When orders are a hit, everything's great. When they're a miss, get out the Excedrin!
Written: Feb 22 '07 (Updated Feb 22 '07)
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Usually I either like or don't like a website and will simply stay away from shopping on one that I feel has the potential to be a problem. However, with Overstock.com, I am on the fence about whether it is s a decent site with some glitches or a problematic site that I should never shop on again.
What Overstock.com Sells
This is a huge site that calls itself an Online Outlet. They site sells everything from household goods, to clothes and accessories, to furniture and electronics, to even travel! They also have an auction subsite which I have used and do not like.
They have a huge amount of items for sale from very inexpensive to very expensive as well as bulk items (like six pillows or a gross of toothbrushes).
Their "hook" is their very cheap flat fee shipping fee which is usually $2.95. Sometimes it is as low as $1.00 no matter how many items or how heavy those items are.
Navigating and Buying from Overstock.com
Overstock.com looks clean with many tabs to click on and subcategories within those main categories. You can search the entire site by keyword or choose to search by keyword within a certain category.
There are almost too many things to search, too much "stuff" to wade through, and too many links all over to keep your head on straight while shopping.
Click on an item you want to view and there is a description and a larger photo. Watch those descriptions! They can sometimes be confusing at best. There are always suggestions and photos everywhere for added or alternative items as you shop which can be annoying or helpful depending on your preference.
Click to add items to your cart and continue until you are ready to checkout. You will either have to sign in or register with the site to continue, including choosing a password for later log ins.
If you are a new customer, you need to provide your billing and shipping addresses and a password. You pay for your orders with a major credit card or Overstock's own rewards Visa card. Overstock also has the "Bill Me Later" option for people with good credit where they can buy now and pay later. I never used this option but have seen it at various online stores.
Some items can be shipped faster for a higher fee. Their standard shipping time is supposed to be five to 10 days.
You will get a confirmation email after the purchase and one when it ships with tracking numbers. Orders often ship in several packages at different times and you will be notified as each one goes out.
If all goes well, your items will arrive within a couple weeks, in my experience.
My Use
I have shopped at Overstock.com many times. Most times, my orders went through fine and I got the items I paid for within a couple of weeks - always split into several small boxes arriving on different days. Quality varied from exactly as described to much lower but nothing was grossly misrepresented.
I never spent a ton of money on the site so I don't have the knowledge to discuss pricey items like large furniture, costly jewelry, or electronics.
The problem I ran into was when I ordered a set of two pillows. One pillow was more expensive than the set of two so obviously I got the set. However, only one came and I was charged the higher rate for the one pillow.
I wrote to customer service and had to open some weird ticket to get responses which was just a big pain. Long story short, Overstock said it was my mistake and I said it was theirs. I had spent a lot of money over the holidays on the site and felt those people should make the error right by just sending me the second pillow.
I resorted to live chat which was friendly enough but wouldn't bend or yield. I went back to requesting the second pillow and got nowhere. I was told that they would make a special exception for me (which is their standard policy so I am not sure what the exception was) where I could return the unused unopened pillow at my expense, then reorder the set of pillows. That wasn't very special.
No one noted that there was a restocking fee but I did. I asked about that and they said that, yes, there was a restocking fee. Sheesh. Now I had to pack up a big pillow, send it back at my expense, be charged a restocking fee, and then reorder the twin pack?
What a pain. To Overstock's credit, I was angry enough about the situation that they agreed to credit me the restocking fee as a "one time courtesy".
I decided not to bother sending the stupid pillow back. It would have been too expensive and too time consuming plus, I really didn't trust the refund system as my sister and some friends had several issues with getting refunds from Overstock.
I'm not sure if I will go back to Overstock or not. I know I chose the correct item and I know they sent me the incorrect one. How often does that happen? And what's up with a restocking fee for unopened, unused products?
Live chat was there but not helpful and the weird email system where they answer me on their site and go back and forth is crazy.
Prices are sometimes good, sometimes high. I suppose if I saw something I really wanted and it was much cheaper than other sites, I might take a chance again but I would definitely not sink too much money into the site. I would be very worried about buying a high-ticket item on
Overstock.com.
Auctions
The site has a separate area for online auctions. I checked it out and most items are new, high-ticket things but there are some lower priced items. You put in a bid and can be outbid and snipe and do many of the same things you can do on eBay. One problem is, if you enter the wrong amount for an item, you can't recant a bid. For any reason. I mistakenly typed in $2000 when I meant $20.00 and immediately saw my error. I wrote to Overstock and was unable to recant that bid despite the obvious error. Their support is terrible for the auction area.
I ended up winning the item of course, for a HIGH price, and was bound to pay for it. That stinks. I'll never use the auction feature again. It's shady and there are no good policies in place to protect the buyer (and probably the seller).
Shipping and Returns
Shipping is usually a flat $2.95 in the US. Often they run $1.00 shipping promotions or free shipping ones. There are expedited shipping choices for some items.
"Most items" are returnable within 30 days. After 30 days, you only get 50% of your purchase price back. Ouch!
There are many stips for oversized items and you should carefully read the return instructions for them before buying anything oversized. There are a lot of loopholes there.
Here is the part I hate: "All items are subject to a restocking fee of $4.95 per item OR 15% for items within the Electronic, Computer, and Wholesale categories."
I don't like restocking fees and I think it's crazy to charge five bucks to return something especially after spending the money to ship it back. I'm talking $4.95 even if the item is not opened or touched. Big turn off.
Conclusion
Overstock.com is a big outlet store with thousands of items to choose from in many categories. Some prices are low, some are quite high. If there is an item that is selling for a low price, you could get a deal. However, if you have to return it, there could be problems.
I am still on the fence about this site. It seems hit and miss to me although most of my orders have been OK. As I said, I wouldn't buy anything too expensive from the site because I am leery of their policies.
I am going with 3 stars. Right in the middle. When it works, it works fine. When it doesn't, there could be a load of problems and, from friends and family members, I know that problems are not uncommon on this site. So, be careful, shop wisely, and make sure you know the policies going in. Then hope everything goes well!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Many smaller, under $100 items
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