"I must be having great luck with online christmas shopping b/c this is the second review I've done of a place I have never shopped at before and I have 5 star review and others are rating them low.
I will address my experience as compared to some of the complaints I read. I received emails today that my shipments are on the way already. So I couldnt ask for quicker delivery. My order wasnt held b/c of one item, they shipped one item separately and emailed me so even though the email came later today.
I am christmas shopping so I am using a dedicated card for this purchase and even though it came out when I placed the order I didnt find this unacceptable.
The price is where I have to rave! I pretty much finished all my christmas shopping for my son who is a teen boyscout with items he really wanted. A hard frame back pack, waterproof boots, sleeping pad, columbia jacket, disc golf set, etc. I even found thermal curtains that were crazy priced for $29 a pair and they are 60-80 every where else. I will be shopping at this online store again. "

"I placed an order valued at around $150 dollars. I first tried to use Paypal to pay for my order and they told me that they were incapable of having it shipped to any other address other than the billing address for Paypal. Stupid but OK...

I was shipping to a different address so I replaced that order and paid for it directly, giving them my credit card info. Almost week went by and I had heard nothing from them. I called them and this CS rep tells me that my credit card was denied and I should contact my bank. She had no transaction information other than that. I called my bank and they inform me that nothing has been denied and that the Sierra Trading Post had never attempted to process a payment on my card.

I call back to the Sierra Trading Post and inform them that what the CS rep had told me was factually incorrect and that I was less than satisfied with being deceived as the reason why my order was cancelled. The CS rep was useless and they offered absolutely nothing to correct my order. This company is horrible.

They send you good offers that they make no attempt at honoring them from what I can tell. Their customer service is #$%$ and I was out right lied to. They cancelled my order without any notification whatsoever. I would still be wondering where my ordered items were if I hadn't actively pursued the status of my order.

There are too many other companies with much better service to waste your time with this company."

"I found Sierra Trading Post a couple of months ago and thought their prices were too good to be true. I've ordered a few items; cycling shorts, cycling helmet, cycling shirt to start with. Products were received in new condition, packaging was a little skimpy (thin cardboard box with air bubble packing) but I can't complain much; my items were not fragile. Price is great and if you can get the .99 shipping, it's a steal. I've saved over $150 on these three items. Have not had a bad experience yet. Will update if I run into any problems."

"I am disgusted. I can't stand it when online merchants charge your credit/debit card before they even ship the item. I made an order on September 20. It is now September 27. They charged my credit as soon as I made the order. In an online chat I was told that my order has not shipped because they are still looking for part of my order. I went to their website and the item I ordered is still listed in stock a week later! How can they not find something for an entire week that they still claim to have in stock on their website. It's also annoying that they hold the rest of my order hostage because they can't find the other part of it. I don't think I will ever order from them again. Also, I had to initiate contact with them to see what was happening with my order. I would appreciate an email update if they can't even ship my order within 7 days. They should at least change the practice of automatically charging your card as soon as your order. That way if the order is cancelled, or late, it won't aggravate your customers. I don't think many people wan't to be charged in advance for something they might not even receive. UGH."

"In June of this year I ordered a dress shirt from them as a gift for Father's day for my husband. On the website the shirt got glowing reviews, but the shirt I received was sized incorrectly and fit horribly. The customer service people were very polite and refunded me without charging me return shipping. I also ordered a pair of Teva mush sandals from them, which I received on time, and which I enjoy very much, and I have been wearing them ever since."

"Over the past year I have made many purchases from Sierra Trading Post and have been happy with most purchases. On four separate occasions I received damaged/broken merchandise, specifically porcelain products from their house wares department. My last order involved damage to 7 out of 12 dishes due to extremely poor packing including: using very little packing material and stacking very heavy items one on top of the other. I would have gladly returned the broken dishes and accepted seven replacements; however they were out of stock. I called the customer service rep who politely requested that I drop off the merchandise to a UPS drop-off center for return shipment. I asked her if UPS could pick it from my house since the box was extremely heavy. She asked instead if I would take out all the broken dishes and take pictures of each one in lieu of shipping the merchandise back for a refund, this way UPS wouldn’t have to pick it up from my house (I guess that’s how they save money). Although willing to do it, I was placing myself at risk for cuts with broken shards. I told her the only way I could take a picture of the merchandise was with my cell phone. While I was on hold, I began taking out broken dishes one by one from the box and placing them on my dining room table. The customer service rep then told me that they couldn’t accept a cell phone photo, so after all of this telephone banter back and forth, she then told me I could have the merchandise picked up from my house (still don’t know why they couldn’t have told me that from the beginning). However, it could take up to one week and could not give me a date or time of pick-up. I re-packed broken dishes, one by one, back into the box. In order to expedite the return process, (I didn’t want to wait one week and possibly miss the UPS pick-up while at work) I had my husband help me transport the box to our local UPS drop-off center and called Sierra Trading Post to have them cancel the pick-up. In the meantime I tried to e-mail the CEO of the company to complain about this recurring damage problem and the inconveniences I was put through, but the e-mail was never forwarded to him. Instead, I began to receive responses stating that someone will look into the matter. A few days later and after persistent e-mails sent by me, I received a phone call followed by an e-mail from the director of customer service. When I got home from work that night I listened to the message and read his e-mail. He sounded very apologetic and sincere in his e-mail and stated that the reason the CEO of the company did not read my e-mail was because he was away on vacation for a couple of weeks. Because the dishes that I had ordered were no longer available the customer service director offered to replace them with an alternative of my choice and charge me close to their cost price. After looking through their very limited inventory of Revol, I was happy to reply that I had found a good alternative to the dishes and that I would be very happy if I could pay the same price for these that I had paid for the other dishes. The replacement dishes I found were exactly the same pattern and by the same manufacturer except they were smaller than the originals. Nonetheless I was willing to accept them as replacements. I waited one week and did not get a response. I thought there was a possibility that he never received my e-mail, so I re-sent it. I waited another week and still did not get a response. I finally e-mailed him for the third and final time and told him that I would no longer do business with Sierra Trading Post. I thought it was shameful for a customer service director to make a disingenuous offer and then to rudely ignore the customer after the customer decides to take him up on his offer. I have since removed my name from their mailing list. I will be compiling all the pertinent e-mails sent and received and send them to the CEO of Sierra Trading Post. It's important for the president of this company to see how customers are perceived and treated by their customer service director. On their website, one of Sierra Trading Post’s creed reads: “We believe our customers must be given the best possible service”. Sadly enough this was an example of their "best possible service".

@john74010...You obviously chose to omit a very important part of my review. The customer service director purposely chose to ignore me after I tried to take him up on an offer HE made to me. I would have given this company zero stars if it were possible, and I will never do business with a company that ignores its' customers. It shows a lack of respect for the very people that are keeping them in business. And don't compare e-mailing Barack Obama to e-mailing the CEO of this company who drapes himself behind religious creeds, you're comparing apples to oranges. Besides, the CEO of STP encourages customers to write him if they are unhappy, so please don't make inappropriate remarks if you don't know what you are talking about. This review site was designed for customers to share their experiences with other customers, not for you to review the reviewer because you don't agree with the outcome. Shame on you for leaving out the truth.

Update: Now I understand why STP continues bad practices. It was sold to TJX (parent company of TJMaxx) last year for $200 million dollars, and so they don't care what happens to it anymore. "

"Never again (from outside USA)!!!

I bought two items from Canada on Sierra Trading Post's Canadian website, thinking, that those items would be shipped from a warehouse within Canada.

Sadly this was not the case and not only was I charged a healthy $ 34 for shipping but I also had to pay a whopping $ 30 on customs duty (incl $ 10 admin fees) and all of this on a merchandise value of just over $ 60!!!

It also quickly became clear why I had "savings'" of 50% on the items I purchased as the quality was mediocre and really cheap.

Instead of returning the items (which would leave me $ 10 in deficit) I will give them to charity now.

So if you order from outside USA, better think twice as it is not worth it in my opinion!"

"Sierra Trading seems to be very disorganized, they are hard to deal with and fail to honor commitments. If I place an order and they say it'll go out on Tuesday then send it Tuesday, not 12 days later. It took over 3 weeks for me to receive my order this past time and I was told by the phone rep that it can take up to 15 business days to fill orders that show as "In Stock" as "In Stock" doesn't mean it's "In Stock" in their warehouse but it is "In Stock" somewhere.

I guess if you have 2 months before you need the item then Sierra Trading may save you money assuming the order arrives without holes or other defects. In the end if you have to ship the order back then you are better to buy somewhere else."

"Sierra Trading Post is an odd bird that I have done business with for 6 years. I was thrilled w/the many brands, sales & "carrot in front of the nose" deals I was flooded with. I became a VIP receiving 25% - 35% off non clearance or sale items. I wrote glorious reviews about the items I purchased.

Nevertheless, five years into my account relationship, after spending well over $7K -items kept, as well as spreading the news of the company's website & merchandise discounts to everyone I knew, I unceremoniously received a scathingly unprofessionally cold email indicating the company no longer wished to do business w/me if my return rate continued to exceed 60%. I was so humiliated & offended by this email, as I had thought I had established a good merchant/customer relationship w/STP.

Trying to remain undaunted by the email, I contacted a "live" supervisor & was informed of the many people that take advantage of STP's return policy, even wearing the clothing & returning it. I have received used clothing & shoes from STP myself - receiving 2 left shoes, boots & clothing w/broken zippers, clothing & shoes w/tears & soil marks, ridiculous factory 2nds, etc. If I ever mentioned these issues I was never offered return S/H reimbursement nor was I apologized to. CSR dead wood on the other end.

The supervisor I spoke with on the one occasion seemed rather curt & uneducated. I was informed of their CSRs expertise in garment sizing advice, etc. even though when one inquires about garment sizing it would take 24 - 48 hours for the response. The supervisor also complained to me that it cost STP money to provide UPS Smart Labels - that they lost money on them. I got off the phone feeling cheapened by the entire experience.

In addition, whenever contacting CSRs at STP by email I continually received FONT SIZE that well exceeded normal correspondence etiquette, shouting at me from afar. The CSRs are also bored & lifeless on the phone, perhaps from the endless winds in the state of origin, or the company's poor business practices.

Regardless, I continued to shop w/STP for yet another year, but reducing substantially my purchases. After receiving yet another nasty 60% return email, I immediately cancelled my STP account.

Caveat Emptor, Let The Buyer Beware!!!"

"Great products, excellent sale pricing, fast shipping."

"Ships whatever in the heck they feel like. Product shipped definitely not what I ordered. Had to dicker over the return."

"I have been purchasing online from them for about a year and do find their prices to be among the best. I have also found some great clothing items in both active wear and women's fashions that have become staples in my closet. However, their shipping times are s-l-o-w. It would be one thing if they always offered free shipping but they don't. Amazon has them beat on that score."

"I've been a customer for over 20 years, am becoming reluctant to order anything from them. They give increasingly less information about their products, don't tell you if an item is a "second", and don't refund shipping nor return shipping if it is defective. You have to dig through all the reviews for a product to find the negative ones. I too live in a rural area, but the cost of all the shipping for unsatisfactory items has become prohibitive."

"Return policy is policed and they will 'discontinue their business relationship" with you if they think you return too much.

I was a very loyal customer from 2009-2012. In 2011 alone I spent almost $2,000.

I live in a rural area with very limited shopping and what I liked about Sierra was their friendly return policy. Shopping for a large family I like being able to order various sizes and styles and have them tried on at home and returned. NEVER have I returned something used or damaged or longer than possibly 45 days (and their policy is 180 days).

In 2009 they sent me an email to 'warn' me that my return rate was excessive - yes, it was the 4th quarter and I was holiday shopping.

Apparently I was a good customer in the interim.

But in 2012 I received another email stating that since this was my second 'warning' they were going to 'discontinue their business relationship' with me if I continued to return items.

REALLY???? I've been shopping for years from other companies like Land's End, LL Bean, REI, Nordstrom and Amazon and have never been chastised for my returns.

I've decided to discontinue MY relationship with them. So if you are a rural resident who wishes to literally shop from home - meaning order different sizes and try on styles and return - be cautious about this company.

They do NOT walk their talk - despite the extensive use of Biblical quotes. "

"It's been a while since I've ordered from Sierra Trading Post, but I still like looking through their catalog. When researching an item to find the cheapest price and STP comes up in my search, it seems like they're well below the competition (even lower than eBay). This isn't the norm, of course, but there are deals to be found. The last item I ordered was rash guard for kitesurfing, which they were selling new for about the price the used ones of the same brand were going for on eBay. Before that was a couple pairs of jeans, which didn't fit right so I returned them for a refund. They don't have the greatest return policy, but everything was handled professionally."