Tips on How and Where to Buy a Nena & Co Bag
So here's an informative post of sorts. Informative that is...if you know about the Nena & Co Bags, Camera Straps and Poms and have been trying to get your hands any of them. You might be wondering what this has to do with Aha Crafted and our brand. I personally love their bags and purchased one about four years ago before the company blew up. Recently I tried to purchase one of the convertible day bags aka CDB bag and was met with failure. Until, I wised up and I'm here to share some tips with you! ;)
Most of their collections/designs are one of a kind artisan bags crafted from antique Guatamalen Hoopla skirts. The colors are bright, the patterns are original and you know how we love coordinate our bags to our leathers earrings at Aha!? Well, with so many colors running through the designs it makes it super fun to play off the colors and tie them together with a leather earring in a similar color.
Back in the days before their pre-brand explosion, Nena & Co would re-stock their website once a week on Fridays. Most weeks their email subscribers would even receive a 20% off your order coupon. In those days it wasn't a mad frenzy to get your hands on a bag. The re-stocked inventory would last well over the weekend. Nowadays however, the restocks typically sell out in less than three minutes. While Nena fans are thrilled for the company and founder Ali Hynek's success it's become near impossible to get your hand on one lately. It reminds me of the frenzy to land a Cabbage Patch Kid when they first came out. (Yes I know, Im dating myself.)
So anyway, back in the 'good old days' of shopping for a Nena bag you'd actually have the time to take screen shots and compare the colors and designs in the pattern of one bag to another. Since they are one of a kind (OOAK as they abbreviate it) each design and pattern in the bags are different from one another. Being able to have time to compare, zoom in, go back and forth between two or three bags is key. Well, unfortunately, that is not an option these days. Their typical re-stocks have only enough inventory to last a whopping three minutes, Even if you are lucky enough to hit the site on a day when they have what they call a "massive restock" (where they upload more items), all the sought after types of patterns and designs sell out immediately and they'll only be a few stragglers left. However; fear not, its not an impossible feat to get your hands on your dream Nena bag and I've got some pointers in this blog post to help you!
If you follow Nena & Co on IG and read some of the comments on the posts you'll see a lot of frustrated ladies who try week after week to score a bag, ANY Nena bag, yet fail over and over. They complain that every time they put a bag in the cart, it disappears before they even have time to type in credit card info. Not even a minute later they go to the shopping page to pick a different one only to be met with black and white SOLD OUT stickers on each and every bag. I'd estimate hundreds of women are left thinking after re-stocks.....where can I get a Nena bag?!?
About a month ago I had decided it was time for another bag myself. So I went online promptly at the 7AM PST restock time on Friday. I too, quickly saw exactly what all the other Nena followers were complaining about. I tried for three consecutive weeks after that and still did not land a bag. Until I got smart about it. I did some research and planning and the next restock I landed two bags by 7:03AM. As a good deed, I thought Id share some of pointers that helped.
Here are twelve tips to landing Nena & Co items!
1. Do research before hand and decide exactly what style of bag or item you are after. For example are you trying to score a convertible day bag aka CBD, a Sonia Carryall, or maybe one of their camera straps or Poms. If you are in the market for a CBD or Sonia decide if you prefer the variations that are all cloth or the versions split with leather and cloth? Its also a good idea to settle on some colors and patterns that you like over others. For example: do you like a busy pattern, or are you more into their chevron style patterns. Maybe you're after the patterns with birds or animals woven into the print. Do you like prints that are more monotone in color or ones that have a wide range of colors throughout? A good way to do this is to google "pictures of Nena & Co bags" or go under their hashtags #thenenatribe and #nenaandco to see examples of bags. Chances are if you try to look on their website there will only be the few stock photos as they don't leave the sold out listings up,
2. Sign up for a profile on the Nena & CO website and fill out your profile with your name, bill to and ship to addresses. This way when you go to checkout you will be logged in and won't waste the precious 20 seconds it takes to type this info in.
3. Get to know the site. Sounds silly I know. But if you know how to click through the pages and where the call to action buttons are placed you won't be fumbling around trying to find the button for cart and check out etc. I did this by putting one of the items they have in stock all the time (like the Nena and Co patches or hats) and worked my way through the check out process all the way until you hit confirm.
4. Keep your eyes peeled to what stock will be relisted on which days. Right now they are doing restocks on Wednesdays at 1PM PST and Fridays at 7AM PST. They post the styles they'll be resisting on their Instagram page and usually send out emails to their subscribers.
5. Set out to buy one item. Its foolish to think for example you can shop and score a Nena & Co Clutch on the same day as a OOAK CBD aka One of a Kind Convertible Day Bag.
6. PREP your info. I type out my credit card # and COPY it right before the restock hour strikes. This way when the restocks go live I can just hit PASTE at checkout. Also since you can only have one thing copied at once. Memorize or put in clear site the expiration date and CVV code of your card. (I write mine on a small post it and put in the top corner of my computer screen during the mad rush.)
7. You need fast internet. Being on Wifi or the 4g network through your phone or your computer will slow you down. If you have something in your cart, you'll loose it to the person thats hardwired to their internet connection.
8. Be on time. If you show up to the restocks even a minute late you're done for. If its a 7AM restock you should be at your computer signed into your Nena & Co account at 6:55. Copy your credit card #, prepare your post it and be ready.
9. Exactly when the clock strikes the hour REFRESH your screen and immediately hit the drop down choice for the item you are after. If you don't see any listed, keep hitting refresh until you do. As well...they have an AVAILABLE NOW drop down, and you can go through there but it will show all products available and it might take your eyes and brain longer to sort through. Also-all the listings don't seem to load at the same time, so if you only see a few or none you like right away keeping hitting refresh.
10. Once the inventory is loaded...SCROLL AND SKIM quickly....searching for the bag you like that pops out at you. Do not hem and haw and compare one over the other, because you'll most likely loose both. Just buy it. After you've received the confirmation on the screen you can go back to the Available Now or Bag drop down and see if there are any other choices..keep hitting refresh. If you see another you like. Snag it too. Because here's the thing...its not a FINAL SALE, Insider tip: you can cancel your purchase. You can cancel it immediately or all the way up until the moment Nena & Co ships it. *At the bottom of your email confirmation there is a CANCEL ORDER link, or you can go through your profile and hit CANCEL or EDIT on any order that hasn't shipped. So, moral of the story here is...just purchase them, then take some time to decide if you love it and whether your gonna keep it or pass it on.
11. Heres another insider tip; a lot of ladies are doing the same thing I told you about. Ordering a bag or two and then taking some time to decide which they prefer. If they cancel it within a half hour the bag usually reloads onto the site. Keep hitting refresh on their site as many times as you want to over the next few hours because bags will randomly re-populate. In addition Nena & Co does a second drop on Fridays at 11AM PST with all the bags people have canceled from 7AM-11AM that didn't automatically reload. And the fun doesn't end there. Keep checking the site all day into the weekend and even on Monday. People are canceling orders left and right over the weekend.
12. The website isn't the only place to get your hands on a Nena Bag. There is eBay of course. But better yet there are a bunch of Facebook private groups with women re-selling bags for pretty close to retail and even offering trades. The ones I belong to are: Nena & Co - Fandom, BST, & Chatter , Nena & Co. VIP and Nena & Co. Chatter, BST & Auctions .
So, thats all folks. I hope it helps you land your dream Nena bag! Any other tips please feel free to leave in the comments!
