Online vendor Johnny Cupcakes sells t-shirts and other clothing for hipsters festooned with cupcakes. (A notion we entirely support, being given to a particular love for the tiny cakes.) Apparently Urban Outfitters asked Johnny Cupcakes for a few samples of his t-shirts to be considered for placement in their stores, something that would have certainly had great financial reward for both companies. Sadly, Urban Outfitters chose not to carry Johnny Cupcake’s products—or he chose not to go with them for some reason; we’re not sure—and never returned his samples.
online
Consumers Speak: Overstock.com Rug Burns
By 1.17.06
Dean writes:
My wife and I ordered a large rug from Overstock.com on 10/31/05 and received it a week later. The rug was very nice, but not the color we ordered. We requested an exchange for the right color, but were told that due to “warehouse issues” they could not make an exchange, but they would give a refund once the rug was received and we could then purchase the correct rug. Since that time, we have spent over two months attempting to return the rug and receive a refund.
Morning Deals Round Up: Tate-La Bianca Edition
By 1.17.06
• For the well-off goth who’s looking to settle down, Sharon Tate’s Opal and Garnet Engagement Ring for $25k on eBay (the one given her by Roman Polanski). [via Bayraider]
Overstock.com’s Patrick Byrne Leaks Own Interview
By 1.13.06
Following the ins-and-outs of business is not our forte, but we continue to be enraptured by the kooky CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne. After making a call to investors where he assured them that he was not, among other things, a Jedi, he’s now followed up by publishing an email interview with Business Week’s e-Business editor Tim Mullaney—before the Business Week article has been published.
Amazon Listens: Fixes X-Rated ‘Anime’ Search Snafu
By 1.13.06
We won! Maybe! At least, we’ll take the credit! Good ol’ Amazon listened to our complaints about mixing x-rated hentai when doing searches for hentai and has quickly fixed the problem. Performing a search for anime now returns only the most wholesome of results, while searching for ‘hentai’ returns all the tentacles and demon incest that we hold so dear.
Amazon Pushes X-Rated Animation as ‘Anime’
By 1.12.06
Imagine the outrage from parents if the first returned product on Amazon in a search for ‘movies’ returned a hardcore pornography DVD. Adam, a fan of the Japanese cartoon stories known as ‘anime,’ has noticed something perhaps even worse: Searches for ‘anime’ on Amazon return results for ‘hentai,’ or adult, X-rated anime films. The top result [as pictured] is for a hentai film called ‘Princess 69,’ which as a reviewer describes as such:
If you’re into non-con, excellent animation, girls going down on girls… you might like this. I don’t much care for the enema or watersports parts of this film, but the facial expressions are priceless and lovely. These girls have the most wonderful “I am shocked, my mind has cracked by what is being done to me” expresions, they cry tears, they are bound, taped, mildly electrocuted, made to “initiate” new members, and brutally given sex.
Now we have absolutely no problem with Amazon selling Japanese animation for adults; We know that some cartoons are made with adult themes for adults’ enjoyment. But what we don’t understand is why Amazon needlessly conflates anime and hentai. Many anime fans, often already scorned as creeps by those not familiar with the range of themes offered by mainstream anime, are worried that Amazon’s lack of distinction between anime and hentai will both further the perception that all anime fans are also fans of hentai, as well as put children looking for traditional anime titles in an awkward position.
Eco-Furniture Sells Mass Produced Beds
By 1.11.06
We’re not sure which of these mass-produced bed are “exemplifying symmetry, balance, and harmony with the natural world,” but we’re assured that the “peace & tranquility” are much more abundant when you buy from GreenCulture Furniture. On GreenCulture’s EcoFurniture.com the ‘Sensay’ bed is made of “kiln-dried sustainably harvested solid merbau” with “rails … constructed of plywood with merbau veneer.” Every other retailer that sells the bed calls it the ‘Edo.’
Today in LoBo: Soda Can Cuffs
By 1.10.06
Independent design collective retailer (we’re just stringing together words until they mean something [everyday]) Elsewares is selling these beer and soda can cuffs for $80 a pop. Cuffs are borderline passe anyway, but when coupled with pop culture brand references, they very nearly cause our irony gland to liquify. That said, if you’re going to spend four Jacksons on a pop can, please pick one with a nice design, like the always-classy Tab soda.
A Moment in Sucking Less: Threadless Has Hoodies
By 1.10.06
Outright praise on The Consumerist is rare, but we’ve had nothing but excellent experiences with Threadless (ignoring the slight delay in their normally expeditious shipping during the Christmas rush). So consider this an exceptional free bit of shillery, on the occasion of their announcement that they will now be selling, in addition to their trademark t-shirts, hoodies.
Consumers Speak: “Going a little easy on Amazon, aren’t you?”
By 1.4.06
Reader Ray R. writes:
The company’s infamous “customer relations” policy must be among the worst going. My christmas orders for nephew and niece went completely astray and I wasn’t informed at all. When I phone head office in Seattle on Jan. 3 I get put through to Kham in India. She was polite enough, but the best she was going to offer was a $15 voucher, even though the $24 recharchable battery, the only part of the order being filled, was going to be delivered anyway, even though it was useless without the toy boat it was supposed to run, which was not being delivered. So, they’re refunding me about $100 for two presents not delivered and giving me a $15 voucher, but not refunding the useless battery — not to mention the cost of the phone call, the hassle of tracking them down, the fact that I look like a deadbeat uncle for not delivering presents thanks to Amazon.
The Dark Winter of Our Soles
By 12.29.05
We got this frightening portent in our Gmail accounts today from shoe retailer Zappo’s. The mukluk menace mushes on.
More Amazon Xmas Delays
By 12.21.05
We’ve got another case of a reader getting burned by slow notification of shipment delays from Amazon. We expect that delays are reasonable this time of year—the Amazon warehouses must look like the Snickers machine at a Harry Potter convention—but this whole ‘We can’t fill your order but we won’t tell you until it’s too late to order again’ thing is awful.
Dealhack’s Last Minute Online Shopping Guide
By 12.19.05
Although we can happily say that our holiday shopping is over, we know that many of you are still just getting the first inklings that the season is upon us. Dealhack has assembled this handy list of last-minute buying deadlines, should you belatedly feel the need to get into the spirit of things.
Online Ordering Deadlines for Holiday Delivery
By 12.9.05
DealHack has compiled a very useful index for online Christmas shoppers, showing the absolute deadline to place online orders for them to arrive in time. There is slight variance from store to store, but on the whole you’ll want to order by the 15th if you get standard shipping and by the 22nd for overnight.
