Ivan S.

I have long been looking for a well-stocked online store with shipping under 10€.

From Artemiranda I ordered watercolors pans and some pastels. The packaging is well done, the pastels arrived intact (even the soft ones) and fairly quickly: ordered Thursday, shipped Friday, arrived Wednesday. The courier that picked up the order (to Italy) is GLS, shipping cost: € 5.99. The price is identical for most of the EU.

Shipping costs can obviously vary depending on weight. Heavy products are marked with a specific icon, ditto those that cannot be shipped by air.

The only downside is that there is a minimum order: €25.21

Excellent experience!

I have been using the products of this Danish company for a long time and have been very happy with them.
On those rare occasions when I experienced problems, I only had to contact them by email to find a solution or receive a replacement product.
When you invest a lot of money in your hobby, it is important to find reliable brands in order to avoid wasting time and money.
The Army Painter has proven to be reliable.

I have been using Gamivo with satisfaction since 2019. Out of about thirty orders, no Steam key has ever been revoked.
The only time I've had problems with an order, support has been very friendly and quick to respond.
Highly recommended!

I have never had any problems with Koh-I-Noor products, so I don't know how they would react when faced with a defective product, but I have contacted support several times to ask for information. Detailed information, not one-line answers. They have always answered my emails in a professional way, trying to provide all possible information, often also providing pdfs.

The prices are competitive and there are (often) great offers but... that's not what kept me here!
What has held me back and continues to hold me back is support.
Every single time I have had a problem, be it technical or commercial, I have found PEOPLE willing to listen, understand and help.
And this is rare today. Because today the answers are always generic, a FAQ copy & paste, something totally impersonal. On Namecheap, on the other hand, I feel completely at ease and totally relaxed. I am never afraid that a difficult problem can't be resolved, because I have already had difficult problems and they have solved them soon.
I hope Namecheap will become a model, a case study to talk about in university courses. Because theirs is the right way to interact with customers.

I use it regularly since 2004.
I'm mainly a buyer but sometimes I also sell something online. PayPal's conditions are very clear and, once understood, it's difficult to have problems.
I can't quantify the number of times it has saved my wallet from dishonest sellers. I do many online purchases and at least 5-6 times a year I run into a problem that is solved only thanks to PayPal.
For this reason I recommend it and for this reason now I only purchase where I can use PayPal as a payment method.

I've been using this website for 5 years and I've always had a great time.
The bot is fast, the queues are almost always short and the website is really easy to use.

How does it work?

When you send your cards to the bot, they are worth points and the points can be exchanged for the cards you need.

Beautiful community, very reliable website, also useful to stay updated on Steam and surroundings thanks to the forum. I visit it several times a day and I always find something interesting to read!

*How do I win?*

By donating games you earn levels and you have access to exclusive giveaways for that level.
On the forum there is a section dedicated to puzzles where some users organize giveaways for those who solve them.
Increasing the level and accessing private giveaways increases the odds of winning.

In 5 years I participated in ******* giveaways and I won 128 of them.

I have been their client for 5 years and I often find excellent deals. Key collection is almost always immediate and the only time I've had problems with an order they have fixed it in a day. Perfect!

I am their client since January 2014. I have purchased dozens of bundles here as well as joining some of their special offers ("Star deal").
Key collection is instantaneous and, in case of problems, support is friendly and helpful.

Why did not I give 5 stars?

Some games are now repeated too many times in their bundles, making them unattractive. They also succumbed to the "mistery games" ̶s̶w̶i̶n̶d̶l̶e̶ business model.

Let me preface this by saying that I place about 100 orders per month (a living benchmark!) so my experience is much more complex (and detailed) than the buyer who places a couple of orders a week. Before moving on to criticism, I want to put in a good word for those working in customer support: always helpful, good, rarely superficial.
Delivery is also remarkable, but I guess this changes from country to country and sometimes from area to area. In mine it is very rare for a parcel to be lost, less than 1%, and >95% cases the delivery is also on time.

And now we move on to the problems (or challenges).

Problem 1: packaging policy. It is not uncommon to receive delicate items in cardboard envelopes (envelopes, not even boxes) or albums/pads/notebooks/sheet of papers folded to fit into smaller envelopes. This has been a problem for years, in practically all countries where Amazon delivers. A radical policy revision is needed. When I buy something fragile or need to give a gift, the packaging problem forces me to buy elsewhere.

Problem 2: control over the goods. So many products have a counterfeit C E mark (CE, no space in between, simply means 'China Export'). When I go to a shop I trust, that trust also and above all depends on the selection of products it offers its customers. If I want to buy random things, I order from Alibaba or Wish. From Amazon I expect, I won't say only good products, but at least only safe products. Especially those intended for food use!

Problem #3: the 'minimum order quantity'. This too seems to be subject to policies that are not exactly clear, even at Amazon; totally left to the algorithm, which, however, cannot reason and therefore does not understand that I may not need 6 tubes of toothpaste, 12 10-packs of tissues, 3 5-litre buckets, etc. This problem wastes a lot of time because it manipulates the search functions. I think I have found the extension cord I need, the price is good, I click: 'minimum order SIX'.

Problem #4: Warehouse. Descriptions of the condition of items are excessively generic and often subjective. I have received 'very good condition' completely ruined and 'good condition' as new. I understand that you want to save time, but it's not difficult to set up small cameras that take 3 photos in series, on 3 different angles, that you automatically place on the listing of that item with that unique code. It won't be as accurate as buying used on eBay but at least it's no longer a gamble.

Problem #5: no more stickers on books. It makes no sense. It ruins them. Sometimes they are even on the front. Enough. Stop. Really.

These problems are quite obvious, objective and widespread in many countries. How is it possible that they are not solved? That is why the title of the review is: sometimes I wonder if Amazon management uses Amazon. Apparently not.

I use a lot of Steam simply because I find many good deals here. In addition, the cheapest keys are usually those of Steam.
I also find shameful that a huge platform like Steam does not have adequate customer service.

Even the client would need an update and offer some more options. Do you realize that you can not download the OST or other additional content without downloading the entire game?! Is it really so hard to send me a single MP3 instead of 50 GB of game?!

Finally, the part intended for the curators, as well as the entire community, is in disarray. We need more precise rules and above all HUMANS that apply them, not bots! Spend some money on staff!

Always wary of overly tempting offers, I limited myself to spending just around 10 euros, with products such as charms, rings, stickers, nothing complex.

I received the order within 10 days, as promised.

The same day I received the order, I requested a partial refund for some items that were very different from the photo. The process was done online, automatically and I was refunded without the need for a return.

So 2 stars because at least I was not defrauded.

The problem is that pendants, rings, key chains, etc. are extremely detailed in the photos on the website but arrive at home in very very different condition/shape. I am very annoyed that there is no rectification about it. That they purposely use misleading photos!

I highly doubt I will go back to placing orders here unless things change. I don't like to gamble and every order here seems like a gamble. Refunds are not enough because, dear Temu, they are mandatory! Refunding a deceived consumer is an obligation, not your kind concession. Another obligation is not to deceive customers anymore!

Many companies struggle to understand a very simple concept:
I, a customer, can say: «I'm sorry about what happened».
You, seller/producer, must find a s-o-l-u-t-i-o-n. You can't be the one to say: «I'm sorry, and that's it» *facepalm*

I bought a set of colors as a gift for a friend but the packaging was defective. This resulted in foreseeable inconveniences, and I was forced to buy a modest gift because the budget had already been used for the set.

Winsor & Newton support was sorry, they would investigate... No solution.

When we make gifts we choose prestigious brands to enjoy tranquility, sure about the product quality. Undoubtedly, after this experience, the prestige of Winsor & Newton is tainted.

After the lucky period between November and January, the website started to get worse by returning to the levels of the past.

Ad-Cookies do not work and this means that you will play for 2-3-10 hours to get nothing in return. They will say that they cannot do anything, that it's advertiser's fault but who selected the advertiser?

The support is gone, I have been waiting for 10 days for an answer to the last problem and over a month for the previous problem.

The way of acting has become suspect, very suspicious. For example, the game "Magic: The Gathering Arena" has a defective cookie. There are many reports (I have attached them to the image). They have neither fixed nor disabled but have increased the reward, in order to attract more people (who will not be rewarded).

About chests: there is a user on Instagram (@recensionivere - "gambling around" collection) who has published dozens of stories. The possibility of finding something good seems to be less than 1%. And I said "good", not "excellent", those keys may not even exist!

Recently they announced 3 million users and for this it is even more unacceptable.The small realities are to be supported in the difficulties. They must be understood. But when you have millions of users: you have to improve! Hire staff, pay better, be more active!

Shipping times much longer than stated. Improvised and imprecise support. Poor customer consideration.

I'm just saying I bought a gift here. It arrived very late, damaged and they did not even apologize. What would be your reaction?

I've been using Trustpilot for several years and I'm even a verified user, so I put the utmost trust in it.
In the past, several companies have lobbied to have my negative reviews removed or edited and in the end they were not removed: I had proof of purchase.

As you can all imagine: one does not always review a purchase and this is where Trustpilot seems to give maximum "protection" to the criticized. If in their terms they write that it's sufficient to give proof of interaction, then in reality they ask for proof of purchase. So if you review a company because they have a bad app and you haven't purchased anything: they can report the review and remove it. Does another company mishandle your data? If you haven't purchased anything, doesn't matter! You can only express yourself if that company doesn't protest, demanding proof of purchase.

In the case I found myself in, there was a mass removal of negative reviews from one of those opinion panels about which you can read bad everywhere, except on Trustpilot, only there is good talk about it, with reviews from users with just that one active review. Credibility at an all-time high!

Capterra is a company that offers gift cards* in exchange for reviews on its website.

Some time ago, it sent an email to sitejabber subscribers to review sitejabber on their website in exchange for a coupon.
I repeat: review sitejabber.com on capterra.com, not the other way around!

To publish the review they ask for a lot of data, they ask for verification, a link to Linkedin, and still the final word is theirs. That is, if the review is not in line with their parameters, they do not publish it and no coupon. Which of course makes this site completely unreliable.

Also very bad is the assistance that does not respond to requests for explanations.
All in all, I wasted my time. Avoid making the same mistake I did!

*(theoretically, I have never seen any gift cards!)

In order to complete the order (even those placed on other platforms; e.g. eBay) MMOGA requested a telephone verification. I say to myself: OK, the seller already has the number anyway.

The phone call is automatic, it asks you to press a couple of numbers, a kind of antibot.

After this verification, instead of sending the code, MMOGA sends another email asking for a photo of an ID and a photo of me holding the ID.

Does this remind you of anything? This is what many telephone and financial operators require when registering a new sim or prepaid card.

A completely useless procedure for the delivery of a few euro key!

Of course, I advise everyone NOT to do this procedure and to report it to the authorities in your country.

I came across CouponBirds several times when I was looking for coupons. Never, and I repeat NEVER, found one that works.
Now they are also promoting one of their browser add-ons, promising $5 coupons. Obviously the $5 is not usable and the coupons remain wrong. Just a way to guarantee them more commission.