The right stores for extraordinary gift-personal favorites and advice
by Richard Seltzer, seltzer@samizdat.com, www.samizdat.com
My personal preference leans toward those stores that not only have gift finders, but also offer unique merchandise that I'd be unlikely to find at physical stores, that the recipient is unlikely to ever have seen advertised, and that the recipient is unlikely to have already purchased.
For Valentine's, and for a man shopping for a woman, Victoria's Secret (www.victoriassecret.com) is very tempting. Click on Dream Gifts, then gift finder. You select the categories and the price range, and they provide a few very tempting suggestions. You don't need to know the difference between a chemise and a camisole -- the pictures say it all. But are the pictures too good? Are you tempted by the model or the clothes? And are you buying something that fits her fantasy or yours? It might be best to check out this site together, rather than using it as source for a surprise gift. Together you might find the perfect shared fantasy. (A word of warning, because of the heavy graphics, this site can be frustratingly slow unless you have a fast Internet connection. Also, it seems to work better with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. For me, it repeatedly crashes my Netscape browser.)
For something really different, try Museum Shop (www.museumshop.com). This site offers merchandise selected from the offerings of stores at museums and historical shops. At their gift finder, you select the gender and age range of the recipient, the price range you are interested in, and the occasion. When I entered information for my wife for Valentine's, I got dozens of suggestions, ranging from jewelry to artistic posters to scarves, and also a couple of Yi Xing Chinese teapots from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. My wife recently mentioned that she would like to collect teapots. That's a passion I do not at all understand and a subject about which I know nothing. But I'm sure that such a gift would totally surprise and delight her.
If you are looking for clothing of all kinds, probably the biggest and best online store is Bluefly (www.bluefly.com). Their Gift area lets you shop by occasion, designer, category, or price. Unfortunately, the pictures, which do not include models, are uniformly uninspiring. It is extremely difficult to imagine what three-dimension clothing actually looks like when it is shown flattened out, not attached to anything. (You'd think they'd at least use mannekins). On the plus side, they have an excellent utility for determining sizes. Click on Help, then on Finding Your Size.
If the person you are buying for is into sports, exercise, and outdoor activities, check Fogdog (www.fogdog.com). The Gift Ideas section in their Gift Center is organized for people who aren't sports experts. For instance, if you want to buy something for a golfer, they don't pitch fancy new kinds of golf balls or clubs or anything else that requires knowledge of the sport to understand. Rather they suggest products that anyone can understand but that golfers would appreciate. For instance, under "Warm and Cozy" they recommend vests, pullovers, and sweatpants.
Finding a toy for someone else's child can be extremely difficult, because it is so difficult to know what they already have. Check "Fantastic Finds" at eToys (www.etoys.com). Here they highlight unique toys from small toy makers -- interesting items that are very unlikely to have been promoted in television ads. You can click on an age to see recommendations. Also, if the child you are buying for happens to have special needs, eToys has an excellent section with recommendations from Exceptional Parent Magazine. They have toys that are good for kids with various physical disabilities, along with articles that provide advice in buying the right toy for such a child.
If the person you are buying for really loves music, CDNow (www.cdnow.com) lets you build custom CDs. Click on Custom CDs. Then select a category, listen to samples, select the songs you want, put them in the order you want, add finishing touches (such as a name for it and a personal note to be printed on the inside panel of the CD booklet). The recipient may well have some or all of these songs already, but certainly won't have them in this very personal mix.
As a last resort, I would turn to 1-800-Flowers.com (www.1800flowers.com). This is the place to go to buy the kinds of things that people rarely buy for themselves and that you commonly buy as gifts -- not just flowers, also aroma therapy, candles, collectibles, dried flowers, frames, games, jewelry, pottery, rugs, etc. Much of this site is focused on gift giving. In their Gift Center, you can pick a "gift guru" for girlfriends/wives, boyfriends/husbands, business associates, grandparents, friends, children, young adults, teachers, dads, or hostesses. In case of a "gift emergency," they will suggest merchandise that you can have delivered the same day or next day. You can also pick "Giftology" to get suggestions based on astrology, or click on "Gift Impossible" for unusual useless things to give to someone "who has everything."
Typically, you buy the best gifts for the people you know best, and the delight of receiving a particular gift comes in large part from the fact that its selection shows how very well you understand her or her. So if the gift is for someone you really care for and you want the act of giving to show that affection, spend more time together and open your ears and eyes. Invest your time and effort in getting to know hiim or her better rather than in using online gift finders. If he or she has special interests or hobbies that you haven't shared before, ask, show interest, and enjoy learning. Then when you really know what you want to buy, finding it online should be easy.
PS -- If it turns out that the perfect gift would be a unique collectible, try an auction site, like eBay. They have literally millions of things to choose from. But that is only likely to work if you have lots of lead time. The typical auction lasts seven days, and then you have to contact the seller directly by email and arrange for shipment and payment. Also, there's no guarantee that you will "win" the auction for the item you want. But if you do have 3-4 weeks lead time, if you understand the category of the collectible and what the recipient really values and needs in that category, and if you are either lucky or willing to bid however high it takes, you could wind up with a gift that will long be treasured.
The following article was originally written for CompareItAll.com. The rights have reverted to the author.
Please visit our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat
What's the right store to shop for a gift? That depends in large part on what kind of merchandise you want to buy.My personal preference leans toward those stores that not only have gift finders, but also offer unique merchandise that I'd be unlikely to find at physical stores, that the recipient is unlikely to ever have seen advertised, and that the recipient is unlikely to have already purchased.
For Valentine's, and for a man shopping for a woman, Victoria's Secret (www.victoriassecret.com) is very tempting. Click on Dream Gifts, then gift finder. You select the categories and the price range, and they provide a few very tempting suggestions. You don't need to know the difference between a chemise and a camisole -- the pictures say it all. But are the pictures too good? Are you tempted by the model or the clothes? And are you buying something that fits her fantasy or yours? It might be best to check out this site together, rather than using it as source for a surprise gift. Together you might find the perfect shared fantasy. (A word of warning, because of the heavy graphics, this site can be frustratingly slow unless you have a fast Internet connection. Also, it seems to work better with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. For me, it repeatedly crashes my Netscape browser.)
For something really different, try Museum Shop (www.museumshop.com). This site offers merchandise selected from the offerings of stores at museums and historical shops. At their gift finder, you select the gender and age range of the recipient, the price range you are interested in, and the occasion. When I entered information for my wife for Valentine's, I got dozens of suggestions, ranging from jewelry to artistic posters to scarves, and also a couple of Yi Xing Chinese teapots from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. My wife recently mentioned that she would like to collect teapots. That's a passion I do not at all understand and a subject about which I know nothing. But I'm sure that such a gift would totally surprise and delight her.
If you are looking for clothing of all kinds, probably the biggest and best online store is Bluefly (www.bluefly.com). Their Gift area lets you shop by occasion, designer, category, or price. Unfortunately, the pictures, which do not include models, are uniformly uninspiring. It is extremely difficult to imagine what three-dimension clothing actually looks like when it is shown flattened out, not attached to anything. (You'd think they'd at least use mannekins). On the plus side, they have an excellent utility for determining sizes. Click on Help, then on Finding Your Size.
If the person you are buying for is into sports, exercise, and outdoor activities, check Fogdog (www.fogdog.com). The Gift Ideas section in their Gift Center is organized for people who aren't sports experts. For instance, if you want to buy something for a golfer, they don't pitch fancy new kinds of golf balls or clubs or anything else that requires knowledge of the sport to understand. Rather they suggest products that anyone can understand but that golfers would appreciate. For instance, under "Warm and Cozy" they recommend vests, pullovers, and sweatpants.
Finding a toy for someone else's child can be extremely difficult, because it is so difficult to know what they already have. Check "Fantastic Finds" at eToys (www.etoys.com). Here they highlight unique toys from small toy makers -- interesting items that are very unlikely to have been promoted in television ads. You can click on an age to see recommendations. Also, if the child you are buying for happens to have special needs, eToys has an excellent section with recommendations from Exceptional Parent Magazine. They have toys that are good for kids with various physical disabilities, along with articles that provide advice in buying the right toy for such a child.
If the person you are buying for really loves music, CDNow (www.cdnow.com) lets you build custom CDs. Click on Custom CDs. Then select a category, listen to samples, select the songs you want, put them in the order you want, add finishing touches (such as a name for it and a personal note to be printed on the inside panel of the CD booklet). The recipient may well have some or all of these songs already, but certainly won't have them in this very personal mix.
As a last resort, I would turn to 1-800-Flowers.com (www.1800flowers.com). This is the place to go to buy the kinds of things that people rarely buy for themselves and that you commonly buy as gifts -- not just flowers, also aroma therapy, candles, collectibles, dried flowers, frames, games, jewelry, pottery, rugs, etc. Much of this site is focused on gift giving. In their Gift Center, you can pick a "gift guru" for girlfriends/wives, boyfriends/husbands, business associates, grandparents, friends, children, young adults, teachers, dads, or hostesses. In case of a "gift emergency," they will suggest merchandise that you can have delivered the same day or next day. You can also pick "Giftology" to get suggestions based on astrology, or click on "Gift Impossible" for unusual useless things to give to someone "who has everything."
Typically, you buy the best gifts for the people you know best, and the delight of receiving a particular gift comes in large part from the fact that its selection shows how very well you understand her or her. So if the gift is for someone you really care for and you want the act of giving to show that affection, spend more time together and open your ears and eyes. Invest your time and effort in getting to know hiim or her better rather than in using online gift finders. If he or she has special interests or hobbies that you haven't shared before, ask, show interest, and enjoy learning. Then when you really know what you want to buy, finding it online should be easy.
PS -- If it turns out that the perfect gift would be a unique collectible, try an auction site, like eBay. They have literally millions of things to choose from. But that is only likely to work if you have lots of lead time. The typical auction lasts seven days, and then you have to contact the seller directly by email and arrange for shipment and payment. Also, there's no guarantee that you will "win" the auction for the item you want. But if you do have 3-4 weeks lead time, if you understand the category of the collectible and what the recipient really values and needs in that category, and if you are either lucky or willing to bid however high it takes, you could wind up with a gift that will long be treasured.
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