Alex P.

The first order I placed, it was cancelled because their vendors failed to deliver... this practice is 'stock inflation.' Overestimate the inventory you have to make sales, later on, you cancel the ones you know you can't fulfill. They gave a $25 credit to my account but it's kind of disappointing - not that not having anything is that important but it's the principal.

One good thing is that their customer service via live chat is timely and competent. But it's a hassle to stake out a sale, then have it cancelled two weeks later - I don't think I would buy anything from here again just because I don't have the patience and time to gamble on whatever it is I'm buying to be in stock.

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.

Basically, it's a collection of free stock photos for personal and commercial use. You can also learn about photography and interact with other (aspiring) photographers. There's a small database and depending on your purposes, it's kind of limited but it's still a decent resource to reference and gain inspiration from (and best of all, it's free).

If you're in the market of buying used purses (chanel, LV) or Louboutin shoes AND/OR selling mentioned items, this is a great resource for learning about shady buyers and shady sellers. It's sort of like a SiteJabber expressly for designer handbags (and shoes). They also have volunteer threads for you to post links to eBay and other auctions to seek authentication of a certain brand. There's a banned buyers list for eBay which is useful as the forum users have banded together to compile a huge list.

It might seem odd to order tea online but when you can't find the brand you want, you have to try, right? I was introduced to Ahmad Tea a while ago and tried it a few times. I ended up really liking it but couldn't find it anywhere close by (for all I know it might be somewhere but I'm too lazy to call and ask x local stores). Enjoy Better Tea stocks Ahmad Tea along with some other brands and ships it to your home. The prices are reasonable from what I can tell and so is the shipping. The tea is packaged very well and it arrived in a timely way. Definitely a legitimate site for ordering tea online.

To avoid being censored too many much, I can only comment this one is to be experienced for yourself. If you have a smart phone and have typed meningitis, catboats and Quetzalcoatl without meaning to then you will find this site hilarious.

I also encourage people to send in their own screenshots.

This site is exactly as self explanatory as you imagine. It's for people who love colours! An infinitely helpful site with commercial and user generated colour palettes, patterns and colours for download. It's useful if you need to redo wallpaper, if you're a webdesigner and want to see certain colours, if you're an artist or any general purpose that requires the need for palettes.

One would be surprised at the amount of time spent on there if not careful...

This is another site for if you're slightly bored and/or in need of amusement (and maybe need some actual advice for your relationship... and if you're girl and don't know what guys mean). It's basically a user-submitted question relationship/advice site that features different "types" of guys that you can choose to ask your question. If chosen, they will feature your question and their answer. Non relationship related questions can also be asked such as, "Do you listen to Justin Bieber?" which one of their members is more likely to answer than actual serious questions.

I understand they need to maintain a balance of providing what the site does and entertainment, but some of their chosen questions truly seem pointless but are indeed quite funny. I've submitted what I thought were serious questions just to see if anyone would answer me and have never had them answer, so I think that there's a huge volume they have to deal with. However, what's refreshing is that they will answer some very serious questions covering topics such as rape, domestic abuse and incest.

And on a lighter note, some of the incomprehensible questions are just too funny.

It's a fun virtual styling tool basically. You can browse sweaters, dresses, accessories, shoes and make the style spreads commonly found in fashion magazines. The items are clipped from various sources across the web - fashion retailers, brands' sites, etc so it's a fun way to discover new brands and browse new styles. Of course some of really nice items tend to be high luxury - Yves Saint Laurent, Louboutins, etc that cost $800-$1k an item and wouldn't realistically be a catalogue of what you have if for example you were trying to create a style collage based on items you might have, but it's a great starting point for finding similar items to match outfits you have in mind or might want to buy. A useful tool I've found is the ask advice section. You can post some items you need advice on, matching/sizes and people will pull up other items to answer.

A note that, the images obtained are "clipped" from other websites - so there can be limitations on how well they're representative of a 3D outfit.

Official sounding name: Domain Registry of America - shady!

Be very careful! I received a letter in the mail the other day, with garbled information in the To: section (based from a whois of a domain I own that's static now - I recommend getting a service that blocks your whois information to prevent these places from sending you mail). Based on that, I knew right away that they had gleaned my info. And was probably up to no good.

For one, I'm not stupid and my domain is registered with GoDaddy since September of last year. Why would I want to renew my domain through DROA for $30 a year for approximately 3x the cost it is currently with GoDaddy? They also stress you to reply before a certain date, at least 4 months before the actual expiry date. It just makes no sense and in fact the link here: http://www.ucan.org/blog/blog/scam_alert/domain_registry_of_america_scam, features a great scan of what the mail looks like. There is information on DROA's wiki page and the linked site regarding FTC fines and the like - basically stay away!

I've only ordered one thing from here and it arrived after about 2 1/2 weeks - something I'd known already. Aside from that, their prices aren't the best for what they offer as similar brands tend to crop up on other sample sales sites. I also have ran into things I might have wanted to buy, but ended up not because of their no returns. And personally, their roster of brands just doesn't appeal to me but they do feature more cosmetics, skin and other items more than the other sample sites.

I placed an order for a book online seeing that there was only one left from a seller. There's a place where you can view pending orders and after 15 minutes, when the page showed nothing but I knew my order had gone through I contacted customer service who told me that it had gone through. I received an email sometime after with a tracking number notifying me that the book had left the warehouse. So, for the most part it was worry free except their orders not showing up on your order list. They also had a thing where if you return the book within a time frame (for school, a semester) they can give you up to a certain amount which is useful if you want to 'rent' a textbook. I chose to keep mine so I can't comment on that process, but it's helpful to know.

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?

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.

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.

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.

This is a great site for art supplies! Paint, canvases, paper - whatever kind of art you do. They ship quickly and everything is packaged nicely. Even if you don't do any "art" per se, there are probably useful items for other sorts of projects too. Price wise, they're significantly cheaper than my mortar and brick art supplies store (sadly...) so although they charge tax for my state, they often run free shipping specials for a minimum so it evens out.

Otherwise, the shipping is dependent on weight/price which can get kind of expensive so it's really the most economic to order a bunch of stuff you definitely need and might need :).

I've always had a crush on Tesla. Who hasn't? Anyway, this site features some pretty serious bangable dudes in history (and chicks). Suggestions accepted too, so go submit your secret crush on Emily $#*!inson and the like!

(To perpetuate SJ filter hilarity)

I agree with the other reviewer that it's a great source for luggage and travel bags. I've only ordered one item, it came but the colour wasn't as described/shown on the webpage. I'm not sure how that happened as the colour I ordered was "Fog" and it's clearly a grey in the picture for that product listing. But when it arrived, it was a cyan colour - what's confusing was that the tag that came with it also said "Fog". So either the manufacturer mislabeled it, the product listing page had an older picture or ebags somehow mislabeled it. Either way, it wasn't a big deal and I didn't want the hassle of returning it just because of colour discrepancy.

The only reason I haven't bought anything else from them is also because I find their pricing for handbags slightly high and good deals can be found elsewhere. But I think that their "comment and get 20% off" deal is a smart practice. Product reviews for online shopping always help and that's a great incentive.

This is probably my favourite site for findings and czech beads. You can choose however many crimp beads or jump rings you want! No longer obligated to buy 20 if you only want to try out 4 or 8! They actually have a decent inspiration projects gallery - with projects you might want to make with listings of the products that goes into the project. They offer free shipping with NO minimum order! And it's legit, I've ordered twice from them... they even give you some freebies your first order :)