Not just playing around! (Play.com)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Play.com
Date:	02/11/09 (220 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great online store

Disadvantages: No wislist facility

I used to do lots of my online shopping at Amazon, but as nowhere these days can I find a cashback site that offers cashback at Amazon, I have been on a quest to find some comparable sites. One of the online shopping sites that I have been impressed with and have since started using a lot is play.com and I can usually get about 3% cashback through site such as topcashback and quanti.

The first thing that really impressed me about play.com is the range of products that are on offer. I had it in my mind that you could pretty much only get CDs DVDs and computer games etc from this online shop but they offer so much more. This includes books, toys, clothing, electronics plus all of the things that I mentioned above. You can also use the site in order to buy tickets - which is definitely worth knowing! Within all of these different sections there is a wide range of products too which you can either browse or just enter a search if you know the product that you want.

I have mainly used the site for buying CDs, books and DSVDs so I will talk a little more about those sections now. In the book section you can browse under lots of different headings - biography, fiction, children's, food and drink to name just a few. A lot of the prices are comparable to Amazons although I have to say that some are more expensive. I like to look between the two sites in order to find the best price. However, in play.com's favour they have free delivery on everything which makes this site much more preferable if you only want to buy one book. Also there are great offers on the new and used books and all these come with free postage too which is much better than Amazon! I have managed to get hold of some very good bargains by buying secondhand books on play.com.

There are also tons of DVDs on the site which again are organised in various sub sections or genres. Again prices compare pretty well with Amazon but it is always worth checking the other site too as is the same with CDs. Included in the DVD section are a pre -order chart, top 100 coming soon section and bargains. This is useful because you can sometimes browse here - especially in the bargains - and spot a film that you had long since forgotten about.

There are a couple of features that I like on Amazon which I think that if play.com adopted would make them even better. I wish they would find a way to suggest other choices to shoppers. For example, like Amazon they could show other items that shoppers bought when buying the item that you are looking at. I also like the fact that people post lists on Amazon which could be their top twenty of anything or everything. The one feature that I really wish that play.com would introduce though, is a wish list. I love my Amazon wish list and always send it to my husband for my birthday and Christmas. However, I always tell him to look on play.com too just in case he can get better prices and also get some cashback!

Like Amazon, everyone can have their own account on play.com. You can see your order history, track orders and write product reviews. This is where I want to be able to have my wish list though!

Ordering is very easy from play.com and they will store your details which is very handy if you are a frequent shopper there. As I said before, all delivery is free which I welcome very much, and everything that I have been ordered has arrived well within time. The used items probably take a little linger though but never take too long.

Play.com do believe in keeping in touch with their customers and I do get quite a lot of emails from them telling about latest offers etc. I don't mind this at all although I probably am often tempted into buying things that I never intended!

I have always been a very satisfied customer at play.com and always seem to find what I want on the site. As Christmas approaches I expect to be using it quite a lot and will definitely be checking out the toy section. I think that you are very likely to find what you are looking for and if you are stuck for ides they do have lists of gift suggestions.

IF they provided the opportunity for me to create my wishlist they would be an even better site but they are definitely worth taking a look at if you have not used them before!

Summary: As good as Amazon and sometimes better