The Chronic Consumer

One thing I’ve come to appreciate about a few online retailers that I shop at again and again is the way they pay attention to the details. I love stores with liberal return policies, that ship my order when they say they will, that respond quickly to customer service inquiries, and that handle my purchased products with care.

I know these all sound like basic responsibilities that you’d expect any store to cover, but unfortunately, that’s not the case these days. Most places are looking to keep overhead costs down by providing shoddy service, and those are stores that I tend to avoid making repeat purchases from.

By contrast, the stores that treat me well, offer great prices, and go the extra mile by putting my purchases in custom boxes so they don’t get damaged during shipping are the ones I spend my money at again and again.

So what is it that you look for in online stores? What are some things that get you to spend your money at one particular place over another? What keeps you away from some places?