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Sunday, November 22, 2015

If You're Going to Place Online Orders at Sephora This Holiday Season....

If you already qualify for free shipping at Sephora due to your VIB Rouge status, or you already subscribe to Sephora Flash, this post is not for you (just want to put that out there right up front).

But if you're new to Sephora, or don't already qualify for free shipping, or just haven't heard about Sephora Flash yet and you've missed my numerous posts about it, PLEASE take a moment to read this.

Sephora Flash is an annual subscription that gives you FREE 2-DAY SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS FOR ONE YEAR, NO MINIMUM REQUIRED. The cost of this service is $10 per year, and it begins at the time you order. In other words, when you buy it HERE and you order anything else with that purchase, you'll get your order shipped free.

I enrolled in Sephora Flash when it first launched back in January of this year (I reviewed the service at that time HERE) and I can personally tell you that it's the best thing I ever did when it comes to shopping at Sephora. If you anticipate that you will order at least three times during the course of their Black Friday event, Cyber Monday sale, and any of the sales they give us leading up to Christmas (and the after-Christmas sales), then YOU NEED SEPHORA FLASH. 

Here's why:

  • This service pays for itself after two orders. So if you plan to order under $50 worth of merchandise online at Sephora even just three times in one year, you're saving money. Shipping at Sephora on orders under $50 is $5.95 (it's free on orders $50+, but you'll never have to worry about hitting that threshold ever again).

  • You get free 2-DAY SHIPPING. Other customers may experience delays in shipping due to the holiday rush, but you won't. This service guarantees 2-day shipping with all orders. As long as you place your order before 3PM Monday - Friday, you will receive your order in two days. If you place your order on a Saturday or Sunday, you'll receive your order by that Wednesday. In the past year that I've had Sephora Flash, only one time did Sephora tell me there may be a slight delay with my order, and I got that order in three days, instead of two. I obviously can't guarantee that you won't ever see any delays, but I just want to share my personal experience, which has been awesome so far. Oh! One more thing: certain items must ship ground, so you won't get 2-day shipping with those items, but you will still get free ground shipping. This applies to products like nail polish (here's an example).

  • In addition to the various deals and sales Sephora offers for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holidays in general, you'll of course be able to use your Sephora Flash when shopping the Sephora Sale Page. That alone has allowed me to snag some amazing deals throughout the past year, on things that I would have normally skipped due to shipping fees.

  • CODES. If you usually rely on codes to get free shipping at Sephora, now you can use that precious code box to get FREEBIES. I've pretty much lost count of how many $25 orders I've placed in the past year, which then qualified me for some very nice deluxe sample freebies ON TOP OF the usual three free samples they give you with every order (bookmark this page and bookmark this Retailmenot page too, because they sometimes offer exclusive codes for Sephora). 


One other thing I do want to mention is that I've heard rumors of people's subscriptions being suspended due to abuse. I cannot verify this, but I have heard that if you order, say, a $1 item on the sale page to get your three free samples with free shipping, and then you do that again and again, Sephora may not be too happy with you. That makes sense, because Sephora is probably taking a loss by shipping your order for free if you're only ordering a dollar item to get your free samples. So please don't do that. This service is great and I would hate to see it end or be modified due to customer abuse, when the majority of us just want to order under $50 and get free shipping (and samples and extra freebies).

In summary: if you plan to order at least three times on the Sephora website this holiday season, and you don't already qualify for free shipping with your VIB Rouge status, ORDER SEPHORA FLASH NOW (and thank me, or curse me, later!). 
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20 comments

  1. Flash shipping is awesome! I have bought so many more things since I paid for flash shipping, plus TONS if great freebies, especially deluxe sample sets. I always go through ebates to also earn cash back as well. I hardly ever shop in store anymore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seriously! I have said before that I owe my current VIB status (first time EVER that I've been VIB) all to Sephora Flash. lol! It was brilliant move on their part, for sure.

      Delete
  2. I'm a VIB, but I don't get free shippping, are you sure that's the case?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry I wasn't clear about that-- I meant that if you're VIB Rouge, you already get free 2-day shipping on all orders. VIBs do NOT.

      Delete
  3. I absolutely love Sephora Flash! It pays for itself within your first two orders. I wish Ulta offered some sort of a service like this. Not being offered free shipping, even though I'm Platinum, really holds me back from shopping as much as I'd like to there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I really hope Ulta offers something like this down the line!

      Delete
  4. So if I pay the 10 $ now, I would have it until 22/11/2016, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for clarifying that. I was wondering if it was per CALENDAR ear or per anniversary of the purchase of Flash. :)

      Delete
  5. This is one of the only reasons I continue shopping at Sephora over Ulta. I prefer Ulta's reward system, but free shipping is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love both for different reasons (and I particularly love that, in my area, there are Ultas everywhere, and they're not just buried deep inside big malls, like Sephora), but you just can't beat that free shipping, right? :)

      Delete
  6. Alaska and Hawaii don't qualify :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aaah, I'm sorry I forgot to mention it's just the contiguous US. :(

      Delete
    2. Yep, Puerto Rico isn't included either which made me really sad. No APO or PO Box addresses either.

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  7. I've been loving the free flash shipping this past year. I usually order $25 worth so I can't use sample codes and usually if I order before 12, I normally get my order the next day! They ship out of Baltimore Md and I live right out side DC

    ReplyDelete
  8. Does this count for international? :x I'm highly doubting it but I figure I'd ask. (Sephora just opened their site for Australia.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Just to be aware, flash shipping may be delayed during heavy traffic times (i.e. during major sales or the holidays). I placed an order during the VIB Rouge sale on a Saturday and didn't get my order until the following Friday. I actually had to email them about it. Apparently this happened to a number of VIB Rouge members. They ended up giving me 100 pt to my account and sent my order next day air. This is an an awesome program that usually works any other time of the year!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I had a question about getting VIB status. It says I'm $50 away from getting VIB status. If I reach it now, will it only last until the end of the year? Or until 11/24/2016?

    Thanks a ton!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It lasts a year hope that helps if u go down on spending u lose the status if that makes sense

      Delete

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