Little Black Bag Review & Coupon
I’ve had a few requests to review the subscription and swap service Little Black Bag, so I decided it was time to try it out! (I must admit, I’ve checked out this site a few times in the past, and it always seemed too confusing to try, so I’ll do my best to explain how it works).
The Subscription Box: Little Black Bag
The Cost: $9.95 a month (plus the cost of what item you pick).
The Products: Jewelry, Shoes, Accessories, Home, and Beauty Items
Ships to: US and Canada
To start out with Little Black Bag, you browse the gallery and pick out the first item in your Little Black Bag, once you enter your credit card info and checkout, you will get two more Stylist picks for your Little Black Bag. (When I was checking out I had to go search the house for where I put my credit card, and when I came back to the screen, there was a pop-up message from Little Black Bag offering me another bonus item if I continued with checkout since it looked like I was “hesitating”. So, I’m not sure if this works all the time, but I recommend waiting a few minutes on the final checkout page to see if you get a similar offer!)
I picked out the Kelsi Dagger purse on the left, and the necklace and a set of earrings (not pictured) were my surprise stylist items. And this bracelet was the bonus item. I decided I wanted to swap the necklace, bracelet and earrings since they weren’t really my style. (You have several days to swap items before your bag ships, or you can request that it ship whenever you are ready).
To find items to swap, you browse the gallery, select items you like, and propose a swap. If the other shopper accepts it your trade is complete. I tried to swap my necklace and bracelet for this candle holder – but no one wanted my deal!
Of course, you can also just browse swap offers made to you:
This is a look at my Little Black Bag order before it ships. On the left are my items, and in the middle are trade offers from other shoppers. You can accept or pass on any offer.
I ended up swapping my bracelet for hair ties, and necklace for legwarmers, and my earrings for knee socks. I’m not sure if I made the right swaps in pure retail value, but I did get only items I wanted, so I was happy.
Now on to the actual items:
Kelsi Dagger Bushwick CrossBody Bag in Rust – Value $128 (My VIP subscription price $59.95)
I own several Kelsi Dagger shoes, and as soon as I saw this bag was leather I decided it would be selection. I love the rust color and all the gold metal details.
The VIP pricing of $59.95 was the cheapest pricing I could find online for this bag, so I felt like it was a good deal. Now onto my swaps:
Hair Ties – Value $7?
I traded my free bonus bracelet for these hair ties – I can never have enough of these things!
Lemon Knee-hi Socks – Retail Value $18
Lemon Boucle Leg Warmer – Retail Value $15
Ever since I saw this company on Shark Tank, I’ve wanted to try accessorizing my boots with socks and leg wear, so these socks will be my first attempt! (I found both of these socks for sale online for 50% off, so I’ll factor that into my evaluation). (I traded my earrings and necklace for these socks).
Here is my order receipt since it gets a little confusing doing values of what you swapped for and not the actual items you “purchased.”
UPDATE: I just looked at my credit card history online, and it looks like LLB charged me the $96.80, and then refunded me $20.90, so I guess I paid for just the purse, the monthly $10 subscription fee, and the shipping of $5.95. So in total I paid $75.90 for everything pictured. Hope that makes sense! (I’m definitely excited since this is a better deal than I originally thought!)
Verdict: I had fun doing with Little Black Bag (once I figured it out), and I since I got to swap until I picked up items I like, I know I’ll use everything I received! The value is pretty good too – while I did find a lot of the items in my bag on sale, I still couldn’t get the total price down to $75.90 by shopping other sites.
Have you tried Little Black Bag? Any tips or strategies for swapping? (I feel like I still have a lot to learn!)
Written by Liz Cadman
Liz, do you have an updated coupon referral for LLB?
Yikes, nevermind. I don’t LLB exists anymore.
*LBB, not to be confused with little lace box…
was just curious dat can i skip any month without paying the $10 ? like we do in just fab !
I’m just starting with this site… Items will ship in 2 days. I do get the feeling that the values are inflated, and you think you’re getting a great deal but maybe not in reality. For example, that owl necklace you got for a free surprise item, valued at $18?? I have that same exact necklace, and I bought it off amazon for about $2, maybe less, shipped for free. So…?
I have used LBB a few times. Always got items that either I can use, or a friend. Trading is fun, and I usually get a better item than what I was given. I’m actually sitting here wondering if I should do the buy one pair of shoes, get 2 pairs free promo right now!
I just signed up a couple days ago using the coupon code and am loving it! It’s a bit addictive – I even considered opening a second bag to trade with myself. crazy!! Getting all kinds of offers on the bag I purchased – but it’s the only one out there and I’m keeping it! LOL!! Did manage to get rid of stuff I didn’t want (all the rest) for 2 items I had considered purchasing instead. Thanks for telling us about this site!
I just tried this out with the 25% off coupon code and am loving it! I also selected a Kelsi Dagger purse and it must be a hot item because I’m getting insane offers up to $300 worth of products! But I WANT the bag so much I refuse to trade it. Already traded something I didn’t want for something I had considered buying. Just trying to get rid of the earrings though. I wish you could note somewhere if you don’t have pierced ears to avoid getting stuck with them. REgardless – it is so fun offering trades and making trades!!!
I’ve used Little Black Bag a few times. Since I don’t really need to get stuff every month, I usually sign up for VIP and then cancel right after- then reinstate my membership when I want to subscribe again. I had never seen a member fee, but they automatically charge you 9.99 (and give it to you as a credit towards buying things) a month unless you skip that month or cancel like I do. You can also opt to not be VIP, but then you miss out on a lower price and whatever promo is going on at the time (like free stuff with every order).
If you want to try Little Black Bag, I suggest you go into it as entertainment as you would probably get a better value (and spend less time) at TJ Max. Also, everything you chose would be what you wanted, not what you got stuck with because no one wants to trade for it. For tips, ask other members in chat or look up “Little Black Bag” strategies or tips on youtube to see member’s video suggestions.
Where online did you find the Lemon socks on sale? 🙂 They are so cute!
I thought you only got charged for the initial item you choose? That’s how it used to be when I did it. I would buy a purse, and get 3 additional items with fairly high values at no additional cost. Then trade those for even higher value items. I feel like this site used to be amazing and now is kind of going downhill 🙁
I just looked at my credit card history online, and it looks like LLB charged me the $96.80, and then refunded me $20.90, so I guess I paid for just the purse, the monthly $10 subscription fee, and the shipping of $5.95.
Weird way to process the order, but thanks for bringing this to my attention. This is an even better deal than I thought!
I’ve been shopping at LBB for a while and unfortunately the trading is SO MUCH SLOWER than it used to be. I wish you had been able to try it out earlier, because it was totally different and you could get a lot more bang for your buck. It looks like you still got a great haul, though!
I’ve actually been a member for 7 months and I love it! Others have had problems with OOS items but I’ve never had the issue. They always have some sort of sale or promo going on and I finally found boots to fit my calfs! I also bought something for, I think, $89.95 during the first of the month releases back in October I believe and got a free $225 NuMe Hair dryer!
I’ll have to watch out for the next promo – thanks for the tip! 🙂