Ice Girl’s friend, Ice Friend, has bought two figure skating dresses from China via eBay. Both were less than $50 each, including shipping, both arrived in about a week, and both fit well.New Exclusive Figure Skating Dress (217-3). That’s the one in blue with the colorful appliqué and trailing ribbons. $24.99 plus $23.00 shipping. Includes a matching scrunchie. Sizes vary from tiny to big; use online size chart or send measurements according to instructions.
Seller: ice-dress0010, eBay member since December 2, 2004. As of this writing: 1448 sales, 99.8% positive feedback.
Fit: the dress fits Ice Friend well.
Quality: the dress is lined and well made with lots of crystals outlining each sewn-on applique. One of the bottom ribbons fell off last weekend, but a quick tack down with a needle and thread repaired it. It’s not the sort of problem that comes from poor construction, but rather it comes from use. The construction is good.
New custom figure skating/competition ice dress C04. That’s the red and black one with the appliqué. $8.00 plus $25 shipping. Sizes vary from tiny to big; use online size chart or send measurements according to instructions.
Seller: yibei_shop, eBay member since April 18, 2005. As of this writing: 431 sales, 100% positive feedback.
Fit: the dress fits Ice Friend well.
Quality: the appliqué started to separate from the rest of the dress, so Ice Friend used super glue on it. I know, I know. I offered to stitch it for her, but I don’t think my needle can make it through there anymore. The quality isn’t bad, but it’s not fabulous, either.
Bottom line: Would I buy one? Yep. You know me: I’m cheap. $50 for a dress with crystals? You can’t sew one at home and put crystals on it for that. By the time you purchase the fabric, pattern, and thread, you’re at $50 without crystals.
The quality that I saw was pretty good, with the exception of the separating appliqué. I tell you: I’ve seen worse sewing in a local dance/skate dress shop than these two dresses.
Don't worry: I'm still going to sew Ice Girl's competition dresses. But for a practice dress? You bet. And if you don't sew, this is a great option.
Update: From reader Skater's Mom: Ordered first dress. It was a little too small, but it was ok to wear one time for a competition. Ordered second dress a size bigger to make sure its not small -- and it was way too small. Emailed the seller, they asked if I could sell the dress and purchase another dress from them.
I will never buy from them again -- will still to American seller instead.
Update: A size problem from reader Cathy: We did try ordering a dress from China, but not a big success....the dress is on the small side (wearable, but not without a lot of complaining from my skater), even though we ordered 2 sizes larger than I thought my daughter needed based on size charts...and they are throwing up lots of excuses for why we should just keep it (ie the $25 shipping on the $25 dress), so I imagine that will end up being donated to the silent auction at the skate club!
Update: From reader Skater's Mom: Ordered first dress. It was a little too small, but it was ok to wear one time for a competition. Ordered second dress a size bigger to make sure its not small -- and it was way too small. Emailed the seller, they asked if I could sell the dress and purchase another dress from them.
I will never buy from them again -- will still to American seller instead.
Update: A size problem from reader Cathy: We did try ordering a dress from China, but not a big success....the dress is on the small side (wearable, but not without a lot of complaining from my skater), even though we ordered 2 sizes larger than I thought my daughter needed based on size charts...and they are throwing up lots of excuses for why we should just keep it (ie the $25 shipping on the $25 dress), so I imagine that will end up being donated to the silent auction at the skate club!
15 comments:
Thanks! I've seen these folks on ebay and wondered, despite the reasonable feedback. Very helpful.
As an aside, in my travels to Shanghai, there are shops that will make skating / dance dresses to order, just like the mens suits. I might just give it a try next visit.
We just purchased a homemade dress from mlshop789. It shipped from China and was in our house within a week or so.
The dress is very lovely, and no, by the time I had bought fabric, crystals, (plus my hard earned time), we would have been way over $50.00 (that included shipping.) My skater is tough on costumes, and so far, so good on this one. The size ran a hair small, but overall the fit is perfect.
Great blog!
There is a wonderful ebay store that has the most beautiful skating dress with the most reasonable prices. I have told all my daughters skating friends parents I know about this ebay store. The name of the ebay store is wonderland0559. The owner is very nice and she gets your dress to you as soon as possible. I just had 2 custom made dress shipped to me in 3 weeks. If you order a dress directly from her ebay store and it is not custom made then it will take about 1 week. I have gotten dress from her in less than 1 week. She gives wonderful feed back if you have any questions. If you request a tracking number she will email the tracking number to you. The best thing about the dresses is that they do not need any decorating. They are just stunning and look fantastic on the ice. Most of her dresses can be purchased for less than $100.00 from her ebay store. The only dresses that cost more than $100.00 are dresses that you have custom made to order. The custom made dresses are only $130.00. If you had a dress maker custom make a dress without any decoration it will usually start at $130.00 and go up from there. I love this dress makers ebay store.
Thanks, Ice Mom! I've seen a few of these dresses at my daughter's rink and I have liked what I have seen so far. I've been thinking about buying my daughter the blue dress Ice Friend has. It's cute and the price is right. I recently bought my daughter a new comp dress off Ebay. It's lovely. This seller is from the US. I love that I paid under 100 for a competition dress!
I just the reply about wonderland0559. That's the seller I bought my daughter's dress from. It arrived in less then a weeks time. I also recommend this seller.
Thanks for the ifno on wonderland0559. I am "watching" a couple of dresses right now from her. I have also ordered from Tina's Ice Skating Wears on Ebay with very good results: beautiful dress, fast shipping, good price and responsive to questions. I also won a dress from China on Ebay (zhang0002008) for $0.99! The shipping was $25.00, but for a pretty practice dress I was thrilled!
Anyone interested in my daughter's "old" dresses please email me and I'll send pix. Most are Ladies size medium. She quit skating a few months ago. marciamccarthy@msn.com
Sorry, I forgot to explain that a few of the dresses came from wonderland0559 - that's what made me think of posting here. I have used ebay in the past but when I saw this blog I thought I'd give you folks a heads up before I list them. I also have two new Sharene dresses that I haven't even had a chance to crystal yet - she decided to quit right after they arrived in the mail!
I have recently bought a dress from skating-on-ice, and I got it in less than a week! The dress is gorgeous and we love it! I would recommend this seller to any mom!
Thank you for the info! I just bought a custom made dress from skating-on-ice as well and it is lovely! I recieved it in 2 weeks! I love it and I would highly recommend this seller.
Ladies as both a competitive roller and ice skating coach I too have wondered while cruising ebay... "Are these things worth wearing?" Well now you've given me some courage to give someone a try. I have been asked to do a show program later this summer-- I'm not making mine IF I can order one from overseas! I'll let you know how it goes for ordering an adult size!
Ordered first dress. It was a little too small, but it was ok to wear one time for a competition. Ordered second dress a size bigger to make sure its not small -- and it was way too small. Emailed the seller, they asked if I could sell the dress and purchase another dress from them.
I will never buy from them again -- will still to American seller instead.
I purchased a dress from ice-dress001. I got a dress quickly; however, it was not the dress I ordered. She did agree to pay the postage for me to return it. I won't order again.
RedShamrock, can you tell me the name, address & tel no. of the ice skating dress store in Shanghai? Husband will be going to Shanghai for a business trip.
Does any one still have the return address on mlstore789 and yibei_shop? Or maybe a telephone number? My mom order this dress for my daughter and the nanny threw away the box. Need it for return. Seller at mlstore789 never reply the message I left him. Please help!
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