Hello everyone! I thought it would be fun for me to write an article, to help my loyal readers, and random Internet people who search for “how to find good deals on Lululemon.” In this article, I will cover all of my favorite methods for acquiring Lululemon for less than retail. Some of them require luck, others require time. All of them produce results.
I hope you find it useful!
eBay
There are a few ways to get cheap Lululemon clothes on eBay. While it is true that many of the items will sell for lower than retail, (as they are used, although, as I discuss in many other posts, there are exceptions), other items will sell for lower than average. For someone who is looking for a good deal, such as yourself, not only do you want to pay less than retail, you want to pay less than average. The average price an item sells for on eBay is what I call the market value of the item. However, once in a while, an item will sell for a great deal less than that price on eBay. It’s these outliers that I hope to help you obtain.
There are two ways to do this. One requires time. This method has you input your most general search term: whatever you are looking for, let’s say you’re looking for anything in a size 6, so you search eBay listings for “Lululemon 6.” After that, change the settings to “Ending Soonest,” and “Auction Only.” Then, you can browse the listings that are ending soonest for great deals. This can take a long time, I usually look through for the next 24 hours. I also recommend doing this on mid-week days, and other days when eBay is not going to be as busy, but those are very general terms on how to get good deals on eBay. I’ll try to stay Lululemon specific.
The second way requires a bit of luck! You can get good deals on Lululemon if you subscribe to mobile alerts from eBay that tell you when specific search terms you input come on the market. This is when you want to input your very specific search terms. Let’s say, for example, that your unicorn is a pair of Quiet Stripe Wunder Unders in a size 6. I would save & ask for eBay alerts for “Quiet Stripe Wunder Under 6.” Then, when someone lists some, you’ll be notified. The main way you can benefit from this is when someone posts a listing with a “Buy It Now” option. If you see it first, and you like the price, you can buy it then and get a great deal!
Groups
There are numerous groups dedicated to the buying, selling and trading of Lululemon items. Sometimes the best deals are located in long threads on pages like The Lululemon Market, other times the best deals are found in “Buy It Now” prices on the auction pages. Many of the auction pages also have $DOLLAR DOLLAR$ days, where all starting bids must be $1. Most decent items go for about market value, but once in a while an unpopular item in an unpopular size will go for much less.
Lulu Bones: subscribe to updates.
Other than trolling eBay and the groups for great deals, my favorite “low-priced” value page for Lululemon items is Lulu Bones. If you subscribe to updates from the page and have them sent to your mobile phone, you’re sure to spot the good deals as they arrive “in stock” on the page. People list their heavily used or slightly damaged Lululemon items here for CHEAP! The admins have set price limits, so no gouging occurs. You just have to decide whether the bleach stain or tiny hole is a problem for you.
Local Scores!
While this option is not necessarily available to everyone, I find that some of the very best deals I hear about are through local pages, thrift shops and, to a lesser extent, consignment stores. By local pages, I am referring primarily to Craigslist and Kijiji. Basically, local pages that foster transactions on an individual basis. I have a search saved on the Home Screen of my cell phone and I click it once in a while to see if there are any new items for sale. It makes it easier for me because I don’t have to go to the website and enter my search terms.
I think the term “thrift shop” is universally understood, but it’s important to know when to go in order to find the best deals. Obviously, if you have any way of knowing when they restock, that’s a good day to go, but if you’re unsure, I’d at least plan to go early in the morning, so that if they had restocked, at least you would be the first to get the deal.
The third place I’ve heard of people getting decent deals is in consignment shops. If you want to, you might be able to talk to the shop owner to see if any Lululemon items have come in recently. I find that consignment shop owners are often interested in helping me find specific items.
WMTM Upload TIME
Although it can be sporadic, especially around the holidays, I’ve found that We Made Too Much, Lululemon’s ‘sale’ section, gets uploaded very early on Thursday mornings.
Sales at your local shops.
The best days to go shopping at your local store, in my opinion are on the weekends. I’ve found that when I go in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the markdown racks are full of great deals, and when I go during the week, sometimes there’s not even a markdown rack on the sales floor. I’ve definitely gone in on a Tuesday only to walk out with nothing because I was looking for a deal, but found nothing on sale.
The Outlets
Again, this is a method that is location dependant, but if you find occasion to frequent an Outlet, I’d highly recommend it. Even if you are a popular size, like a 6, you might still be able to find some heavily marked down socks, underwear, bags, accessories, etc… In case you’re interested, here is a list of the locations of Lululemon outlets:
Fort Worth University Park Village – Fort Worth, TX (817) 882-8075 Lululemon Outlet Fort Worth
Minneapolis Albertville Premium Outlets – Albertville, MN (763) 497-0240 Lululemon Outlet Albertville
New York City Woodbury Common Premium Outlets – Central Valley, NY (845) 928-5470 Lululemon Outlet Central Valley
Portland, ME The Kittery Outlets – Kittery, ME (207) 438-9347 Lululemon Outlet Kittery
San Antonio San Marcos Premium Outlets – San Marcos, TX (512) 353-0281 Lululemon Outlet San Marcos
San Jose Gilroy Premium Outlets – Gilroy, CA (408) 846-4281 Lululemon Outlet Gilroy
Seattle The Outlet Shoppes at Burlington – Burlington, WA (360) 707-2982 Lululemon Outlet Burlington
Toronto Vaughan Mills – Vaughan, ON (905) 669-2039 Lululemon Outlet Vaughan
Walt Disney World Orlando Premium Outlets – Vineland Ave – Orlando, FL (407) 238-1076
Warehouse Sales
Much like the outlet locations, your attendance at the Warehouse sales will also likely be location dependant. The only exception I can think of is when Lululemon hosted a “Canadian Warehouse Sale,” online in mid-January of this year (2014). I have known women who have travelled up to 5 hours by car to attend a warehouse sale. I’ve never known a Lululemon addict to say that it wasn’t worth it and many return with quite sizeable hauls.
They often host warehouse sales in many different locations across North America, but the best way to stay informed about when and where they’ll be happening is to follow Lululemon’s blog or follow Lulumum or Lululemon Addict, as they typically cover warehouse sale information in their blogs. You can also follow me for news about Lululemon, and because you enjoyed this post. Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end! Now go forth and get a deal! Thanks for reading!
UPDATE!
I recently found this fabulous group that shares deals with each other that they find on eBay! It’s called Lululemon Deal Alerts and I love the concept! I signed up or alerts for this group too!
UPDATE Jan 2017
I recently discovered a group called Lululand. I love it! They share in-store markdowns and angel products to you! (Angel: someone who will purchase and ship and item to you)