Experience of eBay seller Wonderland

[Christy]

After my awful experience of buying a dress from Tina's last year I've decided to try again and have seen a dress I really like listed on eBay from a company called Wonderland. They have a 99% satisfaction rating so that looks positive, but I was wondering if anyone had any recent experience buying from them. I searched the forum and could only find one post, which was positive, from 2010.

[alejeather]

I've bought from them and another skating friend has bought from them. We both had good experiences. I bought my one and only dance dress from them. I always get lots of compliments on it and people ask where I got the dress. I would buy from them again.

This is the dress I bought from them.

[Christy]

Thank you for the recommendation. That dress looks really nice on you.
Just a question as it's similar to one of the dresses I was thinking about - it the 'nude mesh' area lined please?

[Casey]

Lovely skater in a lovely dress!

[sarahspins]

I've ordered from them, no complaints - and I like that they by default use a MUCH lighter nude mesh than a lot of dressmakers do - it actually matches my ghostly pale skin fairly well

[Christy]

I've ordered from them, no complaints - and I like that they by default use a MUCH lighter nude mesh than a lot of dressmakers do - it actually matches my ghostly pale skin fairly well

Now that really is good news - I'm on the exceptionally pale side too (used to get taken out of school assemblies as they thought I was going to faint!!).

[littlerain]

Gorgeous dress!! And lol Christy, that must've been a fun way to get out of assemblies!

[Christy]

I don't suppose anyone knows if they have a store outside of eBay? I've tried searching but can't find anything.

[sarahspins]

Yep - http://tinaskating.com/ (which has also been discussed here a bit in the past)

[Christy]

Seriously? They are Tina's? If so I'll have to look elsewhere.

[davincisop]

If you're looking for well made dresses, US Icewear is really fantastic quality. After a terrible experience with an ebay purchase (dress was poorly constructed, too long, baggy in areas, and the mesh was yellowed.... china ebay seller, avoid), I found US Icewear, emailed Susie my measurements to see if she could help and she said the medium dress would fit perfectly. I ordered it and low and behold it did.

Reasonable prices, too. I've seen her work at the local competitions and all her dresses are high quality.

[skategeek]

I used US Icewear, too.  She's local to me so I was able to go try on a bunch of different things she had on hand and get a feel for styles that worked (and didn't).   I ended up getting something she had in stock and stoning it myself.  Can't comment on her online ordering myself but other people seem to have had success.

[davincisop]

I online ordered from US Icewear and it came I think within two days (I'm in Florida). It worked out perfectly since I was on a time crunch to get my dress for testing and competition, which ended up not happening due to a foot injury. I'm wearing it in three weeks for my test finally. Coach saw it and thinks the dress is beautiful and wants to check her site. I stoned mine myself since it was more cost effective for me.

[ARoo]

I also had an absolutely terrible experience with Tina from "skating-on-ice."  The dress I purchased was not made to the correct measurements (which I easily demonstrated for her with a photo and measuring tape).  I was extremely lucky to have the same color velour on hand and I was able to put a 4" panel in the panty to get us through.  However, the dress was a complete loss and didn't fit well enough to wear more than once. 

She ignored my request to discuss the issue for 2 weeks, so I eventually left her negative feedback.  Magically, as soon as I left feedback, she was right there with a response (lying about whether she had communicated with me).  She refused to work with me at all unless I rescinded my negative feedback and sent her the dress back, which she said she would replace in about a month.  This was after she told me she was having horrible personal issues and couldn't possibly respond to e-mail for weeks, so I didn't see how I could trust that I'd get a new dress.

There was no way I was going to take back my feedback AND send her the dress since I would have no recourse to be sure I received a replacement and once I rescinded, I wouldn't even be able to leave a negative again.  It was such a ridiculous amount of drama over something that should have been so simple. Ultimately, I decided that if others hadn't been bullied into removing their negative feedback, I probably wouldn't have ordered from her, so I took the loss just to be sure my negative will stand and hopefully help someone else decide whether to give her business.

I was very reluctant to buy another ebay dress, but I did just purchase one from wonderland.  This dress fits (although it's a bit longer than the measurements I gave her), but after surveying dozens of people and showing them photos, pretty much everyone agrees that the color of the dress wasn't what they would have expected.

I contacted her to let her know that the dress was not the color we expected but that we were fine with it and I just wanted her to update her photos and be more clear about colors, she basically blew me off and told me she "might" put the actual color in the listing next time.  She has since relisted the dress with the same pictures and no mention of color.    While this isn't worthy of a negative or neutral, she won't be getting a positive from me, either.

I guess the lesson I've learned is that if I want what I envision, then I need to make it myself.  I can't really rely on the ebay dresses and you definitely get what you pay for. I am sure this won't be the last ebay dress we buy, but my expectations have really been lowered a lot with these experiences.

[Christy]

I contacted Wonderland and they said they are not Tina's so I've just ordered the dress I really liked from them. It's a few weeks before I'll get to see it but I'm keeping everything crossed that this time will be a success.

[sllsk8s]

I recently purchased a dress from Wonderland, and although I have not competed in it yet, I am very happy with the fit of the dress and the way that it looks. I had her make a few changes on the original pictured dress ( color of the mesh changed from nude to black, and  black mesh sleeves instead of gauntlets, etc.), so I hoped that everything was going to look okay! Overall, I feel that the dress is constructed well, and all that I will be doing is a few minor changes to some of the beading/embellishment because of my personal preferences.

[Christy]

That dress looks very nice. There were a few changes I would have liked but I was scared to ask in case I repeated the awful experience with Tina's. It's going to be a week or two before I see my dress so just keeping everything crossed that it's ok.

[Christy]

Well, just got the dress and I'd describe the quality as fairly average (so nowhere near the quality of Brad Griffies (but nowhere near the price either), and definitely not as well made as Mondor or Jerrys either), however the fit is ok and I think it will look nice on the ice.

The positives - the dress was mailed the day after ordering and delivered 2 days later so a speedy service (it wasn't a custom order), it's pretty much the same as the pictures (mesh is a bit darker but nothing major), the sizing is as described and the overall fit is quite good, and there's no paint or glitter.

The negatives - the sewing of the armholes is very poor which means the fabric / mesh across the chest and up to the neck is quite rippled / pulled, the neck isn't particularly comfortable - it seems to be very small for an adult dress, and it has some rather oddly shaped sequins.

So overall it seems to be a case of getting what you pay for - it certainly wouldn't stand up to frequent wearing, it has a few issues but they aren't obvious from a distance, and it's much better than I was expecting based on the experience with Tina's (and it was cheaper!)