One Step Ahead: They Have The Highest Shipping Costs on the Planet
Written: May 13 '05
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I have three kids and have been getting the One Step Ahead catalogs for years. Their merchandise is primarily baby gear and other clever items for babies and small children. Unlike a lot of other merchants, they don't carry a broad line of baby gear and other merchandise. Instead, One Step Ahead carries a variety of well thought out items with lots of nice features. Their selection of car seats is small but they are usually some of the best designed. They also have a great selection of safety equipment and some good educational toys.
Up until recently, I never bought any merchandise from One Step Ahead. Some things looked interesting, but I could usually find similar items for less money elsewhere. I finally made a purchase from this store when I needed a large play yard. I saw one I liked at a friend's house that was huge with all kinds of neat panels and I wanted one for my baby. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of her play yard no longer made it and I couldn't find a used one anywhere. So, after much searching, I found a similar model at One Step Ahead. I thought the price was high but couldn't find the play yard anywhere else at a cheaper price so I forged ahead with my purchase.
THE WEB SITE
The web site has a nice appearance and there are no fancy graphics to slow things down. I found it hard to locate the merchandise I wanted and eventually used the search feature instead of the menus. It would have been better if they put a lot of merchandise on one screen so you could see everything at once instead of clicking in and out of screens.
ORDERING
The ordering process was pretty easy. I only had to enter my information once. They didn't make me choose a password which I appreciated. The only thing that bugged me is that I had to enter my credit card information prior to entering my coupon code. If my coupon code had not been valid, I probably would not have proceeded with my order and I don't like to give up my credit card information unless I really intend to make the purchase. Other than that, things went smoothly.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
I got an email acknowledging my order. I also got an email stating my packages had shipped the prior day. Unlike a lot of other merchants, the email from One Step Ahead did not contain tracking information on the packages.
PACKAGING AND SHIPPING
Yikes! The shipping costs for this store are the highest I have ever encountered and that is saying a lot since I order almost everything on the Internet these days. I ordered a play yard from this company. They considered the playyard an oversized item although it was not very heavy since it was made of plastic. My order totaled $200 before my 15% discount. My shipping costs were $77. That is 34.5% of the cost of my items.
Shipping also took longer than I expected given the price I paid. I placed my order on a Thursday. On the following Sunday, I got an email saying my items had shipped the prior day. There was no tracking number and there was no way on the site to check the status of my items. The first of my items arrived on the following Wednesday and the rest arrived the next day. In my view, companies that charge a lot for shipping should use a faster method than ground shipping.
My playyard was shipped in the manufacturer's box without any additional packaging. This seems to be common practice and most baby gear I have ordered from various stores comes this way.
STEALS AND DEALS
There is a Sale and a Clearance portion of this web site that had a good seletion of marked down merchandise.
Both Upromise and Ebates offered a 5% rebate on this store. Additionally, Ebates provided a 15% off coupon (the code was AFSAVE10). Once I placed my order, they emailed me another coupon code for 10% off. This is an expensive store so you should look for coupons.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
Given the extremely high shipping costs, I doubt I will order from this merchant again unless they carry something I really need that can't be found elsewhere.
DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP ON THE INTERNET? HERE ARE SOME MORE REVIEWS OF WEB STORES:
Clothing and Accessories: Talbots; The Gap; CWD Kids; Hanna Andersson; J. Jill; Tote Le Monde ; Blu Pyxie ; Miniboden; One Hanes Place; Nordstrom; Gymboree; Simple Shoes; Sierra Blue; Ebags; Shoe Dawg; Osh Kosh.
Clothing and Home Goods: Lands End; Bluefly; Soft Surroundings; Garnet Hill; Sundance; L.L. Bean.
Home and Garden: Smith & Noble; Restoration Hardware; Gardeners Supply Company; Unicahome; Homeclick; FaucetDirect; Gardens Alive; West Elm; Crate & Barrel; MyKnobs; CB2.
Books and Magazines: Amazon.com; ValueMags; Magazine Values; Dover Publications.
Office Supplies, Furniture and Services: Staples; Officemax; Topdeq; Efax.
Electronics: HP Shopping; Buy.com; ABT Electronics.
Travel: Amtrak; Hotwire; Orbitz; Hotels.com.
Discount: Overstock.com; Target; Smart Bargains.
Photo Developing: Shutterfly; Snapfish.
Baby Stuff: Babystyle; Babys Here Birth Announcements; Baby Universe; SoZo; Baby Center; Baby Age.
Miscellaneous: 1-800 contacts; Movie Tickets.com; Drugstore.com.
Rebate Sites: Upromise; Ebates.
Before you start shopping, check out my tips on how to save money by shopping on the internet . I have also included some coupon codes and plan to add more as I find them.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? play yard
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