The Wish app is a shopping app for iPhone and Android that lets you order cheap goods online with major savings. Most items ship straight from China, a growing number ship from the U.S. for faster delivery and you can even pick up select items locally in minutes. The app and service have changed dramatically since it first launched, so it may be worth checking out again.

Wish is a shopping service that puts consumers directly in touch with sellers to buy clothing, electronics, home items, gadgets, and more at a steep discount. There are some knockoff products and some lookalike products. Sometimes you may see a real brand name product on Wish, but they aren’t as cheap and often sell out.

Shoppers can use the Wish website or the app that is available on most major platforms to shop through an array of items. Here are some of the most surprising things you can buy on Wish. Keep in mind that some Wish items take weeks to arrive, and in many cases, you will need to pay attention to the size of shoes and clothes. You’ll also want to remember that if a deal is too good to be true it probably is.

Wish is nearly five years old and it’s growing in popularity and in some cases also in quality. Shipping times and selection are still varied based on what you are looking for, but there are more Wish app reviews that can help you get a good deal and avoid bad purchases. We bought a 70-inch TV, and received a bracelet worth 17 cents instead, so smart shopping is important.

The big question is always, “Can you tell if something on Wish is real or fake?” That’s something that Good Mythical Morning explores in the video above, where Rhett and Link must decide if something is real or from Wish.

While the Wish app is proving popular for shopping in 2020, there are some things that users need to know about this app before placing an order. Here is what savvy shoppers need to know about the app on iPhone, Android, and other platforms.

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What is the Wish App?

The Wish app connects mobile users to the Wish website, where they can buy clothing, accessories, gadgets, and more at steep discounts. There are a lot of various items for sale, including products that look a lot like name-brand versions — but are not the same.

For example, there are loads of listings for Airpods for $5 or so, but they are not the real AirPods. There are many other similar style deals with smartwatches, selfie sticks, jewelry, and more. In addition to the normal savings, there are also daily and hourly deals.

Shoppers can download Wish for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, and Amazon Fire.

You Need an Account to Use Wish

Like many shopping apps, you need a Wish account to use the Wish app. Until you register you cannot see any of the deals, so you’ll need to sign up to figure out if you want something that they sell. Unlike some commerce apps, you cannot even browse without an account.

Even when you go online, you will need to create an account before you can see what the service sells.

What’s the Wish App Catch?

The biggest catch with the Wish app is that you will not get most items fast. Shipping ranges from 11 days to 22 days for many items, which means it can take a month to get your item. You can find some items that arrive in 5-7 days under the fast shipping option. These items ship straight from China, which is why things are not arriving in two or three days as you get from Amazon and other retailers. Some options include U.S. shipping and a newer option is picking up some items the same say at a local store. Not all items are available for pickup locally.

The other catch is that the size of clothes and the actual finished product may not match the product images, you may get the wrong color or may not get what you expect. It’s more important to read the reviews and look for user photos on Wish than it is on Amazon and other websites.

Keep in mind if you get a defective item it may take up to two days to hear back from Wish customer support. From there you can ask for a refund or exchange. Check the reviews for information about shipping times before you order.

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Look for Reviews and Actual Photos

As you look for items to buy in the Wish app, you can read reviews to see what other people say about the quality of the items. This is especially important if you plan on doing buying gifts on Wish. You can also read the Store Ratings to see how that store is overall before placing an order.

The best thing to do is skip past the product photos that the seller uploads and look at user photos of the products to see how the actual product looks and what users have to say about it. In the video below you get a good idea of how the products compare to what you see on the website. Some items are great, while others don’t match the fit described or the colors shown on the website.

Watch some video reviews of the Wish purchases on YouTube to see what people think of what they get. There are a ton of users who post Wish hauls and reviews on YouTube to help show off what the actual products look like and how they fit.

If you plan to buy technology, make sure you also look into the reviews before you buy it. As you can see in the video below, there are some good finds.

You can see many reviews of the products and you will hear from users about the shipping, which can take months in some cases.

Wish App Shipping

Many of the items that you buy in the Wish app ship for free from China, which is a pretty impressive deal. That’s why it takes up to three weeks for some items to arrive.

You can see the shipping cost and estimated arrival for each item as you shop. If you buy from different stores you may need to pay various shipping charges.

Make sure you check this before purchasing, especially if you are buying heavy or bigger items. Some amazing looking deals are no longer a good deal when you factor in shipping.

If you are shopping with Wish for a specific date or holiday, you may find that items will arrive in time, but you won’t have time to do any exchanges if something isn’t as you expected.

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Wish App Refunds

The Wish website offers a return policy that allows you to request a refund within 30 days of delivery. You need to use the app or website to start the return and you should hear back within 72 hours.

You are responsible for paying shipping and all related fees for returns. The upside is that many times you just need to prove that something is wrong with a photo and they will refund without asking you to ship the item back.

When I tried to return a Wish item that was blatantly not what I bought they ended up needing the packaging information which I had already thrown away. Do not discard anything until you have the refund processed. Wish customer service is not always helpful.

Wish Scams

One thing you need to watch out for is Wish scams. I recently found what looked too good to be true, but purchased it just to see what I would get. I bought a 70-inch 4k TV on Wish for free with $2 shipping. The item shipped the next morning and the seller switched the product description to be for a pair of headphones.

According to Wish, over 10,000 people bought this, so the seller pocketed $20,000 or more in a day for headphones in the hopes that people will forget, or perhaps they will close up shop before it is due to arrive.

Check out the video below to see what arrived when our 70-inch TV landed on our doorstep.

The same seller offers an “Ultra-thin Quad-Core Laptop 14” Screen Display 1366*768 pixel 4G+64G Windows 10″ device for sale but the description now shows it is just a keyboard skin, not a laptop.

It’s very important to read the descriptions of items on Wish, especially if they look too good to be true.

What Can You Buy on Wish?

There are all kinds of items on Wish from no-name items that are as good as what you will find in a store at a much higher price to really odd items like toilet paper, fake police badges, swimming pools, boats, and much more. If it’s made in China, you can probably buy it on wish.

29 Surprising Things You Can Buy on the Wish App