Why I don’t participate in the NSALE (Nordstrom Sale) Part 2 & a Linkup

WHY I DON’T PARTICIPATE IN THE NSALE

Back in 2018 I wrote a post about why I don’t participate in the NSALE craze. I mentioned in that post that there was one year (2017) that I caved but wish I didn’t. It was just for a few clicks on affiliate links. It’s 2022 and I still don’t bother with it. Whenever I do use affiliate links, I do my best to avoid Nordstrom at all costs. I did link my wedding dress to Nordstrom because unfortunately they were the only store that had my exact one. I bought it from Macy’s though. And no, I’m not embarrassed to say I bought my wedding dress at a department store. It was THE dress when I saw it.

Related: Why I don’t participate in the NSALE part 1.

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

AFFILIATE LINKING ISSUES

In my first post about not participating in the NSALE I said that the reason why I caved was because Nordstrom tends to have a higher commission rate. Well, in a group I’m in for a certain affiliate linking platform this year has been frustrating. I’ve seen bloggers/influencers complaining about the commission rates changing along with reversed orders, etc. Rightfully so. The NSALE was doing perfectly fine without bloggers and influencers. However, in my opinion, I think with the help from your favorite bloggers/influencers it grew the hype even more. Maybe with all of the commission issues that happened to people this year, it’ll lessen the hype.

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

IT’S OVERRATED

Nordstrom all together is overrated in my opinion. Something I said in my last NSALE post was that you can get some of the items for less at other places. Whether that be at another store or even an outlet store. Sometimes it might not be the same exact thing but just slightly different. There are so many other department stores that are just as good, if not better than Nordstrom. 

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

I WORKED THERE

You can call me a disgruntled employee and maybe now knowing that I worked at Nordstrom, you’ll completely disregard everything I just said. But just hear me out. I was so excited to work at Nordstrom. So excited that I drove 1+ hours (45 minutes without traffic) one way to get to work. When I started there I thought there was so much potential for growth. At least that’s how the job was presented to me. I was excited to finally work at a company within the fashion industry that I could grow with. Unfortunately, I was misinformed and the next part of this post goes over why.

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

WHY I QUIT

In my first post about Nordstrom and the NSALE, I went over things I didn’t like about working there. I won’t go into as much detail (I’ll of course go into a little detail) because you can read that post. The main reasons I left were the work environment, commissions, and the return policy or lack thereof. 

The work environment

The environment working there was toxic. It was super catty and lots of gossiping. The way I described it previously was that it was worse than the movie Mean Girls. I still stand by that. Because it’s commission based people were very eager to hop on and help everyone. Sometimes customers would be “taken” from others. It happened to me so many times. 

Commissions

As for the commissions, each department has different commissions. Departments such as something seasonal like dresses or designer was at a higher commission, whereas departments that were for everyday clothing had a lower commission. You were allowed to shop with a customer in between departments, even if it wasn’t your department. Which is great, until it’s not. There were a few times where a particular employee from the department next to me would see a customer walking through my department and right before I went up to the customer, they would poach them. The first time this happened was when I was ringing a customer up. I did confront this person and they denied doing this. 

Return Policy

Then there’s the whole return policy. I don’t know if they’ve changed it over the past several years but when I worked there, there was no return policy. All you needed were the two barcodes and you could even return items with no tags that have been clearly worn. There was this one situation that I’ll never forget. It was the top 3 ridiculous retail moments of my, at the time, decade’s worth of retail experience. I’ve had shoes thrown at me and had to almost call the cops on a guy that almost broke the door because we didn’t have meatballs at Subway. But this, this was an interesting story. We were getting ready to close and the department managers had been warned of a suspicious person wanting to return a dress. This person had no tag, no receipt, and the dress was so soiled that you could smell it a mile away. Not to mention the style was very clearly from the late 90s early 00s. I worked there in 2012. Well, my manager got the ok from her manager to return the dress.

Another issue with the return policy is that the commissions would be taken from the employee. Which I can see as being fair, if they had a decent return policy. I had someone come in and return a bunch of stuff that was clearly worn for the event they bought it for and returned after two months. I even remember them telling me when the event was. All of those commissions were taken from me so even though I sold a good amount, that return put me in the negative. Or sometimes I’d come in for my shift to see that I was starting at -$2,000 commission that day. So not only did I have to make up that $2000, but I had to sell enough to make some kind of commission that day. I don’t remember the negative ever being more than $2000 but I’m sure it’s happened to some people. 

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

IF YOU SHOP AT NORDSTROM OR THE NSALE  I DON’T THINK LESS OF YOU 

I do just want to say that if you do post about the NSALE or you shop at Nordstrom, I don’t think less of you. We can just agree to disagree at the end of the day because all of this is just my opinion. Maybe for some people shopping the NSALE is a tradition with their friends or family. I just won’t be participating in the NSALE hype or shopping at Nordstrom. I don’t blog or do affiliate marketing full time so my livelihood doesn’t depend on this. For some, affiliate marketing is a nice chunk of their income. 

The argument can be made that I shop at Amazon and Walmart, both of which are not the greatest companies (in my opinion of course).  While that is true, as I’m sure many of you could agree, Amazon and Walmart are convenient.  If you’re looking to save money, these two companies offer great prices.  Which is why, while I don’t like Nordstrom based on my experience and opinion, if you shop there or participate in the sale, I’m not judging you at all.

Dress: Amazon (they don’t have the sunflowers in black, but they have it in white and many other colors) // Sandals: Birkenstock

LET’S MOVE ON TO THE LINKUP!