"Update 12/23/08. I should have read the reviews here before trusting this company with an important order. Ebags sent the wrong item (a photo bag 1/3rd the size and almost 40% cheaper in MSRP than the one I ordered) but my credit card was charged a higher amount. This is highly unsatisfactory as I need this item by Christmas. Of course, they no longer sell the item that I ordered, and everywhere else the price has already gone up, so I'm out of luck. They offered a refund which obviously isn't going to help and is a giant hassle, especially considering they no longer carry the item I ordered. Read the reviews from around Christmas time on this site and you'll notice that there is a consistent pattern of this sort of practice by this company and their customer service department. Multiple other posts show that they ship the wrong item, especially when there is a good price involved. I'm sticking with Amazon from now on; I don't have the energy (or time) to waste worrying and checking after a company because I can't trust them to send me what I paid for. I need to be able to trust a company when it comes to giving out my credit card information and consistently getting what I pay for. This has turned into a giant hassle and even bigger waste of time that potential customers should be aware of. Buyer beware.
Note: I pride myself in being an objective reviewer and will post about any positive experiences (as noted below), but there is nothing positive about my experience, unfortunately.
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Note: see above. Ebags customer service agent Smith on the live chat service was very patient and helpful in obtaining an answer to my price match question. The agent stayed on the chat through my checkout process and answered questions along the way. Very patient and not pushy. Immediately credited my %110 price match. Overall a great experience. I got a good deal on a photo bag that just came out. Free returns too if I don't like it. What more can I ask for? Thanks ebags."
"I've been buying from ebags for about 2 years. I've made about 10-12 purchases. I love ebags. While in truth the shipping may be slow they've always been responsive to any concerns I've had. They sell a wide range of bags and I've always found what I'm looking for.
First thing anyone ordering from ebags.com needs to know is that in most instances you will be buying from ebags, but the product will ship from the supplier or, very unusually, another retailer. What this means to you is that sometimes shipping can be a little slow, but other times it can be lightening fast. IF you can reconcile yourself to this fact ebags is terrific.
I disagree with an earlier reviewer I don't find their prices any higher than other retailers. I've only been able to beat them once, and I did get the coupon for the 110% difference. They give you 20% off your next order for reviewing you purchase which encourages people to review, and helps make your next purchase (barring a rather long list of name brands) even more reasonable.
Overall, despite some quirks ebags has been a good shopping experience for me. I will buy again. and again, and again...."
"Bought a Crumpler bag from this website. I ended up sending it in for a refund. Refund process was really easy and quick. Received updates for my refund and got the money credited into my account quickly. They even pay for return shipping."
"I am writing this review to warn potential ebags shoppers of their price match policy. Ebags is potentially good to price match to due to their excessively high prices so you tend to get a decent amount back if you work out a 110% refund on the difference. I would not make a standard purchase at their store as their prices have a strong tendency to be higher than other places.
The price matches are done after the fact by submitting an online form. It takes them a couple of days to verify the match, and then they refund the difference based on the pre-tax, pre-shipping amount - the cost of the item on the competitor's site. Because of this, your match can be a lot smaller than what you expected.
You may find that it makes more sense to simply place the order on the competitor's site than ebags due to the processing time or the final amount being simply more expensive as sales tax is about 7-8% + shipping can often work out to exceed the 10% difference you would receive back.
That said, here are a few other comments. Their call center and live chat center are very fast to answer, but very slow to return calls. They have a free shipping return policy which is always a huge plus when shopping online, and I may comment on that once I have tried it.
Overall, I see little reason to actually make purchases from them. I would browse their site for information as it has pictures and reviews, but I would always cross-reference google shopping or price grabber, and I believe you will most likely find a lower price elsewhere and also not pay the cost of tax.
There is a reason why they have a very mediocre lifetime rating on this site, and I hope I have provided a detailed perspective."
"Ordered two bags. Delsey suitcase at a decent sale price and a Samsonite suitcase at very low closeout price. Free shipping. Delsey arrived in under a week, Samsonite arrived about a week later. Items arrived in perfect shape. Returned the Samsonite because it was too big, took advantage of free return shipping. No problems, great experience, would buy again."
"I ordered a laptop case on Feb 26. Received it the 29th in new/great condition. Excellent quality product, good/fast communication to verify order and inform me of shipping. Easy to find what I need on their website. Will order again!"
"Ordered two backpacks on the 19th, shipped on the 21st and arrived on the 25th in new and great condition. I previously canceled an order using their form that was available. Notice of cancellation arrived in an hour as promised with no charge on my card. I was able to call customer service who was able to answer my questions easily. I will order again when the price is right. "
"AWFUL AWFUL customer service. Ordered on January 3, they sent me a tracking number that eventually showed as "delivered" to an address not within 1000 miles of me.
Just sent the 4th email to try to get this resolved. They responded once, promising correct shipment and new tracking number. That was almost 2 weeks ago. Now it's almost 4 weeks since I ordered - no merchandise, no idea what if anything they're doing to correct it.
I buy a fair amount of stuff online, and this is the second worst service I've had out of well over 100 orders. I am kicking myself because I thought I checked out their rating when I was looking at backpacks a couple months ago - oops.
EDIT: OK, UPS brought my umbrellas Friday, so ebags actually did re-ship or find my order or whatever, they just didn't tell me. Still very annoyed, over 4 weeks to receive items that were supposedly "in stock". Not worth the hassle - will NEVER use again."
"First time I ordered at eBag for a computer briefcase. Product came within a week last Friday, but they shipped me a wrong bag, which has an incorrect SKU tag on it. Not happy but I understand people do make errors, but a good company will resolve the problem immediately. For the last week I've been contacting ebags numerous times to ship me the correct briefcase. Their excuses for the delay are purely unaccepable -- that their warehouse are still investigating the wrong tag issue with the supplier; that if they ship me a new one now there is a possibility that the wrong bag will still be shipped. Come on, what is there to investigate and how hard is it for the warehouse to just grab the right bag (ignore the damned tag) and ship it out! Why do I have to wait for their investigation? All they have to do is ship me the right one and continue with their own stupid investigation. I asked them that and they wouldn't give me an answer. Why do they have to work with the supplier if they have the correct bag in their warehouse? Bottomline is ebag is the worst online merchant I've ever dealt with. The customer service supervisor I asked to speak to was just totally disinterested with my problem. When I said or asked her something, she'd just keep silent on the phone most of the time, as if I'm talking to a dead person. Never been on the phone with so much dead air. I'll give ebags 3 more days. If there is still no resolution, I'll ask for a full refund.
Interestingly, eBag sent me an email with a coupon code for a 25% discount plus free shipping for my next purchase this afternoon to compensate for "my inconvenience". Nice gesture but "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
I'll try back next week to see if ebag solve this issue. "
"I ordered a Kenneth Cole Reaction Ladies Briefcase. One of the main things I needed was an optional shoulder strap. I was lured by the "no hassle returns" etc. Long story short, the bag arrived but it was the wrong one. No shoulder strap! I called them right away and they were very incompetent. They offered to exchange it, but after the bad customer service I said no, I just want to return it. They said it would take 3-5 business days to receive an email with instructions on sending it back. 8 days later, I have no email. Of course, I was getting emails from them every day inviting me to come shop some more. When I contacted customer service via live chat, they tried to say that it must have gone into my "spam" folder. I said absolutely not!! I have received all the other emails trying to get me to shop more. I did get the email with the return label (ups ground). Very frustrated b/c this was supposed to be a christmas present and now I have no bag and no refund to try and get something else before christmas. I WILL NEVER ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN!!! P.S. they used my email address for someone else's order so now I keep getting messages from them regarding someone else's account. I reported it to them, but they have not fixed it!! VERY DISSATISFIED!!!"
"I ordered 2 items from them, one costing $60 and the other $30. I received one item in a single box via UPS and did not receive the other. After a week or so, I looked up the order tracking and guess what? the second item was listed as "shipped" with the exact same order tracking number as the first. I called the customer service and they intiially tried to blame it on UPS. When I persisted and it was a tough persistance which others may not attempt.. they finally said they need to contact the warehouse and find out if the other item was shipped.
It seems that Ebags and the warehouses that ship are separate companies.. Ebags must be sort of like expedia or priceline for bags.. they just fulfil the order and pass it on to others. They entice you with low prices but make their money by not shipping all the items promised and eating the proceeds. After that, when you follow up, they try to pin the blame on UPS.. beware!"
"I ordered two items. Only one was included in the shipment and on the invoice. I contacted EBags immediately. They promised a response in "24-48 hours." It took five days and three additional contacts from me to get to the point where now they promise to send the item in 1-2 days. I cannot see why, given that they don't even have a record of shipping the item, though they definitely did charge for it, they would need so long.
VERY unprofessional!"
"I ordered Aug. 29 and still no bag they sent a small little bag that was not even worth the shipping to sent telling me this what I ordered...they said they would resend 2 day I need this bag a week ago I have contacted them several times and nothing back ...They must be releated to the Express Camera Folks LOL I only wish I would have looked here first my mistake but never again with this company and I hope you don't follow my lead........."
"Awesome store.. got a free water bottle with purchase, and they price matched to another online retailer with 110% paid back via Paypal. Will buy again."
" I ordered on the 13th and recieved on the 19th. I was happy until I opened the boxes to discover that I had been sent a wrong bag. I called customer service and was told that the correct bag would be sent 2nd day express. I was told it would not get here until the 25th, the day after I have to have it. That's the same length of time as ground shipping. So now here I am with a flight to catch and not enough luggage and I can't get a refund for 7 to 10 days after they get this bag back. Now I have to try to find something locally and it won't match the other bag. I'm just disgusted, the attitude was "sorry have a nice day". I'll never order from them again or recommend them to anyone."