eBags: (Almost) the Zappos of Handbags

Yesterday after a rather stressful drive home with a crying/yelling toddler in the back seat, I couldn't wait to slip into my sweats, grab a piece of Valrhona 85% dark, and plop onto the couch. So I walk into my closet-room and am greeted with the non-lovely smell of cat pee. The cat has, once again, peed on my gym bag. (It seems to be one of his favorite hobbies next to eating small creatures that can't outrun him and taking ridiculously long naps.)
The gym bag is in the trash; my gym clothes are in a too-small tote. I head to eBags. I really like this site. You can search by material, style, category, brand and price, and they carry handbags, athletic bags and luggage. Shipping is free if you spend over $50, and they pay return shipping.

I also like that, for most of the bags they carry, they offer photos from a number of angles, including an inside view. And--most important for me--they show it on a mannequin. It's really hard for me to visualize the size of a handbag if I don't see someone holding it, even if that someone is synthetic. They often show a model holding handbags on Zappos as well, but I really prefer bag shopping on eBags--I always seem to like their selection better and I think eBags has better prices.

It actually took me a whole hour to pick out a bag to order--they had a lot to choose from, and I couldn't decide. I really wanted the exact same one the cat stunk up, but they don't carry it anymore. But as long as I can fit a pair of knee-high boots in a gym bag, I'm cool. (The clothes I wear to the work always take up far more space in the bag than clothes I work out in--there's gotta be room for large footware, jackets, jeans, etc.)

I ended up ordering the fairly standard Nike model above, but I came close to shelling out 80 clams for the Nike Goddess of Victory Club Bag. Then I decided I'd drive my husband crazy walking around the house saying, "Honey, have you seen my Nike Goddess of Victory Club Bag? I seem to have misplaced my Nike Goddess of Victory Club Bag. I sure will kill the cat if he pees on my Nike Goddess of Victory Club Bag."