The ascendence of e-commerce that it’s easy to set up a storefront site and compete with the largest retailers in the world. That’s good for a company that sells, say, formal dresses. The problem is that when it’s so easy to set up a slick site with tempting prices, consumers may be stuck: left without a the beautiful dress they thought they were purchasing or their money.

CBS Chicago interviewed one bride who thought she was getting a great deal online, but received a gown that wasn’t anything like the one in the catalog picture. It was lacy, and white, but lacked key details.

The bride ended up spending more than four times as much as she had spent on the dress from a tiny online retailer at a local brick-and-mortar store. The local boutique she visited told CBS Chicago that they often help with failed purchases of deeply discounted formalwear that have gone awry.

In the story on TV, their advice in order to avoid situations like this amounts to “avoid dresses that are much cheaper than they should be.” That’s terrible advice: sample sales and clearance racks do exist. Just don’t expect great bargains to come from an obscure website.

That Wedding Dress Deal Online? It May Be Too Good To Be True [CBS Chicago]

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