Ria M.

Great website! So difficult to find cotton products -- keep up the good work!

I used quibids and won a kitchen item that I had wanted for some time. After that win I noticed that I had a lot more competition in my subsequent bids. I soon realized that I would have to pay full (in my opinion: overpriced) price for any future auctions and so asked for my remaining bids to be refunded. After reading the article on penny auctions I now realize that I may have been bidding against a bot after the encouragment of my early win (this is speculation on my part, but the difference in amount of competiition was striking). The fact is, the customer doesn't get to know what is going on behind the scenes and that's good enough reason to avoid sites like this. On the positive side, Quibids refunded my remaining bids promptly and without any hassle. For me, that says the site is 'OK' as long as the customer understands that he is gambling. Also, I have been very pleased with my kitchen appliance, the quality of items is good and the shipping was prompt.

Our closest town with stores of any size is 30 minutes away, so we prefer to do much of our shopping online. Our prime membership makes this possible, as we can purchase replacement parts for our snow blower, tools, food, and any number of things online with free shipping. As long as UPS and FedEx can get through we are OK, and that means a lot to us as we can't always get out our driveway.

LL Bean has free shipping on all purchases, which makes them my 'go to' website when looking for camping items and clothes. Their camping equipment has in general proven to be very good value, and in the past so have their clothes. Recently however, some old standbys such as my husband's flannel shirts have been shrinking. In the past these shirts would last for many years. The reduction in quality was not compensated by a reduction in price, so now I go to Cabelas, Land's end, or Eddie Bauer and compare prices and ratings before buying. Still, I do like LL Bean but I don't take their quality for granted.

Costco has the best value for the online shopper: we consistently get good coffee and the best prices on electronics from Costco. Shipping is fast and secure.

I tried to buy from Forever21.com but they just wouldn't let me place my order. I live out in the country so we don't get USPS mail (we have a PO box in town), but we do get FedEx and UPS. Websites generally let me place an order with my street address and PO box address as part of the zip code -- not Forever21.com! They rejected my street address with no possible way to override their irrelevant check, and so tried to charge me extra for USPS priority mail to ship to my PO box even though my order qualified for free shipping. I tried to start a chat session to get a representative to override their address check, and their chat provider doesn't run on my Linux laptop. HELLLOOOO Forever21 -- you DO know you have competition don't you? Why can't your website work like everybody else's website? Goodby Forever21.com!