Maiden Clothing Review- Positive

I recently placed an order with Maiden Clothing for a bag and so today I shall be reviewing my experience. They had a bag that I had really been wanting for ages so now seemed a better time than any to give it a go.

Ordering Process

As is quite common with similar sites, the overseas ordering process is a little bit different to how people in Japan order. However, the details of how to place an overseas order are quite straightforward. There is a button right at the top of the page which takes you to the instructions to place your order. Instead of using the cart system you have to fill out a form and send them an email with the items you wish to order. The form was very easy to fill in. I was able to simply copy and paste the form from their page in to my email and fill it in. Then they will get back to you with the shipping cost. Maiden Clothing take your payment via NICOS. We did have a little issue with the NICOS page because some of the Japanese text was a picture, so it didn't translate. But it was quite a simple form so it didn't cause too many issues. The emails went through reasonably quickly and my item was shipped out not long afterwards.

Shipping

My bag was sent out via EMS on the 7th and arrived on the 16th. To be fair, a lot of that time it was actually sat in UK customs. The bag only actually took a day or 2 to make it from Japan to UK customs. 9 days is still quite a fast time considering that included a weekend and I opted not to go for Parcelforce's Saturday delivery (£12 for Saturday delivery? I don't think so!).

The bag was shipped inside a paper parcel bag and was sealed up properly. I have to admit the bag used to ship the bag in was a little bit flimsy. As I was ripping off my address like I usually do when I upload photos on here, the parcel paper actually ripped open and came away with the address label. So perhaps some sturdier shipping bags are needed. The contents inside were absolutely fine and there was a further plastic bag covering my bag inside. It is more the fact that with a simple rip could expose the contents to anybody who is handling my parcel.

As mentioned, the bag was further wrapped with plastic inside. I do feel an extra layer of bubble wrap would have been a nice touch but my bag did arrive safely.

Was the condition as described as on the website?

Because Maiden Clothing is a second hand store, the condition of the items is ranked and any flaws are mentioned in the listing. I felt Maiden Clothing gave quite an accurate description of what I should expect from the bag. They have multiple photos on the item page. You have to click on the photos to go to them and you can't open them in a new tab, but that is just a minor inconvenience.

The listing for my bag mentioned there was a bit of a dent on the back. When the bag arrived I double checked this and I can confirm it was indeed the only damage on the bag. In fact, I think the bag actually looks better in person than it did on the Maiden Clothing website. They took a lot of precautions and I got a bag in better condition than I was expecting. So I am very happy. As for the dent, it is really small and superficial and I am not worried about it at all.

Furthering on the packaging details, I found that the inside of the bag had been padded out with a bag stuffed with newspaper. This is good as it meant the bag held its shape and didn't get squished in the post. The shoulder strap was neatly folded and taped up with a bit of cardboard.

So overall I am very pleased with my new bag. I felt Maiden Clothing gave very in depth information about the bag condition and was presented very well. If I am being honest, I think there are a few minor things that could be improved here and there but overall this was a positive experience. I would recommend Maiden Clothing to my friends and I would use them again.