Zappos.com Review

www.zappos.com

Overall 4.74 of 5 view all 38 reviews

eatingcookies
Bellevue, WA

Hundreds of shoe choices in a very hard to find size!

budget conscious, into trying new things, Every day computer user, cost-conscious, an avid online shopper, a busy person, a woman, practical

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Pros

Always get shipping upgrade, Great customer experience, free next-day shipping, free return shipping, great customer service, easy to navigate, generous return policy

Cons

prices are a bit high

DEC

2008

Zappos.com —

I have horrible to fit feet: 8.5 WW with a very high arch. I used to love shopping for shoes at a teenager, back when footpain, backpain, and weight gain weren't that big of a deal. As a "grown-up" woman, comfort and stability are hugely important things as I live my busy life as a mama to my one-year-old, full time employee, and 24/7 wife.

Zappos.com has always taken care of me. First of all:

NEVER PAY FOR EXPEDITED SHIPPING UNLESS YOU ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT GETTING YOUR SHOES THE VERY NEXT DAY.

I have never paid for next-day air, and they have always sent me my shoes UPS Next Day Saver (which means they should arrive the next day by the later afternoon). I'm fairly certain, since I work in the shipping industry for a large supply company, that Zappos.com either has a shipping program with UPS where all their packages go out Next Day Saver, or Zappos.com just springs for that expedited shipping for you, as a favour to their customers.

Zappos.com does offer expedited shipping services for an extra fee during checkout, but I would like to repeat that I have NEVER asked for expedited shipping or paid these fees:

Standard Shipping (delivery within 4-5 business days): FREE
1-Business Day Shipping and Handling: $25 per order
2-Business Day Shipping and Handling: $15 per order
3-Business Day Shipping and Handling: $7 per order
USPS Priority Mail: $7 per order

My guess is that they are hoping to recover some of the shipping costs that they graciously give away for free by suckering in first time customers who don't know how Zappos.com's ship times work. Go ahead and pay for it if you want to, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Secondly:

I HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH AN EASY TIME RETURNING SOMETHING.

I have sent several things back to Zappos.com and their wonderful customer service staff (by phone) or their online return system, makes it painless. You just print out the .pdf return label and information that they send to you by email, and drop your box off at a UPS hub. There is no restocking fee/return shipping fee as far as I know. (There may be a time limit/restocking fee if you take awhile to return your goods, but I have always been prompt.)

This makes it risk free to "try-on" shoes online. Again, because my feet are so crappy, I was nervous about buying online since I couldn't feel the shoes on my feet. But because I have limited store selection, unless I want to buy either very expensive, or very ugly shoes (read: orthodic/nurse shoes), shopping the stores doesn't work for me.

I am a very happy Zappos.com customer and I will go back to them again and again.