A Sampler of Online Retailers
Sunday, November 22, 1998; Page H06
Here is a very selective list of online shopping sites you might want to visit,
compiled by Washington Post staff writers. A place to start. (Some discounts
and services may not be listed; please double-check with customer service.)
* Name
* What they're selling
* Shipping/handling
* Giftwrapping
* Customer service/other assistance
* Discounts for online shoppers
* Ease of use
TOYS
etoys.com
Toys, software, videos, music and video games. Offers about 8,000 items
from such well-known brands as Barbie, Playskool and Fisher-Price and from
specialty lines such as Brio, Alex and Creativity for Kids.For standard mail,
about $3.30 an order, plus 95 cents an item.
$3.95 per item
1-888-274-8697; toys can be returned for full refund within 30 days of
purchase
No special discounts.
Fun and easy to use.
fao.com (FAO Schwartz)
Toys, many of the same that are exclusive to FAO Schwartz stores. Offers
about 700 items, all of which are available in FAO Schwartz stores.
From $4.95 for orders up to $15.99 to 8 percent of orders $500 and above.
$4.95 per item
1-800-876-7867; toys can be returned for refund or exchange.
No special discounts.
A very amusing site, and easy to use as well.
toysrus.com
Toys, same as those in Toys R Us stores. Offers 5,000 items. Based on weight
of items and their destination.
$3 per item
1-888-869-7932. With receipt, can return within 90 days for full refunds.
Without receipt, store credit is given.
No special discounts.
Use this site at your own risk! Toys R Us underestimated demand, so it doesn't
have enough power to get you easily past the home page.
wal-mart.com
Toys, plus appliances, books, jewlery, electronics, sporting goods -- just about
anything you find in Wal-Mart stores. Offers about 700 toy items (250,000
items overall).
$3 per order; extra if express or the item is exceptionally large.
Not currently available.
1-800-966-6546 -- but the line may be busy and/or there may be a long wait.
Refunds accepted within 45 days of receipt.
No special discounts.
A well-designed site if you know exactly what you want. Good prices, too.
CLOTHES
landsend.com
Clothing; known for its khaki pants and Oxford shirts. One of the first big
clothing merchants to go online. More than 1,000 items to browse through,
including children's, men's and women's clothing. $3.50 for items up to $25;
$5.95 for up to $75, and so on.
$5 for a plaid gift box with ribbons.
1-800-963-4816, or e-mail help@landsend.
com for problems with the site and myorder@landsend.com with questions
over merchandise orders.
Discounts on overstocked merchandise, like an outlet center. Also has a
clearance section.
One of the easiest-to-use retailer sites. Also offers services such as "Your
Personal Model," which suggests clothing to suit your figure type. However,
there was a long wait to get into the dressing room.
eddiebauer.com
Casual and workplace apparel in catalogues, stores and now, online. Includes
V-neck tees for $9 to a men's camel-hair blazer for $200. Check out the
clearance section for out-of-season clothing.
$6 for purchases up to $30; $8 for $30.01 - $60; $10 for $60.01 and $90.
Offering $3 shipping for items over $100 until Dec. 24.
$5, including a personal-ized card.
1-800-789-1386, or -e-mail imedia@eddiebauer. com.
Weekly special sales on several items.
Offers a customer-friendly site with services such as a dressing room, where
you can mix and match clothing to create a wardrobe (albeit a limited one).
However, wait times were sometimes unbearable.
gap.com
Mostly casual clothing aimed at younger shoppers. This is where you buy
super wide-leg jeans for your son, low-rise pants for your daughter or maybe
a $125 "luxe" cashmere cardigan for your newborn.
Until Dec. 15, free shipping on items more than $75. Shipping is $5 for items
$50 and less, $7 for items $50.01- $100.
$5, including a personal-ized card.
1-800-GAP-STYLE.
Online sales rack, not much different than a regular stores rack.One-stop
shopping approach for babies, kids, teens and adults clothing.
A user-friendly site that allows you to compare color swatches. May be some
delays.
jcrew.com
Men's and women's casual, workplace and outer clothing. $4.95 for item up to
$25; $6.95 for $25.01-$50; $8.95 for items $50.01 -$75, $9.95 for
$75.01-$100.
$5, including a personal-ized card.1-800-851-3189 or e-e-mail
service@jcrew.com.
Special weekly sales on selected items.
Site offers access to all inventory. But it's set up like a catalogue -- not for the
Internet. Although there's an index, could use a search for particular items.
FOOD
www.balducci.com
Fresh and packaged foods including Italian favorites; all sorts of meats,
cheeses, breads. Selection is almost overwhelming.
Fresh foods: Less than five pounds, flat rate of $7.50; over five pounds, $1.50
a pound. Packaged foods: $6.95 for orders $30 or less; goes up to $12.95 for
orders $150.01 or more.
Not available, but gift baskets are.
1-800-225-3822
No special discounts.
Site is a pleasure to use. Especially helpful is the "questions" section, which
clearly answers shipping, customer service and packaging questions.
www.cooking. com
High-end and moderately priced cookware, tableware, cookbooks and
specialty foods. Has more than than 1,000 products and growing. Brand names
include All-Clad, Chicago Metallic, Emile Henry, Krups and Oxo.
$4 for orders $25 and under sent economy UPS; goes up to $45 for packages
$150 and over sent next day air UPS.
$3.50 a package, including gift cards.1-877-999-2433
Free shipping if you order by Nov. 23.
Takes a minute or two to get the hang of the site, but then you'll be shopping
away.
www.dean-deluca.com
Smoked fish, oils, vinegars, cakes, meats and much more. Wonderful selection
of high quality products. Shipped and packed beautifully, the items are also
high-priced.
About $1.50 per pound is added to each order; minumum shipping charge is
$9.
Gift boxing offered on selected items, $4 per item.
1-800-221-7714
No special discounts.
Site very easy to use. Recipients of the print catalogue will recognize the clean
style and well-designed graphics.
www.friedas.com.
Offers unique baskets (11 available) featuring exotic fruit, squash, tropical
fruits and dried mushrooms among other items. Hundreds of specialty items
can be also be ordered by the case.
Prices include shipping.
Gift baskets available.
1-800-241-1771
Baskets available online only.Simple design makes navigation of site very easy
and wonderfully straightforward.
www.igourmet.com
More than 100 cheeses generally available plus a few selected specialty items.
Igourmet will also try to fill special requests.
To the D.C. area: about $5.50 per order.
Gift baskets available; you can request gift cards and wrapping.
1-877-446-8763
A specially priced cheese every month.
Site is a little cranky. The best way to search a site is to go through the
alphabetical listing of products.
JEWELRY
www.fortunoff.com
Gifts and jewelry, from $25 for a silver cuff bracelet to $5,500 for a sapphire
and diamond bracelet.
$10 for standard shipping and handling. per order.
Free, upon request.
1-800-367-8866 or e-mail questions to service@fortunoff.com.
No special discounts.
Searching by price or specific merchandise is easy.
www.zales.com
Specialty jewelry. Has one of the larger arrays of jewelry online, as well as
more high-end items, such as a $13,000 diamond engagement ring.
$9.75 per order; all orders sent Federal Express.
$3.75 per item.
1-800-311-5393 or e-mail questions to information@zales.com.10 percent
discount on Internet purchases.
An easy site to search by price or type of merchandise, though the retailer
might consider relocating the search button for its stores; it's too confusing.
www.ross-simons.com
Jewelry and other merchandise. Has a small array of items, but a reasonable
place to find inexpensive yet slightly offbeat jewelry.
$3.95 for items under $35; $6.95 for $35.01-$75; $9.95 for $75.01-$135, and
so on.
Free for registered brides or items costing more than $500.
1-800-521-7677 or e-mail questions to customerservice@ross-simons.com.
No special discounts.
It was annoying and confusing when the retailer interrupted a purchase to try
to sell something very similar.
www.wal-mart.com
The leader in jewelry sales. On the low-price end, offered one of the biggest
selections. Most expensive item seen was a set of $1,100 diamond studded
earrings.
$3 per order; many jewelry items, however, include free shipping.
No special discounts.
1-800-966-6546.
No special discounts.
Very plain-Jane Web site that should please bargain shoppers. Was irritatingly
slow on several attempts. Hint: Click on the advanced search icon on the left
side of the screen to search by price and product.
www.jcpenney.com
Third-largest seller of jewelry in the United States. Appeared to have a fairly
small selection.
$3.30 for items up to a half-pound, and $4.10 for items from .51 pound to one
pound and so on.
Free for bridal registry items; otherwise, $5 to $6 an item.
1-800-322-1189 or e-mail the company through its site.
Some specials, such as 20 percent off on a .25-carat diamond.
Semi-slow Web site that's not as well-arranged as other jewelry retailers' sites.
However, a representative picked up the phone in 30 seconds or less -- much
better than Wal-Mart's response time.
ELECTRONICS
www.buy.com
A variety of computer hardware, including laptops and handheld organizers
and digital cameras. It's also recently branched into selling books and videos.
Depends on size, weight and speed; with UPS ground running from $10 to
$20, while next-day air costs $35 and up.None available.1-888-880-1030; also
available via e-mail, with detailed order-tracking information a few clicks
away.
Exclusively online.
Doesn't offer much of a warm-and-fuzzy presentation (for instance, no gift
recommendations or links to third-party reviews to be found), but is fairly
easy to click around -- notwithstanding the need to set up a user account
before buying.
www.cdw.com (Computer Discount Warehouse)
Nearly every kind of computer available, as well as printers, disk drives,
digital cameras, etc. Other sites undercut its pricing on some big-ticket items,
but for the minutiae of computing (cables, memory upgrades and so on) it's a
worthwhile source to bookmark.
Ground-transportation shipping costs, $4 for orders weighing five pounds or
less.
None available.
1-800-877-4239; also available via e-mail (you can request a reply via phone
or e-mail).
No special discounts.
Easy to navigate.
SOFTWARE
www.beyond. com (formerly software.net)
Software. Touches such as a "Recommendation Guide" and a "Gift Center"
make this the most useful site of the bunch. Also features some gaming news
and picks from the Beyond.com staff.
UPS $3.95, FedEx second day $9.95, FedEx overnight $16.95.
None available.
1-800-977-6171 or e-mail to support@beyond.com
Exclusively online.
Not a problem.
www.egghead.com
Software, including a very comprehensive list of subsections and titles under
the "Kids/Education" category. However, site doesn't even provide
descriptions for some software items that must be among its top sellers, so
don't come here just to window shop. Also sells hardware.
7-10 days, $7.99 per order; second-day: $15.00 per order.
Not mentioned.
Customer support via e-mail only
Exclusively online.
Not a problem.
www.buysoftware.com
Has a relatively small selection, but "Hot Deals" section contains a grab bag of
cheaply priced software, with the occasional very good deal hidden among the
picks.
Standard shipping (for one product): $5.50; second day: $12.50; next day,
express: $19.00 (not available to P.O. boxes).
Not mentioned.
1-888-340-9898 or e-mail to customerservice@techwave.com
Interface is easy to use, mainly because they don't have enough selection for
things to get very complicated.
TICKETS
www.ticketmaster.com
Tickets to sporting events, rock concerts, theater, professional wrestling bouts
and just about any other variety of live entertainment in the country.
About $4.50 a ticket. That's in addition to service charges, which vary by
venue.
Doesn't apply.
If you succeed in logging on -- a real challenge at times -- there's a list of
charge-by-phone numbers available.
Local number is 202-432-SEAT.
No special discounts.
Handy search functions make hunting for bands or shows simple. Buyers can
determine right away which seats are available because of real-time links to
inventory. However, software glitches can make buying tickets
time-consuming and frustrating.
www.culturefinder.com
Tickets to theater, ballet, museums, dance, jazz and opera at 1,700 venues
across the country. Site boasts that it covers 200,000 events in the United
States.
$4.50 per ticket, in addition to other service and handling fees levied by the
venue or ticketing agency.
Doesn't apply.
Not a help button or phone number on the site. Users must e-mail and wait for
a reply.
No special discounts.
Users can quickly search by city or type of event and range of dates. The site
is smooth, eye-pleasing and efficient. It's cheaper to use culturefinder as a sort
of arts listing service, and then purchase directly from the venue or ticket
seller.
www.protix.com
An upstart challenger to Ticketmaster, ProTix Inc. sells seats at venues across
the country and at a growing number in the Washington area, including Ford's
Theater, Wolf Trap and Merriweather Post Pavillion.
Average shipping fees are $2.75, plus $1 handling fee per order.
Doesn't apply.
Plenty of help offerings throughout the site; company's phone number is
posted everywhere. Local number: 703-218-6500.
No special discounts.
Its real-time ticket searching seems to work with relatively few glitches,
though the site isn't slick. Will ship only to the person who placed the order.
BOOKS AND MUSIC
www.amazon. com
More than 3 million book titles organized by 28 subjects; also videos, CDs,
audio books, and gift items such as games and small electronic items.
Standard delivery: $3 per shipment ($2 for CDs) and 95 cents an item; second
day delivery, $6 per shipment and $1.95 an item; for overnight, $8 per
shipment and $2.95 per item.$2 per order for one or more books.
1-800-201-7575 or e-mail info@amazon.com or for questions on orders:
orders@amazon.com
Exclusively online.
Easy to use, good selection and reader reviews are helpful. Discounts vary,
they can be as much as 40 percent as in the case of "A Man In Full" by Tom
Wolfe. Some books are not discounted.
www.abebooks.com (Advanced Book Exchange)
Used, rare and out-of-print books as well as maps, old postcards, posters,
playbills and documents. Provides access to 3,889 booksellers in 29 countries,
with 8.5 million books in the database.
Depends on the seller.
Depends on the seller.e-mail to abe@abebooks.com.
No special discounts.
Very easy to use, and produced a book that I hadn't been able to find by
calling sellers of used books myself in the past.
www.politics-prose.com
A Washington bookstore site that sells any books currently in Books in Print,
including audio books. Discounts are available through the store's membership
program. Members are eligible for member discounts of the month. Full
return privileges to customers who can drop books by or send them back for
full credit.
Passes on the UPS shipping charge, but no special handling charge.
Free.
1-202-364-1919 (same as bookstore's).
No special discounts.Attractive and easy to use. The staff picks are interesting.
But don't look for big bargains.
www.musicboulevard.com
Over 200,000 titles on CDs, cassette tape and/or vinyl as well as music-related
merchandise such as videos, T-shirts. Says it is the world's largest online retail
music store.
Special promotion for orders shipped within U.S.: two or more items, $1.99
total shipping charge. Different rates for foreign orders.
$2 per item.
1-800-99MUSIC, 610-254-4900
Frequent Buyer Club.
Lots of graphics and links make this an intensive point-and-click shopping
experience.
DECORATIONS
www.britestar.com
Specializes in lights and other illuminated displays. Site also includes other
ornaments and decorations. Good selection.
Charges vary. Company primarily uses UPS.
None.
1-201-271-7600. Company says it will return the cost of any unsatisfactory
merchandise.
No special discounts.
Easy to use. Site also includes special a Halloween area, an online Christmas
museum and a link to order a printed catalogue for $10.
www. christmasdepot.com
Extensive selection. Takes a "warehouse" approach to online Christmas
shopping similar to the one being used in physical stores run by home
improvement and office retailers.
Charges vary. Site uses UPS.
None, although gift tags are available.
1-201-437-2222.
No special discounts.
The link from the opening page to the warehouse area is too small, but once
inside, the site is very user-friendly. Handy search engine, as well as an option
to translate the site into any of six languages.
MISC.
www. sharperimage. com
Gadgets you never suspected that you -- or anyone else -- needed, such as the
Ionic Hair Wand or Power Flow Insoles. Wide range of high-end gew-gaws,
broken into such categories as electronics, personal care and travel, so that
you have some clue what's available.
Automatic upgrade to second-day air delivery for standard charge, which
varies by price of order ($4.95 for $25 or less, $8.95 for $25.01-$50, and so
on).
Available, prices vary.
1-800-344-5555.
No special discounts.
Annoyingly, when you call up a particular section, items are described only by
title; you need to click again for any description, picture and price. Makes for
an awful lot of often-frustrating clicking.
www. spencergifts. com
Lava Lites, cuddly South Park dolls and rubber chickens. Some of the tackier
standbys from Spencer's mall stores don't seem to be on the Web page.
Calculated automatically as you shop.
Check with customer service.
1-800-249-2643
No special discounts.
The search function didn't work, so it took some poking around to find
whoopie cushions and pepper gum. But what's available is easy to find,
because of the well-designed use of frames and scrolling.
www.moma.org (Museum of Modern Art)
A range including calendars and furniture, not always useful but
well-designed.
Calculated separately for each item according to cost; for express delivery add
$12.
$5 per item
1-800-447-MOMA, 24 hours a day
No special discounts.
All the pictures and Java can make this slow, but the selection is wide and
there's ample, often educational, information about each item. You can browse
by category or by designer; you can also look at gift ideas by occasion.
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