, I had no idea :(
ReplyDelete:D Maybe one day they'll stop being uber jerks. Right now they'll just be my primer supplier only.
ReplyDelete