Online Shoe Shopping: Comparing Prices

I'm completely in love with this pair of peeptoe lasercut slingbacks from Vince Camuto and I think they'd be perfect with a bright blue Calvin Klein '50s style dress I'm planning to wear to an early September wedding.

I discovered the shoe on Zappos. Zappos is, in my opinion, absolutely the best place to buy shoes, online or otherwise. Zappos is brilliant. Free overnight shipping. (They have a warehouse located close to UPS World Port in Louisville. Check out this link to learn about How UPS Works.) Free returns. Excellent customer service. (Talked to a delighful customer service rep on Christmas day last year.) Customer product ratings. Favorites lists. Gigantic selection of shoes that can be viewed from every angle. Myriad ways to search including, type of shoe, brand, price, color, size and heel height, among others. All around just a happy happy place to buy one's footware.

However, on Zappos they're a little more then I want to pay, selling for $138.95. And the only color they have in stock in my size is black. Black and bright blue feels a little '80s color-block-knit-dress to me. I'd really prefer silver (love silver shoes) or cream. (These come in red as well, and they're oh so fab in that color.) Time to compare prices at several online shoe e-tailers:

• Shoes dot com carries Vince Camuto but does not offer the Flora style.
• 6pm dot com does not carry the Vince Camuto line, which is a bummer because they have a 110% price gaurantee.
• Piperlime, the new shoe e-tail site from the Gap, has the shoe and it's on sale for $104.99. They have black, cream and gold in my size, but not the silver that I adore.
• Amazon has the shoe in my size in red, cream and black at $119.90. (I've actually found some excellent shoe bargains on Amazon, particularly for boots.)
• Nordstrom carries them, and has my size in cream (but seem to be out of silver although that's what they show). They are $119.95. They also have them in icy pool, an aqua-green color that's lovely, but would not work with my blue dress. (Nordstrom offers $5 shipping for online purchases. You pay for return shipping.)
  

I'm finding the more I look at the Vince Camuto line, the more I like it. They've done some great heels. Check out the Filo, another lasercut beauty, and the Ruffe, a slingback I love in French Blue. There are different offerings from the line on the various websites above.

So I'm not going to buy the shoes because I really want the silver and there are no silver to be found in 8.5. I don't want to settle for cream. Gold is not great with my skin tone. I'm going to continue contemplating the red on Amazon (because a red shoe is always pretty hot), but I'll still need some footwear for the wedding. I'll keep looking. The perfect silver shoe is out there somewhere (and, let's hope, on sale).