After 11 years of helping other people find the best deals and products online, I’ve definitely become an expert at online shopping. Although I make affiliate commissions on some of the things I write about, I also write about products and merchants that I don’t get anything for at all just because I really love them. People often ask me where I spend my *own* money and if it’s the same places I recommend to others.
Looking through my own purchases over the last couple of months and the holidays in particular, here are my favorite merchants based on my own experiences with them.
Amazon: I don’t make anything when I shop at Amazon because of the rules that they have in place for affiliates. But I still find that about 70% of the time, they have the best prices for what I want. In addition, because of my Amazon Prime and the distribution facility in Indianapolis, I get everything shipped free and fast. I will be honest that they are my source for books, DVDs, and general merchandise.
Fanatics: I buy a lot of Steelers gear and IU merchandise for my immediate family as well as gifts for extended family. I have friends who work there and I always trust that if I have any kinds of problems, Fanatics will make them right. If you are buying any kind of sports fan stuff from MLB to NFL to NCAA, I would highly recommend them. Their prices are great, the run a lot of specials, and their Fan Cash is a reason to keep going back.
The California Wine Club: As a co-owner in a wine club review site, I get a lot of free wine. But I also like to order what I like myself sometimes as well as send wine as gifts. Hands down my favorite is The California Wine Club. I’ve gotten to know their products as well as some of their employees over the last couple of years and their clubs are top notch. You can buy wine from them directly by the case but the expertise behind the wine clubs is what I love.
Sephora: I love beauty products so I do shop at a few different places for them when they have deals, but I will always go back to Sephora. I love their Beauty Insider perks program (and getting something free on my birthday) and that they send little samples with every order. I end up finding a lot of new products because of those samples and it actually helps me not waste money on full-size products that I don’t end up liking.
Zazzle: My teens like shirts that are trendy but that not everyone else has. I can have them personalized at Zazzle for whatever they are into at the time. This past year it’s been Shadowhunters, Peter Pan, and Beauty and the Beast. They sell a huge variety of products so I often use them for gifts (playing cards with family pictures on them, travel mugs with names, etc). They aren’t cheap so I always watch for good deals at Zazzle. They tend to run coupons VERY frequently.
Teavana: I don’t have to order much myself because my husband tends to order a lot of gifts from there for me. I use my my favorite online tea shop and Teavana Perfectea Maker multiple times every day and love having an array of everything from energizing breakfast tea to afternoon chocolate tea to evening herbal tea. The one big exception is that American Tea Room has my favorite bedtime tea so I always keep that on hand and drink it a couple of nights a week.
Cheryl’s Cookies: There are so many great cookie and candy merchants but the one that offers the most consistent good deals for the quality is Cheryl’s. My family loves their cookies so much that we sometimes stop at their store in Columbus, Ohio, to buy them. I wish that they were one that offered me great commissions or free products to review, but they don’t. In fact, I don’t think I make much money off of them at all! But that doesn’t stop me from ordering. And every time I order a gift from them, I always add on the extra box to be sent to our house (watch for that in the checkout process!).
I probably shopped at about 60 other online stores just in the last year for everything from Christmas trees (Balsam Hill) to jeans for my girls (Hollister), but the ones listed above are the ones that I go back to time and time again.
If you ever have any questions about where to buy something or how to find the best deal, reach out to me and I’ll give you all the scoop that I can based on my own purchases as well as what I see people buying through all of my sites.
Where do YOU like to shop online? Are there favorites that you shop at year after year and always recommend to others?
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