Uncommon goods.com

Full review
I've been struggling with the idea of writing an epinion on UncommonGoods.com for a while. Why? Because it's so good I didn't want to share it with anyone! But I know that my duty as the Online Insider requires me to tell you, faithful readers, and so I have acquiesced. I will write about this amazing site for you today. I've been a fan of this site for a few years now, and have purchased some of it's eclectic wares for the holidays. As each gift was opened, the recipients were delighted and amazed. And everyone wanted to know... "Where'd you find this one, Insider?"

About This Uncommon Site
According to the website, UncommonGoods has "worked hard to build an online marketplace offering creatively designed, high-quality merchandise at affordable prices. We are combining the treasures of a specialty boutique, the great finds of a craft show, discoveries from a faraway bazaar, along with some enduring classics." That means you can find some really interesting stuff you won't find anywhere else at this site. I'd compare it to a cool kitsch shop in Greenwich Village, NY. If you haven't been to that area or can't shop there because you're not from the East Coast, this site will neatly fill the bill for you.

Site Interface Design & Navigation
The site is built to feel like a boutique in a trendy area. The cool blues and greens are not in-your-face colors, rather they're calming and restful. The logo area is hip, too, with the text kind of freeform and fun. Again, this is supposed to be a different type of site with memorable wares...they want their interface to reflect this.

The front page of the site has a large merchandising area with lists one large picture of a sale item, but also mentions many items in a block of promotional text. In most websites this probably doesn't work (and I'm not so sure that it works here), but the site's stuff is so cool you might actually read it.

Underneath the text block, (the homepage and text change seasonally) the site lists an additional 6 categories and items to click on. These are all variations on the seasonal theme. Because it's near to Fathers Day, the themes are: his accessories, this just in, cocktail dad, outdoor dad, uncommon savings, and doodads. As you can see, some of these don't rotate out (uncommon savings and this just in stay year round) but some are directly related to the merchandising theme. I think that this theme related merchandising is a smart way of encouraging window shoppers, so that the browsers of today end up becoming tomorrow's buyers.

The navigation of the site is well thought out. The top green bar has 8 categories: accents, dining, paper, jewelry, accessories, gifts, occasions, and collections. You'll notice that these are distinctive ways of shopping or item types.

There is a small search entry box in the top right of the site. This probably works best for return visitors, as the inventory on this site is not regular items -- I don't know how you'd come here and search for any of it (unless you'd seen it before).

Underneath the search box in the right gutter area, the site has the usual FAQ, help and shopping basket links, as well as the about our company section "about us", jobs, and feedback links.

NOTE: While you're here, click the last link on the bottom of the right side of the page to get added to their catalog list. It's well worth it.

Shopping At The Site
Shopping and checkout at the site is fairly easy. It's three pages and no forced registration with the site. Finding what you want is the trick. Again, it's not the navigation, as they pretty well nailed that. It's just that you'll see so much cool stuff that you've never seen before that you'll find yourself browsing along. For instance in the dining area and coasters, etc subcategory you will find no less than 3 pages of coasters or coaster sets... all eclectic and very cool, from old NYC scenes to solid pieces of agate to old 33 rpm record centers (I bought these).

If you're looking for someone who's got it all or think you need a gift to reflect someone's individualist nature, uncommongoods is the place to go.