The Blackmarkers - We are an online retailer for a filtered selection of streetwear, contemporary menswear and accessories. We are based in Richmond, BC, Canada and we serve customers World Wide. We also offer local pick up for our local customers to save on shipping costs.
I wanted to let you all know why we even started this business in the first place.
I shop online all the time, I've bought a TV, books, tools, security cameras, clothing, software, etc online. Talking specifically about clothing, I bought online because I couldn't find a lot of independent brands locally. Online, I can spend my time looking through the whole catalog, whereas in the store, it would be a little weird if I hung around for an hour looking through everything piece by piece. I also enjoyed the greater selection of goods and sizes available. Online shopping did have some downsides though. These downsides in addition to my passion for streetwear and entrepreneurial spirit brought me to create this web store. While building this website/business, I tried to address all the problems I ever had with other online stores. I knew there was a better way of doing things. Here are some of the things I experienced and some promises I will make to our customer. 1. Coupon Codes
I had been shopping at one of the largest streetwear sites in the US for quite a few years. The way they promoted their site, they kind of got me into the habit of looking for a coupon code before I bought anything. I always wanted something to help offset the price of shipping to Canada, not because I was looking for discounted clothes... clothing is not an economic decision for me.. but thats a whole other story. Anyways, I had a feeling that any time you used a coupon code, it would just increase the shipping amount so there would be no discount at all. I tested it and it was true. What the f... right? I wrote about this on my personal blog in 2007, so this was before I even started working on this project. I don't know if its still happening now, because I've never been back since I discovered how shady the company was. We promise that when you use a coupon code on our site, you will receive the discount you expect. 2. Processing Times
My girlfriends birthday was coming up and I bought her a 10 Deep tee from the other large streetwear site in the US. I paid for express shipping to make sure I got the shirt in time for her birthday. The company took almost 2 weeks to ship my order out. What a complete waste of money to pay for express shipping when they take an unreasonable amount of time to ship the product out. Thats not all. When my package finally arrived after my girlfriends birthday had passed, the shirt was missing from the order! My girlfriend thinks I lied about ordering her a present now. So I get on the phone to notify the company that I'm missing an item, but of course, they are nowhere to be found. I tried multiple emails... nothing. Finally, after many attempts and another 2 weeks, I finally get in touch with them and they send the shirt out. "Hey baby...I know its 2 1/2 weeks late, but..." We promise to ship out your order in a timely manner, usually the same or next business day. 3. Shipping Costs
There isn't really a story about this one, but coming from an experienced online shopper, watch out for this. If you ever shopped on ebay, you know what I'm talking about. The store/seller will lower the price of the goods to make them look attractive, but when you go to checkout, the shipping price is much higher than it should be. Our store is linked to UPS and Canada Post, so all the shipping rates are directly from them. We charge what UPS and Canada Post charge us. We promise to never mark up shipping costs.
No funny business, no fine print, this is how it is...
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