Birchbox Points Changes

[artemiss]

yeah, I just fail to see what makes them standout from everything else when points are removed from the equation:

* allure is REALLY well-curated, as in all the products are usable by a wide range of people and seem to fit the season in which the boxes come and there's a nice mix of products, it's rarely skin, makeup or hair heavy
 

* glossybox is (used to be? they are sliding too) more high end + larger samples
 

*boxycharm has more full-size makeup and generally a good mix

*birchbox without points, has a ton of HP, foils that are too small to even get a full use out of and terrible curation on the regular boxes..
 

 

[Linda Schroeder]

I have so much stuff yet to use, that I will probably cancel after the July box.  I really enjoyed the points system and without it, I am just not as excited.  I would also like to try a different box, so this will free up space in my budget.

 

[FreckledCanvas]

I've been reading business articles about Birchbox that keep referring to the fact that they've laid off 50 of their 300 employees. I wonder if this is in addition to the 15% of the staff they laid off earlier this year. 

I haven't subscribed in months because I just got tired of paying $10/month for disappointment. 

The FB Live stuff has been god awful and the quality of their social media content hasn't been great either so I've stopped following them. 

 

[cpl100]

I'm going to use up my points and cancel.  Without the points, this just is not worth the $10 to me.  Literally, I do not receive products that are worth $10.  Glad my subscription just ran out and I hadn't renewed yet.

 

[Bizgirlva]

I'm sad about the changes. I heard some folks have had luck consolidating points across accounts and getting refunds for their annual subs.  I have 545 points spread out among several accounts. I wonder if they'd let me consolidate?

I'm not ready to let go yet. I might see what July boxes hold, if they're still going to do sample choice and featured boxes? I have two active subs now, I might cancel one and then ride out my annual sub and just select featured boxes since they tend to have new-ish products in them. 

I kinda feel like boxes are just going to become redone versions of the same samples, just different variations. Like different scented coola spf's and moisturizing shampoo instead of volumizing, until they close up the sample box branch of their business eventually.  

I read a lot of the glassdoor reviews last night. I'm really, like really sad to read they laid people off then went on a trip to Coachella.  That sort of stuff really doesn't sit well with me. I worked for a company in the past where an owner went off to Ireland for a tech conference and was flying planes and sight seeing, while back at home payroll wasn't running for employees...meaning no one got paid. That kind of irresponsible spending is what you get when you give 20 somethings huge amounts of cash in venture funding, they don't have the management experience to run successful startups. Not every 20 something is like that, of course. 

Birchbox has been slowly taking away perks since Hayley left all (I think) to drive people away from the subscription box (which is Katia's goal). There are literally no incentives to subscribing now. From the sounds of the glass door reviews it sounds like Katia's goal is to "take on" Sephora. I wish them luck but I think it's gonna be a tough road ahead.

 

[Erica Sikma]

Are they sending out different e-mails? The e-mail i received was different from the one Squidling posted--mine was just the first 2 bullet points, nothing about there being a new limit of 5 reviews in the third bullet point. 

 

[Bizgirlva]

Are they sending out different e-mails? The e-mail i received was different from the one Squidling posted--mine was just the first 2 bullet points, nothing about there being a new limit of 5 reviews in the third bullet point. 

Yes one is for current subscribers the other is for non-subscribers.

 

[Bizgirlva]

I live chatted with Birchbox and am getting them to consolidate all my points from all my accounts. That will give me nearly 600 points. And I have the $10/$50 to use for my birthday this month. Although my chat session was rather cold, I'm happy they're doing whatever for subscribers seem to request right now.

I think, I might cancel my second active account depending on how the July PYS and featured boxes look and I might stick out my annual sub for the featured boxes if that continues to be a thing.

We'll see, it's clear they're steering everyone towards full size purchases and eliminating the sample boxes to a much smaller portion of their revenue, if they even make revenue on that side of the business.  

 

[Geek2]

I just re-read the email and we can still earn the points for each 5 samples that we review each month, correct? We just can't review more than that so if you get 7 samples, only first 5 reviews will be counter for points? or am I completely missing the mark? I was thinking that I can then use the points to continue to purchase what I have been buying in the past, I will just lose on the samples that are more than 5 in the box if there are any.

 

[cpl100]

I just re-read the email and we can still earn the points for each 5 samples that we review each month, correct? We just can't review more than that so if you get 7 samples, only first 5 reviews will be counter for points? or am I completely missing the mark? I was thinking that I can then use the points to continue to purchase what I have been buying in the past, I will just lose on the samples that are more than 5 in the box if there are any.

No, after July you can get points for reviewing 5 items for the life of your subscription.  That's it.

 

[Geek2]

No, after July you can get points for reviewing 5 items for the life of your subscription.  That's it.

oh wow, how did I miss that. Thanks for the clarification. That totally changes the situation.

 

[bliss10977]

oh wow, how did I miss that. Thanks for the clarification. That totally changes the situation.

That was my initial impression too. The wording was very misleading. I'm so disappointed that they're making such a drastic change. There should be an exception for long term subscribers. I've had my account for 4 years, and I've gifted it to countless people. This feels like a slap.

 

[Geek2]

I agree, they should somehow grandfather us in. You can still earn points for purchases though right? So if I buy my hair care, I can earn points back that way? Just trying to understand the whole process.

 

[MoiSurtout]

They accidentally hit on something so successful that an entire industry sprang up around them, and they want to just throw that away? I find it hard to believe that they couldn't figure out how to turn a profit with their vast subscriber base. I have no doubt there are CEOs out there who could take what they've got right now and turn it into gold. 

Retail stores are closing left and right, online shopping is booming... and they want to open more retail stores? I can't even imagine what they're thinking. 

Haley must've seen the writing on the wall. 

 

[Sadejane]

I've been reading business articles about Birchbox that keep referring to the fact that they've laid off 50 of their 300 employees. I wonder if this is in addition to the 15% of the staff they laid off earlier this year.

I haven't subscribed in months because I just got tired of paying $10/month for disappointment.

The FB Live stuff has been god awful and the quality of their social media content hasn't been great either so I've stopped following them.

Remember when they used to post high quality videos on how to use products, various tutorials, etc? For the last few years, the quality of their online magazine/videos has really gone downhill.

The Wall Street Journal just posted an article today about Birchbox, and it sounds like they are on the verge of going under! VC funding has dried up, and they have consolidated to one floor and laid off staff. Plus, they are no longer planning to expand their brick and mortar stores. Which is weird, since the interview Katia gave last week said they wanted to sell more full size and focus on stores. This all just seems desperate and chaotic. They've even said that sub boxes make up most of their revenue, but now they are losing tons of subscribers. I just don't get it.....

After reading that article, it looks like I should hurry up and make some purchases using my points and then walk away. I am really sad about it, as birchbox was such a fun way to discover and play with new products. I bought a lot of full sized things from birchbox once I'd had a chance to try them first, and have spent a whole lot of money in their shop only because of the sample box. They keep commenting that they still want people to review samples, and now making it seem like they'll use our reviews to do a better job curating individual boxes...I think that's totally bogus. I would bet they need reviews in order to get companies to give them free or low cost samples, in exchange for market research.

I don't want to ramble on, but their social media response has been terrible. Posting generic replies, using tricky wording, adding smiley faces and 'xx' when they are confirming the bad news. Ugh.....I have lost a lot of respect for this company. I'm sticking with my two accounts through next month, to see how this all plays out. But, I am worried that any day now they will have to close shop and it will be without warning. If revenue is already tight, losing subscribers, giving refunds, and everyone cashing out points can't be helping their funding issues.

 

[mascara117827]

[...] After reading that article, it looks like I should hurry up and make some purchases using my points and then walk away. [...]

I was considering holding my points until Black Friday, but I went ahead and cashed them all out. For their sake, I hope they don't fold; however, the risk of losing those points or being forced to buy the scraps of a close-out type situation didn't sit well with me. I got a few things that I rarely find discounted anywhere, and that's that for me. 

I was also concerned that they may devalue the points. They've already shown that they are willing to make sweeping changes with a significant financial impact to the consumer. I don't feel that they can be trusted to be upfront right now.

 

[jenny1973]

They would not cancel my subscription and refund.  I still have 8 boxes left, but they are placing me a on do not auto-renew.  I have 25.00 on my account plus free shipping.  I thought about waiting to July when I can review 5 more items for 30.00, but I am afraid to do that because I am afraid that point value will change!!! Arrrgggg!

 

[jenny1973]

I also made a comment to the rep about the tiny samples, that since they were doing away with the point system for reviews, they needed to include more deluxe size samples with a few full size every now and then if they were planning on keeping customers!

 

[biancardi]

I was considering holding my points until Black Friday, but I went ahead and cashed them all out. For their sake, I hope they don't fold; however, the risk of losing those points or being forced to buy the scraps of a close-out type situation didn't sit well with me. I got a few things that I rarely find discounted anywhere, and that's that for me. 

I was also concerned that they may devalue the points. They've already shown that they are willing to make sweeping changes with a significant financial impact to the consumer. I don't feel that they can be trusted to be upfront right now.

I will cash out my points after my July box and then cancel - I have enough to get my Jouer matte tint moisturizer, so that will make me happy. I read what   Bizgirlva did with her accounts and I chatted with a rep and she merged my points from one account into my main one, so I have about 400 points there.  I will still purchase items from their store (things that I have a hard time finding elsewhere, LE boxes) and I love their 2 picks, but yeah, I see no reason to stay with their monthly box when I have Sephora. 

It is a shame - despite the fact that they mess up my hair products (I am getting another leave in conditioner for thick and coarse hair - I have fine, oily hair!), I did like my recent boxes with them, and I knew that their point system made up for any meh boxes.  Too bad, I found their point system was the main reason why I did the monthly boxes.

If they bring it back, I will resub -  maybe. I left ipsy a long time ago and never looked back, so who knows? This gives me the opportunity to try other boxes.

 

[ChristinaC]

They would not cancel my subscription and refund.  I still have 8 boxes left, but they are placing me a on do not auto-renew.  I have 25.00 on my account plus free shipping.  I thought about waiting to July when I can review 5 more items for 30.00, but I am afraid to do that because I am afraid that point value will change!!! Arrrgggg!

Same for me.  I requested a cancellation the afternoon that the email came out, after seeing multiple people saying they were able to cancel and get a partial refund.  I'm an ACE and got the usual "hey as an ACE your email goes to the top of the list blah blah blah"...just got a response today.  Canned response of we'd hate to lose you, you can't cancel unless you're in your first month of the subscription.  Ugh.  I'm pissed.  Any chance they had of me shopping their site in the future is gone now.