Alex P.

Keep in mind that my review is only regarding experience with online vouchers because I had heard the bad experiences people have gone through with real life vendors. I've bought two vouchers from LS so far and they were generated right away. One was redeemed and the products have arrived so far (magazines), while the other one I was waiting for the vendor to restock. So far, no issues but I hesitate to venture into any other kinds of deals.

I was shopping around for stylish camera bags that fit a dSLR and came across Jo Totes. Their prices are very reasonable compared to some of their competitors and the product was good quality, though not completely convenient to use (but that's a review of the product not the site). Shipping was prompt, packaging was adorable and if I'm ever in the market for a slightly different bag I would definitely consider Jo totes!

I think the concept isn't that unique, modcloth is sort of like an affordable Anthropologie but online only. And Tracy Reese makes a crossover so my comparison stands; D. Modcloth features vintage/retro/indie designer clothing, apparel and accessories for the fashion conscious and possibly for the lookbook crowd. Generally their clothing are very budget friendly and the designers they feature do have unique designs. They also have a program where buyers can vote on potential designs where winning ones get sold! Things become out of stock quickly but based on community demand, they restock which I think is a smart tactic for not having excesses.

They've overhauled their shipping to free over $50 which is easy to obtain with free returns, except on final sale items (pay attention). I ordered a dress and I have to agree with some other reviewers that even if they have no involvement in the production of their items, they have some responsibility in encouraging the featuring or not featuring of designers or companies that keep making low quality products. For example, the dress I ordered I would rate had very thin material (it was around $99 originally, on sale for $60) and I was not pleased with the drape because of that. It was constructed with fairly good quality, passable I'd say (I was afraid of ripping it when trying it on) and the quality of the material itself with again, fair. That being said, if the industry standard is in importing cheap materials and poor workmanship then no one is going to go out of their way to make less of a profit. If everyone's product is shoddy and around the same price range, then the consumer doesn't really have a choice but to accept it. In that sense, it's not their fault - but in another sense, they can do something about it.

I like the range of items on their site - they're very whimsical and downright adorable. I like the vibe of modcloth overall and it's a great alternative to what's available right now.

Another awesome yarn vendor that ships quickly with a gorgeous supply of yarn. As with any other vendor that relies on inconsistent supply (some of the yarn is independently dyed from overseas, for example) - some items can be out of stock for a few months but that's one of the main reasons to shop here: when it's in stock, be sure to grab it! Shipping is free over $75 and there's a reward system that's very handy.

Any establishment named Mr Yarn gets an auto plus in my book but really Mr Yarn is a great vendor for yarn! They stock Malabrigo and MadTosh with free shipping + a % discount. That's one of the most competitive prices today and unless you're hard pressed for another colorway they don't carry, there's no reason not to shop here :). I've ordered from them a few times and there was no problem with the transaction, shipping or otherwise. Plus you get a cool decal! Also their handy announcements for restocks of colors really helps out but also can be very tempting...

Update: After shopping with Ideeli for another year, I've noticed some changes to their 'tactics.' I had my first encounter with a relatively condescending customer service rep. Who answered my questions functionally but seemed to have an attitude. My question was if they shipped items earlier than the estimated shipping date because in my experience, they've tended to do that. The answer I received was "[Name], you've been a regular customer of Ideeli. You know the way it works. Nothing has changed." Actually, a follow-up question I would have had was if they could notify customers if shipments were going to be early (I have random stacked credit). Functionally, it would saved a lot less attitude and characters if the rep had just said "We try to ship around the estimated dates but yes, sometimes." Less typing, you know --- energy conservation.

I think something happened with merchandising as well, they have less interesting designers featured. They've rotated in higher luxury brands like Gucci, Prada, etc but in general - they tend to rotate the same-ish style merchandise that I find not appealing. They've also reduced giving out a $25 credit for items that are out of stock to $10 shipping credit. They removed the discussion pages for sales and instead implemented an instant chat system. These aren't terrible changes, more neutral and one of the positive things is that I do like their home/kitchen/living sales and will probably only check those out.

The bottom line is that, with other flash sale sites gaining a footing with consumers and establishing merchandise audiences it's getting harder to standout and keep people's attentions. Ideeli has maintained a relatively reliable service with shipping items and good billing practices and I've personally never used their travel deals, but they do try to keep it 'interesting.' But for me, it's no longer fun and mostly generic.

In general, I've had decent experiences with Ideeli. Their items have arrived a few days before the estimated shipping dates and the items themselves are definitely new. I've had an order cancelled once because it wasn't available but received a $25 credit. Slightly disappointing but it wasn't a must-have item.
I have had to return dresses 3x, I've ordered 2 dresses each time to compensate for the shipping. The first time the dresses mostly fit, but just wasn't suited to my body shape. The other two times, a brand's manufacturer's chart listed an M as 4-6 but ended up being a bit too big (the next size down, 0-2 wouldn't have made sense since I've never been a 2 even at my thinnest). The other brand had bust, waist and hip measurements which sort of matched mine, but still ended up a bit too large. I'm not sure if the manufacturers aren't competent enough to create an accurate chart, if I don't know my own measurements but I agree that trying on dresses for up to $30 can add up. That being said, the other stuff I've gotten were good deals so it kind of offsets this annoyance but I'd be wary about ordering clothing unless you're relatively sure it'll fit.

Very chic and stylish outerwear by Montreal designer. They have great end of season sales but downside is that you can't return or get a refund for final sale items. In my order, I didn't receive a confirmation email although my cc had been charged so I sent them an email. I never received a reply but got the shipping info. A day later so I would say they have good follow through but non responsive customer service.

Fast and free shipping and easy returns, can't say a single bad thing about them!

I find it useful for the reviews of restaurants, stores and so forth for cities/towns I'm not familiar with or for places around me that I've never been to. However, I too have an issue with their "filtering." I wrote a review for an establishment that had terrible customer service (very rude employees) and my review was filtered out, leaving only the positive ones. To view the filtered review, you have to enter a code for one of those robot-checking annoying things.

In addition, filtered reviews do not contribute to the overall star rating --- what kind of nonsense is that? If all the negative reviews were filtered out, then obviously every place would get a 4 or 5 star rating. It makes me wonder if the other reviews of Yelp are right on and that either they're bribed to weed out negative reviews by the vendor or if it's their general policy to be dishonest. Also, from reading their FAQ they seem to have an automated process that filters out reviews. I think that's even worse if the review isn't checked for being honest and truthful - rather than some kind of algorithm to determine the overall negativity of the review.

Therefore, this discourages me from writing actual honest "negative" reviews on Yelp as if it's bound to be filtered out, what's the point? Why bother if only positive reviews will be counted and featured?

I ordered a pair of Sennheiser headphones that were a lot cheaper from Juno Records than they were from other vendors - Amazon and others (new that is, as used and refurbished are cheaper of course) and although this vendor is based in England, there were mostly positive reviews so I took a chance. It took about 7 working days for it to arrive, it was packaged well and the item is new and works fine. They specialize in selling records and other pro-audio equipment. The shipping was very reasonable from England, though headphones aren't exactly that heavy and since my order was under $200 I didn't have to deal with customs fees. Overall, I would recommend them!

I ordered a pair of headphones that were an older model but didn't realize it until I had already placed the order. Then I saw the 15% restocking fee and cringed. Luckily, if you don't open the merchandise and either contact them in the request RMA or chat with them online, they will authorize the RMA with a full refund. That is very reasonable and rightly so but some retailers are mean. Newegg isn't!

Another sample site advertised OpenSky and led me there with the enticement of free credit (who can resist?). OpenSky is sort of like a conglomerate lifestyle woot with pseudo "celebs" (think chefs, stylists... Alicia Silverstone) finding YOU, yes you deals on things they think are cool - ranging from iPhone cases, luxury handbags, kitchenware and so on. Items are listed for a limited time, usually a few weeks unlike same sale sites. Colors and sizes do go out of stock though and when they run out, they run out. There are plenty of finds ranging from $20-$50 and then the $200 range and everything in between. That being said, there's nothing on there that I found vital and needed and the cool accessories were cool but didn't warrant the $7.00 shipping fee. Return shipping is also not free so basically, the $14ish potential loss in shipping scared me off. Good if you order a ton of stuff and keep 75% of them. Bad if you just want one or two things.

Granted, they do have $1 shipping days and they give out random credit and it's always interesting to browse. I ordered an iPhone backup battery from them, it arrived and doesn't fit my phone case, but instead of mailing it back and losing the return shipping I'm keeping it.

Another cute little Japanese stationery retailer based in California. They offer free shipping for $25 and above within the US. I ordered notebooks but they carry pens, highlighters and an assortment of Japanese stationery. Their packaging is immaculate and the owners wrote a very polite thank you note on a pretty note card. Customer service like that always gets brownie points from me =). Highly recommended.

Back when this website first went up, they carried several kinds of Japanese notebooks but unfortunately they've reduced their stock although they carry a few kinds, still. They sell tons of cute stationery items for office/personal use. Free shipping over $25, but for some odd reason I couldn't find a tracking # in their shipping confirmation email though the package itself had one. In any event, cute shop and some interesting and unique items.

I'm a stationery junkie, with my specialty being notebooks, highlighters and gel/liquid ink pens but a friend got me into fountain pens recently and looking for fountain pen friendly notebooks led me to JetPens. They carry a huge variety of Japanese notebooks (Kokuyo, Maruman) and the beloved Rhodia brand as well as many beginner/student friendly priced fountain pens (Lamy, Pelikan and cheaper Sailors). There are also a ton of other items: pencil cases, inks, mechanical pencils and so forth. They offer free shipping above $25, which is so easy and tempting. The packaging is always fine, no ink bottles broken or notebooks scuffed. Many customers review the items making their product review system extra helpful.

I think that this might actually be a legitimate company that just has terrible customer service and business practices (they have some good reviews elsewhere) but so far, my experience has been pretty unsavory. I placed an order on August 22nd and after waiting a week in which my order status was still "Awaiting Fulfillment", I emailed them asking when they planned to ship the item. I got a reply in less than 1 minute that was obviously a generated email telling me a shipment was delayed and that my order would be shipped shortly. It's been almost 2 weeks since that and still no update or tracking number so I emailed them again to just notify me when the item would be shipped (it's not as if I demand something to be shipped from them ASAP, I just wanted a date or a range of dates) and if the item was indefinitely available, that I just wanted to cancel my order. This time I get no reply which worries me so I filed a claim on PayPal, technically I have 45 days but at this point, I kind of just want my money. I have concerns that the item might actually be a knock-off from China since they ship from there. Magically the day after I file a claim on PayPal, I get an updated status on my order and a tracking # for OSM Worldwide (some kind of consolidation shipping service I've never heard of) which of course doesn't work. They state that it may take 1-2 days for the tracking to update which is reasonable but based on the pattern of responses on their end, I'm not too hopeful and would rather just be refunded the money than potentially receive a cheap knock-off and have to escalate that even more with PayPal.

I've recently become obsessed with Soia & Kyo (Montreal based outerwear designer, shout-out) coats - ranging from their trenches, wools, downs and everything in between. Their previous season's leftovers are on sale and this Quebec based store had a trench at a cheaper price with free shipping to the US so how could I say no? Very fast shipping (same day) WITH tracking number by Canada Post to the US. Packaging is very minimal - no plastic sheet or any other protection; it came in a bubble envelope but it arrived in less than a week! Highly recommended. They also accept PayPal in addition to credit cards. Also like many retailers, final sales ARE final but that's pretty common. They also carry other designers like Fred Perry, Matt & Nat, etc.

I bought some foot petals to try and accommodate a couple of shoes I have. They shipped very quickly and it arrived quickly but for some reason didn't email me a shipping confirmation. I'm used to that from 99.9% of online retailers as it's extremely helpful in tracking something that's being delivered to a work address, for example.

Like TN said, they have great shoe sales. Having bought a pair of shoes from endless that fit well, I found another of the same style but in different colours on dillards and ordered them. They charge about $8 shipping but if you're sure of the style and fit, it's a good deal. I had to change the address after the order was processed and usually I've never been able to have a retailer successfully do that, but dillards was able to. Very impressed! Their customer service was also extremely helpful and timely.

So, TN convinced me to take a chance and I impulse bought 3 pairs of shoes that were not the correct size (but based on product reviews, apparently manufacturing discrepancies were in my favour). One thing that I noticed was that one of the boxes was damaged on the side and taped over, but that caused one of the shoe boxes to get extremely warped. Not a big deal since nothing was damaged, but they might want to look into sturdier packaging...

Returning the two that didn't fit was easy with pre-paid shipping labels, and the free shipping both ways is definitely a plus. The best thing is that although they can't refund you, a gift card usable on amazon.com, endless.com or myhabit.com is definitely useful so it's not like you're stuck with $x and have to find things to buy on other sample sites (one of the reasons I took a chance). They issued the credit very quickly too after receiving the item.