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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is tipping online retailers now a thing?

53 replies

GoingBacktoSchool123 · 02/12/2021 22:48

Just placing an order on Saint & Sofia and at checkout I’m offered the option to tip their staff 5%, 10% or 20%?

Have they lost their minds? What on earth is the tip rewarding? People doing their jobs properly? You don’t even know until the delivery is complete.

AIBU to think that extending tipping to online retailers is a terrible idea and they should be paying their staff properly so that tips aren’t needed.

OP posts:
PanettoneSeason · 03/12/2021 05:41

@GoingBacktoSchool123 Absolutely ridiculous! I work in retail and can’t imagine asking people when they pay for their purchases if they want to tip me 😳🤣
I work in an area that requires us spending a long time with customers 1 on 1 to find the thing that’s just right for them. Sometimes a customer will be so delighted that they’ll return afterwards with a card or chocolates or the likes which is always hugely appreciated but completely unnecessary!

TakeMe2Insanity · 03/12/2021 05:57

Hell no!

Nearly all my online purchases recently have had problems, so on that basis no.

madisonbridges · 03/12/2021 06:03

Apartment pants? Was this not just a made up thing on Friends? It's a real thing now?

Sprostongreen21 · 03/12/2021 06:11

@madisonbridges

Apartment pants? Was this not just a made up thing on Friends? It's a real thing now?
Glad it wasn’t just me thinking that!
PlumManor · 03/12/2021 06:13

I bought clothes from there last year and got the same, I was like WTF 😳

They didn’t get a tip, and tbh the clothes were expensive for what came too.

Rainartist · 03/12/2021 07:21

Would put me off buying from them!

thebellagio · 03/12/2021 07:37

I tried to buy a top from England rugby recently, there was 20% off so I figured it would be a good Xmas present. On a top that was £45
Reduced to £36, they wanted to charge £5.95 for big standard 7 day delivery but they also wanted a £1 handling fee - when I looked into it, the handling fee was to pick up the item from the shelf! That to me was taking the piss!

So I didn’t buy it because I was going to save £9 yet be charged £7! The irony is if it was full price and free delivery I would have been more likely to order but definitely not now that they are trying to charge for literally picking up the item. I mean, it’s an online shop! Wtf?

Eminybob · 03/12/2021 07:49

In “custom tip” is there a space to write “here’s a tip for you - pay your staff a decent wage”

Original poster
GoingBacktoSchool123 · 03/12/2021 08:13

I love my Apartment pants. Who doesn’t love an elasticated waist??

OP posts:
Original poster
GoingBacktoSchool123 · 03/12/2021 08:15

I’d love to know who the 1% are who have voted IABU. Still 99% seems fairly definitive. Let’s hope S&S take note.

OP posts:
MsEmmeline · 03/12/2021 08:21

I've seen this recently too, on a small indecent company's website.

TinyTear · 03/12/2021 08:33

didn't even know of them, but anyone who on the website calls it 'trouser' and 'pant' instead of trousers and pants will not get my business...

same with boot... i want two, thanks.

HelloChompy · 03/12/2021 08:35

I guessed before I opened the thread that you were talking about Saint & Sofia!! I bought from them last year, got the same message about tips and thought 'Really'?? I didn't tip them. The jumper was nice enough but not worth what I paid for it so haven't ordered again.

MsEmmeline · 03/12/2021 08:44

@MsEmmeline

I've seen this recently too, on a small indecent company's website.
^independent, not indecent 😄
PriamFarrl · 03/12/2021 09:26

@GoingBacktoSchool123

I love my Apartment pants. Who doesn’t love an elasticated waist??
Tsh, americanisations. Flat trousers, please.
Aphantasia · 03/12/2021 09:47

Oh god I hate elascticated waistbands, it’s such a cheap way of getting out of actually having to tailor clothes to fit. I especially hate it when I see them on expensive high end brands who still charge through the nose for the trousers as if they’ve been finished to a high standard…. They haven’t

Gearedtoyou · 03/12/2021 09:59

Dont place the order. I love the clothes on their website, exactly the kind of clothes I hanker after. What you actually receive is really poor quality for the money.

EverdeRose · 03/12/2021 10:16

I recently ordered a drink in a chain pub. I did it over the app and it automatically added a 10% tip, which I then had to remove.

I think it's so cheeky to expect people to just tip.

Original poster
GoingBacktoSchool123 · 03/12/2021 13:15

This is definitely worse than the cover charge you get in fancy restaurants for the bread, £2.50pp when they are already charging ££££ per head. Whenever I’ve asked a Maitre-de to remove it they are always happy to and say it is embarrassing.

OP posts:
maofteens · 03/12/2021 13:26

While I was amazed about 15 years ago a service charge was added to a bill for a single coffee in London I have not come across this myself. I wouldn't be tipping the staff at the local boutique, even less inclined for someone not providing me a personal service! I wonder how much they have managed to get?

Thegreencup · 03/12/2021 13:29

@Snugglepumpkin

So, is this the companies way of saying they don't pay their staff a decent wage?

Great way to put people off using them.

I was thinking the same.

They'll probably say it's some bullshit about sales being doing because of covid etc.

Why don't they just have the moral decency to put their prices up like every other retailer.

PriamFarrl · 03/12/2021 13:38

@GoingBacktoSchool123

This is definitely worse than the cover charge you get in fancy restaurants for the bread, £2.50pp when they are already charging ££££ per head. Whenever I’ve asked a Maitre-de to remove it they are always happy to and say it is embarrassing.
I was with a group a few days ago where there was a service charge added due to the size of the group. The person who brought us our bill wasn't the person who served us. He said that there is a charge of 10% or whatever added to the bill but he was more than happy to take that off as the staff only get a fraction of that. So we took it off the bill and gave a tip in cash.
WhenSepEnds · 03/12/2021 13:53

@GoingBacktoSchool123

Just placing an order on Saint & Sofia and at checkout I’m offered the option to tip their staff 5%, 10% or 20%?

Have they lost their minds? What on earth is the tip rewarding? People doing their jobs properly? You don’t even know until the delivery is complete.

AIBU to think that extending tipping to online retailers is a terrible idea and they should be paying their staff properly so that tips aren’t needed.

Never seen this before. Did you have to tip or could you opt out? Definitely won't be tipping online retail, that's just their job and I'm not convinced the money would get to the staff - would more likely go to the owners?
PrincessNutella · 03/12/2021 13:54

Speaking as a citizen of America, The Land of Tipping, I find this idea fucking ridiculous.

Noideaatall · 03/12/2021 17:31

I order some food from Uber Eats. I had tipped in advance, quite generously. The food never arrived, they refunded me, minus the tip. I don't tip anymore.

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