EBay wedding dresses?

A question about : EBay wedding dresses?

Hello,

we're looking to get married next year and I was looking for the first time on EBay at the dresses on there. There's lots from China on there which are extremely cheap and are made to measure. Now, one of my friends got one of these for her wedding and it was perfect but is there a catch to this since they're so cheap? Ie. unethical working conditions etc?

Sorry if I sound naive but if it's a genuine cheap deal then I'm in but I'm a bit wary!

Best answers:

• I ordered one to wear as a fancy dress costume last year and lets just say, you get what you pay for. Granted, it was a nice style and fitted exactly but you are unlikely to get intricate styling, great quality materials and the perfect finish that you would with an expensive seamstress-made item over here.
  When I bought mine, there were negative reviews from people saying "Oh my god how can I wear this for my wedding, fabric was cheap, seams shoddy etc etc" Well what exactly were they expecting for £60?
  It really depends what you are after, they are great value for money and nicely made but just not as 'crisp' as their more expensive counterparts.
  If your friends was good then I would get one from the same seller as it will give you a good idea of the quality to expect.
• I bought my wedding dress from china on ebay after reading lots of buyers positive feedback and also after somebody on this forum told me her cousin had bought a dress from this seller and she was impressed with the quality and was ordering her own wedding dress.
  I was very happy with the quality and there was a lot of work put into the beading although I can't comment on the labour used. This dress cost me almost £150 but I was prepared to pay that because of the recommendations, it was custom made to my size, they were flexible about changes I wanted and also the dress was based on one which costs around £900 here
• I don't know about the working conditions either, but I do have a hint.
  A friend of mine was a bridesmaid who had her dress made abroad, as did all the maids. A friend of hers - a professional tailor - measured her for the dress. She said that her dress fitted perfectly, but the other maids, who had not had their measurements taken so precisely, suffered from poorly fitted dresses. This sounds like extra money well spent, to have exact measurements taken
• I got my wedding dress from ebay, from china. Dress was lovely, cost over 200 pounds and was well spent. Detail was lovely on it.
  Kyle
• I got my wedding dress on Ebay from an Ebay shop in UK. They made it to fit me and never even saw me!!! It cost Ј250, and it was absolutely beautiful! If you want the details, let me know, I'm sure I have them somewhere.
  Easiest way to source a wedding dressI suppose would be to do the search by location as well. If you pick UK only, or Europe, then the search will only throw up people from there.
• Hello, I have recently purchase my wedding dress from an ebay shop based in China and altogether for the dress, postage and underskirt/hoop it cost me Ј95 now thats what I call a bargain, the dress is beautiful and would cost upwards of Ј1500 I expect in shops! Only downside is the small zip broke at the back of dress but my aunt is going to fix it for next to nothing. Its a lottery with these international seller but in my opinion I had the option to return the dress as long as i posted it no later than 3 days after i received it, so for me Ј95 was worth the risk!
  Good Luck!
• Hello
  I got my wedding dress and bridesmaids from ebay, they weren't made to measure, they were regular sizes and i had the bridesmaid tweaked slightly
  the bridesmaid were from natalie_bridal (in china, very lovely dresses, really exceptional for the cost) and i didn't get my dress from this site but ive seen it reccomended before www.jewlz.co.uk
  I went to a bridal shop to look at what styles were on offer, and what suited me, then took it from there
  Good luck xx
• One thing to remember about China. Whilst it is a developing country, there are so may people there a huge percentage of things are made by hand.
  We went there on a holiday tour and the local guide said that 1 machine can take away the work of several hundred staff, so they tend not to do that.
  We visited loads of places and all the factory shops used staff rather than machines to manufacture things.
  Hope this helps peoples conscience
  Lee
• Umm, I doubt that extends to dressmaking though. All the stuff flooding the high street from China will have been made on a sewing machine, so someone will have been operating the machine. There is no way any of the garments in shops or on ebay have been sewn stitch by stitch by hand! They might have hand beading or hand finishing (sewing buttons on) but not actually made by hand sewn seams.
• My friend's daughter bought a beautiful wedding dress on eBay, from a seller in the US. She paid about £80 for it (the dress had been worn once but was truly 'as new'. She already had a holiday booked in the States and collected the dress then, so saved on the postage.
  She also made her own wedding invitations on her computer, and they looked really professional when printed out
  When I married for the first time in 1982, I got my wedding dress in a sale in Southampton for £30 (reduced from £130). The veil I wore (not in the sale, alas!) cost £70!
  I can't speak from experience about the wedding dresses from China, but I would say this. Don't restrict yourself only to looking at completely new dresses, you may well find one you love, at a bargain price, from another eBay seller. Also look in the shops for last season's dresses at reduced prices!
  Good luck with the wedding!!
• Ok - I'm a bridal wear consultant but I'm gonna try to be un-biased.
  Most of the wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses that you can buy in normal wedding shops are actually made in China (I know all of ours are!) so what you find is that some of these shops on Ebay probably manufacture for the names you can buy over here (although rumour has it that most don't, they're just in it for the counterfeiting, which is now RIFE in the wedding industry). You need to be careful though as they tend to use the photos from the 'designers' but have to change it in some way so as not to infringe on design rights, although sometimes these changes are due to the fact that the factory doesn't manufacture that exact gown.
  I have looked at the gowns and have been quite tempted to order one to see what it looks like, but from the experiences of some of the people who come into our shop, the majority that I have seen (and our seamstress who works independantly doing alterations) is that they're very bad quality - cheap, nasty fabric, skewiff hems, no underskirting etc etc. I'm not saying that all of the ones you can buy from Ebay are bad but the rule seems to be that you get what you pay for.
  If I were you (and this KILLS me to say this as I hate it when people waste my time doing this!) I'd look in the bridal boutiques and try some on before deciding what to do - you may well find one that you fall in love with!
  My Ethical side is telling me to say 'don't buy it from Ebay, some of these places are like sweat-shops and it takes business away from the average bridal retailer like me' but my Money Saving side is saying 'Go for it!' So I think I'll combine the two and just say be very careful, as you don't know what the quality will be like, you could end up throwing your money away on a bad gown - it's too important a dress to gamble with, so check out the bridal retailers first - the majority have sales rails and some will let you purchase the sample gowns they use for try-ons at a discount (if you're lucky enough to fall in love with one that fits). Something else to bear in mind is that if you buy more than your gown (maybe veil, tiara, shoes or bridesmaid dresses) before committing and placing your order you should always be cheeky and ask for a discount, most will be very accommodating and do something for you (we do at our place!)
  Anyway - I hope that this helps you - let us know what you decide to do! And if you do go for the China gown PM me to let me know what the quality is like!
  Regards
  Kerry
• I'm keeping an eye on this thread at the moment from another board: Info About Wedding Dresses From China The OP of this thread seems to be doing some very thorough research.
  There is an interesting post on the end of the second page, where someone bought a dress from an Ebay seller and then changed their mind and subsequently bought a different style from the same seller. There are very detailed pictures on her ebay listing and as far as I can see, the dress seems to be very good quality.
• OMG ... How pink and fluffy is that web site Very good bargains though ... (can't believe how much a wedding costs now - mine was Ј75, 10 years ago, and worth every penny)!
• I am due to get married in 3 weeks and I ordered my dress from MillyBridal at the beginnng of the year. I have to say it is absolutly fanstasic! The quality of the material and the stitching is second to none. I tried lots of dresses on in a store in the UK and decided on the design I wanted, I was all set to buy the dress for £1000 and my cousin told me about Milly bridal. I got the exact same dress and I also got a matching bag and wrap and all in all I have saved myself over £800. I would recommend this store to anyone.
  I was so worried about my decision to buy from this store but the only problem I had with them was there was a delay because of the Chinese New Year!
  Good luck to all you brides to be out there.
• I got married in 2000 and paid about Ј375 for a new dress in the sales. My cousin paid about the same to hire a dress, but hers was a much more expensive one to start with.
  Might be worth seeing if you CAN hire - chances are you won't need it after the big day. I recently discovered mine squashed in a suitcase in the garage and ebayed it for about Ј16...
• I am actually getting mine from America, with the dollar being so weak at the moment, I have found my dress (sottero) and 4 bridesmaids (dessy) for less than £500 Brucie bonus
  I tried finding my dress on ebay but couldnt
• I bought mine from China 2 years ago off ebay. I thought it was great. I have it back on ebay now. If anyone interested in it (size 18) pm me. Auction due to end on Sunday
• what do i look under on ebay there are loads of size 18
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