gift registry

[emilys]

I just read the same thing and was going to write in to retract my warning, that is the problem my friend had apparently no longer exists. The thing was, it was how SHE registered (on-line), not even how or where the gift-giver may have bought the gift, that they made her send stuff back to Amazon/BRU -- SO stupid since if they carry the item and it's unopened, they should just give her store credit which is all she wanted, but they looked her up in the system and said no. Like I said, she argued long and hard with the manager about this, and probably many others did too so apparently they've changed the policy so my warning no longer stands. So, um, never mind. But this is good news. :)

[youngnan]

Does anyone know whether it is possible to return items bought from Babies R Us to a Toy R Us store? We registered at BRU, the nearest retail store is quite far away.

[tinwhistle]

Another thing to consider when comparing registries is:

When someone buys a gift listed in your registry, how promptly is your registry updated to show other shoppers that the item has already been purchased for you?

I'm now at the end of 6 months and just getting into comparing these myself. If anyone out there can add to the comments on www.whattoget.net, I'd be interested in hearing whether you had a good experience. In particular, how do returns work? Do they just go per the return policy of the particular store?

Thanks for all the good info, folks.

[zen_bliss]

i second the recommendation for www.whattoget.net

you can list ANYTHING there from any website and even link to photos. Way more fun for your shoppers, too, than just a list. wish i'd found it earlier. most of the obscure stuff I wanted (cloth diapers, slings, etc) was just NOT going to be found at retailers. babiesrus is lacking in the higher end selection of things if you want a nifty stroller or diaper bag, etc. good luck!

[emilys]

I loved Babies R Us/Amazon on line. I registered at the store but then made lots of changes to my list from home on line, but I have friends who only registered on line with them and that worked for them. I was kind of obsessive about researching stuff after I made my initial list and read lots of reviews and added and deleted stuff like crazy from home, it was actually really fun. Not all items at the store are available on line but it was never a problem. We received almost everything we registered for between shower gifts and people sending stuff and lots of people ordered on line. The only downside is that shipping costs for heavy items are a bit expensive but I imagine that's true with most stores, on line or not. Also the service at the BRU store is a mixed bag, as it says in the book, but if you have your Baby Bargains book with you and perhaps a friend who has an older child or two (this was a big help in choosing my stuff), the service at the store doesn't matter. I never had to deal with on-line customer service for anything, we seemed to receive everything in a timely manner and the website gets updated immediately when someone buys something or when you make a change to your list.

[angusmom]

Just my two cents based on when I registered for our wedding and what friends have said about their wedding and baby registries - AVOID TARGET!

The problem with Target is they change their merchandise seasonally. So you go and spend all kinds of time shopping around the store and picking your items, and then two months later everything is gone! They don't sell the stuff any more AT ALL!

We have a friend who only got half her dishes for her wedding and couldn't get the rest of the set. When I got married, all the bed linens we picked out were gone out of the stores by the time we got married.

With a baby registry, you'd have the same problem because you want to register early and don't have the baby for a few months later - so anything you pick out that changes with the season will be gone and your registry is USELESS.

Plus other posters on these boards have complained about the Target return policy if you receive a gift and don't get a gift receipt.

I don't think anyone else mentioned Target here yet. Maybe there is someone who has an opposing view of Target's registry and can post something more positive than I can. :)

[youngnan]

I just want to second the positive opinion of www.whattoget.net--I am having my shower this weekend, and it's made life a lot easier. It's an online registry that not only links multiple registries, but also lets you list where you can find items at local stores. It's great because I don't have to cross reference lists for family/friends who are out of town and local friends.

They also have very fast customer service. They recently updated their site, resulting in a couple of bugs, but they fixed them right away, usually the same day.

Just a suggestion about listing small things--if you use this registry service, you can type your own "name" for the items. So for example, for baby toiletries, I listed several things separately but used a common category. i.e. "Natural baby-care: Burt's Bee's Apricot Oil" "Natural baby-care: Weleda Calendula Cream" etc so that people could decide whether they wanted to get them all together.

[chrissyhowie]

I haven't used their registry personally, but I always tell newly pregnant friends to look at www.onestepahead.com and consider registering there. I think they have such interesting and practical items, although it probably would be best to get some advice from people who have kids before you went nuts and registered for everything there!

I had no problems with the babystyle.com registry except that many of the items I originally registered for went out of stock. We also used babiesrus.com without any problems.

--Chrissy
Mom to Chloe (1/29/03)

[junior503]

I saw one comment to avoid Target, and I would have to agree on one point. The target registry is a big pain. However, people love to make baby gift purchases from Target. I had my first shower this weekend, and each gift purchased from a registry came from Target. Of course, I had to go online after the shower in order to check and see if what was purchased was marked as purchased off the registry. I noticed that half of the items were not. So, I had to make sure that those items were marked as purchased. Target does discontinue some items, but they did send me a postcard warning me that a few items would be discontinued. If you were to register at Target right now, I would suggest that you go back about a week or two before your first shower and confirm that the items you registered for are still available there and make adjustments if necessary.

[colleenfs]

I registered with BRU/Amazon, and I had a mostly good experience with them. One item caused a problem - a friend bought something online off the registry, but when the box arrived, it was a set of pots and pans. It took several emails to rectify the problem, and then when we thought everything had been taken care of, my friend got a nasty email from Amazon... it all worked out in the end, but that was a pain.

I started the registry online, and then I ventured 30 miles out to the nearest BRU where I scanned a few more items. Later I discovered that these items never showed up on either the instore registry or the online registry. Not a big deal, but I don't know what happened there.

Still, I think BRU is the easiest forum to get most of your needs out there. I will use them again some day when #2 shows up. Plus we now have a BRU 2 minutes from my house.


Colleen
Mama to Julia 1-10-02