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| - This is my first time ordering from Cheap Joe's online. I live in Colorado, so I've never visited the store, but they come highly recommended to me. While their selection is great, their prices were comparable to my local art supply store. The website was easy enough to navigate, and I liked being able to find all sizes of brushes on a single page. I found, however, that several items said "in stock" on the main page, only to find it was "backordered" when I changed to the "cart" page. A minor inconvenience that perhaps was a fluke.
A bigger issue for me was their shipping policy. The good news was orders over $100 ship for free, but you get what you pay for. Be aware that shipping is not typical. The quoted shipping window does not begin until after they finish "processing" your order, an additional three days unless you pay extra to expedite this. What was listed as "Value"method shipping (6 to 9 days) was actually 9 to 12 business days when processing was accounted for. (It has been 12 days and I still don't have my order.) Furthermore, my receipt says UPS shipping but "no tracking available." I inquired about this and was told they use UPS Mail Innovations, which is not the regular UPS. Your order will actually be handed off by UPS to your regular postal service for delivery. They have live chat service on the website, and they were very helpful in answering my questions about my order, so I appreciate that feature. I shop online for the convenience, but if shipping is more than my drive to Denver, I may decide to make the trip.
In summary: nice selection, easily navigable website, but beware of the shipping and pay the extra if you need it quickly.
Update: I added a star because on the very day I wrote this, my order arrived. Now that I understand their shipping, I can plan around it. They do have a great selection, and I like their frequent special sales. I'll probably order again.
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