Onine Stores

This Printful review examines the site to know if they actaully provide quality as promised or not. Customers complaints and feedback also evaluated while wrting this post.

Printful is legit. There are lots of good and positive things about Printful. This review examines the website and shows you why it is legitimate.

Printful is one of the brands of the Draugiem Group who advertise as turning ideas into companies that create solutions in particular fields. That’ll mean that Printful is one company creating solutions. Their name (Printful) is revealing of what solutions they create and in what field – Printful provides product printing and drop shipping services.

Printful advertises as providing “easy print-on-demand drop shipping and fulfillment warehouse services”. The big question is whether that is just a marketing blurb or whether this POD supplier actually provides easy services. Does Printful provide the product range, print quality, customer support, and other services that’ll make them the go-to destination for persons wanting to sell custom products? In the first place, is Printful legit?

This Printful review will also examine Printful to provide the information that’ll help you answer these questions and more.

Printful review at a glance

• Founded in 2013, and is part of the Draugiem Group
• Provide POD (Print on Demand) order drop shipping service
• Integrates with a host of e-commerce platforms (such as Shopify, Woo commerce, etc) including marketplaces (such as Amazon and ebay) as well as website and apps
• Can be used for individual buying and to fulfill orders placed in stores
• Products offered include clothing, accessories (hats, bags, phone cases and socks) and home & living items
• Offers a range of custom branding options
• Has four fulfillment centers located in North America (Los Angeles, Charlotte, Tijuana) and Europe (Riga)
• Ships worldwide, and shipping is relatively fast
• Accept returns for only defective (misprinted items), while returns for wrong sizes or buyer’s remorse will be at sellers expense
• Claims for defective (misprinted) items are accepted if submitted within 4 weeks of receipt of item
• Customer support is available via email (support@printful.com) and telephone (+1 (818) 351-7181)

What is Printful?

Printful is one of 12 brands of the tech Company – Draugiem Group – which works to bring together ideas, knowledge and the latest technologies to create solutions in particular fields. The idea that has turned into Printful was birthed in 2013; and it is to create solutions in the product printing and drop shipping business field. Product printing allows you to sell fancy unique products that you customize yourself by putting your custom design or artwork on any of the products offered by the company.  Drop shipping service allows you to fulfill orders in your store without having to even see, touch, or store any inventory.

In the “About Us” page of their website, Printful explains that their name simply combines “Print” and “Ful”, where Print means “Print Product” and Ful means “Fulfillment Service”.

Printful – Roots of the name

With that explanation, it’s clear that the two essential parts of the company’s service is print products and fulfillment. Thus, Printful is a POD (Print-on-demand) order fulfillment service. In fact, Printful does one more than fulfilling POD orders, they also drop ship.

Printful stands as one of the better names in the POD order fulfilment business that’ll both print and drop ship. At the time of writing, they were over 1,150,000 sellers using already using Printful to sell customize clothing, accessories, and home & living items in different e-commerce platforms and marketplaces.

Is Printful legit?

Printful is legit. It is not a scam comapny. And they have been online for some time now without problem. It’s no longer news that there are many scam artists in cyberspace with the one objective of ripping people off. As a result, netizens want to find out if a platform is legit before using it especially where they’ll be required to send in their hard earned money. Thus, the words “legit” and “scam” have been carelessly thrown about in cyberspace, with some reviewers attaching “legit” to any platform they are satisfied with and attaching “scam” to any platform they are not satisfied with.

Thus, one of the big questions to be answered in this review is whether Printful is legit or a scam. However, instead of subjecting throwing legit or scam as some would do, we’ll give you information that’ll help you come to your own conclusion.

One of the first things to look out for in establishing a platform’s legitimacy is legality. Printful ticks the box in this regard because it is a fully incorporated company (Printful Inc), which is one of 12 brands of the super tech company – Draugiem Group. In the least this means that Printful is 100% legal.  Suffice it to say that scam stores do not seek legal recognition by way of company registration.

Another check of legitimacy is order fulfillment. Suffice it to say that scam stores do not fulfill orders, as their modus operandi is to collect payments and go dark. However, Printful has been fulfilling POD orders since 2013; with their website reporting over 6.26 million orders have been fulfilled to date. That Printful has been operating for over five years is another testament to their legitimacy. It shows that the platform fulfill orders, because a scam platform that does not fulfill orders are generally short lived; they’ll be called out in no time, and with such exposure they’ll close shop and disappear.

Another check of legitimacy is physical presence. It should be said that the scam stores are usually only virtual with no physical trace – there’s usually no fulfillment center, and no merchandise. However, Printful has a robust physical presence with four fulfillment centers (California (US), North Carolina (US), Riga (Latvia), and Tijuana (Mexico)).

Another check of legitimacy is whether fulfilled orders are functional or fit for purpose. This is important to many because it doesn’t matter if a company is legal or if it fulfill orders, if what is delivered amount to being useless. The quality of delivered items is the crux of this check. Suffice it to say that there is evidence that Printful have invested heavily in printing equipment (over $17 million), which should translate to good print quality; also, online reviews name Printful as one go-to destination for quality POD orders fulfillment service. Thus, it’s safe to say that Printful delivers functional (fit for purpose) items.

That said, with Printful being 100% legal, having a robust physical presence, and having a track record of fulfilling orders with functional items, there’s really no doubt that the platform is legit.

Is Printful safe?

You go for a legit store because you don’t want to be ripped off. However, if the store, though legit, is not safe, it will leave you exposed to other cyber fraudsters. Thus, the ideal e-commerce platform should be both legit and safe. Safety in this respect is effectively safeguarding users’ information (which includes personal data and credit card details) and preventing its leakage to unauthorized third parties.

In their privacy policy, Printful says that they are fully committed to protect users’ sensitive data and to use it only in accordance with legal obligations. Thus, there should be no worries that your sensitive data will be shared with parties not relevant in the provision of essential service (except it is to conform to legal requirement). In terms of data security, Printful talks of using reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect customers’ data.

We like the details of the security measures employed (such as encryption protocol etc). Though, these details are not given, that Printful has not suffered a security breach is a sign of the relative solidity of the measures. Thus, it’s safe to say that Printful is safe.

How it Works

Being a Print on Demand service means Printful allow you to sell custom products (albeit only products they offer in their product catalog). Printful will allow you to create a unique item by putting your custom design on any of the products in their catalog. They’ll generate mock-ups (what the custom item will look like) which you can publish to your store and use for your advert campaigns. When a customer to you store places an order of the item, the fulfillment service of Printful swings into action.

As a fulfillment service; orders you get at your ecommerce store are automatically imported to the system of Printful, and they’ll proceed to produce the custom item. Because Printful also drop ships, after producing the custom item, they’ll ship it directly to the customer.

Features

Ease of Use

It’s a no-brainer that you’ll want easy processes. You don’t want to have the headaches when connecting your store to a POD fulfillment platform or when using the fulfillment service to fulfill orders of custom items placed in your store. Thus, the ideal should feature ease of use both during set-up and afterwards.

One of the first considerations in this respect is the range of e-commerce platforms that the POD fulfillment app integrates with. It’ll be disappointing if you have an established store in a particular e-commerce platform only to find that the POD fulfillment service you’re thinking of using does not integrate with the e-commerce platform. Thus, you’ll want a fulfillment service that integrates with a range of platforms, so that the platform you use will more likely be covered.

In this respect, Printful does excellently well. Printful integrate with all the major e-commerce such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Weebly, SquareSpace, BigCommerce, Ship Station, Ecwid, Gumroad, Big Cartel, and Presta Shop. Printful also integrates with marketplaces such as Etsy, Storenvy, Amazon, Ebay, and Inktale. You can also integrate Printful with your website or apps.

Integrating with a wealth of platforms is an obvious advantage, but because each platform has its own features, it can become difficult to know what platform to go with. Printful helps in this regard by providing an e-commerce comparison chart that will help you decide which platform works best for you. The platforms are compared using elements such as: whether live shipping rates are provided, price, whether a personal server is required, whether products are automatically pushed to store, how fast orders placed in your store are imported from to Printful, whether shipping status update are provided, whether “out of stock” notice are displayed, and ease of installation.

After determining that Printful integrates with your e-commerce platform, connecting it to your store is a breeze.  Also, filling your store with items from Printful is also easy. The simple steps are as follows:

• Get a custom design – For this you can create your own design, or get a design from any of the stock website. But endeavor not to take a copyrighted design so as not to have copyright trolls on your neck.
• Pick a product to customize – For this, you’ll go to Printful product catalog, and choose a product from the selection on offer. You’ll see the detail product description (as well as Printful’s price, where the item is stocked, and shipping times, etc). If you’re okay with these details, you can click the very visible “Start designing” button on the page.
• In the “Edit Model” page that opens, you can customize the product by uploading your custom design and/ or adding text (for text based designs) or clip arts. You’ll also see option to customize the back of the shirt, right sleeve and left sleeve. After adding your design, you can click continue.
• You’ll see a mock-up of the custom item, which allows you to see how the custom item looks. You’ll also see pages where you can set your selling price. After that, you can place the order for the custom item (if you are an individual buyer), or publish/ save the item to your store (if you are a seller).

Buying and Selling Service

Unlike some POD services that can only be used by sellers, Printful can also be used by individual buyers. You know that online stores using Printful to fulfill orders of custom items will set a selling price higher than Printful’s asking prices in order to make a profit.

As an individual buyer, it’s good that you can use Printful directly to buy custom items, as that will be cheaper than buying from a third party store. Apart from getting items cheaper, you’ll also be able to use your own custom designs. When buying from a seller using a POD fulfillment service, you’ll only be getting fancy items that the seller has customized. But when buying directly, you’ll have the opportunity to use your own custom designs. The only drawback to buying directly is that you’ll have to go through the process of customizing the product yourself.  But as describe in the last section, that’s also fairly easy.

Custom branding options

Do you want to have just a store or a brand? It can be just a store when products drop shipped to your customers have logos and branding of the product manufacturer and the print service, but nothing of your store. However, it can be more than a store when products drop shipped have your brand all over it. With Printful Custom branding options, you can own your own brand, and your store can really become “your own”. This is because Printful is a white-label drop shipper, who will print and ship everything under your brand with custom labels, pack-ins, and other branding options; so your customers will not have a clue that it isn’t you doing everything.

Some of the branding options are:

• Branding Stickers: You can upload a black and white design with your logo, and Printful will stick it to the outside of most of the packages that will be shipped to your customers. Interestingly, this service is free.  
• Inside Shirt Label: There are a number of shirts with tear-away labels; if the custom item is from one of these shirts, Printful can remove the manufacturer’s label, and print your custom label directly on the shirt. Thus, the item becomes completely under your brand. This service cost an extra $2.49 per shirt
• Outside Shirt Label: If the manufacturer’s label cannot be removed from the shirt you’re customizing; Printful gives you the option of printing your brand on the outside of the shirt. That makes your brand even more visible, as it will be noticed by people whenever and wherever the garment is worn. This service also cost an extra $2.49 per shirt
• Return Address: Printful will also put your company name in the return packet, but the return address listed will be Printful’s. That way, you maintain your brand all the way; if the customer chooses to return the order, it will be appear as if the return package will be received by your company, while it is actually Printful that’ll receive it.
• Pack-Ins: You may choose to personalize the order that will be drop shopped for you by adding branded pack-ins (such as flyers, business cards or stickers). For this service, you’ll have to mail Printful the pack-ins, and they’ll add them to every order they fulfill for you. Pack-ins will cost you $0.75 per order and $0.85 per day for storage (bill once a month).

Products

Product Range

An important thing to consider when choosing a POD fulfillment service is the range of products in their product catalog. Simply put, this determines the range of products you can sell in your store. That is, if you want to sell fancy shoes in your store, you’ll want to make sure that shoes are offered for customizing in the product catalog of the PD fulfillment service.

In this regard, the products you’ll find offered by Printful are categorized as follows:

• Clothing

Women’s Clothing – Shirts (T-Shirts, All-over Shirts, Tank Tops, Crop Tops, Embroidered Shirts, 3/4 Sleeve Shirts, Long Sleeve Shirts), Hoodies, Sweatshirts, Leggings, Skirts, Dresses, Swimwear, Sports Bra, Bodysuits Shorts, Jackets

Men’s Clothing – Shirts (T-Shirts, Polo Shirts, All-over Shirts, 3/4 Sleeve Shirts, Long Sleeve Shirts, Embroidered Shirts), Tank Tops, Crop Tops, Hoodies, Sweatshirts, Shorts, and Jackets

Kids’ Clothing – Shirts (T-Shirts, All-over Shirts), Tank Tops, Leggings, Baby Bodysuits, Baby Bibs, and Swimwear

• Hats

Trucker Hats, Snapbacks, Dad Hat/ Baseball caps, 5-panel Hats, Mesh Hats, Beanies, Bucket Hats, and Visors

• Accessories

Phone Cases (iPhone Cases, Samsung Cases), Bags (Tote Bags, Drawstring Bags, Backpacks), and Socks

• Home and Living

Embroidered Aprons, Coffee Mugs, Throw Pillows, Pillow Cases, Wall Art, Posters, Beach Towels, Framed Posters, Bean Bags, and Canvas Prints

That said, you’ll find that Printful is somewhat wanting in the range of products offered. For example, you cannot use the service to fulfill orders of fancy shoes or fancy jewelry.

However, one good thing about POD orders is that you can build your store around one product of the fulfillment services. For example, I can build a store offering only fancy hats; and getting different unique caps will simply be a matter of using different custom artworks or inspirational quotes to customize a particular plain Snapback.

Product Quality

When it comes to POD products, quality checks should include both quality of print, and the quality of the product printed on. It won’t make sense that the prints come out dull, or that the prints wash off after using the product briefly. It also does will not make sense that the print is of good quality but on materials that will sag or lose form only after a few wears.

For print quality, it should be said that Printful has invested over $17 million in printing equipments because of a commitment to produce excellent prints. We agree that the commitment or the heavy investments do not necessarily translate to actually producing quality prints, but that appears to be the case with Printful. You’ll find that Printful has very good reviews in the various e-commerce platforms as well as in many independent review platforms. Printful stands out as one POD company that does its stuff really well, and produces top quality printing. You’ll also find that the products in Printful are quality items from some good brands.

However, the quality of printing is heavily influenced by the quality of the image you upload, as well as the material on which the print will be done. Thus, while customizing your item, you might find that you have to work on your image for it to meet printable quality.

While it’s safe to say that the Printful ticks the box in terms of quality of customized items, you can order a sample product, so that you’ll see firsthand the quality of the final product. That way, you can be assured of the quality of all items that you publish to your store. What is more, you do not need to fret about costs. Printful gives a 20% discount for all sample products plus free shipping to select locations. (Sample orders fulfilled in the American fulfillment centers ships free to Canada, the US, and US territories; while sample orders fulfilled in the European fulfillment center ships free to all locations in Europe).

The one problem is that persons not resident in Europe, Canada or the US (and US territories) will have to pay for shipping of sample orders. Another bump on this road is that the sample orders are limited to one per month. Thus, you will be unable to test out products on a regular basis.

Pricing

Service Price

If you’ll be using a fulfillment platform to fulfill orders placed in your store, you’ll want to make sure that the cost of using the service is not too high. Where service costs are involved, free apps are very appealing.

Fortunately, Printful is one such free app. There are no subscription fees or any other hidden charges. Amongst POD drop shippers, there are many apps that charge monthly subscription fees. One problem with such subscription-based apps is that, if you do not make sales (especially in the early days of your store), you’ll find yourself “paying rent” to the fulfillment company despite them having not fulfilled any order.

There are other fulfillment apps which charge service fees, but offer a free plan that can be used free of charge. The one problem is that such free plans usually come with restrictions (such as number of items that you can list in your shop, and number of orders that can be fulfilled in a month). Where your shop excels, you’ll find it stifled by those restrictions; and you’ll have to subscribe to the paid plans, where every higher priced plan have more features.

That said, being a totally free app, you can install Printful and use the full range of its features free of charge. Printful will only make money when you make a sale (a customer places and pays for an order in your store, and you pay Printful their asking price for the product).

Product Pricing

Product pricing is an important consideration when choosing to use a POD company. When buying for yourself, you’ll not want to pay what you perceive as unreasonable. When using the company to fulfill POD orders in your store, there’s even more reason to want reasonable product prices; you’ll want enough room to set your selling price and still make significant profit.

In this regard, Printful does not come out as one of the cheapest POD fulfillment services; instead they’ll fall in the top half of the pile.

For example, at the time of writing this review; in the men category: Shirts (T-Shirts, Tank Tops, etc) ranged from $8.95 to $33.95; Hoodies and Sweatshirts ranged from $17.75 to $39.95; Jackets were priced between $33.45 and $35.50; and Shorts went for $28.03. In the women category, Shirts (T-shirts, Polo Shirt, Racer back Tank Top, Bodysuit etc) ranged from $8.95 to $33.95, Hoodies and Sweatshirts ranged from $17.75 to $34.95, Leggings and Short ranged from $17.50 to $34.95, Dresses ranged from $32.95 to $35.95, Swimwear ranged from $15.95 to $29.95, Sports Bra went for $28.95, and Jackets went for $35.50.

In the Kids’ clothing category; Shirts ranged from $11.95 to $16, Swimwear ranged from $21.95 to $24.95, Leggings went for $19.95, Baby bodysuits ranged from $12.75 to $13.95, and Baby Bibs went for $10.95. In the hat category; Beanies cost around $14.00, Visors went for $16.95, Bucket caps went for $17.50, Snapbacks ranged from $13.95 to $15, Trucker caps went for $13.95, while baseball cap ranged from $15.95 to $17.50.

In the accessories category: phone cases went for $10.95; Tote bags ranged from $12 to $24.95; Draw string bags went for $15.95; backpacks went for $35.95; while socks went for $11.95. In the home and living category: Coffee mugs ranged from $7.95 to $9.95; Aprons went for $16.50; Throw pillows ranged between $15.95 and $17.95; Pillow cases went for $13.95 and $15.95; Beach Towels went for $24.95; Posters ranged from $7 to $9; Framed posters ranged from $18.50 to $23; Canvas print went for $29.95; and bean bags ranged from $44.89 to $72.98.

If you’ve seen reviews of other POD fulfillment Companies, you’ll find that these prices of Printful are not the most competitive. They are not by any means the worst (most expensive) prices; but considering that shipping costs are not inclusive, you can get all inclusive cost prices elsewhere.

Profit Potential

If you’ll be using Printful to fulfill orders placed in your store, when considering product pricing, you’ll have an eye on the amount of profit you can make.

As documented in the last section, product pricing in Printful might not be the best; however you can still use Printful to turn a decent profit. For example, in the T-shirts section, you’ll find items of different styles and from different brands costing between $8.95 and $33.95. Most times, the price of these items is more of branding than quality. Thus, instead of drawing items from the top half of the price range, you can pick good quality shirts from the lower half of the price range, customize these and publish them to your store. If you were to pick a $12.95 T-Shirt, you can set your selling price at $19.95 (without shipping), and you’ll be making a profit of $7 per unit sold.

That said, in the product sections of Printful, though some particular items may be priced high, you’ll find some lower-priced version of the particular product, which will give you enough room to set a selling price that is reasonable, and most importantly, that’ll earn you a reasonable profit.

Shipping

Shipping is an important consideration when choosing an e-commerce platform, especially a POD order drop shipper. You’ll want to consider the destinations that the POD Company ships to, how long their delivery takes, and how much it cost.

Shipping Destinations

When operating a store, you’ll want as many customers as possible. For that, the more locations your drop shipper is able to serve the greater the pool that your customers can come from; this is because customers will only buy from shops that ship to where they are resident. Thus, you’ll want a fulfillment Company that ships to worldwide locations.

Printful does very well in this respect because they ship to different locations around the world.

Shipping Cost

Shipping costs adds up to the purchase cost of any item when determining the total expenditure on an item. Thus, when the shipping costs are high, an item though priced relatively low, may become expensive to acquire. As a result, whether you are using a POD fulfillment service to buy for yourself or to fulfill POD orders placed in your store, you’ll want to consider their shipping costs.

Where costs are involved, zero costs win it all the time. Thus, free shipping will be very appealing. Unfortunately, Printful does not offer free shipping. This should not be a turn off, as there’s really any POD service that offers free shipping. The best you’ll find is shipping cost being included in the cost of items. However, Printful does not do this either; their product prices are exclusive of shipping cost, and you’ll have to pay for shipping. Printful offers both flat rates and live rates.

If you choose the live rate, your shipping cost will be calculated based on certain factors such as where the order will be fulfilled, where it’s shipping to, and the selected shipping method. If you opt for the Live Rates, the different shipping options that are available are Express shipping, Standard Shipping, Economy Shipping. When shipping to the US, there’s also the choice of Overnight Shipping. 

For the flat rates, you’ll be paying a fixed amount for shipping as long as the order doesn’t exceed size or weight limits. It will appear that for the flat rate, Printful uses Standard shipping. The flat rates for some of the products in the catalog of Printful are as follows:

• T-Shirts, Totes and Bags, All-over shirts, All-over leggings, Dresses, Skirts, Swimwear, Aprons, and Sports Bra

First Item: $5.00 (shipping to the US), $8.00 (shipping to Canada), $10.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $4.00 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$0.75 (shipping to the US), +$1.00 (shipping to Canada), +$1.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $0.75 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

• Hoodies and Sweatshirts

First Item: $8.00 (shipping to the US), $10.00 (shipping to Canada), $11.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $7.00 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$2.00 (shipping to the US), +$2.00 (shipping to Canada), +$2.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $2.25 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

• Caps

Snapbacks, Baseball caps, Visors etc

First Item: $5.75 (shipping to the US), $8.00 (shipping to Canada), $15.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $5.75 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$0.60 (shipping to the US), +$2.00 (shipping to Canada), +$2.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $0.60 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Beanies and Bucket Caps

First Item: $2.95 (shipping to the US), $7.00 (shipping to Canada), $10.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $4.50 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$0.50 (shipping to the US), +$1.00 (shipping to Canada), +$2.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $0.35 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

• Socks and Phone Cases

First Item: $3.50 (shipping to the US), $10.00 (shipping to Canada), $12.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $4.45 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$0.75 (shipping to the US), +$1.00 (shipping to Canada), +$1.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $0.45 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

• Mugs

First Item: $6.95 (shipping to the US), $10.95 (shipping to Canada), $16.95 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $6.45 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

Each additional item: +$5.00 (shipping to the US), +$7.00 (shipping to Canada), +$8.00 (shipping international from US fulfillment center), and $2.95 (shipping internationally from Europe fulfillment center)

For those who like choice, it’s a good thing to find that Printful offers both flat rates and live rates. With flat rates, you may find yourself disadvantaged (cost-wise) if where your order is shipping to is not too far from the fulfillment center, or advantaged if your order is shipping to a distant location. But having live rates available, you can choose the most cost effective option for your order.

Shipping Times

No one will want to wait too long after placing an order to receive the package. Thus, whether you’ll be using the POD Company to fulfill your individual order, or to fulfill orders placed by customers in your store, you’ll want a fulfillment service that will deliver as quickly as possible.

Two times affect delivery – production time, and shipping time. For the former, after an order is received by the POD company, it goes into production to print your custom design on the product; and for the latter, after production of the custom item, it is dispatched to the carrier, and moved from the fulfillment center of the POD company to where the buyer will receive delivery of it. You’ll want both production time and shipping time to be quick.

Printful does relatively fine on both counts. For production, the company takes about 2 – 7 business days to produce apparel products (t-shirts, dresses, shorts, etc.) and 2 – 5 business days for non-apparel products (posters, mugs, etc.). If you’ve checked reviews of POD companies, you’ll find that this is basically about how much time other POD services take to produce similar products.

Shipping times in Printful (that is, how long it’ll take to move items from their fulfillment center to the shipping address) depends on whether flat rates or live rate is being used. Where “live rates” is chosen, there are three shipping options with delivery times as follows:

• Shipping to the US: Overnight (1 business day), Express (1 – 3 business days), Standard (3 – 5 business days), Economy (5 – 8 business days)
• Shipping to international locations: Express, (1 – 3 business days), Standard (3 – 5 business days), Economy (5 – 10 business days), and No rush (10 – 20 business days)

Where flat rate is chose, there’s no choice of delivery option, but it will appear that Standard Shipping is used because most of such deliveries is done in 5 business days.

If you’ve seen reviews of other POD fulfillment services, you’ll find that the shipping times of Printful are some of the best out there. This is because Printful is able to be closer to customers no matter where the customers may be resident. They achieve this by operating four different fulfillment centers “located on both sides of the big pond” – North Carolina, California, Mexico and Latvia.

Returns

It will be ignorant to discuss online purchases without touching on returns. This is because there are many reasons why customers will want to return an item an item purchased online to its retailer. These reasons include: receiving delivery of a faulty/ poorly made/ wrong item, receiving an item that does not fit (for sized products such as clothing), or simply changing your mind about the order (buyer’s remorse). Whatever, the case for the returns, rather than being stuck with an unwanted item, customers will want retailers that’ll allow them to return unwanted item and get a replacement or a refund. Thus, when considering POD fulfillment services, their return policy is an important consideration.

Thankfully, Printful accept returns. However, since Printful is a fulfiller of customized items, you’ll expect that their return policy will be stricter than companies that fulfill regular (non-POD) orders. First, by default, the return address on all orders is set to the Printful facility. You can actually opt to have your address as the return address, but if you do, you’ll be liable for all return shipment you receive.

Eligible Returns

Printful will only be responsible for returns of items when the error necessitating the return is their fault. This will include items that are misprinted, damaged, or defective. In that case, all expense will be handled by Printful.

Printful strongly advices that you should advice your customers to contact you before returning any item using the return address. This is because they do not accept any item returned to them because of buyer’s remorse or even size dispute. If your customer returns an item because the size ordered does not fit, it will be handled at your expense. That is, Printful will ship the returned item to you (free of charge), and you’ll have to place a new order (with the updated size) for the customer. Note that you’ll have to foot all bills (both cost of the new item and cost of shipping it to the customer).

That said, it’s best to advise your customers to carefully select sizes, and that returns for sizing disputes will not be accepted. Except of course, you’ll be ready to grant such returns and foot the bills. This is one area where Printful needs to stand up; this is because you’ll find POD fulfillment services that grant sizing satisfaction Guarantees (a one-time product exchanges when a wrong size is ordered).

Where items are returned to Printful by the courier because of insufficient or incorrect shipping address, all reshipment cost will be borne by you (the seller) after an updated address have been provided by you. Where you are not ready to bear such reshipment cost, you should make it clear in your store that “where the courier returns orders due to insufficient or incorrect shipping address, the customers will be responsible for the cost of reshipping the orders to the updated address”.

Return Window

Eligible returned items are not accepted if the claims are not submitted within an allowed time period. Thus, you’ll want an extended window for this. Thankfully, Printful’s window is wide. All claims for misprinted, damaged or defective items must be submitted within four weeks after receipt of the product.  If the package is lost in transit, claims should be submitted not more than four weeks after the estimated delivery date.

Note that when the courier returns orders to Printful because of incorrect or insufficient address, if the items are not claimed after four weeks of reaching their facility, the items are donated to charity. Thus, you should sound it in your store that your customers should not wait for more than four weeks after the estimated delivery date to report a non-delivery. However, you’ll know all non-deliveries because Printful will send you an automated email notification when they receive a returned shipment.

Customer Support Service

You want a fulfillment service that has answers to any questions that you may have, as well as one that’ll help you to solve the problems that your customers will have with their orders.

Make no mistake, no matter how effective a service runs, there’ll be customers that’ll have certain issues with orders.  Also, the fulfillment service is only helping you with the printing and shipping of the items; you’ll do all the customer service. Thus, when your customers inundate you with support submissions about their orders, you’ll have to turn to the fulfillment service, and you’ll not want them to leave you out to dry.

For the numerous questions that you may have about Printful, there’s an FAQ page that you can turn to for self help. The page covers topics that include: getting started, products, shipping/ packaging and fulfillment, design tips and mock-ups, printing, taxes and billing, returns, and more. You’ll also find a lot of tutorial videos that you can watch to get the answers you want.

If you have to directly contact an agent of the customer support service of Printful, you can choose from a range of channels. Printful operates: an email service, a live chat feature, a telephone service. Apart from these channels you can also follow Printful on the social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, youtube, and LinkedIn) and get product photos, tips and other cool ideas.

For the email service, you can contact Printful using the contact form that can be found in the website, or by sending them an e-mail directly from your e-mail account using the address support@printful.com. They answer all email submissions within hours. However, if you’ll rather have instant feedback, you may use the live chat feature or the telephone service.

At the time of writing this review, the live chat was not available. The phone service was very available, and the number to call is +1 (818) 351-7181. However, the phone service is not available 24/ 7; it is active only between 9:00Am – 5:30PM EST (Monday – Fridays). We like that world-facing services have 24/7 customer support service so that there’ll be no problem of the service being active only in the downtime of some customers. That said, when using Printful, you’ll have to know how to handle your customers who contact you in the weekend or during the downtime of Printful’s customer support service.

Summary

Printful comes out as one of the best POD suppliers in the market which you can use to create and sell custom items in your online store. Printful is totally free, and integrates well with a host of e-commerce platforms. True, you’ll find Printful short of products (such as shoes, jewelry); but if you decide to build your store around any of the products in their catalog, you’ll find that Printful does a good job. They produce top quality prints; they have relatively fast turnaround times with fast production times and shipment times; and they have custom branding options. They do not offer the best product pricing, and their return policy is stricter than some other POD suppliers, but the reasons for using Printful far outweigh any that may make you ruminate.

Pros

• Printful is absolutely free to use; there are no hidden costs
• Printful features seamless integration with a wide range of e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, as well as websites and apps
• There is heavy investment in printing equipment which makes Printful able to produce top quality prints
• There are four fulfillment centers spread out in the globe, which brings Printful closer to customer and able to offer relatively fast  shipping
• Ships worldwide
• Printful is a white-label drop shipper that offers a range of custom branding options that allow you promote your brand
• Offers a generous period to submit claims of damaged/ misprinted/ products (four weeks from receipt of product) or lost shipments (four weeks from estimated delivery date)
• There are multiple channels for reaching the customer support service

Cons:

• Only a limited range of products that can be customized and sold
• Product pricing does not come out among the most competitive in the market
• Returns are not accepted for sizing dispute, not even the one-time size exchanges you’ll find offered by some POD fulfillment services
• Customer support service is not available round the clock (24/ 7)

Pillow Profits advertises as “the Premier Footwear and Home-Goods fulfillment App for Shopify”. However, that advert blurb does not do them justice, because Pillow Profits is not just any Shopify fulfillment supplier, but a POD (Print on Demand) fulfillment supplier. The company provides a service that allows users to design and sell custom products via their own stores in Shopify.

Having unique items for sale in your store is a wonderful prospect. But the big question is whether Pillow Profits will actually produce the customized item and drop ship the order for you when a customer places an order in your store. Do they provide other services that you’ll expect of an ideal POD drop shipper (such as having a range of products in their catalog, providing a range of free designs, easy integration with your shop, fast production and delivery times, low product pricing, etc)? In the first place, is Pillow Profits genuine?

This pillow profits review will examine Pillow Profits in order to provide the information that’ll help you answer these questions and more.

Pillow Profits review at a glance

• The website is www.pillowprofits.com
• It’s a drop shipping POD (Print On Demand) fulfillment supplier
• They are more popular for providing a range of shoes, but they provide many other products which includes apparel, bag, home items, and car accessories
• Charge a monthly subscription fee of $29.99
• All products ships from Eastern Asia
• They ship to worldwide locations
• The Pillow Profits Fulfillment App integrates with only Shopify
• Accepted Payment Methods include PayPal and all major credit cards
• Customer support is available via email (support@pillowprofits.com)

Is Pillow Profits legit?

Pillow Profits is a legit store online. You will get exactly what you ordered from the store without delay. You don’t need to be told why you must use only legit platforms. Especially where you’ll have to send money to an online platform, if the platform is anything but legit, you may be ripped off. Thus, before jumping on any online platform, you should determine that it is legit.

In this regards, there is no doubt that Pillow Profits is legit. One of the first checks is legality. Pillow Profits is a duly registered company in the US. Suffice it to say that scam platform has no legal identity. Also, one of the checks of a platform’s legitimacy is the fulfillment of orders. In this regards Pillow Profits checks the box because they have a track record of fulfilling orders. You just need to go online to find a lot of users who have used and are using the Pillow Profits Fulfillment App to sell custom products via their own Shopify stores. Suffice it to say that scam stores will only retain payment and go dark without fulfilling orders.

In the “Meet our Team” section of the landing page of the Pillow Profits website, you’ll find the names and picture of the operators of the company, which includes the Operations Manager, Lead Designer, and Customer Service Specialists. This adds to the legitimacy claims of Pillow Profits because the operators of scam platforms are usually unknown.

By being a legally recognized platform, having a track record of POD fulfilling orders, and having visible and known operators, there’s no doubt that Pillow Profits is legit.

Is Pillow Profits safe?

Pillow Profits is also safe to useYou’ll share personal information and other sensitive data such as your credit card detail with Pillow Profits when you use the fulfillment App. You’ll want the platform to effectively secure such information and prevent it from leaking into the hands of unauthorized third parties.

Pillow Profits says your privacy and security is their priority, and that they have “implemented measures designed to secure [users’ data] from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure”. The details of these “measures” are not provided; but there is a reference to using Authorize.net to securely store credit or debit card detail in such a way that the information is not accessible to the Pillow Profit App or employee of Pillow Profits. Thus, it’s safe to say that Pillow Profits is safe.

Pillow Profits – How it Works

If you are looking at Pillows Profits, then you have two things in mind – one is selling unique items, and the other is using drop shipping business model. You can achieve this with POD (Print on Demand) companies. Using these companies, you can make unique products by choosing unique designs that you’ll want on particular products; a mock – up (virtual sample of what the final product will be like) will be created, and you can display this on your shop as the product image. When a customer orders the unique product displayed in your shop, the POD company will produce it (by printing the unique design on the particular item), and drop ship it for you (that is, send it directly to the customer).

That said Pillow Profits is a Print on Demand fulfillment Company that allows you to sell customized product in your Shopify store.

Features

Ease of Use

It is said that “nothing good comes easy”; but even the biggest advocate of that saying will prefer a process that will spare them the headaches. That said, the ideal platform is one that offers easy processes. That is, as a buyer, you’ll want an easy buying process, and as a seller, you’ll want a platform where you can easily set up and start selling products.

In this regards, on the landing page of the Pillow Profits website, you’ll find the statement that “It only takes minutes to start making profit with the Pillow Profits Fulfillment App!” True to the statement, the Pillows Profits app is actually easy to use.

First you should know that Pillow Profits only integrates with Shopify, so if you want to use Pillow Profits, you have to create a Shopify shop first. For those who’ll rather use another e-commerce platform it will be a disadvantage that Pillow Profits only works with Shopify; but if you have no qualms about using Shopify, then Pillow Profits is also there for you to avail yourself of.

You may install the Pillow Profits app from the Shopify App store or directly from the Pillow Profits website. From your Shopify Admin dashboard, navigate to Apps in the left sidebar; clicking it will open the Shopify App store, search for Pillow Profits Fulfillment and click “Get”. When the “you are about to Install Pillow Profits Fulfillment” page opens, click the “Install app” button in the right bottom corner. After installation, Pillow Profits will appear in the apps area of your Shopify dashboard.

Installing the app from the Pillow Profits website is also easy; you’ll only have to enter your Shopify store URL, and then you can Get and install the app. Note that, whether installing the Pillow Profits app from the Shopify App store or from the Pillow Profits website, in the process you’ll have to set your payment method which will be used for your billing.

When you open Pillow Profits from your Admin area of Shopify, you can start selling your customized products in three simple steps: (i) get your custom design, (ii) choose a product that you want to sell from the Pillow Profits product catalog, (iii) customize it and publish the customized product to your Shopify store.

• Get your custom design

There are many ways you can go about this; you may create a custom design yourself or get a team of designers, you may get a design from any of the stock websites (a popular one is Shutterstock.com), or you may get a design from the many free designs available in the Pillow Profit app. Once you have your design ready, you can move to the next step.

• Choose a product to customize and sell

This is simply going to the product catalog and choosing a product which you’ll want to sell in your store. As we’ll see later in this review, Pillow Profits offers a range of products but excels in footwear. It’s also at this stage that you’ll name the product (the product name that will appear in your store).

• Customize the product

This is done by simply dragging and dropping your custom design on the product you choose from the product catalog.  Alternatively, you can customize the product by clicking the upload buttons to apply your custom design to the chosen product. After which you’ll want to tweak the default product description, add product tags, and set your selling price. When you click the “Publish Product” button at the bottom of the page, your custom product will appear in your Shopify store. By default, there is only one product image; but you can download more product views from the resources page.

Order Cancellation

Sometimes customers change their mind about an order and will want to cancel it or make modifications to it.

After an order is received by the Pillow Profit App, it is put in the “Pending” status for up to 24 hours. This is to allow for you to cancel the order or place it on hold. Thus, an order can be cancelled within 24 hours after it is received by Pillow Profits. It is also when an order is Pending or “On Hold” that it can be modified. If the order passes into “In-Production”, no order modification is allowed.

Product Selections

A shop is defined by its products, so when thinking of using a Print-on-Demand fulfillment supplier, an important consideration is the number of different items in the product catalog. If you’ll want your shop to have a variety of different items, then you’ll want a POD fulfillment supplier with a good number of different items in their product catalog.

Because of their name (Pillow Profits), you’ll think that the main focus of the company is pillows. However, the main focus of the company can be found not in their name but in their logo. Though pillows (or rightly put: pillow covers) are actually offered by the company, the main focus of the company remain on shoes. As a result, they offer a wide variety of footwear (from boots to slip ons, and from formal shoes to casuals), and for everyone in the family (men, women, and kids).

Pillow Profits Logo

It should be said that there are few companies that provide print on demand (POD) drop shipping, and there are fewer still that offer shoes and footwear POD. Thus Pillow Profits shines as a bright light in this niche. If you’re looking to start a custom shoes store, there’s every reason to look at Pillow Profits.

Though, Pillow Profits is better known for their footwear Print on Demand fulfillment services, they do offer a wide range of products. In their product catalog, you’ll find items that fall into different product categories; these include:

• Apparel – Leggings, Capris, Sweaters, Hoodie Dress, Zip Up Hoodie, Bomber Jackets, Hoodies, Bathrobe, Tank Tops, Midi dresses
• Shoes – Athletic Sneakers, Faux Fur Boots, Leather Boots, Sneakers, Kids Sneakers, Women Casual Shoes, Low Top Shoes, High Top Shoes, Slip On Shoes
• Bags – Totes, Cloth Totes, Leather Totes, Large Leather Totes, Shoulder Handbags, Saddle Bags, Backpacks
• Others – Auto Sun Shade, Tapestry, Sarong, Shower Curtains, Beach Blankets, Bath Robes, Car Floor Mats, Hooded Blanket, Car Seat Covers, Luggage Cover, Pillows, Flip flops, Crew Socks, Bedding, Aprons, Wall Art

You’ll find that Pillow Profits does not blow off the ceiling with their product range. However, they are adding one new product to their catalog almost every other month.

In the customized products retailing business, there are different strategies that can be employed when building a store. There are persons who would prefer to build a shop around only one of the products offered by the POD supplier (For example, you may choose to sell only sneakers). Even if you have the same sneaker style, you can have different unique sneakers in your store by simply customizing the base plain white sneaker with different designs or artwork. Also, there are some who will strike a selling design, and will print it on different products (shoes, apparel, etc). That said, because you can have about anything as a design, you can have different unique items in your store, whether you are building your store around one product type, or you are drawing different product types.

Sellers Resources

Whether you are a veteran or new into the print on demand drop shipping business, you’ll want a company that provides as much help as possible. Pillow Profits ace it in this regards. Their sellers’ resources are extensive and detailed; in fact you’ll be hard pressed to find any other service whose resources beat Pillow Profits’ in both quantity and quality.

There are over 10,000 free designs which you can use to customize the different products in different niches. There’s the free Mock up generator, which allows you to generate more product images for your customized design. Lastly, you’ll agree that fancy tools will mean nothing to someone if the person does not know how to use them. Thus, Pillow Profits provides lots of video tutorials provided that can help you have a smooth experience using the Pillow Profits app to fulfill your products on Shopify. Some of these include:

• How to properly set up your account
• How to handle order cancellation requests that your customers may make after placing an order
• How to handle address change request that your customers make after placing an order
• How to remove certain items from a customer’s order without deleting the entire order
• How to change size on an order
• How to publish multiple styles and designs of shoes on one product page

Accepted Payment Methods

One of the things you need to consider when setting up your store is the supported payment methods. This is because you won’t want to be given a run around when setting up or running your store. For example, where service charges are applicable, you’ll have to pay the platform the applicable service charge for you to use it. Also, when a customer places an order from your store, you’ll have to pay the platform their cut before they’ll proceed to (produce it where applicable) and ship it to the customer.

Therefore, you’ll want that the platform you want to use supports one of the payment methods that can be easily accessed by you no matter where you may be on the globe. In this regards, Pillow Profits accepts payment via PayPal and all major credit cards. Since these are global options, you’ll find that no matter where you are resident in the world, you can easily perform your Pillow Profits transactions. That is, paying the Pillow Profits monthly service charge and paying Pillow Profits the product cost whenever an order is made will be a breeze.

Pillow Profits Pricing

Service Pricing

One of the first things we look at when thinking of acquiring a product or a service is pricing. This is because no matter the utility, no one will be willing to pay what is perceived as unreasonable for a product or service. Thus, the ideal service will be reasonably priced.

It should be said that the only way to determine reasonableness of pricing is by the relativity test (that is, by comparison with the competition). So we’ll look at how Pillow Profits pricing compares with the competition. In terms of pricing, people want service costs to be as low as possible; and since zero is the lowest possible cost, free service wins it all the time.

Unfortunately, Pillow Profits is not a free Shopify app. They charge a monthly subscription fee which is $29.99. The only way to use the service free of charge is to make use of the free trial that they offer. If you install the app from the Pillow Profits website, you’ll get a 7-days free trial, but if you install the app from the Shopify App store, you’ll get a 30 days free trial.

However, the trial period can only be used to get to grasp with the process of setting up your store. You cannot use the 7-days or 30-days trial to successfully fulfill an order, because even if an order is placed from your shop on the very day you set up the store, it will take Pillow Profits more than 7 days to produce the custom item and ship it to the customer.

Where monthly subscriptions are charged, you’ll find yourself paying fees whether you make sales or not. Thus, when using Pillow Profits, the onus will be on you to drive traffic to your store that convert to sales. This is where most persons will like the apps that have free plans. However, such free plans come with different restrictions such as product caps (the number of items you can put in your store) and order caps (the number of orders per month that will be fulfilled by the platform). These platforms with free plans usually have other pricing plans, where each higher priced plan has more features included. The catch with such platforms is that while the free plan is usually too restrictive, the paid plan (especially the premium plan that includes all features) is usually pricey, as some are usually as high as $99/ month.

That said if you consider that the one plan of Pillow Profits includes all features, you’ll find that at $29.99 per month, it is reasonably priced. However, many will still prefer platforms that will only take a percentage when a buyer makes a purchase from their store, so that they won’t need to pay service charges when they do not make sales.

Product Pricing

Like most drop shipping sites, Pillow Profits allow you to set your own selling price. While you are at liberty to set any price, you also know that you have to set a reasonably low price so that customers will not be put off by your high prices. That said, your profit will be the difference between your selling price and the product price quoted by the supplier.  Thus, you’ll want the supplier to quote low prices for the product, so that even if you set a low and affordable selling price, you’ll still have a significant markup/ profit.

Pillow Profits does well in terms of product pricing. You’ll find that their pricing are some of the most competitive in the Print on Demand drop shipping business. For example, at the time of writing this review: Sarongs, Aprons, Men’s Tank Top, Racerback Tank Top, and Luggage Cover are priced at $15.99; Tapestry cost $19.99; Slippers are priced at $21.99; Capris, and leggings cost $23.99; Beach Blanket cost $24.99; Blankets are priced at $26.99; Sweaters, Shower Curtains, and Auto Sun Shades are priced at $29.99; Hoodies cost $31.99; Mesh Knit Sneakers are priced at $32; Bath Robes cost $34.99; Car Floor Mats cost $37.99; Midi dresses, Bomber Jackets, Faux Fur Leather Boots, and Car Seat Covers are priced at $39.99; Hooded Blanket cost $46.99; and Framed Canvas Wall Art was priced at $72.

As mentioned earlier, shipping is included in these advertised product prices. However, these prices are for standard product; for Express-Line products, you’ll find that the prices go up by about $8.00. 

Profit Potential

You must be an Entrepreneur to be looking at reviews of Print on Demand drop shipping apps; and despite all the Entrepreneurial chivalrous talks of being driven by passion, there is always an eye on profit. Thus, an important consideration when planning to use Pillow Profits to fulfill your POD drop shipping orders is the profit potential.

Pillow Profits suggests a retail price for every product in their catalog, but as stated in the above section, you fix the selling prices of every Pillow Profit item you publish to your Shopify store. So you may decide to set your selling price below or above the product’s MSRP (Manufacturer’s suggested retail price). However, the MSRP represents what the manufacturer perceives as a fair retail price for the product in the open market. Thus, it’s what you should be looking at when determining the profit potential of any item you’ll be publishing to your store and selling.

In this regards, the MSRP of the products in the catalog of Pillow Profits makes for good reading. This is because for every product, the MSRP is significantly higher than the product price; and this promises significant profits.

For example, the MSRP was: $21.00 + $4.95 shipping (=$25.95) for the Tank Tops; $54.99 + $4.95 shipping (=$59.94) for the Sneakers; and $64.95 + $4.95 shipping (=$69.90) for Faux Fur Leather Boots. Doing the maths (subtracting the product price), you’ll find that the profit will be: $9.96 for Tank Tops, $27.94 for Sneakers, and $29.91 for Faux Fur Leather Boots. At the time of writing this review, one of the hottest selling Pillow Profits products was Car Seat Covers. With the product costing $39.99 and having an MSRP of $59.99 + $6.95 shipping (=$66.94), it means the profit unit sold will be $26.95.

The above means that Pillow Profits has huge profit potentials. Also, the products’ MSRP are not unrealistic prices that the company simply conjures up to make their products appealing to potential sellers. They are fair prices. You’ll know this by simply looking at prices of similar products in the regular (non POD) stores. You’ll find that these prices (Pillow Profits’ MSRPs) for fancy/ customized products are almost same or just a bit higher than prices for regular products in many regular (non POD) online stores.

For example, in many traditional (non POD) retail stores, if you find regular Tank Tops for about $20, you’ll call it a good deal; talk more of getting fancy Tank Tops with customized designs for just $5.95 more. Also, you’ll call it a good deal to get regular Sneakers for about $50 or regular Faux Fur Leather Boots for about $50 – $60. Thus, getting fancy versions of these footwear for just about $10 more will be more than welcomed.

In fact, to show that the MSRPs of Pillow Profits products are reasonable and that the significant profit potential it promises is very realistic; there is a report of someone who successfully used Pillow Profits to fulfill fancy Sneakers orders while selling at $74.99, which was some $15.05 higher than the MSRP.

Shipping

When a customer strolls into any online store and orders an item, the store will have to process the order and ship the item to the address indicated by the customer before the customer will take possession of the items. Thus, shipping is an integral part of all online transactions; and one factor that customers look at when considering online stores. Some of the shipping considerations of customers are: shipping destination (what locations does the store ship to?), shipping times (how long, from the date of order placement, will it take before the package is delivered?), and shipping cost (how much will it take the store to move the package from their fulfillment center to where the package will be received?).

That said, when setting up a drop shipping business, you also have to think along the lines of the customers in terms of shipping destination, shipping times, and shipping costs.

Shipping Destinations

Customers can only place orders in online stores that will ship to their locations. That said, if you are using a fulfillment company that does not ship to many locations, you’ll have narrowed your customer base. Thus, you’ll want a fulfillment company that ships to as many locations as possible. Pillow Profits ticks the box in this regards, because they ship to worldwide locations.

Shipping Times

Customers do not like waiting forever to get their orders. As a result you’ll want fulfillment companies that get items to customers in record time. In one of the pages in their website, Pillow Profits lists the benefits they offer, and the first on the list is “fast production times”. They state that they “boast the absolute fastest turn-around times in the industry”, explaining that “each item is hand crafted and shipped out quickly”.

It should be said that when it comes to using Print on Demand fulfillment companies, the total time that a customer waits after placing an order in your shop is made up of: (i) item’s production and processing time (ii) the shipping time. Pillow Profits promises fast times in both.

For the former (item’s production and processing times), Pillow Profits live up to their promise. For many of the non-footwear products in their catalog, the production time is 2 – 4 days. These include: Pillow Covers, Cloth Tote Bags, and Crew Socks. The production time for almost all footwear is 5 – 7 days; while Leather Tote Bags, Handbags and other products have production times of 4 – 6 days.

For the latter (package shipping time), Pillow Profits provides two shipping options – Standard Shipping and Express Shipping. However, unlike the regular online stores, a customer cannot simply select a shipping option when ordering a Pillow Profits item in your store. It is you the seller/ store owner that determine the shipping option that’ll apply to an item; and you do that when building the customized item. At the point of choosing a product from the Pillow Profits catalog to customize for your store, if you simply click “Add products”, Standard shipping will apply to the customized products you’ll publish to your Shopify store; but if you click “Add Express-line Products”, Express shipping will apply to the customized products published to your store.

Tracking information is also made available so your customer will know where their package is as it moves from the fulfillment center of Pillow Profits to where they’ll receive delivery of it. Order tracking numbers are usually generated and sent to your customers at least 3 days after the production of the customized item.

Standard products shipping may take up to 25 business days (5 weeks). This is relatively long; and you’ll agree that many customers will get itchy waiting for 5 weeks for their package to get delivered. One of the reasons for the long waiting time is that though Pillow Profits is an American Company, their fulfillment center is based in East Asia, so most of the products are printed and shipped from Eastern Asia. Thankfully, the Express – Line products shipping takes 4 – 7 business days. Thus, customers would get their Express-line package 2 – 3 weeks earlier than the standard products. As a result, if you’ll not want to face too many customers’ enquiries about why their order is taking too long, you’ll want to  create and sell only Express-Line products in your store.

However, while Standard products are shipped to every worldwide location that is served by Pillow Profits, Express-Line products can be shipped to only 67 countries. Though Express delivery may be available to particular countries, it may not be available for some remote locations within the country. For example, though Express – Line Products ship to Andorra, they don’t ship to certain locations in the country such as Andorra La Vella, El Serrat, Encamp, Les Escaldes, Saint Julia De Loria, and Solden.

There are a few countries that take Pillow Profits more than 50 days to deliver “due to limited and strict routes”. These countries include: Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, and Romania.  While the countries that Pillow Profits cannot fulfill an order include: Guatemala, Bolivia, Montenegro, North Korea, Kuwait, Georgia, Syria, Jordan, Ecuador, Morocco, and Peru.

Shipping Cost

The total spend on an item is the addition of its purchase cost and its shipping cost; so when shipping costs are too high, an item that is acceptably priced might become too expensive to acquire. So customers like shipping costs that are as low as possible. So when choosing a drop shipping supplier, you’ll want to look at the shipping cost they offer.

Pillow Profits also aces it in this regard. This is because, they offer free shipping. Item shipping costs are included in the price of the items in their product catalog. Pillow Profits boasts about this fact, saying that they “are the only fulfillment service that will print and ship your products at rock-bottom pricing anywhere in the world with no additional cost”.

Since you’ll expect express delivery to be more expensive than standard delivery; and since the shipping costs are built into the product price, it means that the Express Line Products cost more than the standard products. The price difference is about $8.00. Thus, where the product cost of Standard sneakers is $32.00, the cost of Express-Line sneakers is $40.00.

Returns

Another important consideration is the return policy of the platform. This is because, online transaction has seen a revolution whereby almost every shop allows customers to return items in their order that they are not totally satisfied with. You must consider that not all your customers will be totally pleased with their orders. Since you are only drop shipping and will not touch the product in anyway, you’ll want a drop shipper with a friendly return policy.

In this regard, it should be noted that the items in question are customized products that only got produced after the customer placed the order. Thus, returns in the POD (Print on Demand) business are not as straight forward as it is in the regular (non POD) retailing business. This means that whether returns are accepted or not will depend on the reason for choosing to return the item.

There are many reasons why a customer will want to return an order to the retailer. One is if a damaged, flawed or incorrect order is delivered. In this case, Pillow Profits will accept the returns and send a replacement or issue a refund (as desired by the customer). However, you (the seller) will first have to pre-qualify the customer by asking for pictures for proof that the received item was actually damaged, flawed or incorrect. It should be said that in the event that the customer request a refund and not a replacement, Pillow Profits will only issue refunds as store credits, and not monetary refund. In our experience customers prefer monetary refunds and not store credits because the store credits ties the customer to using the funds for purchase from the store.

However, if the reason for the returns is that customer just do not like the item (and this is very possible, as an item after being received might lose some of the wow factor it had when you were viewing its product pages), Pillow Profits will not accept returns of the item.

One of the biggest reasons for returns is sizing issues; that is, the product ordered is a wrong fit that is either too big or too small. If this is the case and the item is footwear, Pillow Profits offers a 100% Sizing Satisfaction Guarantee. That is, they will process a one-time free exchange for the customer. It should be noted that Pillow Profits does not issue refunds for shoe sizing disputes, but only an exchange. That the exchange is a one-time only exchange means that if the replacement shoe is produced and sent to the customer, Pillow Profits will not entertain further complain of it [the replacement shoe] also being a wrong fit. One good part of the “100% Sizing Satisfaction Guarantee” is that Pillow Profits will not require the customer to send the original order for them to send the replacement shoe. If you are harrowed by your customer that the replacement sent also does not fit, Pillow Profits will only act in getting another replacement to the customer if you (the seller) are willing to bear all further costs.

However, it should be said that Pillow Profits provides sizing charts on the product description pages which should help reduce sizing issues. Also, if the new size requested by the customer differ by more than two sizes from the original size ordered; Pillow Profits will consider it that the customer made an error when ordering the original item and will not accept the sizing complain and will not send a replacement.

Customer Support

“Whatever will go wrong will go wrong” is one statement that cannot be more true. No matter how well an e-commerce platform is run, in the very least, there’ll be questions about the platform or its services. Since you won’t want to be left hanging when you have questions, you’ll want an e-commerce platform that’ll readily answer any questions that you have.

It should also be said that, typical of POD drop shipping suppliers, Pillow Profits handle only producing the custom item and shipping it to the customer; all the customer service will be handled by you (the seller). Since it’s inevitable that some of your customers will have issues with their orders and will inundate you with queries, you’ll want a service that will help you with effective resolution of such issues so that you’ll maintain happy customers. 

Just like in most platforms, the first stop to getting answers to questions is an FAQ page in the Pillow Profits website. You’ll find the FAQ very extensive and the answers provided very detailed. If you have to contact the support service of the company, Pillow Profits provide an email service. You can access this service by using the contact widget in the bottom right-hand corner of their website or the Pillow Profits Fulfillment App. Alternatively you may send a mail directly from your email account using the address support@pillowsprofits.com. Whatever method you use, you’ll receive a response in your email inbox, typically about 6 – 12 hours after the support submission.

While their response time is relatively good, instant feedback is better than even the smallest response time. Thus, it’s a little disappointing that Pillow Profits does not support instant feedback contact options such as live chat or telephone.

It should be said here that you may find in some reviews that Pillow Profits customer service have a reputation for being mean. This stems from cases where Pillow Profits will not bend their policy in order to help customers of their users. For example, one of their policies clearly states that “Pillow Profits will not refund nor assume liability for orders that are lost due to incorrect Shipping Address”. Where your customer has issues with his/ her order resulting from a wrong shipping address; you’ll find that Pillow Profits position will be one of disinterest that can easily come out as mean.

Summary

Pillow Profits is easily one of the best Shopify apps in the market. Even if you narrow down to the POD (Print on Demand) niche, Pillow Profits still remains one of the best apps out there; and if you narrow down even further to the main product focus of Pillow Profits (which is footwear), then you’ll be hard pressed to find a better Shopify app.

If you’ll want to sell customized products, especially fancy shoes, in your Shopify store to worldwide customers; there is a strong case for using Pillow Profits. The company provides print on demand fulfillment services for a range of products in their product catalog, and with a focus on shoes, they have a variety of shoes. The fulfillment app integrates seamlessly with Shopify, they ship to worldwide locations, they’ve reduced their shipping times through their expressed-line products, and they provide a lot of resources to help you succeed in your POD drop shipping business.

Pros

• Print fancy designs and artworks on regular products
• Has a good range of products in their product catalog including a variety of shoes styles
• Provides over 10,000 free ready-to-use designs so there’s no need to hire designers
• Has a lot of resources to help sellers set up set up their accounts, publish products to their Shopify stores, sell items, as well as handle customers
• Order cancellation or modification can be done up to 24 hours after the order is received by Pillow Profits
• Offer worldwide shipping
• Cost of shipping is included in the product cost
• Express shipping is now available to most countries
• Accept returns and issue refunds (or replacement) for damaged, flawed or incorrect order
• Offers a 100% sizing satisfaction Guarantee, which is a one-time offer to send a replacement shoe free of charge if there is sizing issue
• Product pricing is relatively low; and this promises significant profit per unit of product sold

Cons

• Pillow Profits provide fulfillment services for only Shopify stores
• There is a monthly subscription fee of $29.99 (albeit, it’s reasonable)
• Items ship from Eastern Asia; thus shipping times especially for Standard products are relatively long
• Refunds where applicable are issued as store credits
• There are limited channels for contacting customer support

If you have had an experience with Pillow Profits. Kindly use the review section below to give us a brief Pillow Profits review.

When a store is founded over a hundred years ago but is still branded as Modern, on the one hand it would come out as a joke; but if the store stands as a destination for modern styles and trends, then it would be genius.

Belk is a US based department store that provides clothing and fashion accessories as well as other consumer products. The department store was established in 1888 but has as its slogan “Modern. Southern. Style”. The question that that begs is whether Belk is a joke or genius. In the first place is Belk genuine?

Belk is a legit fashion store online. It is not a scam as all the items you purchased from the store are shipped to you without a problem. And there is no complaint of Belk stealing its customer’s money or credit card details.

But does Belk offer quality materials?

This Belk review examines Belk in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.

Belk review at a glance

• The website is www.belk.com
• A private department store company based in Charlotte, NC
• The store was founded in 1888, originally going by the name “New York Racket”
• The store offers a sizeable inventory of a variety of consumer goods which includes apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings and wedding registry
• Ships to only the contiguous US States, Alaska, Hawaii, and military APO/ FPO addresses
• Free shipping is offered for orders $99 or above
• Returns are allowed (for refund to original payment method) if made within 180 days of purchase date
• Accepted payment method includes credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and PayPal

What is Belk?

Belk.com is the e-commerce website of the department store Belk Inc based in Charlotte, New Caledonia, USA. Belk was started as far back as 1888 by Henry Belk and was later joined by his brother Dr. John Belk. The store, which was named “The New York Racket” at the time, started as a bargain store providing quality products at great prices.

In the early 1920s, Belk entered partnership agreements with other merchandisers, where partners received a share of ownership and their names on the storefront alongside Belk, such as Belk – Leggett, Belk – Jones, Belk – Hudson. While this led to quick expansion of the Belk brand, it also led to diluted brand identity since most of the Belk stores were co-branded. Thus, there was a need to consolidate the company’s legal and organizational structure under Belk; and this was done in 1997 giving birth to Belk Inc.

Belk holds fashion apparel and fashion accessories for every season and event, and for everyone in the family – women, men, and kids. They also hold a range of consumer products from car accessories to electronics and from home items to outdoor items. Over the years, Belk has transformed from simple bargain stores to go-to destinations for modern fashion styles and other consumer products. Thus, the new slogan they adopted in 2010 (which is “Modern. Southern. Style”) is very fitting.

For more fashion stores like Belk, visit Zappos and Asos.

Is Belk safe?

Belk is a safe fashion store. When buying from online stores, it’s also important that the store be safe, that is being able to protect the sensitive data that you share with them. If a store is legit, it will not rip you off; but if it is not safe, your sensitive data such as personal information and credit card details will leak to other fraudsters, leaving you exposed to being ripped off. Therefore, the ideal online store must not only be legit but also safe.

Thankfully, Belk ticks the box in this regards. Their privacy policy states that they use commercially reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards in preventing unauthorized access, use and disclosure of customers’ data. One of such technical measure employed is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL is the industry standard for establishing a private connection between two devices communicating in an external network like the internet.

All personal and transaction information is transmitted over SSL which ensures that third parties are shielded off; also the data is encrypted before being relay so that even if captured, it is unreadable to the hackers. Also, Belk periodically employs the services of third-party security companies to test the security of their servers and ensure that customers’ data (personal information and credit card details) is properly safeguarded. That said it is safe to say that Belk is safe.

Products

Product Range

The ideal online store should offer a variety of products. This in no way means that the store should be a hold-it-all; even a store that focuses on a particular niche can provide a variety of product within that niche. Having a wide product range offers buyers a lot of advantages; buyers will be able to get all their items in one place which is convenient. Also, there’ll be cost savings resulting from bulk purchase discounts, and paying to ship one order instead of shipping different orders from multiple stores.

In this regards, Belk does very well. Having evolved into a department store, Belk offers a variety of products which include apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings and wedding registry. The different product categories (and items within each category) in Belk are as follows:

Women

• Women clothing – You can shop plus size clothing section or in the petite section. Items you’ll find in either section include: Activewear, Bras, Panties & Lingerie, Capris, Dresses, Jackets & Blazers, Jeans, Pajamas & Lounge, Pants, Shorts, Skirts, Suits & Suit Separates, Swimwear, Tops
• Women Accessories – Belts, Ear Warmers, Gloves, Hair Accessories, Hats, Hosiery & Tights, Scarves & Wraps, Socks, Sunglasses

Men

• Men Clothing – Active & Outdoor, Designer, Jackets & Coats, Jeans, Pajamas, Pants, Shirts, Shorts, Socks, Sport Coats & Blazers, Suit Separates, Sweaters, Underwear, Suits
• Accessories – Belts & Suspenders, Cufflinks, Gifts & Gadgets, Hats, Money Clips, Sunglasses, Tie Bars, Ties & Pocket Squares, Wallets, Men’s Watches, Men’s Grooming, Men’s Shoes

Young Men Clothing

• Clothing – Active & Outdoor, Graphic Tees, Hoodies & Sweatshirts, Jackets & Coats, Jeans, Pajamas, Pants, Shirts, Shorts, Socks, Suits & Sport Coats, Sweaters, Swim Trunks, Underwear, and School Uniform

Junior

• Clothing – Activewear, Blazers and Jackets, Bras and Panties, Capris, Coats, Dresses, Graphic Tees, Hoodies and Sweatshirts, Jeans, Jumpsuits & Rompers, Pajamas and Lounge, Pants, Shorts, Skirts, Sweaters, Swimsuit, Tops & Shirts

Kids

• Kids’ Toys and Games – Art and Craft, Building Blocks and Toys, Dolls and Dollhouses, Drones, Educational & STEM Toys, Games & Puzzles, Outdoor Toys, Pretend Play and Costumes, Remote Control Toys, Stuffed Animals, Baby Toys, Music Toys, Toy Storage & Organizers, Vehicles, Video Game Consoles
• Kids’ Bedding & Bath
• Baby Clothing – Accessories, Activewear, Character Apparel, Dresses, Jackets & Coats, Jeans, One-pieces, Outfits and Sets, Pajamas, Pants and Leggings, Shirts and Tops, Shorts, Socks, Suits and Dresswear, Sweaters, Swimwear
• Baby Essentials – Baby Booties, Bath Toys and Towels, Bibs & Burb Cloths, Diaper Bags, Keepsakes & Milestones, Nursing Covers, Pacifiers, Toys
• Girls Clothing – Accessories, Activewear, Capris, Character Apparel, Dresses, Hoodies & Sweatshirts, Jackets & Coats, Jeans, Jumpsuits & Rompers, Leggings, Pajamas, Pants, School Uniforms, Sets and Outfits, Shorts, Skirts & Socks, Sweaters, Swimsuits, Tops, Underwear
• Nursery and Décor – Baby Bedding, Diapering & Storage, Humidifiers, Mobiles and Soothers, Nursery decor
• Boys’ Clothing – Accessories, Activewear, Character Apparel, Hoodies & Sweatshirts, Jackets & Coats, Jeans, Pajamas, Pants, School Uniforms, Sets and Outfits, Shirts, Shorts, Socks, Suits and Dresswear, Sweaters, Swimwear, Underwear

Beauty

• Bath & Body – Body Scrub, Foot Care, Gift and Value Set, Moisturizers, Soaps & Body Washes, Bath Bombs, Hand Cream
• Nail Polish and Tools
• Make Up – Eye Make Up, Face Make Up, Lip Make Up, Make Up Removers, Make Up Tools, Palettes and Sets
• Men’s Grooming – Hair and Body Care, Shaving, Skin Care, Men’s Cologne
• Fragrances – women’s perfumes, Men’s Cologne, Fragrance Gift and Value Sets, Deodorants
• Hair Care & Tools – Curling Irons & Hair Rollers, Hair Strengteners & Flat Irons, Hair Dryers, Hair & Scalp Treatments, Shampoos & Conditioners, Styling Products, Hair Brushes
• Skin Care – Cleansers, Exfoliators, Gift and Value Sets, Moisturizers, Sun Care, Toners & Mists, Tools And Accessories, Treatments and Serums, Masks
• Tools and Accessories – Make Up Brushes, Make Up Bags, Eyelash Curlers, Make Up Brush Cleaners, Pencil Sharpeners, Sponges & Blenders, Tweezers and Scissors

Shoes

• Women Shoes – Boots, Clogs and Mules, Comfort, Designer Shoes, Flats, Heels and Pumps, Sandals, Slippers, Sneakers, Water Shoes
• Men’s Shoes – Boots, Casual Shoes, Dress Shoes, Sandals, Slippers, Sneakers, Designer Shoes, Water Shoes
• Juniors Shoes – Boots, Clogs and Mules, Flats, Heels and Pumps, Sandals, Slippers, Sneakers
• Kids’ Shoes – Baby Shoes, Girls’ Shoes, Boys’ Shoes
• Shoes Accessories

Handbags

• Purses and Handbags – Backpack Purses, Belt Bags and Fanny Bags, Bucket Bags, Clutches &Evening Bags, Crossbody Bags, Designer Bags, Hobo Bags, Mini Bags, Satchels, Shoulder Bags, Totes, Wallets
• Women’s Wallet
• Travel and Luggage – Backpacks, Luggage Collections, Carry-on Luggage, Checked Luggage, Duffle & Weekender Bags, Luggage Sets, Spinners

Jewelry

• Fashion Accessories – Bracelets, Charms and Beads, Earrings, Jewelry Sets, Necklaces, Rings, Brooches and Lapel Pins, Designer Jewelry
• Children Jewelry – Bracelets, Earrings, Jewelry Sets, Necklaces
• Men’s Jewelry
• Fine Jewelry
• Watches – Men’s watches, Women Watches, Smart Watches, Fitness Watches, Designer Watches, Luxury Watches

Bed and Bath

• Bedding Basics – Bed Pillows, Blankets and Throws, Down and Down Alternative Comforters, Mattress Pads and Protectors, Mattress Toppers, Pillow Cases, Sheets, Bedding Accessories, Hotel Collection
• Bedding – Bed in a Bag, Bed Skirts, Bed Spreads, Bedding Collections, Comforters, Coverlets, Daybed Covers, Quilts, Blankets and Throws, Curtains and Drapes, Duvets and Covers, Hotel Collection, Mattress Toppers and Pads, Pillows, Sheets, Valances
• Bath – Accessories and Sets, Bath Collection, Bath Rugs and Mats, Bath Towels, Bathroom Storage and Organizers, Beach Towels , Digital Scales, Shower Curtains, Hotel Collection, Shower Hook and Rods
• Dorm Bedding
• Dorm Bath

Home

• Kitchen – Appliances, Bakeware, Coffee and Tea, Cookware, Cutlery and Knives, Gadgets, Grilling and BBQ, Kitchen and Table Linens, Rugs and Mats, Storage and Organization
• Furniture – Air Mattresses, Bar Stools, Bookcases and Shelves, Buffets and Servers, Chair and Stools, Coffee and Accent Tables, Desks, Dresses and Chests, Coat Racks and Hall Trees, Mattresses, Ottomans, Trunks and Benches, Wine Racks, Outdoor and Patio
• Electronics – Drones, Fans and Heaters, Music and Audio, Novelty Electronics, Tech Accessories, TV & Video, Video Game Consoles
• Car Accessories
• Pet Accessories
• Outdoor Living – Camping Chairs, Coolers and Insulated Bags, Dinnerware, Lawn and Décor, Picnic, Camping and Fishing Gear
• Home Décor – Artificial Flowers and Plants, Candles and Fragrance, Clocks, Figurines, Decorative Accents, Decorative Baskets, Decorative Bowls, and Jars, Decorative Trays, Lamps and Lighting, Mirrors, Picture Frames, Rugs, Throw Pillows, Wall Art and Décor, Vases, Throws
• Dining and Entertainment – Glassware and Drinkware, Picnic Baskets, Serverware, Silverwar and Flatware, Table Linens, Wines and Bar
• Fan Gear – Fan Appliances, Fan Décor, Fan Tailgating, etc

Others

• Women’s Accessories – Belt, Ear Warmers, Gloves, Hair Accessories, Hats, Hosiery and Tights, Phone Cases, Reading Glasses, Scarves and Wraps, Socks, Sunglasses, Umbrellas
• Small Accessories – Card Cases, Coin Purses, Key chains, Phone & Tablets Cases, Pill Boxes, Purse Charms, Pocket Knives, Sunglass Cases
• Stationery and Gifts – Agendas and Planners, Desk Accessories, Notebooks and Journals, Notecards, Pens and Pencils, Unique Gifts

The above-listed product categories and items show that Belk is a complete consumer product store. In the apparel store, there are products for everyone in the family – men, women, and kids; and there are also almost every home and outdoor consumer products.

Inventory Size

Apart from having a variety of products, you’ll want the ideal store to have a large number of items available in each product section. For example, you’ll not want to find only two or three items in the women skirts section if you need to buy a shirt. With a large pool to choose from when purchasing any item, you’re more likely to find something that’ll match your preference and budget.

In this regards, Belk does very well. They hold a sizeable inventory of each product type. For example, at the time of writing this review, in the women’s clothing category, there were 1,997 items in dresses section, and 237 items in the women skirts section; in the men clothing category, there were 565 items in the Pants section, and 184 items in the Suit section. The accessories category was also well stocked; women’s boot and flats numbered over 1,200 and 910 respectively, while men’s shoes were over 1,720.

The other product categories are also well stocked. In the home category, the furniture section had over 1,399 items, the electronics section had over 240 items; and in the Bed and Bath category, there were over 978 bedding basics.

That said, with hundreds of items in each product section, you’ll not be short of choices when shopping in Belk. Belk is able to offer their numbers because they draw products from a host of brands (over 1,420), which includes some exclusives such as Biltmore, Crown and Ivy, Home accents, Kim Rogers, Lightning Bug, Nursery Rhymes, True Craft, Wonderly, and Zelos.

Prices, Promotions, and Related Policies

Prices

The ideal online store should offer reasonable prices, because no matter how gorgeous a particular piece is, no buyer will be willing to pay more than is reasonable for it. Determining the reasonableness of prices is best done by comparing prices in a store to the prices the competition.

When this is done, the prices of Belk come out as fair. That is, Belk does not come out as offering the most competitive prices, but the store does not come out as being expensive either. For example, at the time of writing this review, full prices of women dresses ranged between $48 and $227 (with hundreds of them below $100). Also, full prices of women skirts starts from $44, with almost every item in the section coming in under $100. It was the same in the men’s apparel category; hundreds of men’s pants were available for $60 – $100, while suits were priced at $99.99 – $695. Given that in stores considered expensive, you’ll be hard pressed to find items selling for less than three figures, it’s safe to say that you’ll not break the bank to shop in Belk.

Promotions

Promotions are cost saving offers, since promotions allow customers to get products for less than their full prices. Thus, customers are always on the lookout for stores that run a lot of promotional offers.

Belk comes out strong in this area. There are a lot of costs saving offers provided by the store. On the landing page of the Belk website we were greeted with lot of price slashing offers such as “over 200 Doorbusters” items with up to 75% off, “Buy one, get 2 free” on select Pants, and more. There was an offer to get 20% off regular and sales purchases with the Belk Rewards Credit Card, as well as an offer to get 15% off with Belk shopping pass. In addition to these, there were dozens of other coupons.

If you want promotions, Belk offers them in quantum. In the product listing, you’ll find that over 80% item listed have coupons that can be applied to knock down its price. Most of these coupons take up to 80% off full prices of items, leaving the items at tantalizing prices. For example, you’ll find a lot of men and women apparel (Pants, Skirts, and Dresses) knocked down to $12.49 – $26.49, even men suits are knocked down to $74.99 – $84.99, and tons of shoes are knocked down to well below $50. If you plan to score good deals while shopping consumer products, signing up for Belk is not a bad idea.

Payment Method

The ideal store should support a wide range of payment options so that you can easily find a convenient means to pay for your orders. In this regards, Belk does very well, as they support different payment methods. You can pay for your Belk orders with: Belk Rewards Credit Card, Visa, Mastercard, Masterpass, American Express, Discover, Amex Cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Pre-paid gift cards such as Simon’s

Though there is no support for the web wallets, checks, crypto currencies or for options such as COD (Cash on Delivery) payments, Belk still support more payment options than you’ll find in many other consumer products stores. The support for PayPal is particularly laudable because this is a preferred means of payment for many customers, but is not one often supported by consumer products stores.

Shipping

When looking at online stores shipping is important because any item you order will have to be moved from the fulfillment center of the store to where you’ll receive delivery of the item. The important shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping times, and shipping costs.

Shipping Destinations

This is the different places that the online store ships merchandise to. This should be one of the first considerations when checking online stores because if the store does not ship to your territory it will be difficult to receive your order. In this regard, you’ll want a store to ship merchandise to many locations across the world, so that where you are resident is more likely to be covered.

In terms of shipping destinations, Belk comes out as a US facing store. The store ships orders to only the contiguous US States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Military APO/ FPO addresses. At the time of writing, they do not ship orders internationally. Thus, if you are resident outside the US, you’ll have to look at another store for your related purchases.

Shipping Times

Because after placing your order you won’t want to wait for too long before receiving its delivery, you’ll want a store that offers fast delivery.

Belk offers a couple of shipping options, and how long you’ll have to wait to get your orders depends on the delivery option chosen. The different shipping options are standard delivery, Premium 2 – day delivery, and Express Overnight delivery. The Standard delivery takes 4 – 7 days to deliver orders to the 48 contiguous US states. How long the other delivery options take is evident from their names, the Premium 2- day option delivers orders in 2 business days, while the Overnight option delivers orders the very next business day after order placement. However, for the express delivery, you’ll have to place the order before 1pm (EST).

Only standard delivery is available for orders shipping to Alaska and Hawaii, and it takes 7 – 10 business days. If shipping to military addresses, it will even take more time.

Belk also have an in-store pick up service where you can place orders online and pick it up from select stores tagged “Buy Online, Pick Up in Store”. This is one of the fastest ways to get your Belk online purchases because the orders placed this way are generally ready for pick up in the store within four hours (but orders placed after 4:00pm of any day will be available the next business day). However, the “Buy Online, Pick Up in Store” service does not apply to all items listed in Belk. Items available for in-store pick up will be clearly marked as such in the website in the product detail page, as well as the available pick up locations. The stores will hold the merchandise for up to 10 days before returning them to stock; and you’ll get an email reminder 24 hours before the items are returned to inventory.

Shipping Cost

Research has shown that many buyers abandon their shopping cart at checkout after the shipping costs have been added. This reveals that when shipping costs are too high, the cost of obtaining an item may be perceived as unacceptable, even if the items themselves were perceived as acceptably priced. Thus, you’ll want shipping costs to be as low as possible.

In this regards, free shipping wins it all the time because it represents the lowest possible shipping cost. Thankfully, Belk does offer free shipping. However, like most online retailing stores, it comes with minimum order requirement, which is $99+. That is, if your order is $99 or greater, you’ll get free standard shipping; but if the order is less than $99, you’ll have to pay a standard shipping rate of $9.50. Given that the standard shipping is the slowest delivery option, if you want expedited delivery, you’ll have to dip more into your pockets. The Premium 2-day delivery cost $24.95 for all orders, while the Express overnight delivery cost $29.95 for all orders. Also, if you are buying a gift card; standard shipping is free, while the Premium 2-day delivery and the Express overnight delivery are the same rates, that is $24.95 and $29.95 respectively.

Looking at the shipping costs of Belk; it’s always good to find online retailing stores that offer free shipping.  However, you’ll not want to spend too much just to qualify for free shipping; thus, the qualifying amount merits considering. Belk’s $99+ requirement to qualify for free shipping is not the highest you’ll find in the business, but it is still is relatively high, because there are lots of US based US facing fashion stores with free shipping qualifying amounts of $50 or $75.

However, Belk occasionally run shipping promotions. For example, at the time of writing this review a shipping promotion that was running made free shipping available for orders over $49. That said, if you’ll rather not spend up to any particular amount to get free shipping, you can use the “Buy Online, Pick Up in Store” service where available. No matter the order amount, it is free to ship your package to the designated store where you’ll pick it up.

Also, it’s also a good thing that where free shipping is not applicable (orders less than $99 or orders for expedited shipping) Belk charges flat shipping rates. With flat rates, the amount you’ll pay for shipping remains the same even as your order size or weight increases. However, it should be said that the shipping rates of Belk are a bit high relatively. There are definitely stores that offer less than $9.50 or $29.95 for standard shipping and overnight shipping respectively.

Returns

When checking online stores that you plan to buy from, it is important to check that the store has a friendly return policy. This is because there are many reasons why you may not be totally satisfied with an ordered item. This could range from ordering a wrong fit, to getting a damaged/ wrong item, to simply changing your mind about the order. Whatever the reason, if you’re not totally satisfied with the delivered item, you’ll rather return it to the store (and get a replacement or get refunded) than be stuck with it. Fortunately, Belk does allow returns of unwanted items. What follows is a discussion of their return policy.

Return Process

You want the return process to be easy so that you won’t be put off from returning an item to the store because of a cumbersome process.

Returning items to Belk is fairly easy. They are two ways to return Belk orders – return in store, and return by mail. Return in store is simply walking into a Belk retail store closest to you with the item you wish to return. In-store returns apply to all items purchased in a Belk store, but not for all items purchased online. The online purchases which cannot be returned in-store include: area rug (with one side 5 ft or larger); wall art, mirrors, clocks or picture frames (30 inches or larger); furniture; food or candy; baby gear; Christmas tree (10 ft or larger or out of original box); mattresses; and laps & lighting. Given that in-store return is convenient, it’s also a good part of Belk’s return policy that a host of Belk’s online purchases can be returned in store. This is unlike the restrictive policy of many online stores where only in-store purchases can be returned in-store and all online purchases must be returned by mail.

The return of items to Belk by mail is also fairly straight forward. All you’ll do is: indicate the reason for the return on the packing slip (beside the product description), package the item appropriately including the packing slip and a copy of the merchandise receipt, and send the package to Belk’s fulfillment center (8051 Eastgate Blvd, Mt Juliet, TN 37122). However, the simplest process would have been the provision of return labels. Return labels are usually pre-addressed which makes them very convenient to use; they are also pre-paid which means that at the point of mailing the return package you’ll not have to bring out money. Unfortunately, Belk does not provide return labels, so you’ll have to write the return address on the return package, and you’ll have to use your money at the point of mailing the return package.

Return Window

Online stores gives a return window – a time period within which any unwanted item must be returned to the store for it to be accepted and a refund issued. Because you’ll not get a refund if the items are sent in late, you’ll want an extended return window so that you’ll not have to race against the calendar when returning items to Belk.

In this regard, Belk outperforms almost every other retail store in the business. The store allows a returns window of 180 days; which means that you can return an unwanted item to Belk anytime within 180 days from the day of purchase. Even if the “day of purchase” here is the day that the order is placed, Belk’s return window is still wider than the “30 days from date of receipt of item” that most of the other retailing stores offer. The only exception to this policy is fine jewelry, mattress and rug. The return window of these items is 90 days from the day of purchase, which is still wider than the oft seen 30 days. That said you won’t be under time pressure when returning a Belk item to the store, as they offer a very generous return window.

For all returns getting to Belk within the allowed time, the company will refund the full purchase price of the merchandise. It should also be said that if for some reasons your return do not get to Belk within the allowed time, the store will still issue a refund, but the value will not be the purchase price of the item returned, but the lowest sale price (of the item) offered in the last 30 days. Also the refund will not be as cash, but as store credits to Belk Rewards Credit Card or a Belk Gift Card. This is a very good part of the policy because in most of the other online stores, returned item reaching the store after the return window closes are rejected.

Cost of Return

If you have to return an item to a store, you don’t want to be put off by the cost of making the returns. Thus, the ideal online store should have cost of return that are as low as possible.

In this regard, while returning items to Belk, the customers bear all shipping costs. The only exception is where the return is for a damaged or wrong item. Where costs are involved, zero costs win it all the time; thus, we’ll like to see online stores that offer free returns (that is, absorbs return shipping cost and makes the costs zero for the customers). Thus, it’s disappointing that Belk does not offer free returns by pushing return shipping cost to the customer. It also does not help that return labels are not provided; this is because where return labels are provided return shipping costs are usually discounted. Thus, you’ll find that returning items to Belk will be relatively expensive. However, it is good to see that unlike some other stores, Belk does not charge restocking fees.

Refund Policy

After returning an item to a store, you won’t want to wait forever before receiving your refund. In this regards, Belk does relatively well. It takes the store 15 business days of receiving the returned item to issue the refund. If you’ve seen reviews of other online stores, you’ll find that there are many stores that take as many as one month to issue refunds.

Also, it’s a good thing that Belk issue refunds via the original payment method. Thus, you’ll have your funds in your account, and may choose to go to another store for your purchase. They online issue refund as store credits if the returned items is received later than the 180 days allowed for returns, or if the return package is received without the merchandise receipt or packing slip. This is better than some stores that exclusively offer store credits for all returns, which will restrict the customer to buying from the particular store.

Ordering Experience

Part of the seamless customer experience that online stores promise is an easy buying process. This starts from the ordering process. Belk offers a seamless ordering experience. Because the website is intuitive, navigating in it is a breeze; you’ll be able to search through product listings, select an item into cart, and complete checkout without any hassle.  Also, after placing an order, you may make changes to it for up to 15 minutes from the time of submitting the order. This is a good one because in most online stores, you cannot make changes to an order after placement; so you’ll have to wait to receive the order and start the process of returning it.

After placing your order, you’ll receive an order confirmation email with complete details of the order as well as the order number which you can use to track the order. After the package has been picked up by the carrier for shipment, you’ll receive a shipping confirmation email. This mail will contain a tracking number which you can then use to track the package through shipping carrier’s website.

Customer Support Service

Some customers will have questions about a store or its offerings, while others will have issues with their orders. Thus, the ideal store will provide for answering customers’ questions and handling customers’ complains.

Belk provides self-help via FAQ articles. You’ll find that the FAQ section answers most of the questions that you’ll have about the department store, such as shipping, returns, methods of payment, placing order, and more. If you still need to contact the department store, they provide three direct contact channels – email, telephone, and live chat. You can send them an email via belk_customer_care@belk.com.

For the telephone service, the number to call is 1-866-235-5443. The call service is available between 7:00am – 10:00pm (EST) Monday – Friday, and between 9:00am – 10:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. But if you’re calling to inquire about the Belk Rewards Card, there is a dedicated number which is 1-800-669-6550. For the live chat, the chat hours is between 8:00am – 10:00pm (EST) Monday – Friday, and between 10:00am – 8:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

It is good that a lot of contact channels are supported, so customers will have their pick when they need help. One small dent is that the Belk’s customer support service is not available 24/ 7. However, since the department store is US facing, there will be no problem of the support service being active only in the downtime of customers at the other part of the world.

Summary

Belk may have been founded over a century ago, but the company lives up to its “Modern. Southern. Style” tagline. Belk is a go-to destination for modern and stylish fashion pieces for the entire family, as well as Southern style home collections. There is a sizeable inventory of a wide variety of consumer products, such that you’re guaranteed to find something that matches your taste and budget. Prices in the store are such that you won’t break the bank, and they offer a host of cost saving promos to ensure that you can score amazing deals in the store.

Belk ships to only the US. Shipping is relatively fast, while returns are easy with a very generous return window of 180 days from the date of purchase. The only dent on the return policy is that Return Labels are not provided and the costs of returns are borne by customer.

That said, Belk comes out as a good store to get your fashion products as well as other consumer products; and there are very good reasons to try out the store. 

Pros

• There is a wide variety of products available which includes clothing and fashion accessories for everyone (women, men and kids) as well as consumer products
• Products are drawn from a wide range of brands, so you can choose from hundreds of each product type when shopping in Belk
• You can make changes to an order for up to 15 minutes after the order has been submitted
• There is support for a wide range of payment options which includes credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and PayPal
• Free shipping is offered (albeit for orders of $99 and above)
• They offer a very generous return window of 180 days from the purchase date
• Returns getting to the store after the 180 days return window are still accepted, but for store credits
• A host of online purchases can be returned in-store
• Refund processing is relatively fast; and refunds are issued within 15 days of receipt of returned item
• There is support for a range of customer support options which includes email, telephone, and live chat

Cons

• Ships to only the US
• Return labels are not provided for making returns by mail
• Customers bear the cost of all returns

Have you purchased any item from Belk before? What was your experience? Kindly use the comment section below to give us your Belk review.

This is a true BestBuyEyeglasses review. It will show you why it may be a good or bad idea to order from the store. And also evaluated what the customers are experiencing with the online store.

The name “Best Buy Eyeglasses” is revealing – this is a place where you can get all your prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses. Best Eye Glasses advertises as committed to providing customers with the best service, the widest selection of lenses, sunglasses and frames, and all at the most competitive prices found online.

This would mean that Best Buy Eyeglasses has the product, at the best price, and with the best service. A shop that provides “top quality products at best prices and with the best service” is the buyer’s delight. The big question is whether Best Buy Eyeglasses actually qualifies as a buyers’ delight, or whether their promises are just adverted blurbs. In the first place, is Best Buy Eyeglasses genuine?

BestBuyEyeglasses is a legit online store that sells Eyeglasses. It is not a scam because they will not steal your money or credit cards info. And any Eyeglass you purchase from the store is shipped to you without a problem.

This BestBuyEyeglasses review will also examine Best Buy Eyeglasses in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.

BestBuyEyeglasses review at a glance

• A Louisiana based eyewear store founded in 2004
• Offers both prescription and non-prescription eyewear
• Has one of the widest selection of lenses, sunglasses and frames
• Ships to many countries around the world
• Offers free shipping on all orders within the US
• Accepts returns made within 30 days from the date of receiving delivery
• Accepted payment methods are credit/ debit cards and mail orders
• 24/ 7 customer support is available via email (service@bestbuyeyeglasses.com) and telephone (1-800-501-4002)

What is Best Buy Eyeglasses?

There are not too many exclusive eyewear stores. Thus, it’s good to find one in the shape of BestBuyEyeglasses. The eyewear store which is headquartered in Louisiana (US) was founded in 2004 which means that they have been operating for about 15 years. However, the store is more than a fashion eyewear shop. Best Buy Eyeglasses is a registered subsidiary of Lens.com, Inc; thus they offer not just non-prescription eyewear but also prescription eyewear. In fact, the staff of Best Buy Eyeglasses is made up of eye care professionals (lab professionals to practicing optometrists) with years of experience assisting people with their optical needs.

The store promises providing the retail best service, the widest selection of lenses, sunglasses and frames, and the most competitive prices found online. The online store can be found at www.bestbuyeyeglasses.com. The website is pretty intuitive and easy to navigate. It allows you to filter products via: gender, brand, department, material, shape, color, price, lens type, and frame size. There is also a search tool which will take you to related items if you enter the keywords.

Is BestBuyEyeglasses legit?

BestBuyEyeglasses is legit. It is not a scam store. You will get your Eyeglasses just as you ordered from the store. There have never been a complaint about BestBuyEyeglasses stealing its customers money or their credit cards details for illegal activities. So, BestBuyEyeglasses is legitimate.

Product

Product Range

The ideal shop should have a variety of products. This is not to mean that the ideal shop should be a hold-it-all. Rather, when shops focus on a particular niche, they should offer a variety of items within the niche. For example, Best Buy Eyeglasses focuses on eyeglasses, and in that niche they should provide all items eyeglasses-related.

In this regards, Best Buy Eyeglasses ticks the box. The store advertises as committed to the widest selection of lenses, sunglasses and frames. Going through their selection, we find that Best Buy Eyeglasses actually lives up to this commitment, and stands out as a go-to store for prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses (lenses, frames and sunglasses).

When shopping in Best Buy Eyeglasses; you may go to the men and women categories, and from either category you may shop eyeglasses and sunglasses. You may also go directly to Eyeglasses or Sunglasses, and from there you may shop from the men section or women section. You may also visit brands and shop designers’ products.

Product categories in Best Buy Eyeglasses

The first step to buying eyeglasses is picking your frame; and Best Buy Eyeglasses offers a variety of frame shapes. These include Aviator, Cat Eye, Geometric, Oval, Oversize, Rectangle, Round, Square, and Semi-rimless.

Frame shapes in Best Buy Eyeglasses

Best Buy Eyeglasses partners with some of the industry’s most respected designers and draws thousands of frames from these designers. Apart from maintaining strong direct relationships with the leading manufacturers in the eyewear industry, Best Buy Eyeglasses also use the industry leading publications. As such, the Best Buy Eyeglasses website is constantly updated as new and exciting frames come to market. In the website, you’ll be able to get established frame styles as well as brand new sizzling hot frame styles.

The store even promises that if you see a frame at retail that they don’t have, you should just drop them a note or call one of their customer service associates, and they’ll try to make it available.

Apart from having frames in a variety of shapes and designs, Best Buy Eyeglasses offers frames in a variety of different materials. These include carbon, memory metals, metal, nylon, plastic, rubber, tech alloy, wood, and others. Frames are also available in a range of colors, include multi color

The inventory size is an important consideration when checking out online stores. A store that holds a large stock is more likely to have the variety that will satisfy your selection needs, and you’ll be more likely to find a piece that you like. Best Buy Eyeglasses is able to offer a sizeable inventory of eyewear because they draw products from a ton of designer brands. These includes Ray-Ban Rx, Michael Kors, Oakley – Frame, Tory Burch, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Polo, Vogue, Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Tom Ford, and more

Designer brands in BestBuyEyeglasses

Prices and Related Policies

Prices

One of the first things that buyers look at when shopping is the prices of the items. No matter how stunning a particular piece is, no one will want to pay beyond what is deemed reasonable. As such the ideal eyewear go-to store should have products that are reasonably priced.

One of the promises of Best Buy Eyeglasses is providing the most competitive prices found online, saying that they believe “everyone should be able to afford the fashionable frames they want without having to break the bank”.

True to that promise you’ll find that prices in Best Buy Eyeglasses are relatively lower than you’ll find in many other stores (both brick and mortar and online stores). At this time of writing, their sunglasses started at $23.77 and got to $742.99; while their eyeglasses started at $4.41 and got to $972.99.

Promotions

Every buyer wants some cost saving offers. Promotions that stores run present such offers because they allow you to get items for less than their full prices. As a result, the ideal online store will run a lot of promotions.

The promotion generous online stores usually feature a lot of price slashing deals on the landing page of their website. On getting to the landing page of BestBuyEyeglasses.com, we were greeted by a “Fresh Spring Savings” deal which promises to knock off 20% from the price of select brands such as Burberry, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, and Versace. You can also shop from the Sales section and score amazing deals of up to 30% off full prices.

Best Buy Eyeglasses run different time-limited promos from time to time, so you’ll have to keep checking the website to know what promo is running at any particular time. Alternatively, you can register to receive their newsletter, and you’ll be alerted to promotional offers and other special offers.

Payment options

There is no doubt that you’ll want a pain-free buying process. To that effect, the ideal online store should support a range of payment options, so that no matter where customers are resident they can easily find a payment method that the store accepts when they want to pay for their order.

In this regards, Best Buy Eyeglasses supports the credit/ debit cards and mail order. Specifically, you can pay for your Best Buy Eyeglasses orders with Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover Card, and Money Order. Typical of the online retailing stores, there is no support for the web wallets or crypto currencies. However, since credit cards are global options, no matter where you are resident, paying for Best Buy Eyeglasses orders should not be a problem

Warranty

The ideal store is one that backs its product. Best Buy Eyeglasses does exactly this by way of a one year manufacturer’s warranty for all frames and prescription lenses. If within one year of purchase, you notice that your frame or lenses has a defect covered under the warranty, you simply have to reach Best Buy Eyeglasses and it will be repaired or replaced free of charge. When you contact customer support to return an item covered under warranty, you’ll even be given a free shipping label so that the whole process is at no cost to you.

Defects covered by the Best Buy Eyeglasses one- year warranty

Shipping Policy

After buying anything online, it has to be shipped to where you’ll receive possession of it. Thus, in online purchases, shipping is an important consideration. The most important shipping considerations are shipping destinations, shipping times and shipping costs.

Shipping Destinations

If an online shop does not ship to where you are resident, it will be difficult to receive delivery of your order. Thus, before buying from any online store, you’ll have to make sure that the store ships merchandise to your location. In this regards, the ideal online will ship to many locations across the world. That way where you are resident is more likely to be covered.

In this regards, Best Buy Eyeglasses ships to many countries across the world.  Unlike some stores that ships to only their domestic market, you’ll be able to buy your prescription and non-prescription glasses from Best Buy Eyeglasses even if you are no resident in the US.

Shipping Times

I don’t know that buyer who will want to wait forever to receive his/ her order. In fact, fast delivery is so important that “delivery delays” is one of the biggest factors that break online stores. Therefore, the ideal online store is one that offers fast delivery.

The total waiting time for your order typically consists of two parts – order processing time (period from when you place the order to when the order is sent for shipment) and order transit time (period from when the order leaves the store’s facility to when it arrives at your door). For fast delivery, an online store would have relatively short times for both order processing and order transit.

In this regards, Best Buy Eyeglasses advertises relatively short times. The company says that they know that you want your order to arrive as soon as possible; and that as a result, they expedite every order, large and small.

They state that processing times for most items in the store is 1 – 3 business days, while other items may take 2 – 5 business days. It is added that prescription orders may take an additional 3 – 5 business days for processing. For the transit times, Best Buy Eyeglasses advertises that the Standard delivery for US orders is 5 – 8 business days without prescription, and 5 – 12 business days with prescription.

On the face of them, these are relatively fine times; and if Best Buy Eyeglasses actually deliver in these times, the store can be said to offer fast delivery. However, the many customers’ reviews of Best Buy Eyeglasses shows reveals otherwise.

For example, in Trust Pilot, Best Buy Eyeglasses has a poor rating of 2.9 out of 10 with over 77% of customers giving the company the lowest possible score. One complaint that stood out is that of delivery delays. You’ll find reviews reporting customers complaining that their package arrived too many days (sometimes too many weeks) after the estimated delivery date. There are too many of these complaints that late delivery stood out as a problem plaguing the store rather than a one-off anomaly.

It is also sad that the problem cannot be pushed onto package transit times. Thus, it would seem that Best Buy Eyeglasses themselves do not quickly process the order and dispatch the package for shipment. From some of the numerous negative reviews, it can be gleaned that, sometimes, Best Buy Eyeglasses continues to list as available items that are out of stock. As such, when customers order the items, they’ll find to their frustration that the order will take “forever” to be processed and dispatched for processing.

That said, there’s no denying that there are some exceptional eye wear in Best Buy Eyeglasses, but if you buy from them, you may find yourself waiting more than they advertise to receive delivery of your order.

Shipping Cost

Shipping cost is an important consideration in online purchase because the shipping cost adds to the purchase cost of any item in determining the total outlay. As a result, even if a particular item is acceptably priced, if the shipping cost is high, the cost of acquiring the item may be deemed unacceptably high. Thus, the ideal online store should feature shipping costs that are as low as possible.

The lowest possible shipping cost is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Best Buy Eyeglasses offers free shipping, but it applies only to orders shipping within the US. Free shipping is not available for international offers. However, they do offer flat rates which mean that what you pay for shipping will not increase with an increase in the size and weight of your order. For international shipping, what you pay for shipping will depend on the particular country you are shipping to. You’ll find the shipping information displayed at checkout.

However, it would seem that the international shipping rates of Best Buy Eyeglasses are relatively high. In the independent customers’ reviews platform, you can find a couple of complaints about the relative high rates of international shipping. That said, if you are resident in the US, you’ll find joy making your purchases from Best Buy Eyeglasses because of their free shipping offer.

Returns

Online purchases are synonymous with blind purchases because you won’t get to physically assess the item before paying for them. Thus, there is the possibility that you may not be totally satisfied with the item when you receive delivery of it. When that is the case, you’ll want to be able to return the item and get another in its place or get refunded. As a result, the ideal online store should allow returns. Thankfully, like any serious online store, Best Buy Eyeglasses allow returns.

Return Process

You don’t want a cumbersome return process to force you into keeping items that you’ll rather return to the store you bought them from. Thus, you want the return process to be as easy and straight forward as possible.

The return process in Best Buy Eyeglasses is pretty easy. If you receive items that you are not satisfied with, you’ll first have to contact customer care and obtain an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number and a free return-shipping label.

Then you’ll have to package the item appropriately, attach the return label on the outside of the package, write the RMA number on the outside of the package or on the return label, and then drop off the returns package with a carrier.

Return Window

Stores allow only a limited time for customers to return any item that they are not totally satisfied with; and items that are not received by the store within the allowed time are rejected. Thus, you’ll want that the allowed return window be an extended amount of time.

In this regard, Best Buy Eyeglasses does relatively well. They give a 30 days return window, which means that you have 30 days from the day of receiving delivery of your order to return any item (in it that you are not satisfied with) back to the store. 30 days is one of the biggest return windows you’ll find in the online retailing business.

Conditions of Returns

For returned products to be accepted, they must be in the exact condition in which they were received. That means that if there have been any attempt to repair the eyewear before returning it to Best Buy Eyeglasses, the company will not accept the returned item.

Also, all products must be returned with any unused warranty cards, instruction booklets, cleaning cloths, and cases (where applicable).

Cost of Returns

Just as it is with the return process, you won’t want to be forced hold onto eyewear that you’ll rather return to the store because of prohibitive return costs. Thus, the ideal online store should feature cost of returns that are as low as possible.

In this regards, Best Buy Eyeglasses like to say that they offer “free returns shipping label”. What that means is that when you will be issued your refund nothing will be deducted from it as the cost of return shipping (or as charges for the return label). This gives the impression that it is free to return unwanted items to Best Buy Eyeglasses.

But as customers will later find out (most often than not to their dismay), though return shipping is free, returns to Best Buy Eyeglasses are not entirely free. This is because Best Buy Eyeglasses charge a 10% restocking fee. Thus, when you return any item to the company, the refund you’ll be issued will be only 90% of the purchase price.

It should be said that some of the negative reviews of Best Buy Eyeglasses that can be found in the independent customers’ reviews platforms cite cost of returns. Customers complain being unsuspectingly charged the 10% restocking fee. To be fair to these customers, while Best Buy Eyeglasses makes “free returns” very visible in their website; the 10% restocking fee is less visible, and is put in the fine prints of the returns policy where it can be easily missed.

You’ll also find customers complaining about incurring heavy losses for returning items to Best Buy Eyeglasses. This would be reference to the hit that customers get for returning prescription eyewear to Best Buy Eyeglasses; the refund that the store issues for prescription eyewear is usually less by 50% of the lens price. In this regards, to be fair to Best Buy Eyeglasses, prescription lenses are custom-made and would be difficult to be resold.

Lastly, if a return package is sent to Best Buy Eyeglasses without the official Return Merchandise Authorization number, it will incur a $15.00 surcharge.

Customer Support

When using any online store, you may have some questions about their offering or service, and you’ll want ready answers from the store. Also, when you place orders and there’s an issue with the order, you’ll want to reach out to customer support service for resolution. Thus, the ideal online store should have an effective customer support service for handling customers’ questions and complaints.

In this regard, the first stop to getting answers from Best Buy Eyeglasses is the FAQ section in their website. The FAQs answers most of the questions you’ll have relating to ordering, shipping, returns, billing, prescription, and policies.

If you still need to contact a customer support rep, you can do that by email or telephone. The email address to use is service@bestbuyeyeglasses.com. For the telephone service, the number to call is 1-800-501-4002. One good thing about the support service of Best Buy Eyeglasses is that it is available 24/ 7, so you can get assistance at anytime of the day. If you’re resident at the other side of the globe from the store, you’ll also not face the problem of the support service being active only during your downtime.

It should be said that the biggest criticisms of Best Buy Eyeglasses has been their customer support service. In the independent customers’ review platforms, you’ll find statements like “worst customer service ever”, “appalling service”, and more. In fact, the low ratings of the company (Brst Buy Eyeglasses) in these online platforms stems from the perceived ineffectiveness of the company’s support service. In the many cases, you’ll find support rep seeming uninformed, not providing helpful information, or not responding to submissions.

Summary

There are not many online stores that are exclusively eyewear stores. Best Buy Eyeglasses is one of the few; and the US based store stands out as a good destination to get your prescription and non-prescription eyewear.

They draw products from different top brands in the eyewear business, and as such they are able to offer a wide selection of frames, lenses and sunglasses. Simply having the product doesn’t make a store the best; and in recognition of this, Best Buy Eyeglasses provides their product at some of the most competitive prices you’ll find in the business. They also promise the best service. In this regards, their ordering process is easy, and so is their return process. However, there seem to be a problem with delivery and customer service, as there are too many complaints of late delivery and unhelpful customer support; also the return process though easy has seen its share of sticks because of restocking fees that the company almost unsuspectingly charges.

Pros

• They offer a wide variety of designs of eyeglasses and sunglasses
• They offer free shipping (albeit for domestic US orders)
• Offer a wide 30 days returns window
• Returns is relatively easy as return labels are provided
• Free return shipping
• Offers a one year manufacturer’s warranty for all frames and prescription lenses
• Customer support is available round the clock (24/ 7)

Cons:

• They have limited payment methods (just credit cards and mail orders)
• Order processing is relatively slow causing late delivery in most cases
• Cost of international shipping is relatively high
• Collect a restocking fee for non-prescription eyewear (10% of purchase price)
• There are too many complaints of unhelpful customer support service