Speaker 1: Lunch with Pipper Hudson, and now Consumer Talk featuring Wendy
Speaker 1: Nola and Wendy is back with us in studio this
Speaker 1: afternoon for a slightly different kind of show today, because
Speaker 1: rather than tack tackling a customer's conundrum of some sort,
Speaker 1: we're doing a more educational segment about how to read
Speaker 1: between the lines of online product listings to help us
Speaker 1: properly understand what we are going to be getting. We
Speaker 1: have an expert guest who is going to guide us
Speaker 1: through this, who are introduced in first in a moment
Speaker 1: or two. But first, Wendy. Great to have you back
Speaker 1: with us as away, Thank you, Paper, good to be here,
Speaker 1: and to listeners. As always, if you want to join
Speaker 1: the conversation or comment on something you've heard, you are
Speaker 1: welcome to send a WhatsApp to seven two five six
Speaker 1: seven one five six seven or give us a call
Speaker 1: on two one four four six five sixty seven. Look Wendy. Obviously,
Speaker 1: anyone who's bought items online knows that it can be
Speaker 1: a bit of a game of Russian roulette. It's not
Speaker 1: always easy to know whether you're getting what might look
Speaker 1: like a high quality product in the listing and it
Speaker 1: ends up junk or vice versa. We've covered lots of
Speaker 1: those incidents, the hose pipe that was meant to be
Speaker 1: a gardena and ended up being rubbish, for example. The
Speaker 1: photos don't always tell us the full story, and often
Speaker 1: we don't get a lot of information to help put
Speaker 1: together a story either, do we no?
Speaker 2: And for me, the absence of detail is always a
Speaker 2: red flag. But in cases where there is a wordy
Speaker 2: product description, I can't say that I fully grasped the
Speaker 2: significance of those technical descriptions. Really don't know. Does that
Speaker 2: mean it's good, does that mean it's average? What am
Speaker 2: I looking at here? And of course the downside of
Speaker 2: buying online is that you can't pick it up, try
Speaker 2: it on. In the case of clothing shoes, you can't
Speaker 2: feel the texture. I'm very tactile, and when it comes
Speaker 2: to clothing, so away from clothing. In the case of cutlery,
Speaker 2: for example, weight is crucial, but of course you have
Speaker 2: no way of knowing what something weighs on the photograph,
Speaker 2: and so that's where the descriptions come in. And when
Speaker 2: there's very little description, then I think it's safe to
Speaker 2: assume and the prices on the cheaper side. I think
Speaker 2: it's safe to assume you're going to be getting some
Speaker 2: rather cheap, flimsy, liable to rust kind of cutlery rather
Speaker 2: than a great bargain.
Speaker 3: So I was.
Speaker 2: Particularly interested to learn recently that Cape Town based One
Speaker 2: Day Only's team does in many cases give products a
Speaker 2: thorough going over before putting them up as one of
Speaker 2: their three hundred daily deals.
Speaker 1: And we're going to.
Speaker 2: Share some of those insights because are then dug a
Speaker 2: bit further to say, oh, let's share your insights, because
Speaker 2: they can't put them in every listing. There's just you know,
Speaker 2: space is an issue. So this is one that certainly
Speaker 2: if you're going to take notes, this is the show
Speaker 2: because there's going to be quite a lot of technical
Speaker 2: detail and you might not be in the market to
Speaker 2: buy that particular product category right now, but at some
Speaker 2: point you will be, and it'll be important helpful for
Speaker 2: you to know what the wants to look descriptions mean.
Speaker 1: And it's going to be everything from towels to rugs
Speaker 1: to glass back containers, backpacks, et cetera. So I would
Speaker 1: I would echo Wendy's advice grab a pen and paper
Speaker 1: or grab the notepad on your app, your phone or
Speaker 1: your tablet, whatever it, maybe you take notes on because
Speaker 1: you might want to jot down a few of them.
Speaker 1: And Wendy Okay, So yeah, Wendy came to be saying
Speaker 1: last week, in fact, saying, I've just been at this
Speaker 1: presentation by one day only and was really intrigued by
Speaker 1: by everything that I learned. I think it's information we
Speaker 1: should share. And at the time, Wendy, you actually said
Speaker 1: you weren't familiar with the with the platform, I.
Speaker 2: Was familiar with it, but I'd never had any personal experience,
Speaker 2: and I I thought, maybe me check out it. I
Speaker 2: don't get complaints, which is usually a sign that they're
Speaker 2: doing a draft. I did do a search, and there
Speaker 2: were a couple that I'd missed. Shamefully, I missed a
Speaker 2: few which were sort of fairly minor literally two or
Speaker 2: three going back to twenty nineteen and this this retail
Speaker 2: site has been up since April of twenty ten, which
Speaker 2: is fifteen and half years, so that's pretty good going.
Speaker 2: They had four ceales in that first month. Today, more
Speaker 2: than three hundred deals are loaded every every evening at midnight,
Speaker 2: from tech to furniture, cosmetics, shoes, underwear, pretty much the
Speaker 2: standard general fair that you'll get on in a number
Speaker 2: of sites. So this is not so much about one
Speaker 2: day only, but more about my realization that what there
Speaker 2: is this vetting that happens, and in many cases they
Speaker 2: have a studio where they shoot their own take their
Speaker 2: own photos if they feel that the photographs that have
Speaker 2: been supplied don't give enough detail for potential customers, which
Speaker 2: I thought was interesting, But more than anything, I wanted
Speaker 2: to pick Director Lauren's brain in terms of how do
Speaker 2: we not just on this site, but in any rate
Speaker 2: online retail site, how do we how do we interpret
Speaker 2: the technical stuff that that is there?
Speaker 1: Okay, So again I want to emphasize this, This isn't
Speaker 1: a sponsored segment. The information you're going to hear is
Speaker 1: going to apply to any online shopping platform that you use,
Speaker 1: so I think important to emphasize that upfront. And it
Speaker 1: is a great pleasure to have with us one day only,
Speaker 1: Director Lori and fenter to share some of this insider
Speaker 1: knowledge because Laury and clearly your team takes it very
Speaker 1: seriously to give customers as much information as possible as
Speaker 1: you can put into an individual listing. So thanks for
Speaker 1: taking the time to join us today and talk about
Speaker 1: how you do that.
Speaker 3: Thanks Stepan, Wendy, it's great to be with you today.
Speaker 1: Let's start with what Wendy has already said that a
Speaker 1: lack of product description of vague listing or description is
Speaker 1: a big red flag on any platform. Do you want
Speaker 1: to elaborate, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3: I think I think online sales are really really tricky
Speaker 3: in many many ways because you can't touch and feel,
Speaker 3: as Wendy was mentioning, you have to be able to
Speaker 3: sort of really understand a product very very well by
Speaker 3: the description. And if there is a lack of description,
Speaker 3: it generally means that people are either covering something or
Speaker 3: just actually haven't taken the time to put that detail in.
Speaker 3: Because the only way that people can truly understand what
Speaker 3: makes one such cutgory different or one day other bag
Speaker 3: or one backpack different from another one is the product descriptions.
Speaker 3: And I mean, you know, for example, on our side,
Speaker 3: we sell the very cheap items, we sell the very
Speaker 3: expensive items, the beautiful branded items, and we sell everything
Speaker 3: in between. And how do how do we convey that?
Speaker 3: How do we explain that so that customers know and
Speaker 3: they actually get what they paid for?
Speaker 2: And I think the very detailed photographs zooming in on stitching,
Speaker 2: and that kind of detail is often missing in some
Speaker 2: of these online listings is really important because the photograph
Speaker 2: can tell a story about quality in itself, not alone,
Speaker 2: but it certainly does give you a better idea of
Speaker 2: other quality of the product that's on sale.
Speaker 3: Definitely, And as I say, it's not just to say
Speaker 3: this is a beautiful in credible expensive item, it is
Speaker 3: also to say, okay, cool, this is a really reasonably
Speaker 3: priced item. It's a ninety nine round item. But what
Speaker 3: you're going to get is you're going to get really
Speaker 3: good value for that ninety nine round. It is normally
Speaker 3: a three hundred round item, et cetera. So as much detail,
Speaker 3: as close up as we can take on photographs, more
Speaker 3: information we can put in the better.
Speaker 2: Do you have a sense, Laurian, of which category of
Speaker 2: goods is most confusing to consumers or consumers have the
Speaker 2: least amount of knowledge about and so it would be
Speaker 2: then liable to make a purchase which turns out to
Speaker 2: be not what they were expecting. I mean, it's probably
Speaker 2: a difficult question for you because your team goes to
Speaker 2: a great lens to provide as much detail and clear photos,
Speaker 2: et cetera. But from the feedback you've got, is there
Speaker 2: any category that stands out for you that's particularly problematic
Speaker 2: in terms of what people think they're getting and what
Speaker 2: they actually get.
Speaker 3: I think clothing and homeware are probably the more difficult
Speaker 3: ones because people are very specific about fabrication, about feel, etc.
Speaker 3: But I think probably the biggest challenge is whether something
Speaker 3: is branded or non branded, because if you've got a
Speaker 3: sunlight soap, usins and sunlight soap, then it's just unenterpricing
Speaker 3: and it's an easy one to compare. I think when
Speaker 3: something is either non branded, generic or with an unknown brand,
Speaker 3: then it becomes so much more important to really go
Speaker 3: into the details of what you're getting. And the reality
Speaker 3: is that you can in chat, YOUBT or Google and
Speaker 3: really find out a lot more information about those specific items.
Speaker 3: And obviously today we're here to discuss that as well,
Speaker 3: just to help to educate to get a little bit
Speaker 3: more information out there.
Speaker 1: So what we're going to do today is run through
Speaker 1: a couple of categories where there are really interesting insights
Speaker 1: into things you might not know you need to look at,
Speaker 1: and we'll get through as many of them as we
Speaker 1: can in the time we've got available. When do do
Speaker 1: you want to start us off?
Speaker 2: Yes, let's start with the outdoor umbrellas, where quality, it
Speaker 2: seems to me, is of autmost importance given that here
Speaker 2: in the Western Cape there are some to extreme weather
Speaker 2: in terms of both wind and sun. And funnily enough,
Speaker 2: I had a case recently I haven't taken it up
Speaker 2: where one of these umbrellas shot off and actually impaled
Speaker 2: the carbon it someonet parked nearby. Terrible, but yeah, they
Speaker 2: can do a lot of damage. But we're talking particularly
Speaker 2: here of you know, collapses and really fabric that's not
Speaker 2: designed to deal with extreme weather. So what are the
Speaker 2: things we need to know, Lauren about outdoor umbrellas when
Speaker 2: we're looking to buy one beyond the price that is?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think outdoor umbrellas really do vary in
Speaker 3: sturdiness based on their material frames. So there's ribs, you know,
Speaker 3: the poles, the fabric. You've got different kinds of frames,
Speaker 3: which can be aluminium or powder coated. Steel frames are
Speaker 3: stronger than plastic. You've got wooden frames, and it really
Speaker 3: depends on your use of what you're needing it for.
Speaker 3: If it's just for a little bit of outdoor use
Speaker 3: and you're mainly going to store indoors, then you don't
Speaker 3: need something as hard wearing. But if you live at
Speaker 3: the coast, then you're going to need something that's really
Speaker 3: going to be much much more hard wearing. If you're
Speaker 3: going to be in Cape Town, obviously something has to
Speaker 3: be a lot stronger than plastic can extremely heavy. And
Speaker 3: then I think also the ribs support the canopy, and
Speaker 3: the more ribs you've got, the stronger the umbrella is
Speaker 3: going to be. So that's really an important fact for
Speaker 3: us to remember.
Speaker 2: Can you talk us through how many ribs a premium
Speaker 2: umbrella would have versus not so premium one?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so genuinely premium umbrella will have eight ribs and
Speaker 3: then your cheaper products have forty six. So that's a
Speaker 3: good good number to remember.
Speaker 1: Right, So eight is the gold standard with lots of support. Okay,
Speaker 1: And what about the fabric.
Speaker 3: Well, that also matters. You've got outo fabrics and much
Speaker 3: BEUV resistance and one hundred and eighty grams or a
Speaker 3: GSM or higher. That's a really good quality fabric that
Speaker 3: can last a little bit longer. Otherwise it fades really
Speaker 3: really quickly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry, Laurie, why'd you just explain what GSM means? Please?
Speaker 3: It's the weight and the and the sort of weave
Speaker 3: of the fabric to higher the GSM. So something at
Speaker 3: one eighty and above is going to be a good
Speaker 3: quality and something that's like a one sixty GSM or
Speaker 3: one twenty GSM is a much lower weight, much thinner,
Speaker 3: slimsier fabric that is not going to be a shade resistance.
Speaker 2: And if you don't see the GSM rather scroll along.
Speaker 1: I would say, yes, yes, okay, okay. So the fabric
Speaker 1: is important, that the number of ribs is important, The
Speaker 1: substance that the pole and ribs are made out of
Speaker 1: is important, I would guess particularly and kept on what
Speaker 1: is waiting the thing down at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: pole is crucial. Lourrie Llorio, Well.
Speaker 3: This week, this week, you know that you get a
Speaker 3: big web base rate. But this has to be disclosed
Speaker 3: and it's going to be heavy enough to prevent it
Speaker 3: from tipping and flying off and stabbing a carna bone.
Speaker 3: And if the listing claims wind resistance with art specifying
Speaker 3: the rip can't and the fabric weight and the base requirements,
Speaker 3: it might notwithstandards outdoor conditions, So you can always go
Speaker 3: back to an online site and ask for more information
Speaker 3: about the product.
Speaker 1: That's a good point. Yes, it's to stop you saying please,
Speaker 1: can you tell me?
Speaker 2: Yeah, how many routes and yeah? Ok some of the fabric?
Speaker 1: Yeah okay, So that's that's the umbrella that's going over
Speaker 1: our heads. Let's talk next about what's going under our feet, Laurien.
Speaker 1: What do we need to look out for when buying
Speaker 1: something like a rug or carpet?
Speaker 3: So, rags for carpets, the quality is determined by how
Speaker 3: they're made, where they're made, and what sort of knots
Speaker 3: they are. So if you've got something that's hand woven
Speaker 3: or hand knitted in a rag, that's your most premium option. Obviously,
Speaker 3: a single artisan can create the pattern by tying thousands
Speaker 3: of individual knots together, and a large rug can take
Speaker 3: three to six months to complete. I've just been to
Speaker 3: India last month and it was fascinating to watch them
Speaker 3: and weaving these things. Crazy.
Speaker 2: Okay, then you're at the end of the of the scale.
Speaker 2: You've got the machine made ones.
Speaker 3: Yeah you do. You've got machine made rugs and they're
Speaker 3: faster to produce. They're much more affordable. The plant patterns
Speaker 3: are then either printed on or they are mechanically woven injured.
Speaker 3: So that's really important. You need to know whether you're
Speaker 3: your pattern is printed on or if it's mechanically woven in.
Speaker 3: If it's printed, it's going to be less expensive than
Speaker 3: the woven and I.
Speaker 1: Would imagine it also going to be a risk sorry
Speaker 1: that it starts to flake at some point in the future.
Speaker 3: There is that risk, but again it's down to passing.
Speaker 3: So if you're wanting something that's going to just look great,
Speaker 3: you don't have a huge budget, and you wanted just
Speaker 3: to have it for a couple of years, then you know,
Speaker 3: go for a printed rug. But if you're wanting something
Speaker 3: that's going to be a piece that's going to be
Speaker 3: in your home for years and years and years, then
Speaker 3: you're going to want to go for something that's a
Speaker 3: higher quality one potentially of war, et cetera.
Speaker 2: And outdoor rugs are a much bigger thing than they
Speaker 2: used to be. Yes, yeah, talk a little tell us
Speaker 2: that what we should be looking for there.
Speaker 3: So outdoor rugs are incredible. I've seen some that look
Speaker 3: like beautiful indoor rugs but they can literally be outside
Speaker 3: in the rain, which is crazy. And one of the
Speaker 3: really exciting things that I saw now in India is
Speaker 3: that they are recycling your pet plastic bottles so that
Speaker 3: they can handle sunlight, moisture, and rain, et cetera. But
Speaker 3: the thing is that it is absolutely revolutionizing the recycling
Speaker 3: industry and they're actually running here and they're actually running
Speaker 3: out of plastic bottles and instead of starting to import
Speaker 3: from all over the world. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: Sure, Okay, well longer that continue. Please use as many
Speaker 1: as we contruct the way, Where do I know that
Speaker 1: the next category we're going to take a look at
Speaker 1: as one very close to your.
Speaker 2: Home, very very close to my heart as a consumer journalist,
Speaker 2: leather lounge sureets going horribly wrong, peeling and cracking and
Speaker 2: all the rest. It is very much in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 2: I know that the L word is often very much misused,
Speaker 2: as in pu leather in other words, poly plastic in
Speaker 2: other words, Could you share some leather buying tips with
Speaker 2: our listeners please, Lorient.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the other word is actually vegan leathers.
Speaker 3: It's interesting, it sounds amazing that it is also a plastic.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's made of apple. There's all sorts of crazy
Speaker 3: leathers that they're making at the moment. But if we're
Speaker 3: talking sort of bovine leather, there is a very dramatic
Speaker 3: difference in quality in the grade of the leather. So
Speaker 3: full grain leather that's your highest brand. That's the top
Speaker 3: layer of the hide, and it's so strong, it's breathable,
Speaker 3: it develops a beautiful natural patina over time. So that's
Speaker 3: your that's your.
Speaker 2: Top top the most extensive.
Speaker 3: Yes, then if you're going one down, you're going to
Speaker 3: go to a top grain leather. It's also high quality.
Speaker 3: It's a been lightly sanded, it's got a slightly more
Speaker 3: uniform surface. And then genuine leather is also a bit
Speaker 3: of a confusing term because it sounds premium, but that
Speaker 3: can sometimes be.
Speaker 1: A lower layer of Okay, So so don't think that
Speaker 1: because it says genuine leather it's necessarily the best quality leather.
Speaker 1: It is it is it is bovine leather, but it
Speaker 1: might be a lesser quality from a lower layer, is
Speaker 1: what I'm hearing.
Speaker 3: Do you just want to watch up when that's bonded level? Oh?
Speaker 2: Sorry, no, And that's exactly what I want you to
Speaker 2: talk about and whether you would stock any of that
Speaker 2: on one day only or not.
Speaker 3: We would. We would stock it as long as as
Speaker 3: long as it is declared, and that with bonded leather,
Speaker 3: it's the lowest quality. It's basically taking leather scraps and
Speaker 3: then crushing them up and then binding them together with
Speaker 3: a backing. The challenge with that is it does often
Speaker 3: crack and peel over time. So again, if you're just
Speaker 3: looking for a nice little fashion item and you still
Speaker 3: want that sort of smell and that feel and that
Speaker 3: vibe of genuine leather, that's great. But if you're wanting
Speaker 3: something that's going to stand the taste of time, then
Speaker 3: you're going to want to have something. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The problem for me with these products is that legally
Speaker 2: we have a six day warranty CPA Section fifty six
Speaker 2: warranty so that you can have recourse if it goes
Speaker 2: wrong within six months cracks, peels, whatever, But these products
Speaker 2: team to only do that long after six months or
Speaker 2: a year, eighteen months, two years, and then you've got
Speaker 2: no recourse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, problem, okay, so very important.
Speaker 3: There's one. There's one other point that's also important is
Speaker 3: that you know in South Africa We've got a lot
Speaker 3: of people where it's really important that they don't have
Speaker 3: pig leather, so it's really important as well that you
Speaker 3: can see there for SPURVN leathers, et cetera as well,
Speaker 3: so little factor they have in the next.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you so much. We're going to pause there
Speaker 1: to take a break for the eyewitness news team, but
Speaker 1: we will be back continuing this conversation. In the second
Speaker 1: half hour of Consumer Talk, we got to take a
Speaker 1: look at glass food containers, at cutlery, at towels, backpacks,
Speaker 1: and how else much we can fit in. I'll leave
Speaker 1: you though with one thought from Joan, which is a
Speaker 1: helpful tip that if you have a couple of large
Speaker 1: islets put into the fabric of your outdoor umbrella, it
Speaker 1: helps a lot to prevent it from blowing away. Just
Speaker 1: gives the wind a place to blow through. That makes
Speaker 1: so much sense, Joan, rather than sort of say resistance
Speaker 1: exactly and taking flight like the sale of a yacht,
Speaker 1: So perhaps if you're having one manufactured for you, consider
Speaker 1: asking them to put in a few eyelids, Joan, that's
Speaker 1: a great tip. Thank you, cap Talk, Consumer Talk WhatsApp
Speaker 1: on O seven to two five six seven one five
Speaker 1: six seven. Right, we are back with consumer talk. Wendy
Speaker 1: Nola with us in studio and joining us on the line,
Speaker 1: Lori and Fenter of One Day Only. And again I
Speaker 1: want to emphasize this is a the advice that is
Speaker 1: being shared here is specific, is not specific to one
Speaker 1: Day Only. Laurent is sharing insight with us that helps
Speaker 1: us understand, uh the listings that we see on any
Speaker 1: sales platform and know what to look for in the detail,
Speaker 1: which can give you hints as to the quality of
Speaker 1: the item you're actually buying. So, if you're just tuning
Speaker 1: in now, you've missed our conversation about umbrellas and about
Speaker 1: rugs and carpets as well as leather and the different
Speaker 1: ways leather is marketed and what to look out for
Speaker 1: and what to be wary of. So if you missed that,
Speaker 1: please go and look for the podcast of the interview
Speaker 1: to hear the bit that you missed. We will bring
Speaker 1: back Lourian Fenceer and continue the conversation Lourian with let's
Speaker 1: talk about glass food containers, a very popular way of
Speaker 1: you know, keeping leftovers in the fridge for example, or
Speaker 1: some people like to use them as their lunch pos
Speaker 1: there's huge variation in the prices, though, what should we
Speaker 1: be looking at to give us a sense of what
Speaker 1: is a good quality glass container and what's not so
Speaker 1: good quality?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think a glass food containers are honestly one
Speaker 3: of our best sellers at the moment, which is crazy.
Speaker 3: They love everyone is food creeping like crazy. But I
Speaker 3: think the most important factor is the type of glass used.
Speaker 3: So Boroughs silicon glass is actually the premium option. It
Speaker 3: withstands extreme temperature changes, and I think this is really important.
Speaker 3: You've got to find a glass that it's going to
Speaker 3: move from freezer to the oven without cracking, that can
Speaker 3: go into the dishwasher, because obviously these things are things
Speaker 3: we want to use. You know, you throw them into
Speaker 3: a lunch box, you throw them into a bag, and
Speaker 3: you want to make sure that they're going to be strong.
Speaker 3: And I think cheaper containers they can get made from
Speaker 3: soda arm glass and they are sensitive to heat, shark
Speaker 3: and to breaking. So I think that's really its material
Speaker 3: always true, Okay, But I think the quality container is
Speaker 3: the actually should list temperature tolerances and safety compliants, and
Speaker 3: they should specify that they are lead free. And DPA free,
Speaker 3: so those are really important. And then the last point
Speaker 3: is that you must have really strong ceiling. It's it's
Speaker 3: super important. Lid's with locking clips and a silicon gasket
Speaker 3: are more air tighted and leak resistance and your fruit's
Speaker 3: going to last longer.
Speaker 2: Silicon gasket being that learning that.
Speaker 1: Looks like a sort of a rubber band around the room.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that's the one.
Speaker 1: Okay, So locking clips for a silicon gasket as part
Speaker 1: of the seal. And then look for let free, look
Speaker 1: for BPA free, and if you want the very best
Speaker 1: of the best, you're looking for Boris silicate glass. Thanks
Speaker 1: for the tips on that one. Wheny the next one,
Speaker 1: when I know that you went down a real rabbit hole, Well.
Speaker 2: This actually started and I was sitting in the media
Speaker 2: conference a few weeks ago and the team, I can't
Speaker 2: even remember what the other product category was to demonstrate
Speaker 2: to us the kinds of vetting the team does, but
Speaker 2: the cutlery one stood out for me and that's what
Speaker 2: sent me down this rabbit hole. What do we need
Speaker 2: to know when shopping for cutlery online? And the answer
Speaker 2: to this question really came as was very illuminating to me,
Speaker 2: it was something that I hadn't really considered, to my
Speaker 2: shame really, because I should have. So over to you, Laurent,
Speaker 2: please explain what those numbers mean. I'm never going to forget.
Speaker 3: Yes, So, cutlery quality is determined by the stain is
Speaker 3: steel grade, and these grades are written as numbers, so
Speaker 3: you will see on them that you'll sometimes see eighteen
Speaker 3: ten or eighteen eight or eighteen zero. So the first number,
Speaker 3: that eighteen indicates chromium and that prevents rust, and the
Speaker 3: second number indicates how much nickel is in it. So
Speaker 3: if you've got a nought nickel, it's going to be
Speaker 3: less nickel, and if you've got a ten, it's going
Speaker 3: to be more. But what the nickel does is it
Speaker 3: adds shine, so it makes it beautiful and shiny and lustrous,
Speaker 3: and it improves corrosion resistance. So eighteen ten is the
Speaker 3: highest quality. It's used in premium hospitality items. Eighteen eight
Speaker 3: is durable ideal for everyday use. That eighteen zero contains
Speaker 3: no knickel, so that's what actually marked tarnish over time.
Speaker 2: And would that also be the very lightweight stuff there, No.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing is just weight. It signals quality.
Speaker 3: So you've got the tube things, you've got the materials,
Speaker 3: and then you've got the weight. The heavier cutlery is forged,
Speaker 3: it's stronger, and then your sin lightweight pieces are going
Speaker 3: to bend easily. So if a listing doesn't state the grade,
Speaker 3: it's usually got a low nickel content.
Speaker 1: What grade?
Speaker 2: How do they specify grades with cutlery from high quality
Speaker 2: to lower quality?
Speaker 3: No, it's just on the it's on the nickel and.
Speaker 1: The okay got you, Yes, okay, I'll vouch for that.
Speaker 1: Having made the mistake of buying the less expensive light
Speaker 1: weight country for uh yeah, to go off to res
Speaker 1: it came back in all kinds of shapes that it
Speaker 1: did not leave in, is all I will say. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I do want to say though, that there's spaceful for all.
Speaker 3: And you know, even with us, we do sell the
Speaker 3: expensive items and we sell the cheaper ones. And the
Speaker 3: reason is if you're going to have a Christmas party
Speaker 3: and you want to have beautiful gold cuttery and you
Speaker 3: want an amazing look, and you don't really it's not
Speaker 3: long cheers, not your Yeah, it's just a fashion item, right,
Speaker 3: then go for it and buy the cheap quality one.
Speaker 3: And just take a bit of care, make sure that
Speaker 3: you don't believe it lying in water or leave it
Speaker 3: lying in the in the wet to the steam after
Speaker 3: you've dishwashers to wipe it.
Speaker 1: That's a very good important Yeah. Those marks you get
Speaker 1: on the cuttery is because you've left them sitting there
Speaker 1: steaming and not drying immediately after dishwashing. Thanks for that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go next to one which I know. People get
Speaker 1: very very highly hit up with personal opinions on the
Speaker 1: quality of towels. Some people like them lightweight and quick,
Speaker 1: quick try. Some people want them spongy and fluffy and
Speaker 1: feeling like you've been wrapped in cotton.
Speaker 2: And often a couple has to need the SAME's.
Speaker 1: The challenge, if ever there was, What can you tell
Speaker 1: us about towels, Laurion, tour quality.
Speaker 3: Is determined by the weight. That again that we're GSM.
Speaker 3: Your grandspaster, there you go and father competition competition, so
Speaker 3: your in terms your grands scream meat. It refers to
Speaker 3: your fabric density. Gers them obviously thicker, softer and more absorbent.
Speaker 3: So towels between a five hundred and a six fifty
Speaker 3: GSM they plush they're luxurious, and towels below four fifty
Speaker 3: GSM are thinner. They drive faster, but they must feel
Speaker 3: less premium.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it depends what you want. I mean you
Speaker 2: might not want You might enjoy that flush feel, but
Speaker 2: then get irritated because it doesn't seem to be drying
Speaker 2: your fis effectively. And then the thinner ones seem a
Speaker 2: bit cheap and nasty.
Speaker 1: But they've got better absorbent some people, Laurien, what about
Speaker 1: the fact that not all cottons are equal.
Speaker 3: Yes, I think this is really important. Cotton remains the
Speaker 3: gold standard and toils because it's naturally absorbent. Sometimes tiles
Speaker 3: have got to poliest in them that to me, they
Speaker 3: don't feel very nice. That you retain their color very well,
Speaker 3: but you know, I just don't like to feel of
Speaker 3: it at all. But Egyptian and Turkish cotton have longer fibers,
Speaker 3: which means that they can actually create a softer, more
Speaker 3: durable towel, and it can improve with washing. Microfiber tis yeah,
Speaker 3: which are made from priest. They lightweight, they fast drying.
Speaker 3: It makes the ideal for gym or travel, but they
Speaker 3: definitely don't feel luxurious or premium.
Speaker 2: I actually heard a tip on one of those reels,
Speaker 2: you know, hairdressers saying one of the mistakes you make
Speaker 2: with our hair, and they said, you women don't realize
Speaker 2: that the normal cotton towels do a lot of damage
Speaker 2: to your hair and that you should have a special
Speaker 2: microfiber towel for your hair, which I now do.
Speaker 1: I won one of those lovely microfiber hoodies with the
Speaker 1: button on the front. Doing it right, doo new Okay,
Speaker 1: but I will vouce for the fact that it absorbs quickly,
Speaker 1: it dries quickly afterwards as well, and it doesn't damage
Speaker 1: the hair. Okay. So that's the consistency, the quality, the
Speaker 1: type of cotton that you're using or not cotton in
Speaker 1: this case. The other thing people often trip up on
Speaker 1: Olaurion is the size of the toils.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so baths sheet is significantly larger than a standard
Speaker 3: bath towel. It provides more coverage. Again, it just feels
Speaker 3: so much more luxurious. And it's down to people's budgets.
Speaker 3: It's down to their preferences.
Speaker 2: And how big washing machine is and you're washing bills.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's really important that listings clearly state the GTM
Speaker 3: cotton type the size, just to really help customers understand
Speaker 3: what they're buying.
Speaker 1: Join the conversation. Join the conversation you're with Kate sulk right.
Speaker 1: The conversation continues with Lorri and Fenter of One Day
Speaker 1: Only and Wendy Nola and before we go to the
Speaker 1: backpacks and travel mugs, a question in from Selwyn wanting
Speaker 1: input on jewelry. Sulwyn's saying customers often duped into buying
Speaker 1: what they think might be silver jewelry, but it's actually
Speaker 1: silver looking and what arrives is something else coated in rhodium,
Speaker 1: for example. Laurian, I know Wendy was just saying one
Speaker 1: of the Chinese platforms tries to get away with that
Speaker 1: by saying silvery jewelry. Anything you'd like to say there
Speaker 1: about what you should be looking out for when buying jewelry.
Speaker 3: Definitely, you know there's all sorts of things. I know
Speaker 3: for myself, my ear rings are incredibly, incredibly sensitive, Okay,
Speaker 3: so you know I'm always looking for gold plated. I
Speaker 3: am very very particular about what I'm looking for. I
Speaker 3: know that you know, for example, you can look for
Speaker 3: jewelry that is tarnish free, so that you can actually
Speaker 3: charnish resistance so that it doesn't tarnish. And yeah, you
Speaker 3: can you can have again, you can buy a cheap
Speaker 3: jewelry and you can buy more expensive. It really does
Speaker 3: matter that you you know, whether it's got gold plating
Speaker 3: on it, whether it's got vrodium plating, whether it's got
Speaker 3: silver plating on it, and those sort of details are
Speaker 3: super important.
Speaker 1: Okay, So read the list. Don't just assume because it
Speaker 1: looks silver in the photograph that it is genuine Silver's
Speaker 1: s ninety really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my understanding. Silver ninety seven. I know it's
Speaker 2: doing silver.
Speaker 3: Okay, fantastic, And I think also what's really really important
Speaker 3: to note is that the silver price has gone through
Speaker 3: the roof for this year, okay, And so jewelry silver, jewelry,
Speaker 3: if it's genuine silver, is going to be shooting up
Speaker 3: in price.
Speaker 1: Okay. So if it's if it's at a really really
Speaker 1: reasonable price, it's probably not silver, and you should be
Speaker 1: very very very suspicious. Okay, thanks for that so one,
Speaker 1: Thanks for flagging that one. Right back to the list
Speaker 1: we set up in advance for the next one, Laurent
Speaker 1: travel Mugs or the rage Everybody's trying to do there
Speaker 1: but for the planet and not re use disposable cups
Speaker 1: and bottles and have a reusable travel mug that goes
Speaker 1: with them. But what do we need to know when
Speaker 1: choosing one.
Speaker 3: I think the phrase to look for there is double
Speaker 3: walled vacuum insulation. Vacuum ventilation mugs retain temperature for hours,
Speaker 3: while mugs at only state double walls do not, so
Speaker 3: it's really important. Also what the material is for your
Speaker 3: own safety. So the interior must be an eighteen slash
Speaker 3: eight food grade standard steel. It's similar ratings to the cutlery,
Speaker 3: and the lid should be pa free free and should
Speaker 3: be leakproof. I don't know if you've had any trouble
Speaker 3: bags in your car and they've knocked over water all
Speaker 3: over your floor.
Speaker 1: Well, rather water than protein shake or smoothie, I guess,
Speaker 1: but still it's not funny, and it's not funny if
Speaker 1: it gets near the electronics of the car either, or
Speaker 1: if it's hot water for that matter, not funny.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, So the keyword there.
Speaker 2: Is vacuum, and I didn't know that we know that
Speaker 2: by the double walled thing, But to look specifically for
Speaker 2: the word vacuum, I didn't know, so thank you for that, Lorian.
Speaker 2: And then finally, this strikes me as an era that
Speaker 2: one should really, you know, be careful when purchasing because
Speaker 2: you do rather want your backpacks to unless it's just
Speaker 2: a cheap little thing you're going to take on a
Speaker 2: beach walk with two things in it. You want your
Speaker 2: backpacks to be of a high quality. So how do
Speaker 2: we go about doing that? What do we look for enlistings? Larian?
Speaker 3: Well, I think you're so right. I did the Utter
Speaker 3: Trail with a burrowed backpack from a really kind friend
Speaker 3: of mine, but it was very old, and you know,
Speaker 3: it stuck into my back, it wasn't holding in the
Speaker 3: right temperate places, et cetera. And I have never had
Speaker 3: a more uncomfortable five days in my life. So it
Speaker 3: is something that's very close to mark off. But backbacks
Speaker 3: need to be assessed on their fabric density and they're
Speaker 3: stitching because you don't want any of the stitching to
Speaker 3: come apart as you're busy hiking. You know you're carrying
Speaker 3: very heavy items and when things start to go wrong
Speaker 3: sometimes there three or four days away from help. So
Speaker 3: durable bags use ripstop, nilon or polyester graded between the
Speaker 3: six hundred density or twelve hundred density. So those are
Speaker 3: just words to look for, So ripstop nilon and six
Speaker 3: hundred D or twelve hundred D. And then the higher
Speaker 3: the number, the sick and tougher the fabric is. So
Speaker 3: that's really important. And then reinforced stitching, padded straps and
Speaker 3: improved comfort and longevity make you know, really premium outdoor bags.
Speaker 3: And it really is about the economic support where the
Speaker 3: weight is going to sit on your back is really important.
Speaker 2: And adjustment. I think there's also how much adjustment you
Speaker 2: can get. Definitely something which is really worth considering. And
Speaker 2: we heard about this off air. Is this zip to
Speaker 2: look for the YKK zips because I've thought something on
Speaker 2: one of those foreign retail sucks. It looked great and
Speaker 2: the product was fine, but the zip was so cheap
Speaker 2: and awful that it just ruined the experience, the lived
Speaker 2: experience of the item. So you just talk us through
Speaker 2: that a little bit Flurent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if something's got a y kksip, you know that
Speaker 3: it's going to be very good. I mean, there are
Speaker 3: other zips that can be very good, but it is
Speaker 3: really really important even if you get your item and
Speaker 3: it doesn't have a zip that you're happy with it
Speaker 3: to rather send it back because again, on a backpack
Speaker 3: and when you're hiking, if you're just doing a quick
Speaker 3: beach walk again, you know, you can buy a cheap
Speaker 3: item then if that's its purpose, that's great. But if
Speaker 3: you're going on a big, proper high then you need
Speaker 3: something your zips are not going to break and even
Speaker 3: you're not going to come tumbling out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've just while we're thinking of zips,
Speaker 1: it's something to look at when buying handbags as well.
Speaker 1: The zip or whatever the closure is is take the
Speaker 1: time to zoom in on the photograph. If there isn't
Speaker 1: already a close up photograph of the closure of the bag,
Speaker 1: pay attention to it because you can absolutely ruin the bag.
Speaker 1: You can buy what looks like a very expensive, beautiful
Speaker 1: quality bag made for wonderful leather, and if it's got
Speaker 1: a dog cheap zip in it that's going to break,
Speaker 1: you don't want to use the bag. Yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to then go and invest more when having as
Speaker 1: a replaced For example, and simplies to the Wabi talking bands,
Speaker 1: just off the top of my head, the strap on
Speaker 1: a bag. It's something I became aware of and almost
Speaker 1: fell for the last time I was overseas. I was
Speaker 1: gonna buy myself a nice bag to bring home, and
Speaker 1: the sort of over the shoulder strap was all folded
Speaker 1: up and neatly tied together, so all you could see
Speaker 1: was a very short section of it. Thankfully, I said
Speaker 1: to the lady in the shop, I want to just
Speaker 1: open this up so I can see how long the
Speaker 1: strap is, only to discover that that little bit peaking out,
Speaker 1: which was beautifully leather coated, was the only piece of
Speaker 1: leather on the strap. Underneath it was basically a woven rope.
Speaker 1: But it's it's an important thing to look out for.
Speaker 1: And if it's all particularly packaged up. And I know
Speaker 1: they're packaged like that because it's easy to transport that way,
Speaker 1: and to stuck on the shelf easier, but it's too
Speaker 1: easy to hide.
Speaker 2: I'm yeah, I'm just looking this up on this bag
Speaker 2: upward from an artisan and on the what do you
Speaker 2: call it, the what's that area of the wilderness there?
Speaker 2: What's that the garden root? And it's it's so it's
Speaker 2: a beautiful little bag, and I'm looking at this ziph
Speaker 2: it's got a big KK on it.
Speaker 1: Excellent. I think we can squeeze in one last listener
Speaker 1: question before we have to wrap up, Laurie and are
Speaker 1: somebody asking about the significance of thread count when choosing bedding.
Speaker 3: Yes, so thread count is very very important. The higher
Speaker 3: the thread count, the better the quality. In general, sort
Speaker 3: of a cheaper quality is a two hundred thread count,
Speaker 3: you know, getting to something more premium is a three hundred,
Speaker 3: four hundred, five hundred thread count. So the higher the
Speaker 3: thread count the better, which is super important. But it
Speaker 3: is also really really important that you know that you
Speaker 3: don't just know the thread count is. It can also
Speaker 3: be about the quality of the cotton. So if it's
Speaker 3: a long stap or cotton, it can outperform something with
Speaker 3: a much shorter five And again that one is one
Speaker 3: that often is not necessarily included in product spect I
Speaker 3: think also the weave is what matters, whether it's a
Speaker 3: pekale or a satin those sorts of words. You know,
Speaker 3: satin is something that's I've got sort of a shinier
Speaker 3: feel to it. So it really is important that you
Speaker 3: really look into the details as much as possible, and
Speaker 3: you know these days with chat EPTE, with Google, it
Speaker 3: is important that we can really understand what are the
Speaker 3: things that we like it as we become more savvy
Speaker 3: on products, and you know, it makes us better consumers.
Speaker 1: Indeed, Lauren Fencer, thank you so so much for helping
Speaker 1: with the consumer education this afternoon. Lots of deeply granular detail,
Speaker 1: but so important, and I hope listeners have been making notes.
Speaker 1: I've certainly been making notes on the towels because mine
Speaker 1: are looking thread best, so I know exactly what to
Speaker 1: look for and not look for. Thanks for the advice, Lauria,
Speaker 1: and appreciate your input on the show this afternoon, Wendy,
Speaker 1: as we appreciate yours as always, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thanks Loan, keep well, Rien Fenter. One day, Oni and
Speaker 1: Wendy Nona reminded that you can reach out to her
Speaker 1: via her website Wendy Nola dot co, dotz a