RedEnvelope

Full review
I’ve been purchasing gifts from RedEnvelope.com for the past four years, and I have never once been disappointed, which is more impressive to me than a 100% positive feedback rating on eBay. I’ve also been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of a few of those pretty red boxes.

The Legend of the Red Envelope

Each gift comes with an explanation of the Red Envelope. It is as follows: The name RedEnvelope comes from an Asian tradition in which gifts are often presented in a simple red envelope—a timeless symbol of good fortune, love and appreciation. We believe that whether a gift is a token of gratitude or a grand gesture of love, its giving and receiving is a cherished occasion in itself.

Finding that perfect gift

The RedEnvelope website couldn’t make it easier for you to find an appropriate gift, unless they sent someone to physically hold your hand and make the decision for you, though they do offer live chats with customer service people or a personal shopper, if you do need one.

From the homepage, you can search for gifts by clicking on any of the following categories:

Occasion: Clicking on this will bring you to a page that asks “What Special Occasion are you celebrating?” and provide numerous links to click, such as upcoming holidays, congratulations, friendship, romantic events, etc. They also have handy-dandy lists of the traditional gifts for specific anniversaries, birthflowers and birthstones.
Recipient: From here, you can choose to peruse possible gift ideas from the perspective of your recipient. Is it a man? A woman? A new baby? An employee?
Shops: The different RedEnvelope shops include such categories as bar + wine + cigars, gadgets + tools, personalized gifts, toys + baby gear and everyone’s favorite: sale shop.
Catalog: If you have the catalog in front of you, you can directly enter the item number here.
Business Gifts: You can download the corporate catalog from here, or peruse their suggestions for appropriate business gifts.
Gift Certificates: An easy place to buy a gift certificate, which will be sent to the recipient via regular post.

Other Navigation Points

Also from the homepage you can click on any of the following links:

Catalog Request: Enter name and address and wait for your catalog!
Order Tracking: By logging into the account you set up upon ordering, you can see all orders you have placed (mine currently dates back to May 2004).
Shipping: Simply a list of their shipping charges and procedures. At this time, RedEnvelope will ship only to the U.S., and no P.O. Boxes. They offer three options: Standard Service for $7.95 (5-7 business days), Priority Service for $15.90 (2 business days) and Rush Service for $22.90 (next day). They use FedEx, DHL or DHL Ground.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Their website promises that if you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, they will do what it takes to remedy the situation. They will exchange or refund your purchase, excluding personalized gifts (unless the personalized gift was received damaged). You will have to pay shipping if you are returning a gift on a whim, but they will send you a prepaid postage label if the fault is theirs.

Customer Service

I have only had to have one foray into the land of RedEnvelope’s customer service, and I came away happy as could be. I purchased two presents five days before Christmas and paid the $22.90 for next day delivery. One of the presents arrived as promised. The other one was sent with the Standard Service and didn’t make it. I signed on, requested a live chat with Customer Service and was appeased nearly immediately. The representative looked up my order, inquired after the first gift and told me how the second one was shipped. He apologized profusely and refunded all of the shipping charges to my credit card.

Even a Thank You card to boot!

A few weeks after I sent the aforementioned Christmas presents, I received a notecard from RedEnvelope. Figuring it was just an advertisement, I put it aside for a couple days. When I finally looked at it, I found that it was actually a Thank You note. Apparently, with the present was a note to the recipient telling them that they could log onto the site and type in a Thank You message, and RedEnvelope would send the card. As a firm believer in Thank You cards, I thought this was great.

Final Thoughts

RedEnvelope is a great site for unique presents. They are a bit on the pricey side, but my expectations were exceeded with every gift I’ve given. If you spring the extra $5 for their custom wrapping, you will get a beautiful, distinctive, memorable present, wrapped to perfection to give to the recipient of your choice.

Things I’ve purchased in the past include: A Wooden Caddy with three Decanters and labels; Pewter “Get Lucky” dice; Picture Frame; Pearl “Mom” Bracelet; Windowsill Herb Garden