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Buying for Your Yard & Garden

I have this love/hate relationship with shopping in the spring because I feel like all the stores are carrying the same things and its boring. You try to find something in particular but because they dont have it they try to get you to buy something else. I dont know about you but thats not fun to me.

So after going through this type of frustration for a couple of years I decided to try something a little bit different. I turned to the internet to shop in private with no salesman over my shoulder and all the time in the world. What I discovered really surprised me.

Looking at the one product or specialty sites always seems like the best place to shop but you soon realize that it is very time intensive once you look around to decide which site is the one you want to buy from. For each site you have to research the customer service, checkout security, prices, shipping, etc. This is a time eater!

So I then went to the super stores. These are the ones that also have a presence down the street. Though you can take stuff back to them if you dont end up wanting to keep an item, why not just go down to the store and buy it? No shipping and no waiting and, nine times out of ten, no customer service, and long return lines and not always what I was looking for.

Then I started noticing that there are stores online that have a great variety of products that sell items in groupings. A couple of examples of groups are sporting goods or outdoor products for your home. When you find a good store like this, bookmark it! Once you do the research on how long have they been in business; do they have a customer service line you can call and is the checkout secured you know you can go back to them time and time again with good results.

This is now how I shop for all my outdoor needs whether it is for camping, grilling, gardening, patio furniture or whatever I can think of. I have several great shops that I frequent and have had great service. I did go through a few in order to find what I consider the best choices for me and you will have to do the same.

Once you find a website that meets your criteria, be a loyal customer! If you play the best price game you will eventually loose. Many of the price only sites have a hard time when it comes to customer service since they are keeping their prices down so low. Personally, Ill pay a little bit more to know I can pick up the phone and call somebody who will solve any issue that may arise.

I have had great experiences this spring with purchasing some raised beds and vinyl storage shed from the same online company. Their supplier for the raised beds was behind schedule and I emailed them to let them know it was a gift and needed to be there on a certain day. They canceled the order and found another supplier who could get a comparable order there on time at the same price. That is service and the best way to shop for outdoor stuff!