Low Quality Stuff That is Anything But "Neat"
We Have Neat Stuff
I shop online a lot and am always looking for offbeat or unique gifts for family and friends, especially around the holidays or for birthdays. I came across the We Have Neat Stuff Online Gift Store purely by accident when performing a search for some offbeat thing I was looking for for a friend's birthday.
Well, they do have unique things on the site but I wouldn't exactly call their stock "neat". But we'll get to that later.
Navigation
This is one of the ugliest sites I have seen in some time. It is plain white with gaudy red, white, and blue lettering and about 20 too many fonts and pictures to make it appealing. Once inside, the page is stark white with barely readable red lettering.
More than halfway down the home page is a list of categories of items they sell. Some of the categories are: Andy Griffith, Elvis, Bean Angels Dolls, Celebrity Bears, I Love Lucy, and NASCAR. They have a hodge podge of novelty items that may appeal to some or that may be unique for gift giving.
But the photos and descriptions — what little there are of descriptions — made this site very difficult to enjoy.
To navigate to the categories, you need to click on the small representative photo on the bottom of the home page. There is no list of categories anywhere else, so, to find their inventory you must know enough to scroll down past all their text to get to the thumbnail photos.
Across the left side of the site are buttons for new products and specials but none for their current regular inventory - a flaw that caused me not to even know they had anything but new items and specials.
Very poorly designed, this website looks like it was built by a kid and leaves one wondering about the quality and competency of the merchandise and service.
Variety
For the offbeat collector or buyer, there is a fair amount of variety. If you happen to collect Elvis or other nostalgic items, you may find some unique things on this site but certainly no one of a kind items. There aren't millions of items available but there is a small to medium selection in each category for you to choose from.
My Experience
I was looking for something wrestling related for an old friend and wanted a novelty item, something that couldn't be picked up just anywhere. I happened to find a wrestling bear that, while it didn't have the name of a wrestler on it (none of the celebrity bears do — they just are generic celebrities that imply who the celebrity is if that makes any sense), was obviously a Hulk Hogan bear (Yellow and red, the bandana, a championship belt, you get the idea). There are wrestler bears out there with the names on them but this one was bigger and looked cuter — or so I thought. The price was right so I got it along with a couple of other totally frivolous gifts.
The procedure is the same as most shopping sites. After I added the items to my cart, I was taken to a page that allowed me to call in my order if I didn't want to proceed online. I was also given the option to print out my order and send a money order with the printed invoice. I chose to finish the transaction online. I had a choice of using a Visa, MasterCard, or Discover Card.
I needed to input my email address and then choose a user name and password and fill out all the rest of the information that is needed for online ordering. Shipping charges are computed at the end of the order and there is no guideline to tell you what to expect as far as shipping costs. This is one of my pet peeves. According to the home page, the fees are set by the USPS and UPS and not the company. I had a choice of using regular shipping or expedited shipping for additional charges. I stuck with regular shipping.
For two small bears and another small item, my shipping was $9.99. I thought that was a bit high considering how small my items were. In fact, my item total was not much more than the shipping charge! I would have not gone through with the order but time was short and I wanted to finish my shopping so I went ahead and paid the shipping fee and hoped for the best.
I got a letter in my spam folder immediately after the transaction but my credit card had to be manually approved so it was another day before I was finally cleared and my items were being readied to ship out.
My order arrived fairly quickly, in about eight days. The bears, which looked large on the site, were tiny. I had to laugh because I should have known that, with no measurements at all and no way of knowing how large they were, I would end up with a Beanie Baby sized bear instead of a larger size.
Quality was junky. I didn't even give the bear to my friend. I think it is still around somewhere in the box with the other two items I ordered.
Needless to say, my first impression of the site should have told me to go elsewhere. I haven't gone back and have no need to ever go back there. I don't know if all their items are cheaply made and wordlessly misrepresented (They don't make false claims, they just omit sizes and other pertinent information) but this site is apparently a one woman operation like those wholesale stores that pop up everywhere and the stock is just not "neat" enough for me to go back and shop there again.
Shipping and Returns
As I said above, there is no set fee for shipping. You find that out at the end of your order. It seemed high to me for the small items I got but I have no way of knowing if it gets continually higher or levels off after a certain weight or amount. They do have expedited shipping for those who just have to have their novelty items right away for an added fee.
They do NOT give refunds under any circumstances. Their return page says:
No refunds please. Be sure that you order exactly what you want. If soon after you place your order (within 4 hours) you change your mind or want to add something to the order please e mail me. If for some very special reason, an item must be returned, only the price of the item or items will be credited. YOU MUST FIRST GET APPROVAL TO RETURN AN ITEM. There is a 15% RESTOCKING FEE. Shipping will not be refunded under any circumstances.
I have NO idea what "very special reasons" are valid to return items but I sense that you will be stuck with what you bought unless something otherworldly happens to make it a very special reason to return it.
Conclusion
This is a small niche website with low quality stuff and high shipping prices. I have not dealt with customer service but, according to the FAQs page, the site is run by just one woman who does everything from stocking items to mailing to customer service. She even gives her home phone number for "emergency orders". I imagine busy seasons can cause problems for just one person dealing with everything and would definitely avoid shopping there during the holidays.
You can't get a refund if you are unhappy with the items you buy and there are no good descriptions or sizing information on the site to allow you to be "sure that you order exactly what you want."
Most of what this site sells can be found elsewhere and the items that can't be, aren't worth buying. While this may appeal to some for their off beat novelty items, the risk isn't worth buying from them.
Until and unless they give full descriptions with proper sizing information (and fabric or material content would be nice), no one can made an informed decision about whether they truly want an item and then...they can't return it.
As much as I like to support the small business owners out there, I also like to get what I pay for and feel confident with who I am dealing with. Although I didn't have a customer service problem (but would have if I wanted to return the junky bears, I am sure), this site needs some professionalism to make me feel comfortable shopping there.
Avoid this one. It's just too inconsistent to really get any benefit out of it and websites like these are littered all over the net with much clearer information and easier to understand policies.
Recommended:
No
