Navigating the Complexities of Online Shopping

The very first episode of this pod was on how clothes got so shitty — and it prompted a whole bunch of you to write in with your questions about how the entire experience of obtaining those clothes became so shitty. Some of it is just what’s going on in the fashion world more broadly (and a continued refusal to believe that anyone larger than a size 12 wants cute, well-made clothes that fit and wants to pay you money for them) but some of it is just the weird ever-changing world of online shopping, which encourages our worst impulses and often leaves us with earrings that look nothing like the picture and make our earlobes turn green. To answer your questions (about best online shopping practices, about email marketing tactics, about how to quell or at least abate your anxiety shopping) I wanted to talk to the best and smartest shopper I know: Caroline Moss.

Show Notes:

• Follow Caroline/Gee Thanks Just Bought It on Instagram and join the larger community on Facebook

• Subscribe to Caroline’s free Substack, where she’s rounding up all the good Memorial Day sales

• Trustpilot.com to see if a company is indeed a legit company

• The Amanda Mull piece on returns I referenced

• Dumpster Dive King on Instagram + The Trash Walker + a NYT piece on the work they do

• Here’s the Honey browser extension and phone app (AHP remains dubious but will dutifully try it out)

• The Shop App that Caroline uses to keep all orders/notifications in one place (will also try out)

• THE TUB SHROOM!!!!!

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• Home renovation shows + class! (Our guest is Jonathan Menjivar, host of Classy. If you haven’t read his interview in the newsletter, it’s fantastic.)

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help. Co-host is

  Virginia Sole-Smith

  , so it’s gonna be great)

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• Artificial Intelligence (we’re gonna see if we can figure out an actually interesting theme here, so send us your weirdest or most mind-boggling questions)

• The economy, a.k.a. why is everything so damn expensive right now (my dream here is like an Odd Lots guest who doesn’t have private equity brain, please let us know if you have suggestions!)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

For today’s discussion: How has your approach to online shopping shifted? How do you quell your anxiety shopping? What’s your version of Caroline’s tap shoes? TELL US EVERYTHING.