I love it because everything is always "free." "Free" but you have to pay for shipping. This is where the Slickdealers tear it apart. I do admit, the shipping does seem a bit exorbitant. Since opening my Etsy shop, I've learned quite a bit about shipping. You can send stuff USPS First Class if it weighs under 16 oz. If it's anything bigger than a legal size envelope it costs a minimum of $2.62 to send it anywhere, even if it's to your neighbor. Insurance is a minimum of $0.75. Then there's the cost of the packaging itself to make sure the item arrives at it's final destination in good condition. Still... I agree... Shutterfly shipping is overpriced. The Slickdealers feel like they sell junk for free and profit on the shipping.
Here's why I love the site. Yes, I almost always get everything for "free." That's because almost every other site or rewards program I belong to sends me free Shutterfly codes or offer Shutterfly rewards. I've received free emailed codes from Best Buy, JoAnn, Panera, P&G, Kellogg's Family Rewards, and My Coke Rewards, just to name a couple off the top of my head. I also have a bajillion points at My Coke Rewards that I can redeem for stuff. Plus, here lately, it seems Shutterfly itself offers a choice of "free" items every weekend. It used to be free calendars around the end of the year and 101 free prints about every other month but here lately the free stuff has been flowing, well, freely. I've tried out lots of items and, quite frankly, am pleased with the quality of what I've received. I'd hardly call it "junk."
I think their items make great unique gifts. Last year I tried out their photo playing cards...
Seriously adorable playing cards for the person who has everything!
They are normally $19.99 (which I'd never pay) but I got them with a free code and paid $7.99 in shipping. I thought they were worth $7.99. I've also gotten their photo magnets as gifts for the kids. They work really well for lockers. They run normally $5.99 to $8.99 but with the free code it's $3.99 for shipping. I also always get my parents and my in-laws a calendar for Christmas with all our photos from the past year. Normal price is $24.99 but there's always a free code out over the holidays. The shipping is $6.99.
Yes, you have to pay shipping. Even with the shipping though, it comes to a "fair" price for the product. For instance, the 101 free prints...
Get 101 prints, pay $7.99 shipping. That comes to about $0.08 a print. That's still much less expensive than what you can get at your local store.
However, get 99 prints (you don't HAVE to use all 101 of them) and the shipping drops to $5.99. That's $0.06 a print. Definitely less than what you pay at the store. That's how I buy my 4x6 prints.
I've been working on quite a few photo projects lately. I also decided that since taking the Christmas Pledge last year worked so well I'm doing it again and decided to order my Christmas cards early. I've ordered cards from several different places in the past but I like the quality, look, and options available at Shutterfly the best. Of course, they are also the most expensive if you pay regular rip retail.
So... I found myself with a confluence of great Shutterfly deals this weekend. Currently, Shutterfly has a code out (WICKED, good til 11/2) which gives you 50% off photo books, 40% off cards, and 30% off everything else. 40% off on cards is about as good as it gets. Sometimes they'll go 50% off but I had some other codes that were expiring.
Here was my plan. Pay for the Christmas cards I wanted and get to $39. At $39 free shipping for your whole order kicks in (with code SHIP39). You have to buy your cards in multiples of 5 but there is also a free card code (CARD4U) that gets you one for free. So, got 20 trifold cards, one was free and it was $45.02 ($42.07 + $2.95 tax) for the rest with the 40% off. That's as close to $39 as I could get.
Now I'm not paying $45 for just 20 cards. I loaded my cart up with all my other freebies. Code 101TREATS (expired yesterday) got me 101 4x6 prints. My Coke Rewards had given me another 101 free print code that expires on 11/30 so I used that. I redeemed 370 My Coke Rewards points for another 20 free cards. Kellogg's Family Rewards had sent me a code for two 8x10 prints that expires on 11/6 so I used that. Code GIVETHANKS (expires 11/16) gave me 12 free mix and match stationary set cards.
So... for $45.02 I got:
40 Christmas cards
202 4x6 photos
2 8x10 photos
12 mix and match stationary cards (they are the size of Thank You notes)
I'm thinking that's probably worth $45. The site says I saved $34.95 in free shipping. Really? Do you really think it costs $35 to ship all that? I'm thinking not... Site also says I saved $148.80 for all my freebies and discounts, meaning full rip retail for my order with tax but before shipping would have been $204.23. Now is all that stuff really worth $204? No freakin" way!
Locally, I probably could have got the prints for $0.10 a piece... so about $20. The 8x10's are $3.99 at Walgreens but they often have 40-50% off... so about $4 for 2. 40 personalized photo Christmas cards can easily run $2 a piece but most stores will run 50% off... that's still $40. The stationary cards I just threw in because they were free. Even without the stationary cards though, I'm looking at a local store price of at least $64 + tax, so I think I did pretty well. Plus, I got the exact cards I wanted for Christmas.
It pays to be prepared. If I had had my wall calendars done, I would have used some My Coke Rewards points and gotten them for free too... but I've been too busy to make them yet so I'll end up paying the shipping when the free codes come out. I generally back all my photos up on the site so I did have all my photos up to date this weekend to make my cards and print out what I wanted.
So there you have it. Love it or hate it. If you can stomach the shipping you can get some fair deals. My latest strategy though has been to actually buy the minimum to get free shipping when I can stack a bunch of deals at once. Granted, the timing has to be right to do this. It pays to be prepared!
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