I recently ordered through Moosejaw.com to save some money from my State's large sales tax and to take advantage of some sale items.
Moosejaw.com is an interesting website full of funny little sayings and phrases. Some people may like them, I wished for a more professional approach but I guess Moosejaw is trying to make their site hip and fresh. All the funny quips aside, they do have a good selection of outdoor gear and apparel. Their product descriptions could be a little more informative at times but much of the gear has some interesting customer reviews, some helpful and some less so.
Moosejaw has decent prices, they seem to run sales fairly often and they have a cool 10% rewards program, kinda like the REI dividend. They have free shipping for orders over $50 BUT (and this is a huge no no for me) they will charge you shipping to return items that you have a problem with. I don't run into too many online retailers that do this. Most online companies (even the small independent ones) don't charge you shipping to return or exchange an item). I also have read that if you live in Canada and have things shipped to you, you will pay brokerage fees and taxes for shipping across the border. I don't have first hand experience with this Canadian issue though as I don't live there but our hockey loving friends to the north may want to check into this before ordering.
Now onto the details of my ordering experience. I made a large purchase of almost one thousand dollars, the items included a Bibler Ahwahnee tent, Gregory Triconi pack, Jetboil system with Coffee press, and an extra companion cup for the Jetboil. I also received a free rain cover for my Gregory pack and a free groundcloth for the Bibler tent, both courtesy of Moosejaw. I used the 10% reward system to get the jetboil system for free as well.
Total elapsed time from when I placed the order to when I received the items: exactly six business days using 5-7day UPS ground. Not too bad really. The only bad part is they left out the companion cup I ordered. It's funny because there is a hand signed note saying X person "personally" checked to make sure everything was in order before it shipped out. Oops. I called them up and they were very apologetic and told me it would be out right away. That was a few days ago and I should be getting it soon.
Overall I was satisfied with the buying experience (mostly because I saved about $200 due to free gear sales and the reward bonus on such a large order) but I don't think I'll be purchasing through Moosejaw.com again. Everyone makes mistakes and leaving an item out on an order is bound to happen so this isn't necessarily the deal breaker for me. Don't get me wrong, it is annoying and it doesn't give me warm and fuzzies about Moosejaw but it's their return shipping charge that really bugs me. If I need to return something that is defective or doesn't fit or isn't the color advertised or whatever, why should I pay shipping back to the retailer when there are plenty of other online retailers that will gladly pay for it? Hmm, the 10% back is nice, especially on big ticket items but most of my orders won't be as large as this last one was and the reward bonus becomes a nonfactor. I think I'll try Backcountry.com next time around.
Moosejaw.com is an interesting website full of funny little sayings and phrases. Some people may like them, I wished for a more professional approach but I guess Moosejaw is trying to make their site hip and fresh. All the funny quips aside, they do have a good selection of outdoor gear and apparel. Their product descriptions could be a little more informative at times but much of the gear has some interesting customer reviews, some helpful and some less so.
Moosejaw has decent prices, they seem to run sales fairly often and they have a cool 10% rewards program, kinda like the REI dividend. They have free shipping for orders over $50 BUT (and this is a huge no no for me) they will charge you shipping to return items that you have a problem with. I don't run into too many online retailers that do this. Most online companies (even the small independent ones) don't charge you shipping to return or exchange an item). I also have read that if you live in Canada and have things shipped to you, you will pay brokerage fees and taxes for shipping across the border. I don't have first hand experience with this Canadian issue though as I don't live there but our hockey loving friends to the north may want to check into this before ordering.
Now onto the details of my ordering experience. I made a large purchase of almost one thousand dollars, the items included a Bibler Ahwahnee tent, Gregory Triconi pack, Jetboil system with Coffee press, and an extra companion cup for the Jetboil. I also received a free rain cover for my Gregory pack and a free groundcloth for the Bibler tent, both courtesy of Moosejaw. I used the 10% reward system to get the jetboil system for free as well.
Total elapsed time from when I placed the order to when I received the items: exactly six business days using 5-7day UPS ground. Not too bad really. The only bad part is they left out the companion cup I ordered. It's funny because there is a hand signed note saying X person "personally" checked to make sure everything was in order before it shipped out. Oops. I called them up and they were very apologetic and told me it would be out right away. That was a few days ago and I should be getting it soon.
Overall I was satisfied with the buying experience (mostly because I saved about $200 due to free gear sales and the reward bonus on such a large order) but I don't think I'll be purchasing through Moosejaw.com again. Everyone makes mistakes and leaving an item out on an order is bound to happen so this isn't necessarily the deal breaker for me. Don't get me wrong, it is annoying and it doesn't give me warm and fuzzies about Moosejaw but it's their return shipping charge that really bugs me. If I need to return something that is defective or doesn't fit or isn't the color advertised or whatever, why should I pay shipping back to the retailer when there are plenty of other online retailers that will gladly pay for it? Hmm, the 10% back is nice, especially on big ticket items but most of my orders won't be as large as this last one was and the reward bonus becomes a nonfactor. I think I'll try Backcountry.com next time around.
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