While Team SPICE continues to celebrate all things Independence following Nigeria’s anniversary last week, we’re thinking about the opposite – the things we just can’t do without. And what’s not to love about online shopping – the thing that has most of us fashion-followers completely hooked?
These days, you can buy clothes, groceries, shoes, a phone, beauty products – absolutely anything - and without even needing to step inside a store. In fact, as we type – hurriedly, because we’ve e-shopping to do – we at SPICE have a number of tabs open for things right now that are so desperately needed (have you not seen GBEMi’s lookbook? Or Harpers Bazaar Art’s collectable covers?).
Maybe you know you have a problem, maybe you’re in denial (just “treating yourself” again, eh?), but we at SPICE are here to help you decide, with our list of 10 Ways to Tell if You’ve a Dependence on Online Shopping, below…
1. You Know Your Credit Card Number by Heart
Not only do you know the long 16 digit number on the front of your card, but you know the CVV also code on the back. Or perhaps your dependence is so bad, that you’ve spent so much time entering your details into different online sites that when it comes to actually paying for something in a shop, you struggle to remember the pin!
Those in denial have probably avoided this tell-tale sign by having sites set up so the card details are already auto-saved – that way, new purchases are always just one-click away! Either way, you need to break the chain because one-click shopping is one step away from you having a dangerous shopping addiction… especially where Sophia Webster’s killer heels may be concerned…
2. You have Multiple Tabs Open in Your Web Browser with Items You ‘Desperately’ Need
Those with a real dependence to online shopping most likely have more than three tabs open at all times, solely for shopping – or perhaps you have random items currently sitting in a web basket right now, waiting to be sent to the ‘checkout.’ Some of Team SPICE’s current items-in-waiting include a furry clutch by ASOS (quote justifiable) and a “Sea Monkeys Ocean Zoo” from Amazon (not justifiable, and a little bit weird). If you’ve anything like that saved on any number of open tabs right now, then like Team SPICE, you may have an online shopping problem…
3. You Know Your Postman/FedEx/City Link/USPS Drivers by Name
Ok, that guy that comes to your door all too often who doesn’t live at your address or need ot borrow sugar? He’s the postman, but you probably know him by name. In fact, he’s been delivering your parcels so much that not only do you know his name but his blood type, and you chat like you’re old school friends.
He probably even knows where to put your parcel should you not be in, without any prior special instructions on the box. Big sign that you need to give up online shopping, or at least start using a different courier service to hide the addiction you have…
4. You Receive Parcels in the Mail that You have No Recollection of Ordering
Following on from the above sign that you have a dependence to online shopping, is the fact that you order so many things from e-stores, that sometimes you receive parcels you’ve forgotten you ordered. Opening a mystery box up and finding a pair of extreme ripped jeans from China, ordered weeks ago (true story for one of us at Team SPICE) might help your day-to-day feel like your birthday on repeat, but you’re not fooling your neighbours or your BBF the postman… It’s clear: You have an addiction to e-shopping, friend.
5. You Make Excuses to Buy Yourself New Things
Promotion at work? That deserves a hot new pencil skirt. Just been dumped? Those expensive, sexy new shoes will definitely cheer you up. Just having a good day? It’ll be event better if you click “go to check out” on one of those e-baskets you’ve got open on a tab somewhere, surely!
Yes, you shop online (a lot) but you also make excuses to make purchase every time you do, too. Any time you need to make an excuse to do something is a good sign that you’re doing it too much, so maybe give up the “but it is (insert random national holiday here)”s and cut down on the excuses to treat yourself.
6. You Can’t Buy Something for Someone Without Treating Yourself
And let’s not forget the “one for you, one for me” excuse, either. When looking for a present for a relative or a friend, do you end up treating yourself to the same (or a much more expensive version of the) gift too? Cripes, that’s crazy. Crazier still is buying something really cool for someone else and when it arrives, falling in love with it so badly, that you keep it and buy the person something else.
Hands up who’s done that before? Too many of Team SPICE’s hands raised to this one, and we’re now all thinking back to last year’s disappointing Secret Santa…
7. All of Your Friends Ask You Where to Buy Things Online
“Where can I buy good, cheap hair products?” “Where can I find good jeans online?” “Where do you order your furniture?” “What’s a good site for accessories?” If your friends ask you for the best website for anything – when Google is always at hand – you know you’re seen as the oracle of all things online, which means others can see your e-shoppaholic tendancies too.
Probably a good time to switch friend-circles then, or at least resort back to point 3 and switch couriers. (Your current one, who’s gotten so close he’s your plus one for parties and is meeting you for weekend drinks, has definitely told your other friends about your problem. He’s a mole and he must be removed.)
8. You Can’t Remember the Last Time You Tried on Clothes at an Actual Store
And it’s not just day to miscellaneous items, but the big things, which for us at SPICE, is always clothes. You’re fully aware of your size in all of your favourite shops, and you’re familiar enough with the stores to know how their specific styles will fit you. But why head to those places when you can sit in the comfort of your own home, order online and try clothes on in the fitting room you call your bedroom?
There are so many perks to browsing and buying online – don’t get us started on the joys of avoiding the general public on pay day – but if you’re consistently buying 4 sizes in 4 different colours to try on at home, sending them all back and starting over, you’ve got to ask yourself, is all the trips to the post office really worth the bother? You may as well just make one trip to the actual shop you’re purchasing from, try the goods on once and make one purchase. If that sounds like more effort than e-shopping and e-returning, you are definitely blind and bound by your dependency to online shopping!
9. You Shop While You’re at Work
If you’re clicking between spreadsheets and that pencil skirt on Ebay you’ve been bidding on - just hoping no one can see your screen from their desk – then yep, you might have a bit of an addiction…
Ok, so work can get a little boring and we all know shopping’s uber fun, but hunting for bargains shouldn’t come between you and your next pay day. And every good shopping junkie will know that without work, there’s no pay, which means no shopping at all!
Are you that into online shopping that you’re browsing for new buys at work? Well, try to keep it on the down-low, or at least till your lunch break else you may well find your online shopping time is interrupted by searching for a brand new job…
10. You’ve Already Finished Christmas Shopping
On one hand, it’s a smart thing to do and definitely great assurance that you won’t be stressing come December 24th. On the other hand (the one that’s probably shaking with withdrawals by now, having taken time off e-shopping to read this list) it’s October, and you’ve already completed your Christmas shop online, which quite frankly, shows an over keen-ness to splurge via the net, no?
Let us guess: during your perpetual online shop you just happened to stumble across the perfect gift for everyone in your immediate and wider family, as well as your colleagues, friends and the postman? Totally plausible. But if you’ve finished Christmas shopping already and admitted to baring any of the tell tale signs listed above, it’s more probable that like us at SPICE, you’ve a bit of a dependence on (read: complete addiction to) online shopping…
Re-read our list and decide if you really are an e-shopaholic, then hit us up on Twitter with the online haunts that have you hooked – because we at SPICE are always searching for the best spots on the web to fuel our own e-shopping addiction… Not that we’re admitting we have one…
Image source: Bbcimg.co.uk, Giphy.com