The Wish App is a shopping app available on iOS and Android that allows you to buy cheap items directly from manufacturers. You can also shop on the Wish website. Most of the goods displayed on the app are shipped directly from China and are typically knockoffs or lookalikes of more popular products.
The Wish App became popular in the holiday shopping season of 2015, and it’s still going strong. Who wouldn’t want to fill their shopping cart without draining their wallets? But shopping on the Wish app calls for extreme caution. You can be burned by bad purchases, and in some cases, a refund may not be possible. You could order for a $50 smartphone and get an 89 cents car charger delivered to you!
It takes literally forever to ship items, and you may even forget that you had ordered something till it arrives at your doorstep.
Notwithstanding, Wish is increasingly becoming popular among shoppers, and some people even find it addictive. With the millions of crazy deals on Wish, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of discounts.
Is Wish legit? A Few Things to Know About the App to Guide You.
How The Wish App Works
Once you successfully download the app, it will prompt you to set-up an account. You can use your name, email address, and other personal information, or you can simply link up your Facebook or Google account. You won’t be able to make purchases without first setting up your account.
On the home page, the most recent listings are displayed. You can narrow your search by product type or category. When you see something you like, you click on it to view more detailed pictures, price, description, previous customer reviews, shipping charges, and estimated shipping time.
At this stage, you can directly buy the item or save it to your Wishlist. You can play around with your Wishlist – add or remove items from it, create multiple Wishlists, follow your friends, and view their Wishlist. You can also publish your Wishlist to Facebook.
Most of the Wish items are a cheap imitation of high-value best-selling or trending products like electronic gadgets, clothing, accessories, and more. On average, the products on Wish are sold for $5 to $50.
You’ll earn rewards in the form of Wish Cash as you add items to your Wishlist and buy products. To view and use the Wish Cash, you go to the Wallet section of your account.
How Safe is Wish?
Wish has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. According to the BBB data, out of 393 customer reviews of the App, 342 were negative, 33 positive, and 18 neutral. This gives Wish an 87% negative customer review rating. A total of 1,178 complaints were filed and resolved in the last three years.
The App’s growing popularity is partly due to the outrageous discounts on some items. Maybe that is why you also wonder if it isn’t too good to be true.
Wish is a real online shopping platform that operates in much the same way as more popular sites like eBay and Amazon. Sellers list items and control their pricing and shipping. However, Wish will come in if you have any issues with your transactions.
There are a lot of customer reviews on the internet posted by Wish users, most on YouTube. Customers, on average, received items with lower than expected quality. Although, some got an occasional good deal on items that arrived looking very much like the real thing.
Clothing is the worst item to purchase on Wish according to consumer reviews. They hardly fit, and you won’t have any way of telling the fabric’s quality from the pictures.
You may get lucky with low-end electronics such as car chargers, earphones, and Bluetooth devices. The features advertised on the app may all be functional.
One thing is clear – most items you’ll buy on Wish are cheap knock offs or mass-produced products.
But these findings don’t necessarily mean the Wish online shopping platform is a scam. You may as well give it a shot if you are ready to forgo quality for the price. There are still lots of stuff that you can take a chance on – where quality is not much of an issue.
Buying Recommendations
Shopping on Wish is somewhat like going on a blind date -you never know what to expect. To limit your risk and make sure you get good value for your money most of the time, there are some items you can buy on Wish and other items you might consider shopping for on more trustworthy sites. Here is a general guide to help you choose:
What to Buy on Wish App
If you decide to try out Wish, here are some categories of products you can bet on:
Free Items: Of course, you’ll be required to pay for shipping. But shipping is usually less than $2, so if you are ok with the fact the item may not be as described exactly, why not? What is there to lose?
- Costume Jewellery: Most of the Costume jewelry on Wish is free. While not of the highest quality, you can get lots of lovely bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings.
- Novelty Items: These are usually fun to buy. Simply because the expectations are really low, you’ll get a pleasant surprise when the item is not exactly the junk you expected.
- Party Decorations: You can get any type of party decoration here for next to nothing. You’ll be using them mostly once, so why spend a lot of money?
- Cell Phone Accessories: Accessories like smartphone chargers and earphones are typically hit or miss. But you can get lucky with really cool phone cases, Bluetooth speakers, and others for a trifle.
What to Avoid Buying on Wish App
Although you might get lucky every now and then, here are examples of items you are better off buying elsewhere;
- Clothing: Most complaints about clothing purchases are about size and quality. Better buy from a platform where you can readily return any article of clothing that is less than satisfactory after you try them out.
- High-end electronics: These purchases hardly go well. There are many stories where unsuspecting buyers, having been lured in by the huge discounts, ended up with a non-functional product or a different product from what was ordered.
- Cosmetics: Cosmetics and makeups are best avoided. These products come from places that have little or no regulatory control over quality. It wouldn’t do to save a few dollars only to harm your body using any of this stuff.
- Baby items: Just as you would avoid using cosmetics manufactured with questionable chemicals, anything for your children’s use should be safe and of high quality. These include soft toys, feeding utensils, diapers, and more.
Pricing
Most of the Wish items display a ridiculous discount – sometimes up to 95% with the supposedly original price slashed out.
Don’t be fooled; the sellers simply slap on any figure they wish. These numbers don’t mean anything.
In fact, there are cases where items that were listed as being on sale were found selling for cheaper on another online shopping platform. So, it would be best to compare prices on any item on Wish with prices on other online platforms like Amazon and eBay before buying to ensure you are getting the best deal.
Many items are free on Wish – you only pay for shipping charges. These are mostly stuff that you wouldn’t usually have any need for. But sometimes, you’ll be surprised by a good deal that you’ll get to use actually.
Shipping pricing on Wish can vary wildly – a lot of items are eligible for free shipping. At the same time, some inexpensive items have rather high shipping charges, which nullify the purpose of thrift buying.
Ensure you check the total amount before you check out your purchases.
Shipping
This is where you may have a problem with Wish. Your orders will take so long it seems they were being transported in a merchant sail ship from the 17th century. You may have to wait for months in some cases. Your order may arrive after you have forgotten what it was you bought. That is what you’ll have to sacrifice for getting good deals on some products.
However, Wish also offers express shipping on select items. If you wish to have a product delivered to you within a week, check if it is marked for express shipping before buying.
Pros of Wish
- Low-priced products
- Free Shipping on some items
- Lots of discount deals
- Savings of up to 95% on some items
- A less expensive way to try out trends
Cons of Wish
- Snail-speed shipping times
- Plenty of low-quality products
- Shipping can be expensive
- Items may not be as pictured and may not work
- Missing deliveries
- Unreliable refund process
- The free refund or replacement policy is just for 30days- often expiring even before the product arrives
- Poor customer support
- Very little information on vendors on the App
- Clothing actual sizes are often different than stated on App
So, Is Wish Legit?
Wish offers a dazzling variety of products. There’s hardly anything you can’t find on Wish from essential oil diffusers to wireless iPhone chargers.
Also, you hardly know what you’ll get once you click that button – You may strike it lucky with a good deal on an item. Or you may get delivered an utterly useless item. Just don’t set your expectations too high.
To find out if Wish is legit, in essence, you should probably give it a try. But spend something you wouldn’t mind losing. If your experience is satisfactory, you may well continue using their services. However, shop with extreme caution. If a deal appears too good to be true, it most likely is.
