Web sites offer sample sale discounts without headache

? Fashion-savvy women in New York and other large cities know that a sample sale is the place to get designer duds for a steal.

It takes a disciplined approach: Find out when the best sales are, get there early, muscle your way through the clothes-mad crowds and find the courage to leave your modesty at the door, since a dressing room at a sample sale is an unthinkable luxury.

For those who can’t compete when shopping becomes a contact sport, several Web sites offer an alternative way to score bargains as designers go online to sell their discounted wares.

“It’s a sample sale where you can first of all try things on. Second, most is fresh merchandise that hasn’t been tried on. And you can return it,” says Ellin Saltzman, fashion director of bluefly.com.

Bluefly.com offers clothes and accessories from hundreds of men’s and women’s designers, including big names such as Ralph Lauren, Prada, Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana and Vera Wang. The shoes, handbags and jewelry are offered 25 percent to 75 percent off, and bluefly.com takes returns for 90 days.

From the Web site’s home page, you can go straight to the newest merchandise by clicking on “new arrivals” or you can search by category or designer. A recent sale offered a Roberto Cavalli animal print dress for $249, or 57 percent off; several Nicole Miller cocktail dresses and gowns for less than $200; and a Prada leather camel-colored handbag, which at $599 doesn’t seem like a bargain unless you know the retail price: $1,095.

“Often we will buy after the season or we will buy during the season and promise not to sell until it is discounted,” says Saltzman, a veteran of high-end retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.

Unlike many sample sales, the clothes are offered in season, and the online format offers bluefly.com flexibility in extending sales and deciding when to introduce new merchandise. For instance, the mannequins at the mall are now wearing spring fashions but this year’s harsh winter prompted bluefly.com to keep the cashmere and wool around, Saltzman says.

“For years, having planned the windows at Saks, I look at our first page as our Fifth Avenue window. But we can change it nightly,” Saltzman says.

If your taste runs more toward hip, downtown New York labels, www.girlshop.com offers a selection that includes C. Ronson, Von Dutch and Shoshanna.

A recent sale offered a psychedelic paisley-patterned Cynthia Steffe dress for $110 — 60 percent off the retail price of $274 — and an $85 Ingwa;Melero crocheted mohair cap was discounted to $43.

For those who love vintage designers, auction Web site eBay has long been a favorite of estate sale aficionados who hunt for vintage Dior, Schiaparelli, Halston, Gucci, Lanvin and Pucci. As with every other item imaginable, eBay offers the chance to bid on designer clothing, shoes, purses and jewelry.

Selecting “clothing, shoes and accessories” from a menu on ebay.com takes you to a page with choices arranged by category, with everything from vintage to bridal. If you’re looking for a specific designer, there’s an alphabetic list of labels at www.ebay.com/browsebybrand.

In addition to vintage clothing, new resale clothing and even unused perfume and cosmetics at prices are on the block and sold at prices that are often much lower than retail.

Soon eBay will take it a step further by offering pieces from a fall collection, hot off the catwalk at New York’s Fashion Week. The site tested the waters last fall with two pieces from Narciso Rodriguez’s spring 2004 line, but a substantial selection will be offered soon from Proenza Schouler, one of the hottest labels of the moment.

Until March 7, eBay will offer 100 items from Proenza Schouler’s fall 2003, spring 2004 and fall 2004 collections at www.ebay.com/proenzaschouler. Proenza Schouler is sold at high-end retailers like Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus, but the opening eBay bids will be deeply discounted.