Artbeads.com

Full review
For about 4 years now, I’ve been turning a “gee this would be fun” hobby into something a bit more serious: Beading. Making jewelry and other accessories from various shapes, sizes and styles of beads, and then selling them to others who love jewelry but aren’t quite crazy enough to have a full room in their house devoted to beads and beading supplies.

It’s an obsession. And one that retail craft stores would love to feed upon, but I’ve gotten to the point where I NEED WHOLESALERS who will provide me with great products, fabulous prices, fast shipping, and a method of purchasing that is fast and easy to use.

Artbeads.com, a site that I happened across one day while googling “beads wholesale” has proven to be one of my new favorites to provide everything I need. Here’s why:

The products at Artbeads.com range from basics (Swarovski crystals, findings in basemetal, sterling, or gold plated, etc.,) to innovative (rad sterling beads that are flexible) and a little on the higher end of the quality/price spectrum. Photos of items are very good and large enough that you can see a good depiction of what you are buying; when I’ve gotten my orders, I’ve never been disappointed in the quality of the items. While the pricing is competitive (even substantially lower than other wholesalers), you will not find “cheap” items here. Gift certificates are available (hmmm…any of my faithful readers who would like to thank me for all the wonderful hours of reading delight…there’s an idea for you!), as are ready-made, wholesale priced jewelry items.

Inventory is real time! Woo-hoo! I don’t have to be disappointed by a call or email later on saying “We’re out of stock, so sad, too bad” when I was drooling with anticipation over a new bead. The one time that the inventory list was off, a CSR called me personally to let me know that the item was out of stock, and asked what I would like to do (cancel, place on backorder), and even told me approximately how long until I would receive the item. The site has black boxes stating “OUT OF STOCK” in the order box for the item, so you can’t back order or mistakenly order something that’s out of stock…I would like to be able to place back orders, and the last time I ordered, there were a LOT of items out of stock that I wanted to purchase. Small gripe, but it is a problem.

Easy to use shopping basket. Whoa, can I say TOO EASY to use? < g > Shopping pages are complete – by that I mean that when you click on the category for “sterling toggle claps” you get a full listing of ALL the sterling toggle clasps that Artbeads.com carries on one page. You don’t have to click on page after page after page and place items in your shopping cart one by one. This feature is one of my favorites, because I can “comparison” shop all at once, and by being able to select several items to place in my shopping basket at one time from a specific category, I save a LOT of time. Another feature of the shopping cart that I like is that when I get done shopping, I can go through and easily delete all of the items that were strictly impulse or that I decide are too pricey/don’t go with anything/don’t inspire me any longer. This is especially helpful when I go to my shopping cart and find out my eyes were bigger than my budget!

Want to save some money at Artbeads.com? No need to search mycoupons.com or any other site to do this…just look to the left side of the home page (or any other pages) and you’ll see weekly discount coupons. They range from special pricing on specific items to % off on total orders. Coupons are only good for one week, and they change every week, so you will want to go back and check periodically!

Shipping…one of the key components of an online shopping experience. Have you ever ordered something online, and then tapped your foot, checked the mailbox, hounded UPS/FedEx the minute after you’d hit the send button? Don’t lie, of course you have!!! When I buy something at a craft store, I can use it right away. When I order something online, I have to wait. And I have VERY little patience. Artbeads.com’s shipping however, is lightning fast. I placed order on a Wednesday over the Christmas holiday, and the items were in my mailbox (I usually pick the less-expensive, FREE if your order is over $100, shipping option of US Prio Mail but you have all kinds of alternatives) by FRIDAY. Un-freaking believable. I have sent Artbeads.com notes of thanks over this. And it’s consistent, not just a one-time shot. I have to believe they have a great packing and shipping department…items are obviously packed with care, styles are individually placed in baggies with a sticker stating the order information, including quantity. Baggies are wrapped in a foam cushion, then wrapped in lovely purple tissue paper, and placed in the appropriate cushioned mailing container (padded envelopes, small boxes with “popcorn” for larger orders.) A business card is included for your reference in future orders! (Artbeads.com does not include a little freebie gift like some other sites…maybe they could consider this? < w >)

I’d like to not have to completely fill out all of my shipping and ordering information when I order from Artbeads.com. I enjoy Amazon’s method of saving my information in my account (yes, you can set up an account at Artbeads.com), including various shipping locations. I don’t enjoy having to haul out my credit card number, my wholesale Tax Exempt ID number, etc., and fill in shipping and billing information every single order. PITA.

A neat feature to the web site, although by no means unique to Artbeads.com, is the Ideas gallery. From here, you can get ideas for items, of course using Artbeads.com products. I like browsing the Ideas gallery, but this is pretty common place for arts and crafts sites.

The basic basics. Of course, whoop-de-do, the site is searchable, and quite broad in your searches. Place “heart” in the search box and you will get all the items that are heart-shaped or have heart in their description. And the organization of the site is clear and available both in graphic click throughs and text outlines. These are basic basic features to me, however, and don’t earn any extra points…I’d expect as much and would only “take away” points if a site had a crummy search engine or poor organization.

Finally, the customer service I’ve received from Artbeads.com has been outstanding. As I stated earlier, I had an item which had to be backordered after I’d already ordered it, and I got a personal call. On Christmas Eve, none-the-less. Additionally, Artbeads.com sends me email notification when an order is received, AND when it ships. Pretty basic stuff, but it’s being sent by a real person, not an auto-replier. I know this, because I’ve had dialog with the staff after receiving my shipments and they’ve always replied back with a personal, very nice message. I have not had a problem with items as of yet, but I would anticipate excellent customer service to continue.

No minimum order, and you don’t have to have an account or tax-ID number to order. Return policy is fairly liberal – no restocking fee, and you are granted full refund of product price if purchased within one year. (Save your receipts.)

Overall, if you have an obsession with beads, or if you are just curious, Artbeads.com is a worthwhile site to visit. Pricing, easy selection, and fast shipping are the main reasons I will continue to shop at Artbeads.com to feed MY obsession.