Every year, Strathberry hosts an auction and sample sale. The auction takes place during the in-person sample sale, but they also have an online sample sale if you’re not lucky enough to go in person! Appointments are limited, so you have to be signed up to receive their newsletter if you want to catch wind of it before you find a random post on Reddit about it. While I’m nowhere near a Strathberry, I was lucky enough to score an online appointment, so let me tell you how it went.

Getting the Appointment

I signed up for Strathberry’s newsletter once upon a time because they offered a 10% discount off a first purchase for doing so. I never did end up making that purchase because I had recently purchased my dream bag, an Hermes Kelly 32 in malachite. The discount was quickly forgotten in my mind, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate Strathberry’s designs. It was a case of right place, wrong time. Fast forward to today — a year on from purchasing my dream bag — and I’m realizing that I don’t have a black bag in my collection (unless you count that Coach Moon bag that fits nothing). Strathberry’s email drops into my inbox: You’re invited to our sample sale.

For those who aren’t aware: a sample sale is a type of sale where a brand will sell items that are either overstock, not ever really produced, press pieces, or items that have defects. It’s basically the leftovers — but that doesn’t mean that it’s garbage. It allows people to get a piece for a heavy markdown and brands to still make sales.

Online appointments go rather quickly — which is something that I heard during last year’s sample sale — so I scheduled an appointment as soon as I got the email. By the time I had finished completing the form for a Monday appointment, I got an error message. I checked the calendar and all of the appointments on Monday and Tuesday had already been booked, but I was able to book an appointment on Wednesday. When you make an appointment, you’re asked for a method in which to contact you for a video call and I picked WhatsApp. The week before the online sample sale, there is an in-person sample sale as well as an auction for bags with different designs, like a Miffy collaboration. The appointment reservation cost is £10, which is also applied to any purchase that you make.

The Appointment

Once it was time for my appointment, I got a video call request on WhatsApp from a very friendly Sales Associate. She introduced herself and told me a little bit about the brand and reviewed my interests with me, which was noted in the original appointment request. Then, she flipped the camera and started taking me around the boutique so we could go through the bags.

The boutique itself looked quite neat. The bags were all displayed on the shelves by the type of bag it was. The sales associate showed me each type of bag that was available and I let her know when there was something that caught my attention. When we were going through the bags, she also let me know some interesting details about the colorways. For example, she let me know that the large box crescent bag didn’t usually come in black and that there weren’t any plans at the moment to bring back some colors and patterns, so once they were gone, they were gone.

Since these items were part of a sample sale, it’s important to note if there is any damage on the bag in case the item is on sale because it’s a return or damaged item. This was something that the sales associate was also kind enough to remind me when we started browsing the items.

Since I’m nowhere near a Strathberry and they only sell limited models at the department stores near me, it was really nice to be able to do an online appointment with a sales associate. She was using the same model iPhone that I have and it was super simple to have her check if the phone also fit in the bags we were looking at, because that’s always a necessity! You can’t return something from a sample sale — at least not from Strathberry — so knowing what you’re buying is absolutely crucial.

After going through all of the bags, the sales associate asked me if I was interested in looking at their scarves, wallets, and their cashmere items. I was interested to see what scarves they had — available in both large squares and in the thin, twilly styles — but there were many available. I’m assuming because they were probably purchased during the in-person sale a week earlier or by the folks who snagged an earlier appointment.

I also was able to get a look at their wallets, but they didn’t have anything that particularly interested me. While I didn’t look at their cashmere items, they did have a lot in stock.

After browsing through all of the items that I was interested in, the sales associate brought back out the items that she had set aside for me while we were browsing so that we could go over them and decide if there was one that I wanted. I picked out a black box crescent and a brown east/west mini that had some crochet details around the edges. I picked the black box crescent because the only black bag that I have in my wardrobe is the black Coach Moon bag, which fits absolutely nothing.

The sales associate that I was working with checked the bag over carefully to see if there was any damage to the interior, exterior, and straps. She said that I must be very lucky, because there was no damage whatsoever to the bag (which I confirmed once I received it). She also gave me some extra tips about the box crescent straps in particular, which I detailed in my review (link).

The appointment itself was about 20 minutes overall, but I’m a pretty quick shopper. The sales associate let me know that they would be sending a PayPal request my way and asked that I pay for it within 24 hours and that they would confirm my shipping details over email. Soon after paying, I was sent my receipt and got my tracking number not too long after that.

My appointment was on a Wednesday and by Wednesday of the following week, I had the bag in my hand! I was super impressed by how speedy everything was, because I had a slight hiccup in that I sent an incomplete address and they had to wait a day to send it out. Everybody that I talked to — from the sales associate that I worked with to some of the other folks that I was in correspondence with — was extremely kind, knowledgeable, and efficient.

The bag also arrived in perfect condition! It was packaged in a well-fitting box complete with some tissue paper. It wasn’t the most luxurious unboxing that I’ve ever done, but there wasn’t any damage and it did get here pretty quickly. The detachable chain strap for the bag was stored inside of the bag as well as to not cause any imprints on the bag during shipping

Overall, my experience with the Strathberry sale was very positive! The sales associates that I worked with were wonderful, there was a variety of items available — at least on Wednesday, the item that I received came in the condition that I was expecting, shipping was very quick, and there was pretty good communication throughout the entire process.

Strathberry is a brand that’s been on my radar for a couple of years now, but I’m always a bit hesitant to spend so much on something online when I’m not even sure if I’d like it. I know that returns are a thing, but it’s just too much of a hassle for me and I know that it’s not exactly amazing for the environment.

 💌 If you want to know what I think about the Strathberry Box Crescent bag, check out the full review here.