Zappos Price Protection Policy Change

[Shomore]

What does everyone think about the updated price protection policy at Zappos?

Each customer is permitted to apply this offer to a maximum of one (1) item during any given calendar month.

For me, that's a big OH NO!!! While Zappos has excellent selection, their 'sale' prices aren't spectacular and they don't offer any coupons. Most of the time, I still end up buying from them because the price protection makes for a great price and I love the free returns, customer service.

I guess this means the # max of shoes that I'll be buying from Zappos will be 1/month.

[Shoe_Guru]

You can price match as many times as you want on Poshers.com(if you can find a lower price) & you still get the free shipping/returns and great customer service!

[DianaR]

It sounds like the original policy was being abused. This was a great way to save money on shoe shopping. I guess for now it's only once per month... oh well.

[Shomore]

According to the Zappos' CEO blog, here's their reasoning for completely removing price protection.

"We decided to remove our price protection policy from Zappos because we didn't feel it was consistent with our goal of making Zappos customer service-focused as opposed to price-focused. We found that most of the customers that were using our former price protection policy would actually save even more money if we simply started out with more deeply discounted products in the first place. Instead of on Zappos, you'll be able to find those deeply discounted products on 6pm.com."

[galligator]

Excuse me!?

Don't get me wrong, 6pm has 50% or more discounted prices, but it is the final resting place of last season shoes that didn't sell at full retail - not exactly something that 'needs' price protection. I'm the kind of gal that is more than willing to wait for a killer sale price & will then usually only buy if I still love it by that time & my size is still available. But come on, sites like Piperlime & Endless are only getting more aggressive about their price-matching policy; this seems like poor timing for such a business decision. After all, when people are feeling econimically pinched as most folks in the US are right now, these are issues that are seriously considered before deciding which retailer will get one's business. NOT giving price protection when the industry standard is moving toward that model strikes me as both counterintuitive & counterproductive.

[anirudh_1984]

Zappos is a great store but id never buy my shoes online!

[shoemana]

I buy shoes online. I just make sure I know what size to get first.
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[jennamick]

Buying shoes (or anything) online is much more comfortable, don't you think?

[jengold]

Buying shoes (or anything) online is much more comfortable, don't you think?

since 2 years ago I only buy online (shoes that is).

Zappos is a great store but id never buy my shoes online!

the only downside is that you can't actually try things on in person so sometimes you have to send them back. only had that happen once to me though.

[laureenthemean]

I agree with the others; as far as sale pricing, Zappos sucks. I remember buying a pair of Marc by Marc Jacobs jellies that were full price for $103 on Zappos, but I got them for $30 on shopbop. It's nice that they have free shipping and returns, though, so that if you get the wrong size you can exchange them. The price protection policy is lame in that the exact shoe you want has to be in stock on the competitor site, that is, the exact color and size. When shoes go on sale, sometimes the color/size you want can sell out quickly, so it's difficult to take advantage of the price protection. I guess that is the point.