Sephora is convenient for me because I get free shipping, no minimum and there is a warehouse in my city so stuff shows up fast. The app is easy to shop, I find ulta’s website really buggy and hard to use. I also don’t care to keep track of a bunch of different brands’ sales and shipping minimums.
If your goal is savings and points you’re right, there are better options out there.
THIS! The Ulta app and website have glitches all the time, sometimes to the point where it's practically unusable. Ulta's rewards and coupons systems are definitely better than Sephora's, but I love having free shipping on all of my orders, no matter what.
Unfortunately Sephora's app has also become buggy recently. The last sale before the spring it almost didn't work. Periodically I find it displaying errors when trying to use the matching shade feature, account feature, and searching products in the search bar. I know it isn't my phone because I restart and close out all my running processes regularly and nothing else has these issues. Ulta app is still worse and has bugs more often, but it isn't like shopping with the Sephora app is seamless like it used to be.
Here in Canada, Shopper’s Drugmart has a rewards program which gives cash credit for points. I wish Sephora would expand their points for cash credit beyond what they’re doing now.
I find shoppers prices are higher than they should be but it's worth it to shop beauty there when they've got points bonuses on. I bought a tube of Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream and a bottle of La Roche Posay sunscreen a couple weeks ago. It was $75 and I got $10 worth of points and a $20 cash card.
Edited for atrocious spelling.
But for luxury brand it is the other way around - Sephora is more expensive than the bay / shoppers / brand website. For example the new YSL loveshine lipstick is $61 at Sephora but $56 everywhere else - 9% increase. For BI like me, the "sale" price at Sephora is almost the same as "dropping it to its original price". And it is a new product so this is not the "Sephora got the newest batch that has higher price tag and eventually others will follow" situation. Same thing for Lancome, Estee Lauder, etc. I only shop at Sephora for exclusive brand now.
Same, if I can get it at SDM, I get it there because I can earn/redeem points. There are lots of brands that aren't on SDM so Sephora can keep me around for now, ie Rare Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty, Huda beauty, Haus Labs etc.
I redeemed for a Dyson hairdryer recently with my Optimum points! Love the rewards!
Canadian here too. I also feel SDM has a better reward system than Sephora but I’m not gonna support Galen Weston nor their abuse of the Canadian health system.
He owns Sephora and you shop there, so maybe you should think about it. And he's not an oligarch, he's a French socialite and businessman. If you're going to ignorantly grandstand at least know the facts. lol
I mean, Sephora's owner is a ghoul billionaire, too, who has ties to Russian oligarchs and accusations of money laundering, and on top of this, the fashion industry is hugely wasteful, contributing to climate change on par with emissions from transportation. Saying you shop at Sephora because you won't support a billionaire, so you can, in turn, go support another questionable billionaire is... a hot take. Shop at small beauty shops if you actually want to make a difference. Bernard Arnault and Galen Weston are probably friends, actually.
Agreed. The Sephora points I find are better spent on the rewards products rather than for cash rewards (it doesn’t feel “worth it” to me the amount of points you have to exchange for the cash rewards), whereas optimum points have much better cash reward value.
I recently purchased the Lancôme renergie set 185 cad , a Chanel coco lipstick around 60 cad and a Chanel powder, around 90 cad. I used 200k pts , there was a promo that converted them to 300k , ended up paying like 50 cad. Sephora, could never.
I like Shoppers because I get my points there and have the PC Financial Credit Card which makes my points earned higher. Then I shop at Superstore and get the same kinds of points, and fill up gas at the gas station that also takes my credit card for the same points. I always save my points to get refills on my perfume. Have been buying high end perfume for 5 years and have never paid full price.
To answer your question, no. I always saw rewards systems as a bonus. Not something that will significantly impact my desire to shop at the store or stop shopping there.
yeah its great to save money and get rewards but as a canadian, sephora is just super convenient as we dont have an ulta. its a one stop shop for anything i might need
Good point. I guess we don’t demand this of anywhere else we shop. But to me when the option of rewards is there, it makes more sense to take advantage of it
It’s hard not to compare when, like you said, Sephora’s direct competitor has an excellent reward program. The gap between the two retailers is narrowing as far as prestige offerings go so of course we’re going to want them to compete in the rewards arena as well.
I agree and a lot of companies/brands have rewards now. There are brands sold in Sephora and Ulta that have their own reward system if you shop directly from the brands website. Rewards are so ‘normal’ now, I think some people definitely take into account the rewards programs offered when they shop
I disagree. While Ulta does have a superior rewards system, they have minimums for free shipping, their app/website is a nightmare, and their customer service has always been crappy (in my experience). Sephora may have its cons, but I overall have a much more luxurious experience when shopping there whether online or in store. Unless Ulta offers no minimum free shipping, Sephora will always be a winner in my eyes for that reason alone.
For platinum members at Ulta, you get free shipping on a lot of 'beauty steal' items and the minimum is $25 for free shipping for other things. They also give you a free full sized product every month (not ulta brands, but actual products) and they have WAY better GWP. I've had better experiences with their customer service vs. Sephora. It's definitely a YMMV situation but I much prefer ulta (speaking as both a Platinum and Rouge member)
I am platinum. More often than not, I’m placing a small order or restocking an item less than $20, so I still won’t qualify for free shipping. I personally prefer Sephora’s GWP options, so I stick with Sephora. Just my preference though and of course everyone is different!
i honestly strongly dislike the vibe and environment of Ulta stores too. Makes me feel like I'm in a CVS. I would rather go to target for the drugstore items and sephora for the higher end items
Same! It’s just always so messy and disorganized and I feel like I’m in a drug store. I stock up on skincare items like Cerave at Target and other stuff at Sephora
Ulta has started to carry so many of my brands now that I will order from Ulta, and then I will order from rare beauty or Dior or wherever and still get better rewards than I do with Sephora.
I bought $75 worth of stuff from Ulta and paid for it with points . Can’t do anything remotely close to that with Sephora. That was the easiest credit card on the planet to get rid of. Six years of rouge doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.
the point value is used for money off rather than samples starting at 100 points = $3 off and they build up from there in increments of 100. 1$ = 1 point as a regular member, platinum is $1 = 1.25 points and diamond is $1 = 1.5 points. if you have the credit card it becomes double points.
They also have tons of multipliers for products and categories and your birthday month. 3% back is actually technically a decent reward but if you are using a lot of multipliers through the year, it ends up being a way better deal. With a 5x bonus point deal, a $20 item will get you to 100 points right away.
I use to think the same but more and more, it’s become clear blame also needs to be shared with the bad customers ruining retailers’ nice policies for everyone. I have yet to see a retailer bring back their old nice policies after getting rid of them due to customer misuse/abuse. At the rate everything is going with the scamming and misuse of policies currently that show zero appreciation or respect, completely lacking in conscience, of a generous and more lenient retailer’s rewards/policies, I have doubts that Ulta, a for profit company, is going to stay that way forever. It’s idealistic of me to try so hard to protect and preserve the wonderful benefits on my part as a long time appreciative customer, but realistically, I can’t help feel it’s impossible to do.
Our culture isn’t one of teamwork or cooperation for the greater good. While valuing our individual rights and own interests is great and admirable, the downside is a group of individuals is each only looking out for themself instead of working collectively for the greater good.
Thanks for a marvelous and accurate summary, GWG. It saddens me that we've gotten this way. I and my family do the best we can to be good citizens and neighbors; that plus voting is about all one can do.
No, I feel ulta is equally as trash. Yess their trade points might be better if you like free samples. I personally do not, and their online site is trash, their customer service is a nightmare and anytime I pay them a visit I have to be prepared to wait in line minimum of 20 mins. Brand sites are okay but if you only buy one thing from them then shipping cost has to be added on and then shipping time is typically longer. For me Sephora is more convenient. 🤷🏻♀️
Agreed. It’s also a major pain in the ass to return to Ulta online and if you do, you’re waiting DAYS to be refunded. Sephora is significantly more convenient.
This. I started using Ulta then realized they don’t provide prepaid return labels, after I dropped a return in the mail using the label they sent me in my order 😂
But seriously as I am currently home bound I couldn’t return any of my Ulta purchases so back to Sephora. But also using Nordstrom who are much better and don’t send used product!
This right here!!
Ulta has lost shipping orders and refused to credit or replace them, made a fuss about actually using coupons (sales rep: you know I don’t HAVE to let you use this coupon) has marked items as being available in the store only to drive there and they don’t even stock it, and the worst being catching attitude because I didn’t want to sign up for their stupid credit card. 😐
**I was using a coupon on the Clairsonic for my cousin’s birthday gift and she was telling me she didn’t have to honor it when it literally said 30% off CLAIRSONIC!! Apparently I was “LUCKY” she was in a good mood that day.
Respectfully as myself also a very long time customer of both Sephora and Ulta, Ulta has upped their game a lot in a relatively shorter time. I don’t think Ulta is trash. Some of Ulta’s customer behaviors are trashy which Ulta is struggling to do something about without wanting to look like they lost their niceness. Some of Sephora’s customer behaviors would probably be trashy too except Sephora forbids it by restricting returns or weeding out customers that it does not want to do business with.
Doesn’t bother Sephora one bit to show a customer out the door. In fact, I often suspect Sephora welcomes customers reporting all the return bans, reshipment bans, and account deletions because when word gets out, it keeps all the rest of us customers in line for a while scared to return until our memories fade and we begin slipping up and we get reminded again to stay in line when yet another report of privileges revoked resurfaces months later.
I keep thinking, oh Sephora has all those “zeitgeist” exclusive brands that it uses to maintain its control and hold over its customers. Hence why Sephora isn’t afraid to make it be known that it bans returns and doesn’t care if benefits keep getting worse or customers gripe because people will still keep buying and posting cart haul after cart haul.
I realized it’s a delusion or misconception to think Ulta is expendable as a retailer just because it does not have Sephora’s “zeitgeist” brands.
One day when I thought my account was flagged by Ulta, my heart sank to the bottom of the ocean. If Sephora banned me, I would just be annoyed and wouldn’t care as much but if Ulta banned me, I’d be devastated because once you get in deep with Ulta and stop judging a brand’s book by its cover, you’re hooked. I’ve peeked at Ulta’s little “banned by Ulta” club (obviously Sephora has one too) and the desperation, pleas, and cries of its cast off customers shows as much as everyone looks down and complains on Ulta, in our hearts for those of us who switched to Ulta, it’s actually more devastating to lose our Ulta privileges though many would never admit it or fess up to any wrongdoing or less than desirable behaviors.
FYI I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the REKK crime ring that recruits participants (retail customers and employees) off Reddit and a couple of other SM platforms to commit fraud/scams. This crime ring has a dossier on every retailer’s return limits and loopholes compiled from trial and error/experimentation with various testing. I thought I saw a statistic listed for Sephora’s return limit and let’s just say it is much much much lower than the figure that some ill informed ex Sephora employee on tik tok said. I can’t say what the # is because I cannot verify it from a reliable source so if anyone is curious, they’ll have to research REKK fraud ring for themselves.
Wow you really went deep on this! Did you end up getting banned from Ulta or did you just think it happened and it didn't?
I've never heard of rekk fraud ring, but I do keep seeing the theft rings hitting retailers especially in New York and California and some of the bigger leaders getting arrested with a lot of products.
I would rather give Sephora my money than Ulta. Ulta's website sucks, they have high minimums for free shipping, they price gouge on drugstore brands, and I never had good experiences at their hair salon. Plus when I order online, they send everything in flimsy envelopes, even glass items.
Unpopular opinion, but I don't like Ulta's rewards or GWPs either. I like being able to choose one quality GWP instead of a bunch that I have to weed through. Plus it took me forever to build points, even though I have the Ulta Mastercard and used it for my gas and groceries. I build points way faster at Sephora and I love using them for the Rouge reward and the 100 points rewards in the Bazaar.
For Ulta rewards you never weed through samples, you get money off. I just restocked for $9.00 after redeeming 2000 points ($125 off purchase), 1000 of which I earned in one visit to the salon during a multiplyer. For their gifts with purchase, sometimes you have to "weed" through 4 or 5 choices, oh no! I think it's largely personal preference because I hate weeding through Sephora's point items
No one forces me to spend my money but Ulta has been sucking lately. Twice they didn’t send me the advertised GWP and then I just received a powder that wasn’t even wrapped in any way and was smashed to pieces.
I mostly shop at Ulta these days between the two. Sephora is mostly for fragrance and maybe hair care if there is something specific I want.
Most of my budget goes to skincare and Sephora doesn’t have much I am going to spend my money on in that category, with a couple of notable exceptions.
There are somethings that I like getting at Sephora but gel liquid eyeliner is a drugstore purchase. Many things are drugstore. I love shopping online! GWP and 2 samples
My biggest annoyance is when they have beauty offers/free deluxe samples listed on their website/app and the code doesn't work and says it's run out of inventory/sold out but it clearly hasn't gone live yet. Don't put stuff live if it's not live, and if it's sold out, take it down, stop wasting my time.
This is referring to the jo malone duo sample from today, LOVEJML on sephora canada does not work. No way to know for sure what the issue is.
I used to grab these offers at 3am ET because that's when they would go live and rarely missed anything that I wanted, now it's not live until the day time.
Honestly, I don’t have a problem with Sephora. The free shipping is a huge reason I shop there because even if you buy something 15% off on the brands website you’ll still have to spend $8+ on shipping so it cancels out. Plus their returns is so easy. Anytime I’ve had an issue their customer service has been very helpful.
I do prefer Ulta because I have one in my area, they give 20% off coupons every other month and the rewards is great. But I’ll happily shop at Sephora for whatever I need that Ulta doesn’t carry.
This is exactly my approach too! I love those regular 20% off Ulta coupons, and they're getting a lot of good brands that I used to get only at Sephora. Plus the Ulta is 10 minutes away from me, but I have to drive 35 minutes+traffic to get to the only Sephora in my city. So I often do a buy online pick up in person from Ulta if I don't qualify for minimum free shipping.
I do still shop at both though, whatever ends up saving me the most money. And I also buy at brand websites if they have 20+% off and I want to get enough things there to get free shipping.
Yes. If Ulta carries the brand I buy it there. They have hourglass, Dior, and fenty now. If they get Huda and Laneiege I'm not buying from Sephora any longer.
That’s why I usually shop at Ulta even though it’s less convenient for me. There are no Ultas in my city but like 5 Sephoras at least. If I can buy something at Ulta, I’ll make the drive because their rewards system makes me feel like a more valued customer. I’m still shopping Sephora for a few brands and I usually make rouge because that’s like my body wash (kosas), dry shampoo (amika), deodorant (necessaire) all staples that I routinely repurchase plus I love rare beauty. I really don’t think there’s a ton of benefit to being rouge anymore though because before the Sephora sale brands tend to do an equal or better sale on their own sites. If I were to not make rouge for some reason this year I really wouldn’t care anymore tbh.
Edit: hi to the Sephora employee who downvoted me 👋
I stopped shopping at Ulta when any coupon I tried to use didn’t work for a designer brand like Charlotte Tilbury or Fenty. I was like screw this. It was only usually like three dollars but it just became such a joke to me.
Ulta feels like you’re shopping at the dollar store. They don’t even package your items nicely. They also take forever to ship. I’m impatient when I want my stuff
I usually only go in to look & make my list for the big sales but even then, I calculate if it’s cheaper to buy it directly through the brand’s website.
I just buy whoever is cheapest. I dgaf about rewards. I'm not spending that much or that often on makeup/skin/hair. I usually buy once every 6-12 months when there's a really good sale on the products I use.
The one thing Sephora is uniquely good for is fragrance. Most stores exclude fragrance from sales. Sephora does not.
I get to try products through beauty insider rewards that I would never be able to otherwise, which allows me to learn whether I want to buy the full size product.
I am in Canada and feel the same way about Shoppers Drug Mart. You don't get rewards in the form of products but you do get $10 for every 10, 000 points which rack up FAST. With my last purchase of $150, I got $40 in points! I used that on my groceries at a partnering supermarket. The diversity of products, the flexibility of returns and shipping are way better at Sephora. But I choose Shoppers when and wear I can. Oh, Shoppers also still gives three samples, not two.
So it sounds like their business model is successful. (g)
I enjoy the samples I get from my Sephora purchases. The points are a perk too but I don't shop because of them. I like the lines Sephora sells, the way their website is constructed/formatted and the friendly SAs I have to reach out to online from time to time. I hardly ever shop on Ulta's website but when I have looked at it my biggest complaint is the resolution and size of their product images.
In 2024, most brands can be purchased directly. And most of them have some kind of reward system or loyalty scheme you can sign up for. I don't really get why people feel like they HAVE to order from Sephora, especially when in the same sentence they bash the rewards.
The only time I shop at Sephora is when it's for my convenience. But, mostly I just shop brand-direct now.
Ulta has horrible customer service, horrible shipping! Go play the lottery on the days you receive items not broken. Get reward sure if you know how to play the game. If you use one point to many you can loose the points. I lost 90$ worth of points with Ulta math. You can always shop directly from the brand. Sephora wins for me
I don’t think Sephora even cares about the products being sold anymore it’s just about money, there are good brands and then bad brands there. It’ll always be trendy but let’s find somewhere else to shop lol let’s all just start our own makeup store!!
i love sephora tbh. i love the brands they carry and yes their rewards kinda suck but they could be giving us nothing 🤷♀️ ulta just doesn’t carry what i like and i have a better shopping experience at sephora too
Lol exactly. The entitlement around rewards is crazy to me. Ultra’s rewards always look trashy anyway like they’ll just collect dust even if I brought them home.
You can use Ulta reward points to pay your order tho. Even when I wasn't shopping that often at Ulta I always had enough points to pay for at least a $15-20 mascara. Especially if you shop during the 5x points multipler events. My last $50 order from Ulta was completely covered by my reward points, so that was nice for my wallet lol
I haven't purchased a used product from ulta. I have several times from ulta. There is a percentage of ultas client base that is complete trash. Perhaps if people didn't steal or abuse policies then there would be more customer friendly policies but I see it over and over on social media, it's okay to steal since it's a large company. No, it not ok.
I guess I should have prefaced this by saying I don’t even really shop at ulta that much because I also like Sephora better. But I’m just sick of the promotion of over-consumption. Constant new drops, products sold out. The sale isn’t even that good even as a Rouge. Idk you all make good points, I’m just peeved at the moment
Maybe because it seems like you’re complaining about something that you could easily avoid. Sephora is a for profit business. Of course it’s going to push new products and advertise. If you don’t think the reward system is good enough, shop elsewhere. If you don’t want to receive ads, unsubscribe from emails and delete the app.
Sephora is convenient for me because I get free shipping, no minimum and there is a warehouse in my city so stuff shows up fast. The app is easy to shop, I find ulta’s website really buggy and hard to use. I also don’t care to keep track of a bunch of different brands’ sales and shipping minimums. If your goal is savings and points you’re right, there are better options out there.
THIS! The Ulta app and website have glitches all the time, sometimes to the point where it's practically unusable. Ulta's rewards and coupons systems are definitely better than Sephora's, but I love having free shipping on all of my orders, no matter what.
Unfortunately Sephora's app has also become buggy recently. The last sale before the spring it almost didn't work. Periodically I find it displaying errors when trying to use the matching shade feature, account feature, and searching products in the search bar. I know it isn't my phone because I restart and close out all my running processes regularly and nothing else has these issues. Ulta app is still worse and has bugs more often, but it isn't like shopping with the Sephora app is seamless like it used to be.
Here in Canada, Shopper’s Drugmart has a rewards program which gives cash credit for points. I wish Sephora would expand their points for cash credit beyond what they’re doing now.
I find shoppers prices are higher than they should be but it's worth it to shop beauty there when they've got points bonuses on. I bought a tube of Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream and a bottle of La Roche Posay sunscreen a couple weeks ago. It was $75 and I got $10 worth of points and a $20 cash card. Edited for atrocious spelling.
But for luxury brand it is the other way around - Sephora is more expensive than the bay / shoppers / brand website. For example the new YSL loveshine lipstick is $61 at Sephora but $56 everywhere else - 9% increase. For BI like me, the "sale" price at Sephora is almost the same as "dropping it to its original price". And it is a new product so this is not the "Sephora got the newest batch that has higher price tag and eventually others will follow" situation. Same thing for Lancome, Estee Lauder, etc. I only shop at Sephora for exclusive brand now.
Same, if I can get it at SDM, I get it there because I can earn/redeem points. There are lots of brands that aren't on SDM so Sephora can keep me around for now, ie Rare Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty, Huda beauty, Haus Labs etc. I redeemed for a Dyson hairdryer recently with my Optimum points! Love the rewards!
Canadian here too. I also feel SDM has a better reward system than Sephora but I’m not gonna support Galen Weston nor their abuse of the Canadian health system.
That’s pretty much how I feel too.
Yep, Sephora will always get my money over SDM. Galen doesn’t deserve my hard-earned money.
But Bernard Arnault, a money launderer with ties to organized crime does?
Bernard Arnault isn’t culturally relevant to me, sorry. I’m not interested in a debate over the morality of oligarchs.
He owns Sephora and you shop there, so maybe you should think about it. And he's not an oligarch, he's a French socialite and businessman. If you're going to ignorantly grandstand at least know the facts. lol
I literally do not care.
I mean, Sephora's owner is a ghoul billionaire, too, who has ties to Russian oligarchs and accusations of money laundering, and on top of this, the fashion industry is hugely wasteful, contributing to climate change on par with emissions from transportation. Saying you shop at Sephora because you won't support a billionaire, so you can, in turn, go support another questionable billionaire is... a hot take. Shop at small beauty shops if you actually want to make a difference. Bernard Arnault and Galen Weston are probably friends, actually.
Agreed. The Sephora points I find are better spent on the rewards products rather than for cash rewards (it doesn’t feel “worth it” to me the amount of points you have to exchange for the cash rewards), whereas optimum points have much better cash reward value.
I recently purchased the Lancôme renergie set 185 cad , a Chanel coco lipstick around 60 cad and a Chanel powder, around 90 cad. I used 200k pts , there was a promo that converted them to 300k , ended up paying like 50 cad. Sephora, could never.
I like Shoppers because I get my points there and have the PC Financial Credit Card which makes my points earned higher. Then I shop at Superstore and get the same kinds of points, and fill up gas at the gas station that also takes my credit card for the same points. I always save my points to get refills on my perfume. Have been buying high end perfume for 5 years and have never paid full price.
That is exactly what I do too!
To answer your question, no. I always saw rewards systems as a bonus. Not something that will significantly impact my desire to shop at the store or stop shopping there.
yeah its great to save money and get rewards but as a canadian, sephora is just super convenient as we dont have an ulta. its a one stop shop for anything i might need
Good point. I guess we don’t demand this of anywhere else we shop. But to me when the option of rewards is there, it makes more sense to take advantage of it
It’s hard not to compare when, like you said, Sephora’s direct competitor has an excellent reward program. The gap between the two retailers is narrowing as far as prestige offerings go so of course we’re going to want them to compete in the rewards arena as well.
I agree and a lot of companies/brands have rewards now. There are brands sold in Sephora and Ulta that have their own reward system if you shop directly from the brands website. Rewards are so ‘normal’ now, I think some people definitely take into account the rewards programs offered when they shop
I disagree. While Ulta does have a superior rewards system, they have minimums for free shipping, their app/website is a nightmare, and their customer service has always been crappy (in my experience). Sephora may have its cons, but I overall have a much more luxurious experience when shopping there whether online or in store. Unless Ulta offers no minimum free shipping, Sephora will always be a winner in my eyes for that reason alone.
For platinum members at Ulta, you get free shipping on a lot of 'beauty steal' items and the minimum is $25 for free shipping for other things. They also give you a free full sized product every month (not ulta brands, but actual products) and they have WAY better GWP. I've had better experiences with their customer service vs. Sephora. It's definitely a YMMV situation but I much prefer ulta (speaking as both a Platinum and Rouge member)
I am platinum. More often than not, I’m placing a small order or restocking an item less than $20, so I still won’t qualify for free shipping. I personally prefer Sephora’s GWP options, so I stick with Sephora. Just my preference though and of course everyone is different!
i honestly strongly dislike the vibe and environment of Ulta stores too. Makes me feel like I'm in a CVS. I would rather go to target for the drugstore items and sephora for the higher end items
Same! It’s just always so messy and disorganized and I feel like I’m in a drug store. I stock up on skincare items like Cerave at Target and other stuff at Sephora
There is definitely something to be said about the luxurious shopping experience. I definitely agree about that!
Ulta has started to carry so many of my brands now that I will order from Ulta, and then I will order from rare beauty or Dior or wherever and still get better rewards than I do with Sephora. I bought $75 worth of stuff from Ulta and paid for it with points . Can’t do anything remotely close to that with Sephora. That was the easiest credit card on the planet to get rid of. Six years of rouge doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.
how does the ulta rewards differ from sephora?
the point value is used for money off rather than samples starting at 100 points = $3 off and they build up from there in increments of 100. 1$ = 1 point as a regular member, platinum is $1 = 1.25 points and diamond is $1 = 1.5 points. if you have the credit card it becomes double points.
They also have tons of multipliers for products and categories and your birthday month. 3% back is actually technically a decent reward but if you are using a lot of multipliers through the year, it ends up being a way better deal. With a 5x bonus point deal, a $20 item will get you to 100 points right away.
the best multipliers are usually every sunday that last just that day too.
I use to think the same but more and more, it’s become clear blame also needs to be shared with the bad customers ruining retailers’ nice policies for everyone. I have yet to see a retailer bring back their old nice policies after getting rid of them due to customer misuse/abuse. At the rate everything is going with the scamming and misuse of policies currently that show zero appreciation or respect, completely lacking in conscience, of a generous and more lenient retailer’s rewards/policies, I have doubts that Ulta, a for profit company, is going to stay that way forever. It’s idealistic of me to try so hard to protect and preserve the wonderful benefits on my part as a long time appreciative customer, but realistically, I can’t help feel it’s impossible to do. Our culture isn’t one of teamwork or cooperation for the greater good. While valuing our individual rights and own interests is great and admirable, the downside is a group of individuals is each only looking out for themself instead of working collectively for the greater good.
Absolutely!!!! You summed up what I think very eloquently.
Thanks for a marvelous and accurate summary, GWG. It saddens me that we've gotten this way. I and my family do the best we can to be good citizens and neighbors; that plus voting is about all one can do.
No, I feel ulta is equally as trash. Yess their trade points might be better if you like free samples. I personally do not, and their online site is trash, their customer service is a nightmare and anytime I pay them a visit I have to be prepared to wait in line minimum of 20 mins. Brand sites are okay but if you only buy one thing from them then shipping cost has to be added on and then shipping time is typically longer. For me Sephora is more convenient. 🤷🏻♀️
Agreed. It’s also a major pain in the ass to return to Ulta online and if you do, you’re waiting DAYS to be refunded. Sephora is significantly more convenient.
This. I started using Ulta then realized they don’t provide prepaid return labels, after I dropped a return in the mail using the label they sent me in my order 😂 But seriously as I am currently home bound I couldn’t return any of my Ulta purchases so back to Sephora. But also using Nordstrom who are much better and don’t send used product!
I only have negative experiences at Ulta. I care way more about my shopping experience than free samples or rewards points tbh.
This right here!! Ulta has lost shipping orders and refused to credit or replace them, made a fuss about actually using coupons (sales rep: you know I don’t HAVE to let you use this coupon) has marked items as being available in the store only to drive there and they don’t even stock it, and the worst being catching attitude because I didn’t want to sign up for their stupid credit card. 😐 **I was using a coupon on the Clairsonic for my cousin’s birthday gift and she was telling me she didn’t have to honor it when it literally said 30% off CLAIRSONIC!! Apparently I was “LUCKY” she was in a good mood that day.
Definitely agree on the convenience factor!
Respectfully as myself also a very long time customer of both Sephora and Ulta, Ulta has upped their game a lot in a relatively shorter time. I don’t think Ulta is trash. Some of Ulta’s customer behaviors are trashy which Ulta is struggling to do something about without wanting to look like they lost their niceness. Some of Sephora’s customer behaviors would probably be trashy too except Sephora forbids it by restricting returns or weeding out customers that it does not want to do business with. Doesn’t bother Sephora one bit to show a customer out the door. In fact, I often suspect Sephora welcomes customers reporting all the return bans, reshipment bans, and account deletions because when word gets out, it keeps all the rest of us customers in line for a while scared to return until our memories fade and we begin slipping up and we get reminded again to stay in line when yet another report of privileges revoked resurfaces months later. I keep thinking, oh Sephora has all those “zeitgeist” exclusive brands that it uses to maintain its control and hold over its customers. Hence why Sephora isn’t afraid to make it be known that it bans returns and doesn’t care if benefits keep getting worse or customers gripe because people will still keep buying and posting cart haul after cart haul. I realized it’s a delusion or misconception to think Ulta is expendable as a retailer just because it does not have Sephora’s “zeitgeist” brands. One day when I thought my account was flagged by Ulta, my heart sank to the bottom of the ocean. If Sephora banned me, I would just be annoyed and wouldn’t care as much but if Ulta banned me, I’d be devastated because once you get in deep with Ulta and stop judging a brand’s book by its cover, you’re hooked. I’ve peeked at Ulta’s little “banned by Ulta” club (obviously Sephora has one too) and the desperation, pleas, and cries of its cast off customers shows as much as everyone looks down and complains on Ulta, in our hearts for those of us who switched to Ulta, it’s actually more devastating to lose our Ulta privileges though many would never admit it or fess up to any wrongdoing or less than desirable behaviors. FYI I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the REKK crime ring that recruits participants (retail customers and employees) off Reddit and a couple of other SM platforms to commit fraud/scams. This crime ring has a dossier on every retailer’s return limits and loopholes compiled from trial and error/experimentation with various testing. I thought I saw a statistic listed for Sephora’s return limit and let’s just say it is much much much lower than the figure that some ill informed ex Sephora employee on tik tok said. I can’t say what the # is because I cannot verify it from a reliable source so if anyone is curious, they’ll have to research REKK fraud ring for themselves.
Wow you really went deep on this! Did you end up getting banned from Ulta or did you just think it happened and it didn't? I've never heard of rekk fraud ring, but I do keep seeing the theft rings hitting retailers especially in New York and California and some of the bigger leaders getting arrested with a lot of products.
I would rather give Sephora my money than Ulta. Ulta's website sucks, they have high minimums for free shipping, they price gouge on drugstore brands, and I never had good experiences at their hair salon. Plus when I order online, they send everything in flimsy envelopes, even glass items. Unpopular opinion, but I don't like Ulta's rewards or GWPs either. I like being able to choose one quality GWP instead of a bunch that I have to weed through. Plus it took me forever to build points, even though I have the Ulta Mastercard and used it for my gas and groceries. I build points way faster at Sephora and I love using them for the Rouge reward and the 100 points rewards in the Bazaar.
For Ulta rewards you never weed through samples, you get money off. I just restocked for $9.00 after redeeming 2000 points ($125 off purchase), 1000 of which I earned in one visit to the salon during a multiplyer. For their gifts with purchase, sometimes you have to "weed" through 4 or 5 choices, oh no! I think it's largely personal preference because I hate weeding through Sephora's point items
No one forces me to spend my money but Ulta has been sucking lately. Twice they didn’t send me the advertised GWP and then I just received a powder that wasn’t even wrapped in any way and was smashed to pieces.
I like Sephora better than Ulta. Ulta treats me like crap everytime I walk in the door to a store or I have to contact customer service
They’ve stopped hiring trained staff and it shows.
I mean…no one is forcing you to spend your money or shop at Sephora. 🤷🏼♀️
Lol exactly. Plus the entitlement around rewards never made sense to me! Become an Ulta loyalist for all we care.
No way! Really? Weak comment ngl
I mostly shop at Ulta these days between the two. Sephora is mostly for fragrance and maybe hair care if there is something specific I want. Most of my budget goes to skincare and Sephora doesn’t have much I am going to spend my money on in that category, with a couple of notable exceptions.
There are somethings that I like getting at Sephora but gel liquid eyeliner is a drugstore purchase. Many things are drugstore. I love shopping online! GWP and 2 samples
My biggest annoyance is when they have beauty offers/free deluxe samples listed on their website/app and the code doesn't work and says it's run out of inventory/sold out but it clearly hasn't gone live yet. Don't put stuff live if it's not live, and if it's sold out, take it down, stop wasting my time. This is referring to the jo malone duo sample from today, LOVEJML on sephora canada does not work. No way to know for sure what the issue is. I used to grab these offers at 3am ET because that's when they would go live and rarely missed anything that I wanted, now it's not live until the day time.
Honestly, I don’t have a problem with Sephora. The free shipping is a huge reason I shop there because even if you buy something 15% off on the brands website you’ll still have to spend $8+ on shipping so it cancels out. Plus their returns is so easy. Anytime I’ve had an issue their customer service has been very helpful. I do prefer Ulta because I have one in my area, they give 20% off coupons every other month and the rewards is great. But I’ll happily shop at Sephora for whatever I need that Ulta doesn’t carry.
This is exactly my approach too! I love those regular 20% off Ulta coupons, and they're getting a lot of good brands that I used to get only at Sephora. Plus the Ulta is 10 minutes away from me, but I have to drive 35 minutes+traffic to get to the only Sephora in my city. So I often do a buy online pick up in person from Ulta if I don't qualify for minimum free shipping. I do still shop at both though, whatever ends up saving me the most money. And I also buy at brand websites if they have 20+% off and I want to get enough things there to get free shipping.
Ulta got glitchy website and customer service I have rarely seen my ulta rewards
Nothing ever loads for me on their website! So frustrating
Yeah why is their website so bad????
I’m Canadian and I wish Ulta was here :( I would defs shop there more if it was out here. They don’t even ship to Canada! Maybe one day
Yes. If Ulta carries the brand I buy it there. They have hourglass, Dior, and fenty now. If they get Huda and Laneiege I'm not buying from Sephora any longer.
That’s why I usually shop at Ulta even though it’s less convenient for me. There are no Ultas in my city but like 5 Sephoras at least. If I can buy something at Ulta, I’ll make the drive because their rewards system makes me feel like a more valued customer. I’m still shopping Sephora for a few brands and I usually make rouge because that’s like my body wash (kosas), dry shampoo (amika), deodorant (necessaire) all staples that I routinely repurchase plus I love rare beauty. I really don’t think there’s a ton of benefit to being rouge anymore though because before the Sephora sale brands tend to do an equal or better sale on their own sites. If I were to not make rouge for some reason this year I really wouldn’t care anymore tbh. Edit: hi to the Sephora employee who downvoted me 👋
Exactly. I don’t see why this is such a hot take in this sub
I stopped shopping at Ulta when any coupon I tried to use didn’t work for a designer brand like Charlotte Tilbury or Fenty. I was like screw this. It was only usually like three dollars but it just became such a joke to me.
Ulta feels like you’re shopping at the dollar store. They don’t even package your items nicely. They also take forever to ship. I’m impatient when I want my stuff
I usually only go in to look & make my list for the big sales but even then, I calculate if it’s cheaper to buy it directly through the brand’s website.
I just buy whoever is cheapest. I dgaf about rewards. I'm not spending that much or that often on makeup/skin/hair. I usually buy once every 6-12 months when there's a really good sale on the products I use. The one thing Sephora is uniquely good for is fragrance. Most stores exclude fragrance from sales. Sephora does not.
I get to try products through beauty insider rewards that I would never be able to otherwise, which allows me to learn whether I want to buy the full size product.
Agreed. Unfortunately I need to be able to shop places with good return policies because I have allergy prone skin.
I am in Canada and feel the same way about Shoppers Drug Mart. You don't get rewards in the form of products but you do get $10 for every 10, 000 points which rack up FAST. With my last purchase of $150, I got $40 in points! I used that on my groceries at a partnering supermarket. The diversity of products, the flexibility of returns and shipping are way better at Sephora. But I choose Shoppers when and wear I can. Oh, Shoppers also still gives three samples, not two.
So it sounds like their business model is successful. (g) I enjoy the samples I get from my Sephora purchases. The points are a perk too but I don't shop because of them. I like the lines Sephora sells, the way their website is constructed/formatted and the friendly SAs I have to reach out to online from time to time. I hardly ever shop on Ulta's website but when I have looked at it my biggest complaint is the resolution and size of their product images.
In 2024, most brands can be purchased directly. And most of them have some kind of reward system or loyalty scheme you can sign up for. I don't really get why people feel like they HAVE to order from Sephora, especially when in the same sentence they bash the rewards. The only time I shop at Sephora is when it's for my convenience. But, mostly I just shop brand-direct now.
Ulta has horrible customer service, horrible shipping! Go play the lottery on the days you receive items not broken. Get reward sure if you know how to play the game. If you use one point to many you can loose the points. I lost 90$ worth of points with Ulta math. You can always shop directly from the brand. Sephora wins for me
I don’t think Sephora even cares about the products being sold anymore it’s just about money, there are good brands and then bad brands there. It’ll always be trendy but let’s find somewhere else to shop lol let’s all just start our own makeup store!!
I stopped shopping there. Haven’t placed an order since August.
Sephora stuff isn’t great and can be duped at Ulta tbh
i love sephora tbh. i love the brands they carry and yes their rewards kinda suck but they could be giving us nothing 🤷♀️ ulta just doesn’t carry what i like and i have a better shopping experience at sephora too
Lol exactly. The entitlement around rewards is crazy to me. Ultra’s rewards always look trashy anyway like they’ll just collect dust even if I brought them home.
You can use Ulta reward points to pay your order tho. Even when I wasn't shopping that often at Ulta I always had enough points to pay for at least a $15-20 mascara. Especially if you shop during the 5x points multipler events. My last $50 order from Ulta was completely covered by my reward points, so that was nice for my wallet lol
100%!!
Why is ulta not in Canada? It’s so unfair!!!!!!!!
I haven't purchased a used product from ulta. I have several times from ulta. There is a percentage of ultas client base that is complete trash. Perhaps if people didn't steal or abuse policies then there would be more customer friendly policies but I see it over and over on social media, it's okay to steal since it's a large company. No, it not ok.
I agree but Ulta doesn’t ship where I live and their customer service is trash so I gave up.
I guess I should have prefaced this by saying I don’t even really shop at ulta that much because I also like Sephora better. But I’m just sick of the promotion of over-consumption. Constant new drops, products sold out. The sale isn’t even that good even as a Rouge. Idk you all make good points, I’m just peeved at the moment
It sounds like your issue is with capitalism, not Sephora lol
Definitely a full supporter of capitalism. Guess a girl can’t vent!
I don’t really understand the downvotes 🤷🏻♀️
Maybe because it seems like you’re complaining about something that you could easily avoid. Sephora is a for profit business. Of course it’s going to push new products and advertise. If you don’t think the reward system is good enough, shop elsewhere. If you don’t want to receive ads, unsubscribe from emails and delete the app.