This is an honest site with some good bargains. Great for stocking up!
Written: Nov 07 '09
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Lately, I'm all about bargains. I love to find smaller websites that sell things for prices lower than I can get the items at brick mortar stores or mainstream online stores.
Bargain Side Online Store is one of those sites. This site sells loads of products generally at lower prices than regular drugstores and their shipping cost is reasonable.
What the Site sells
Bargain Side Online Store sells personal, skin, hair, and beauty products as well as fragrances and gift sets at discounted prices.
Navigation, Shipping, and Returns
The site is a very simple one with category links down the left side of the page and then subcategory lists and thumbnails of each product. Photos are fairly small but can be enlarged. The price is clearly marked and often, buying more of an item yields higher discounts.
Add the quantity of item to your cart and keep going until you have finished shopping. If you send more than $95.00 on the site at one time, you will receive a 5% discount on the whole order if you enter the code BARGAINSIDE95 at checkout. The site uses the yellow and white Yahoo checkout page and you can see what your shipping will be by inputting your zip code and state and choosing the method of shipping for your country.
Shipping in the US is charged for a one pound package regardless of the actual weight of your order so, if you make a large order, it will cost the same as if you made a small one. In my case, shipping is a flat $7.10 no matter how much I buy so I always wait and try to make a large order to offset the shipping and get my money's worth.
Use a major credit card or use paypal and you will get a confirmation email as well as a shipping one. The order should arrive fairly quickly after you pay.
The Returns Policy is a bit confusing. It says that they will refund any products that are not opened or tampered with if you ship them back at your expense which is standard. However, it also says if they ship the wrong item to you, that you should notify them and then ship the item(s) back and they will send you the correct one(s). What I don't see is if they pay for shipping back if they send the wrong product to you. I assume so, but I will contact the site and update when I get that info. They do not accept opened packages or exchange for shade, scent, or other such things.
My Experience
I stumbled upon Bargain Side Online Store when doing a search for Revlon Colorsilk Hair Color. It is my favorite hair color and I wanted to buy several boxes to have on hand for touching up my roots and was looking to see if anyone sold in bulk. When I saw Bargain Side Online Store, I decide to look around. I found the hair color, which was not in bulk but was selling for about 75 cents cheaper per box than anywhere I have gotten it, and added eight boxes to my cart. I then looked around at the other items. many are brand names I knew like Olay, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Listerine, Burt's Bees, and Revlon. There are some higher end brands and lesser known ones as well.
I added several other things to my cart and easily and quickly checked out using paypal. However, a day or two after that, I received a notice that the hair color was on back order and should be in and sent shortly. I was not charged for it at that time.
I honestly figured I would never get the order but it came within a week or so in full. Everything was fine, nothing was expired, and I have seven boxes of my hair color left to use on my roots every six weeks.
This site isn't amazing as far a bargains but there are a lot of items selling that are lower in price than at typical drugstores or mass-market stores. I think, if you do some searching, you will be able to find most items somewhere for the same price but at Bargain Side Online Store, it's all right there on one site. If you make a large order, you can save a good amount. Smaller items aren't a great bargain because shipping negates the savings.
I would recommend this site but only for those who want to stock up on personal care, skin and hair products, and other drugstore items. Some items are the same prices as you can get at drugstores while others are considerably lower. Bargain Side Online Store is worth a look and you may find a great deal or deals and can stock up. I wouldn't say this site is phenomenal but it's a decent, honest site that has quite a bit of variety and some good deals.
Conclusion
The overall navigation and price points of items on the site make it 3 stars but my personal shopping experience was just fine from start to finish. I wasn't charged until my items were in stock and I saved quite a bit on the items that I purchased. I won't shop at Bargain Side Online Store often but, if I find a few really good deals, I will stock up. I would rate this site 3.5 stars if I could but I can do the half star thing so, based on my experience, I will go with 4 stars.
It isn't the best site ever but you can rest assured that you won't have money taken and then the site will disappear or that this is a fraudulent site. You'll get what you ordered unless they are totally sold out and will not be getting more of the item in and they will notify you of that. It's a nice alternative to usual online drugstore shopping experience.
Recommended:
Yes
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