Online Shopping Disappointment

M & S used to be the worst - they'd empty your basket after you'd checked out. I don't know if they still do, but I once had four matching bra and pants sets ordered from their sale and ended up with one bra and a pair of pants from a different set.

Some companies empty the baskets much more quickly than others. It’s so frustrating sometimes. I have had the opposite experience too, where I put something in the basket then decide not to buy, return to the site another day for something else, go to check out and find the original item still there - I didn’t realise until I saw the total was too high. Occasionally you find a company offers you a discount if you’ve left items in your basket but not often these days.

I think it's normal for things to 'disappear' if you haven't checked out and somebody else wants them.

Sometimes depends if you have an account with the company and log in before you shop you can hold these items I often leave them a day or more. Unless of course they sell out then the items will be removed as you check out

I ordered the same dress twice from Phase Eight over the phone and was told it had gone through. Three days later, both times, not in stock; apparently low stock means only one and it had been sold but not registered as such.
Very disappointing.

I think it's fair to empty the basket after half an hour. It's a real problem for businesses to have stock tied up in online shopping baskets. And imagine if a competitor played dirty tricks by monopolising items with no intention of buying.

John Lewis online normally say how many they have left in stock, but I have been caught out a couple of times when I left my basket for a day or so before presenting it at the checkout. They are not yours until you pay.

I always assumed that once you had put them in your basket they were yours, whether you had checked out or not.

I have had items in a basket that have still been there weeks later. They send me emails to remind me that I haven't checked out.

I'm probably wrong

What a shame! From their perspective though, it was in the sale, so up for grabs.