Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mailorder

Gourmet Food Catalogs?

KathrynT — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:12:38 -0800

What are some good fancy-pants gourmet food delivery websites? Every year, I'm flooded with catalogs touting amazing-looking gourmet food, delivered, for an arm and a leg. I love to browse these, even though I never order anything. Well, they must have noticed that I never order anything, because this year none of them came! And of course I can't remember what any of them are called.

I've done my Google homework, but all I can seem to find is Dean and Deluca and Baludicci's. These are both fabulous, but I'm sure there were others. I'm talking about the kind of places that will ship you a whole beef Wellington ready to put into the oven, or fancy crab pouf appetizers, or what have you. I feel silly, but apparently drooling over these catalogs and web sites is a big part of what sets the holiday mood for me, and I'm sort of lost without them! What are your favorite catalogs or websites for this sort of ridiculously priced indulgence?

Where to buy tea online, + pu-erh

k. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:24:37 -0800

Tea Filter: what's your favorite online tea store? Bonus question: tell me about pu-erh. Stores I already know about, but haven't necessarily ordered from:
Adagio Teas
Tea Gschwendner (teamerchants.com in the USA)
TeazOnline.com
Upton Tea
Maeda-en (Japanese green tea only)

Which of these is the best, for quality or price? Is there a different one that you prefer?

Bonus: I'm interested in trying pu-erh tea. What does it taste like, in comparison to more familiar kinds of black/green/oolong/white tea? What kind do you suggest I try first?

Looking to order not more than $100 worth of semi-tat from overseas

kmennie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:39:50 -0800

Can you suggest more sites like lovelyshoes.net? Rainbow totes, $7! I want to receive parcels of entertaining, extremely cheap goods. I don't mind reasonable minimums but I'm not a reseller. Googling around for wholesale whatever is getting me nowhere. Where do hip boutiques get their goods?

Requirements:

Amazingly cheap

Reasonable minimum orders (lovelyshoes.net's is US$100) -- I am looking to do some Xmas shopping so might conceivably want five of something, but

Goods more interesting/nicer than what I can find in dollar stores -- I suppose I am looking for a good-sized city's Chinatown shops' level of "Ooh, how cute" and "I didn't know they made these"

I have only been able to find Chinese sites selling designer knock-offs, which is not what I'm looking for (though I do like $11 Marc Jacobs knockoffs) -- I don't want fake Louboutins -- or "wholesale" sites whose discounts are crap or whose merchandise is mostly nose hair trimmers. I suppose the perfect place would be like lovelyshoes.net but with Hello Kitty and toy robots and cashmere scarves thrown in the mix.

InsuranceFilter: What exactly makes a medication fall into the maintenance medication category in the eyes of insurance companies?

lrkuperman — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:17:38 -0800

InsuranceFilter: What exactly makes a medication fall into the maintenance medication category in the eyes of insurance companies? Is it the fact that the doctor writes the prescription and allows for refills? Would getting a new prescription with no refills every month circumvent the whole maintenance medication designation? My husband and I have medical insurance and prescription insurance through his employer. For the past 6 years, the companies have been easy to deal with and we've always had great coverage with lots of options. Just recently (within the past 2 months) the prescription insurance - Express Scripts - struck some kind of deal with my husbands employer and now they are making it mandatory that we use their mail-order pharmacy for any medication that they consider to be routine/maintenance medication. I have no desire to use any mail-order service for my medications and I am resentful of the fact that this is being forced down my throat. I feel that there is something fishy about the fact that they are not even allowing a choice of mail-order pharmacies, but instead are mandating that we use theirs OR pay 100% out of pocket for our medications... Also then we face the possibility that the company will sell detailed claims data on prescribing and dispensing history which drug companies often use to target sales efforts. I don't want someone selling my medical information!!! They infer that fact themselves on their own website:

"Business Associates: We arrange to provide some services through contracts with business associates. On occasion, we may disclose your medical information to business associates acting on our behalf. If any medical information is disclosed, we will protect your information from further use and disclosure using confidentiality agreements."

So I guess my question comes down to this - what exactly makes a medication fall into the maintenance medication category? Is it the fact that the doctor writes the prescription and allows for refills? Would getting a new prescription with no refills every month circumvent the whole maintenance medication designation?

I really want to find a way to beat them at their own rules and would appreciate all insight, suggestions or guidance that any of you may have to offer!

Shad roe

veggieboy — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:27:08 -0800

Does anybody have a lead on shad roe by mail? I'm going to visit my mother in California in a few weeks. She wants me to buy some shad roe here, freeze them and bring them on the plane. This seems like a monumentally bad idea. But I would like for her to have her shad roe.

Does anybody have experience with a source that will ship? Fresh is best, but frozen is an option too, if that can happen — especially since the season may be over by the first week of May, right?

(Note: I've never had frozen shad roe. So if that's just not worth it, feel free to warn me away.)

What are the world's most useful dead-tree catalogs?

cadastral — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:23:14 -0800

What is the iconic (or just "your favorite") dead-tree product catalog (listing of merchandise for mail-order sale) for your hobby, industry, or trade? I get a lot of inspiration and project ideas from those huge, cinder-block-sized industry-specific catalogs that most every industrial supply company puts out. I really like the feeling of having these things on the shelf for when I need... something to fix a particular problem, but am not sure at all what that something is or what form it might take.

I want more of these catalogs. Hard copies. On my bookshelf. I want to know the inside scoop on all of the thousands of vocations and hobbies about which I know nothing. I want to know what the go-to catalog is for model railroaders, scrapbookers, field geologists, rock-climbers, steamfitters, tailors, hydroponic gardeners, blacksmiths, glaziers, restauranteurs, casino-operators, robotic-arm builders... just, everything.

By way of example, I love love love the Grainger catalog (catalog order form). It's filled with amazing things. I'm not shilling for them whatsoever and I couldn't endorse their product or their service anyway, having never ordered from them (I usually use it to get my ideas, and then I try to buy local from a similar, smaller supplier close by). The B&H photo and video catalog (catalog order) is another favorite (same deal, never spent a cent with them... I'm real big on keeping my money local).

So eager to see what y'all got. I've always been so awed by the disparate fields of knowledge and expertise that are brought together by MeFi. I am very interested in your little corner of experience and interest... and I thank you so much for sharing it with me, if you'd be kind enough to do so.

Do you get a lot of your food via mail order?

sparrows — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:37:41 -0800

Do you get a lot of your food via mail order? I mean everyday foods, not stuff from expensive specialty places. What are your favorite sources for this? (I'm in the U.S.) Asking because I'm thinking about moving back into an isolated NYC neighborhood that's a long, multi-leg trip from any good grocery stores (and definitely has no FreshDirect service).

Last time I lived there, I used a combo of an organic delivery service (which is a good value for a weekly mixed box of fruits & veggies, but offers only a very limited & expensive selection of other groceries) plus sites like bulkfoods.com and some natural foods sites that now seem to have gone out of business or stoped local delivery.

So what are your current favorite mail order food sites? Every kind is great to hear about, and I'm especially into ones with lots of natural or Asian or vegetarian foods.

Straw poll: how are your sales doing?

rolypolyman — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:07:50 -0800

Mail order entrepreneurs: How have your sales figures been over the past few months? I'm looking mostly for tidbits from established sellers who do daily mail order merchandise sales via the Internet and have an excellent feel for weekly trends. Are you doing better than 6 months or a year ago? Any relevant info on what you sell and insight on your customers would be great.

Please no replies from brick & mortar stores or large companies -- too many variables at work there.

As far as myself, I publish low volumes of books and software and have noticed an anomalous drop in sales during the past 4-5 weeks. I figured I'd post this partly out of curiosity and also to get a feel for whether it's specific to my own business or applicable to everyone.

Business fulfillment software

zek — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:44:47 -0800

I run a small mail-order shipping business and for years have been using an Excel spreadsheet to process and fulfill orders. Is there a database-based application that will do this instead? My main problem is keeping track of who ordered what, when, seeing what's on backorder, identifying open purchase orders, printing invoices where necessary, and seeing graphs of various product sales. Right now I'm doing all this manually.

I've seen a few programs but they cost a hefty sum and alternatives are difficult to search for.

No server-based solutions, please, as I want a self-contained solution and don't want all my data locked up with one company.

Best mail-order food?

shivohum — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:34:53 -0800

What are the finest mail-order food goods available at reasonable prices? I'm talking best bread, brownies, cakes, fruits, frozen pizzas, cookies -- any recommendations for extraordinary food at not-exhorbitant rates.

Pennsylvania Saffron

digitalis — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:49:43 -0800

Where online can I buy saffron grown in Pennsylvania? I did a quick google, but I'm not coming up with anything other than articles and recipes and links to buy saffron grown everywhere else.

Bring Home the Bacon

Miko — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 09:02:24 -0800

Ham it up: Need recommendations for an especially delicious and good-quality mail-order ham, as a holiday gift for ham-lovers. Something that costs less than Harry & David's $100 ham would be appreciated.

CD Club fun!

synecdoche — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:26:27 -0800

I've been thinking of joining a CD club, like Columbia House. However, when I went to the Columbia House website and browsed around looking for 12 cds for the introductory offer, I was very disappointed to find that I could only find, at most six CDs that I wanted and did not have. I should point out that I KNOW Columbia House has a much wider selection than this, but it does not seem to be available for the introductory offer.

So, are there any recommendations for such CD clubs? Special caveat: it must be able to deal with Canadians.

I'm not necessarily looking for obscure stuff-- I see it more as an opportunity to fill out my collection of CDs with some of the "classic albums of all time," as the phrase goes.

Online selling to Europe from the US?

subpixel — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 11:16:22 -0800

(E)URO-COMMERCE filter - i run a mail order business and web site and entertain fantasies of doing the same in europe. does anyone have any knowledge of the shipping/postage/tax/duties situation for inter-european shipping? are there examples of companies who serve europe the way small e-tailers are able to server the whole US via UPS or thhe US mail?

New Digital Camera

sinical — Sun, 22 Feb 2004 20:40:57 -0800

University student on a budget looking to buy a new digital camera. Looking at the Canon G5 or Sony V1 right now, but wondering if I'm overlooking others. Also questions about ordering from the US to Canada with duties and taxes (more) I'm a university student who has recently saved up a wad of money that I'm looking to blow on a camera to replace my very outdated fuji finepix 1400.

I'm currently between a G5 or a DSC V1, and leaning to the G5. I wouldn't mind a G3 either since I really don't need the 5MP, but the prices for even used G3's seem pretty close to the G5, so a new camera with a warranty seems like the better option there. I've looked at the Coolpix 5400 too, but its quite a bit more expensive from what I can see.
I can order both the G5 and DSC-V1 for around $700 CAD from B&H.

I really like the flip LCD and the remote control of the G5 and while the 5400 is out of reach, I'd love to have a bulb shutter setting too. Is there any other camera model that I could get for the price ($500 US) that has comperable features that I've overlooked? I really don't need huge MP, but I do want as much manual control as possible.

Also, as mentioned, I'm from Canada. I can't order a camera from amazon.com, and amazon.ca doesn't have cameras. Canadian retailers are trying to sell the G5 for around $1000 CAD, but I can get if from the US for around $700 CAD. If I did order the camera from B&H it would cost me $35 for UPS shipping which is fine. Would I have to pay Canadian duties or taxes on importation though? I've tried to look at the Canadian Customs site, but I can't seem to find a clear answer. If I had to pay 15% Canadian taxes, it would be stretching my budget past its breaking point.
Thanks very much for any help.