Active-Sandals.com: buy footwear without having to walk anywhere
May 4, 2007 Reviews, Sports No CommentsThe following is a compensated review of Active-Sandals.com.
Anyone that’s ever met me knows how I feel about sandals. And socks. If there’s any possible excuse to wear sandals, even in the frigid northern clime I live in, I’ll find it. First sunny day in a week? Never mind the 2′ of snow on the ground, it’s sandal time! There’s something about sandals that just beats the daylights out of other types of footwear, especially the kind that make you wear socks. Did I mention I hate socks?
So, what’s the context for this rant? Well, there’s a new store out there on the web that has every kind of sandal you could possibly want, at pretty good prices. Active-Sandals.com features a separate men’s and women’s section, further broken down by brands. They’ve got all the popular brands, including my two personal favorites, Teva and Birkenstock.
While I haven’t ordered anything from them, and therefore can’t really comment on the speed of shipping or the quality of the customer service, a quick price comparison on Froogle leads me to believe the prices are fair and competitive. For example, the Teva Terra Fi2 sandal for men is listed at $80 on active-sandals.com, and Froogle shows other sites selling it for between $80 and $83, although there seems to be another store with the sandals on sale for a mere $50.
One of the nice features for an internet store to have, that I noticed active-sandals.com has included, is free shipping for any order over $75. The free shipping is via UPS Ground, and the website says that average delivery time is 2-4 days, which is not at all bad for free shipping.
I was a little unnerved by the return policy, which emphasizes that sandals must be ‘UNWORN’ to be returned (within 30 days of receipt), and specifically indicates that just trying on sandals can put dirt or perspiration on the sandal, making it ‘worn.’ Now, I completely understand that a company will not take back a product that’s clearly been worn in the mud for two weeks, but if this caveat is merely an excuse to deny returns of a product that someone tried on and found didn’t fit, then this is a business model that will not survive long on the web. I believe, however, that this warning is probably to prevent just the sort of thing I’ve mentioned–i.e. someone wearing the shoes around for a couple of weeks, getting them dirty, and then claiming they don’t fit exactly right. If anyone has an experience buying from active-sandals.com, I’d love to hear how the customer service was, and how quickly the product was received.