A few smaller online shopping favorites

Are you an online shopper? Ooh, I sure am. I love it. In fact, I’ve little doubt that the massive antipathy I’ve built toward Wal-Mart, malls, and bricks-and-mortars in general is exacerbated by the ease of shopping online.

Amazon.com is my go-to. I’ve completed perhaps 300 transactions there over the past decade. On the rare occasion when something hasn’t gone smoothly, Amazon.com has always made it right quickly and satisfactorily. I remain impressed with their balance of size, scope, and service. I recommend Amazon Prime if you do a lot of business with them, by the way. It’s $79 annually for unlimited no-charge second-day shipping and $3.99 overnight.

As much as I love Amazon.com, I do enjoy some smaller online shops too. Here are some favorites. If I’m recommending them below, then I’ve done considerable business with them, and have never had anything less than an excellent experience:

  • If you clothe yourself in mainstream brands, then go to Denim Express. They have extensive selections of jeans, slacks, shirts, underwear, and socks, and they’ve begun dabbling a bit in accessories. A $70 order gets you free shipping.
  • Princeton Watches is a fine place for a new watch. They’re a good place for big brands like Seiko, Citizen, and Casio, and I’ve done business with them for several of those. But they’re also a great place for some of the smaller Swiss houses. I bought my Glycine Airman 2000 there. They’re not always the best at showing all of a manufacturer’s offerings on their site, so if you’re interested in something that you don’t see, call or email and ask for a quote.
  • I love Thomas Distributing for rechargeable batteries and chargers. I don’t know how any parent or gadget freak does without rechargeables. (And sheesh, I’m both.) Once you get a good NiMH setup inserted into your routine, you’ll be amazed at what it does for your quality of life.
  • RepairClinic.com is an outstanding site to keep your appliances running. Think you can’t fix your stuff when it breaks? Poke around this site and see if you don’t change your mind. Over the past several years, I’ve avoided repair bills on my washer, dryer, refrigerator, and stove, simply because I spent a little time with this site.

Those are some of my (perhaps) off-the-beaten-path favorites. What are yours?

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10 thoughts on “A few smaller online shopping favorites”

  1. I could never buy jeans online since I have a horrible time finding a good fit. Then, they will stop making the style I love.

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    My main happiness with on-line shopping isn’t so much convenience as the ability to get hard to find items. Every try to find a Saints’ sweatshirt in N.Alabama? Not so easy. Football Fanatics to the rescue.

    Reply
  2. ‘seester: But once you know the size that works for you with a particular “make and model” of jeans, it’s easy.

    ‘Course, you may value having pairs of jeans that look different from one another far more than I do.

    Reply
  3. Howdy,

    As president of RepairClinic.com, Thanks for mentioning us. One store I love for any consumer electronics and anything for your computer is Provantage.com they always have the best price and usually ship within one day. I’ve been shopping with them for 9 years.

    Reply
  4. Thanks for mentioning us! Your entry showed up on our Google alert for “Princeton Watches” this morning, so you are a well indexed blog! Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  5. I love Sephora.com for cosmetics…….another trick I have learned is always search for coupon codes before checking out. I can usually find a free shipping code or 10% off for most sites, the best one I found was $25 off purchase of $100 or more.

    Reply
  6. We love Amazon’s subscription service — GREAT bargains delivered every 1/2/3 months, free shipping, and it’s cheaper to get soap, shampoo, and skin care products this way than to drive down to our local CVS.

    Reply

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