ABC Distributing: An Eclectic Catalog of Gifts with Something for Everyone
Written: Oct 26 '09
|
| Full Review |
My husband and I decided to start our Christmas shopping early this year. Last year, we waited until the last minute to do our shopping and spent more money than was really necessary. Determined not to make the same mistake twice, we began making our shopping list in August. This early planning, along with using sales and coupons, has helped us keep costs down significantly.
There are a few people on our list who are difficult to buy for, mostly because they don't have any gift-friendly interests. I found several great gifts for the more challenging gift recipients in the ABC Distributing Christmas catalog. A few visits to their website and two orders later, I'm much closer to finishing my Christmas shopping!
Website
ABCDistributing.com sells an exceptionally diverse selection of products, including electronics, electronic accessories, toys, seasonal decorations, kitchen wares, home décor, apparel, jewelry, pet supplies, collectibles, books, movies, music, and storage items. You'll find a gift for everyone, including yourself! ABC Distributing is a wholesale distributor so everything is quite inexpensive.
This site is very easy to navigate with one of the best browsing designs I have ever seen. The products are sorted into very logical product categories, and then further narrowed by many subcategories such as price, catalog, theme, and department. Customers can narrow the products down by every parameter available to get more focused results, which is a detail I've found to be overlooked on many websites I've shopped on recently.
Years ago, ABC Distributing required group orders and offered products solely through their catalogs. Today no membership fees are required, but they still release several periodical and seasonal catalogs at a time. You can browse all of the current and recent catalogs, making it easy for those who prefer to do their initial browsing in paper form. There was one item I had forgotten to look for until I browsed electronically through the catalog I had seen it in!
In addition to the well-designed browsing, this site has an excellent search feature. My search results were all very accurate. I was not only happy to receive relevant search results, but also to see that the results included every item that fit the search term. Customers can also search by catalog product numbers. I was very impressed site's navigational options. It made my shopping experience much quicker and less of a hassle.
The product pages include most of the information I needed to make an informed purchasing decision. The product descriptions are very detailed, including pertinent information like sizes, color options, materials, age recommendations, and whether the item was imported or not. The page also lists which catalog the item appeared in and the page number. Product pictures are included with each page, giving me a decent view of potential purchases. I would have liked an option to enlarge the photos. Pricing is clearly listed on the page. Shipping information was the only detail lacking on the product pages. The pages do not list when the products will ship, nor are the shipping costs easy to find (a shipping link is located at the very bottom of the page).
I didn't encounter any broken links or errors while shopping on ABCDistributing.com.
Order Experience
I have placed two orders from ABC Distributing. The first was for two gift items; a double guitar stand for video game guitars and a dachshund figurine. Checkout was an easy process. The site requires that you create a free account with them to make a purchase. My order total was $38.85, which included $9.95 for shipping. Shipping charges are flat rates based on your order total. The price was very reasonable for me since the guitar stand was a very large item, but I would have thought the shipping was expensive for smaller items. The site only charges tax for orders to Illinois, which saved me a few extra dollars.
I received a detailed email confirmation of my order immediately after placing it. The site says that in-stock items will arrive within 10-15 business days of the order. I received a shipping confirmation seven days later and received the order the next day. This was before the expected delivery dates, but I felt it was a little slow for an online purchase. I didn't mind too much since I started shopping early, but it's something to be aware of. Everything is exactly as the website described. My mother-in-law is going to love the dachshund figurine, which comes with an adorable Christmas outfit to make it a festive decoration during the holiday season.
My second order experience was similar. The items arrived eight days after I placed the order and everything was exactly as I expected. I ordered several toys for the children on our Christmas list. I also ordered a few items to prepare our apartment for the Christmas season. The Snowman Paper Towel Holder is very cute and our 42-piece Christmas Gift Bag Set will make wrapping all of the gifts we've purchased very easy. My husband ordered a Computer Monitor Lighted Garland and USB Christmas Tree to decorate his desk at work. My mother and I are collecting various items for Staten Island's Project Homefront, which sends care packages to the troops and their canine units. We had picked up a number of bulk food and toiletry items at Costco, but couldn't find reasonably-priced, USA-produced items for the canine units. We purchased two of the 8-piece dog toy gift sets because they fit our criteria. They're exactly what I expected and I hope the dogs enjoy them!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
noangels
|
 in Online Stores & Services |
 - Top 1000 |
|
Member: Jamilynn
Location: Staten Island, NY USA
Reviews written: 226
Trusted by: 41 members
About Me:
So glad to almost be done with Christmas shopping!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.