By Karen and Erica

We have always been bargain hunters. When we were young, a perfect Sunday afternoon was buying discounted underwear and handbags on the Lower East Side. And then a bag of half sours from the pickle man. Not much has changed over the years—except now we are sometimes accompanied by husbands who struggle with the rather simple concept that you have to spend to save.  

We do not shop in stores with really cheap merchandise that is often made in countries where workers do not make a living wage. And, we like expensive stuff. If it is made locally and sold in our local stores, we bite the bullet and pay retail. But for major brands we still don’t like to pay full price. We go to in-store sales, though they are frankly less fun now that they aren’t limited to certain times of the year.

We continue to love consignment stores where we can take massive risks because of ridiculously low pricing which assumes that nobody in her right mind would ever wear such a thing. Of course, that makes the purchase more splendid than ever--if it works.  

And we also now love certain internet sales sites—especially when we know that the brand and the sizing works. We thought we would share some of our favorite sites, especially for luxury brands, with the hope that you will share yours:

Net-a-Porter. Often has fabulous sales. Check out Golden Goose sneakers for example.

Yoox. Net-a-Porter’s sale site. Deeper discounts. 

Matches Fashion. Terrific sales. You can search by size. Styling advice and suggestions too.

The Outnet. Over 350 designers at up to 75% off. Worth checking.

Farfetch. Great quick delivery and a massive amount of merchandise on sale—a huge platform for designers known and not so known.

Vestaire.  Consignment. Big selection. 

TheRealReal. Also Consignment.

Ebay. Yes, Ebay. It has tons of stuff, and you can refine searches by designer, and size and color and lots of other things.

And, of course, there is furniture as well. We will do another post on home goods, but in the meantime check out Chairish and Viyet. One never knows. Maybe you will find that huge Holly Hunt dining table you covet for a tenth of the price--or even less!