Beware of Retailers With Dastardly Monthly Membership Fees
The next time you visit a retail site that offers discounts in exchange for membership, double check your cart before placing your order. Some retailers automatically add memberships – and monthly membership fees – to new purchases.
A recent Vox article explains how lingerie retailer Savage X Fenty (i.e. Rihanna’s clothing line) uses dark patterns to trick users into becoming members:
For example, click on the $ 2 Bralette Deal and the monthly Savage X membership will automatically be added to your cart to activate the discount. You do not pay for a membership until it is automatically withdrawn from your card at a later date.
In fact, even if you don’t click on anything VIP at all, but just add a product whose price initially shows up with full price, the site will still automatically add the monthly Savage X membership and VIP discount. The membership program is explained in the long sidebar next to the cart, and you can remove it from the cart as if you had removed any item. But if you don’t stop to read what buyers might find an unnecessary wall of text, you will likely end up with a regular $ 49.95 monthly fee while you notice. There is also no guest checkout, which means that everyone who purchases anything has to create an account of a certain tier.
If you’re stuck with the $ 49.95 monthly membership fee, the only way to cancel your membership is by calling customer service – you can’t opt out of the network.
I tried shopping at Savage X Fenty, and while the website clearly states that I do not need to become an “Xtra VIP” member to shop, the site also automatically added the membership to my cart after I clicked on an item. It was only after I removed the membership from my cart that I was able to start the checkout process at the “Basic” (non-membership, and double the price) level – and even then the site kept pushing me to join the Xtra VIP.
As Vox points out, Savage X Fenty isn’t the only retailer with such membership fees. Fabletics is another well-known retailer with a $ 49.95 VIP membership, and while the non-membership checkout process is more transparent, the site still uses color and contrast to convince you to become a VIP.
(Fabletics also allows you to unsubscribe via live chat, so that’s a plus.)
In all fairness, both Savage X Fenty and Fabletics allow you to spend your membership fee on groceries. This is how Fabletics explains it :
Shop or just click skip before the 5th of every month (we’ll be sending you reminders)! If you do not make a purchase or “miss” by the 5th, your credit card will be charged $ 49.95 on the 6th until you cancel your subscription. This payment is a credit in your VIP account and never expires. Spend whenever you want!
In other words: if you don’t make a monthly purchase (or tell the seller you don’t intend to buy this month), they will charge you $ 49.95. You can use $ 49.95 as store credit if you want, but remember that the seller already has your money – that doesn’t mean you are closing a deal or anything like that.
This is similar to what we discussed earlier this week about gift cards : you are actually giving the retailer an interest-free loan.
So check your shopping cart before you complete the checkout process at a store with a membership plan (or subscription plan, or any other monthly payment). Make sure that you are not committing to participate in any memberships or subscriptions that you do not really need. If you’re stuck with a subscription you didn’t intend to subscribe to, unsubscribe as soon as possible – even if it requires calling customer support.