On-line Baby Registry - Who is the Best?

[TravelMom]

Hi! I've been attempting to register at BRU and Target, but neither have everything I want.
Is there a good on line registry that has a good return policy, good quality and service (and decent shipping charges) that anyone would recommend? I saw the thread on the site www.whattoget.net, but I would like a one stop shop for my family and friends. Any advice for the newbie?
Thanks!

[cmdnewton]

The registry at amazon.com is great. I wish that someone had told me before I registered at babycenter.com and BRU. Babycenter.com sent an email on November 1st saying that they were taking their registry down that day and it wouldn't be available until "later this year". We had already told everyone where we had registered so it would have been nice to have some advance notice! I have found that BRU always says "temporarily unavailable" for most items, but it changes daily. Go with Amazon.

[Bean606]

FWIW, I found that going to BRU and registering at the store, and then having them upload the registry gave me more options than trying to register online, where the selection was more limited. Also, although I didn't know about it before DS was born, I have since heard that baby depot, which is affiliated with Burlington Coat Factory, has a good registry.

[Melanie]

Also check out www.wishcentral.com

[evmr]

Also check out www.myregistry.com

[PattyfromBabyChic101]

I really, really like Amazon.com and Babystyle for registries. One grip though about Babystyle: stuff is out of stock a lot. But that's a lot of online stores.

[SAHMIL]

One thing to keep in mind with baby registries is this. There are people who are comfortable doing things like online shopping online and there are people who aren't. Moreover, there is a generational gap when it comes to baby registries online. Your mom and her friends will prefer going to the actual store, while your sister and your friends and cousins will buy everything online.

Yes, Baby Depot has a good one, but make sure there is one located within a 20 mile radius of where your family lives, so they know about it. Target has a good online registry, but beware of something, not everything that is online at Target.com is available at the stores. I had to change my Target registry because of the fact that people complained that there was too much available online. So make sure that if you put your registry together online, you look for the sign that says Also available in the store on the same page. It is probably easier to go to Target and just scan and then upload that way. Same goes for Babies R Us. I started it online, then went to the store and finished it all up.

But wherever you do your registry, make sure that you register at a very wide variety of price points. People can't stand when there's too many real expensive things on one registry.

Before I go,here is my one gripe about the Babies R Us registry and that is when they are out of something in the section of things available online. They put a sign on there that says "Temporarily Not Available", which worries me because of the fact that I fear that people who do look at that but don't do much online shopping will take it as , that this item is not available in the store.

[MarchHare]

I used thethingsiwant.com. It's a registry system that allows you to include items from as many different websites as you like. (It can be used for wishlists or wedding registries as well as baby stuff.) It's very easy to use and then you don't have to limit yourself to one place. It worked very well for me. It's true that some people don't do well with online shopping, but people can mark something "bought" even if they buy it at a brick-and-mortar store.

[MarchHare]

Oops, double post!

[Liniac]

Well, I am registered at both BRU and Target -- had a lot of non-computer-friendly relatives so I wanted places with a brick-and-morter presence, and there weren't enough Babies-R-Us in my area. I did like the variety of items Babies-R-Us carried, and the local store had a great in-store selection. That said, I've been very unhappy with BRU thus far.

Some early feedback:

Babies R Us does not allow people to search under my maiden or alternative name (despite the fact that they collect this information during signup--apparently this is only doable if you actually go into the store and go to the registry desk, i.e. not even at the in-store kiosks). Since I kept my maiden name in my "work" life this has resulted in many people not being able to find our registry.

At Target on the other hand I was able to register as Jane Smith Jones and a search on Jane Smith or Jane Jones finds me immediately.

Babies R Us has a HORRIBLY frustrating return policy for items purchased online. Unless an item is available on the shelves in your local store, you can't return it at a physical location. You have to jump through significant hoops online at toysrus.com and then they will let you ship the item back (you pay shipping -unless- the reason for the return is their fault), but you can't exchange it or get a store credit! They will only credit the original purchaser! So you have to call the person who gave it the gift and ask them to get you something else. It's utterly absurd!

In my case they sent me the WRONG product (actually just the wrong pattern). The giver ordered the right thing but BRU shipped me the wrong pattern. The item was not available at my local BRU. So while BRU is picking up the cost return shipping, and this whole thing is their fault -- the return will be credited to my friends charge card, and I will have to ask my friends to re-order the gift for me (and hope I get the right pattern this time). How embarrassing is that?

Imagine if you just didn't like the item once you saw it in person! you couldn't exchange it in the store, and couldn't bring it back and get something else you liked (unless you wanted to pay for return shipping, tell your giver you didn't like their gift after all, and ask them to select something else -- ridiculous...) You'd just be stuck with it. This is really horrible customer service.

I haven't had to bring anything back to Target yet so I can't comment on their customer service but so far, BRU has been completely disappointing.