2007-06-09 - 3:16 p.m.
REEF SANDALS: a review.
This post is actually a paid review of the company above. But be sure to read through to the end of the review, I'll give you some background on what this whole *paid reveiw* thing is about so you know what I'm talking about and why I'm doing it.
But first, here you go: Reef Sandals. "Active Sandals ships Reef sandals direct nationwide. In addition to the largest selection of Reef styles, we also feature: Rainbow, Chaco, Keen, Medium, Cobian, Crocs, and more!"
I decided to review this particular site because I am the Flip Flop queen! Almost all the shoes I own are flip flops or derivatives of such...so what better site to review than this?! Unfortunately, the site left me a little underwhelmed. Pretty much all the sandals/flip flop styles were identical....not much variety at all. (Though this might be due to the fact that they only offer 9 brands). The prices seemed really high for just basic flip flops and some of their other shoes. Also, there was a charge for shipping unless your order was over $75.00, and returns were on you.
Now, these may seem like small grievances, but there are other sites like Endless.com that offer to pay *you* $5.00 if you opt for overnight shipping (amazing!!), returns are prepaid, and they have an enormous inventory. (I've shopped with them before and they are great!)
So, with all that in consideration, I'll have to give the Reef Sandals" a thumbs down. The site is just too sparse and too expensive for me. The only positive thing I can say is that the sparseness and simplicty of their site makes it easy and quick to use. So maybe if you are looking specifically for one of the brands they sell, this might be a quick and easy shopping experience.
But now for the background on this whole thing. You might remember a while back (after you click the link, scroll down), I signed up for a program where I would get paid to write unbiased reviews of products and services submitted by various advertisers. The first review was to be for the review service itself, then later I would be contacted if an advertiser wanted me to review their product.
I was of course skeptical, but I thought, "Hey $20! What the heck, I'll give it a shot!" Well, after a few glitches that left me less than enthused, I kind of decided to give up on the program. I wrote the review, but they wouldn't pay unless you had earned more than $25 (I just needed $5.00 more dollars!!). And there weren't exactly a ton of review opportunities coming my way.....in fact none. That was that.
But today (6 months later) I got an email from them about something or other that they had changed, so I thought I'd log in and see what's up. Wow! I had 19 new review opportunities that were willing to pay about $5.00 each for a review. Huh. Maybe I should look into this.
Well, interestingly, the different products/websites up for review gave me the feeling that this was just a smarmy new way to drive traffic without really being spam but at the same time being a sort of tacky sales circle jerk. This was not true of all the products/websites offered, but that was the overall feeling I got. Maybe I'm just too cynical, but whatever.
Anyway, there was one company that I felt comfortable reviewing (which is the review above)....and I think I will earn $5.00 for it, so I can finally cash out and be done with the whole Review Me thing. Stay tuned. I'll let you know how it all turns out.
In other news, everything is going really good here. Thanks again to all of you who have sent good thoughts!
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Of course, you know, all of this is copy right protected. None of this information may be reproduced without my permission.