We asked our readers where they liked to shop online. They shared with us where to find good customer service, good products as well as where to avoid.

Argoth
“Navigating through this site is a little tricky, because they offer a lot in their shop, but once you place an order, their service is stellar. Their emails were prompt and shipping from England was timely. They let me know that one of the items I wanted wasn’t currently in stock, so they shipped the bulk of my order and then sent me an email to let me know the last thing was on its way.”

IpsoFacto
“Two thumbs and two toes up for everything: fast service, good prices, quick shipping, and very quick to respond to any concerns. Also, some of the things on site are one of a kind, which is always a yummy thing. Terri was *VERY* quick with everything! I ordered a Lip Service Jacket through them for an event, and it arrived the day before. No customs charges either! Yay!”

Goth Rosary
“They ship in a timely fashion and the quality is great and I feel like a valued customer, not a faceless credit card number on the net.”
“The products are great and AntiSally is a pleasure to order from.”

Vintage Filigree
“This Etsy vendor does the most amazing work, and is an absolute dear. I’m not a fan of Paypal, but she made an exception for me and let me pay by money order, was supremely gracious through the whole experience, and the piece that I bought is even more beautiful in person. I can’t recommend them enough.”

Retroscope Fashions
“This family owned business offers beautiful clothing that well made and priced. I’d love to order more from her!”
“Shipping is prompt and I feel like a valued customer.”

Vixens and Angels
“Got my new Docs in two days, great prices... incredibly happy!”
“A good place to buy from and they have amazing customer service. Very fast to answer e-mails.”

Velvet Garden
“Though not a ‘store’ in the technical sense, Velvet Garden is a very smooth-running machine which offers an excellent alternative venue for the buying and selling of gothic what-nots. The level of communication between sellers and store owner/diva is a much-appreciated change from the Ebayesque ambiance of other auction sites/online stores.”
“The concept of the site is brilliant, and Alison runs it very professionally.”

Kambriel
“Curse and Kambriel are always friendly. They are so personable and always in contact with you during an order. I have dealt with them several times and they have been NOTHING short of wonderful. Everything that I own from them is well made and GORGEOUS! Plus, whenever they send out a package, it always SMELLS so wonderful inside!”

Heavy Red
“Even though their clothes are really expensive, are really awesome with customer service, fast shipping, and the presentation of the inside of their packaging. I always got my packages quickly when I ordered from them.”
“I think they offer some fantastic stuff but double check sizes because their clothes run small. Prompt shipping.”

Farthingale’s Costume and Theatrical Supply
“Items were delivered promptly.”
“Ordered a pattern and a clasp. They were friendly and my stuff came fast. I was happy and the clasp was great quality, still havent gotten around to using the pattern.”
“Super nice to work with. Polite, honest and all around great. Fast shipping! Great prices. Merchandise is as good as it looks. Anyone who needs corset supplies should go here!”

Pennangalan Dreams
“Pennangalan is in the UK and I’m in the US. There were no problems, and the person I was in touch with (I don’t remember his name, Doktor something) was incredibly helpful in communicating with me, telling me what was in stock, basically giving me the lowdown on everything. Also, the prices were reasonable for big ol’ platform boots and I’m absolutely in love with them!”
“Shipping was prompt, overall a very positive experience.”

Lip Service
“For such a mainstream site these guys really do keep in touch. Very friendly too :) They had a problem with my order and I got to talk to lippy himself. Very nice. Fixed the problem quickly and sent me a $25 gift certificate to make up for their mistake.”
“I think they are a friendly company, and although a lot of people think that they are over priced, I don’t think they are because if you thought about how much it would cost you to get something like the London dress custom made, then you would be looking at a lot more than $100.”

Spider’s Web/Spooky Boutique
“Very fast service, and they sent me a lollipop matching the dominant color of my selections!”

Azrael’s Accomplice
“Batty is SO sweet! My order got behind a bit but I wasn’t in a rush and her e-mails were always friendly and pleasant. She is a great seamtress too and makes beautiful things!”
“Her work is wonderful, but she takes a long time to ship. My dress came almost three months after ordering.”
“Batty’s making my wedding dress based upon a couple of designs I picked out of a catalog. We’ve only done the first fitting (in muslin) but I wanted to say that I’m *very* impressed and happy. She’s genuinely concerned about the quality of the work and knows enough about fashion design that she was able to recommend flattering pattern changes for my body type. (not something I’ve come across before.)”
“I ordered something from her on Ebay and I hoped to get it in time for the Goth Cruise. It took weeks to actually get it, too late to wear on vacation.”

Dracina Box
“Item took longer than promised to arrive but owner added free gift to make up for it!”
“I got the reflective harness... took a bit to get but that’s expected from the UK. Not much contact but no problems at all and I was happy.”
“I ordered a skirt in July last year and I’m still waiting for it, despite promises of gifts and such. I have been asking for a refund for the past month and still no word. Honestly, the worst experience I’ve had with an online shop!”

Hot Topic
“What a headache. I got the item I ordered amazingly quick. The problem with them is their return policy online is awful. I needed to exchange the pants I got for another size (they didn’t have these pants at the local Hot Topic). To do so, I would be charged for an entirely new pair of pants until they got the one I returned. Even if they return the money after they get the pants I sent back, I would still be 100+ dollars in the hole for a few days. It’s not just a simple send your item back and get what you need.
“I really didn’t feel like letting them hold almost $60 as ransom money for the item I was returning, so I just took it to a local Hot Topic and got the money put on a merchandise card. The problem with this? I brought the Hot Topic invoice the came with the pants with me when I went to return at the local store. The invoice did NOT say how much the pants cost, so they returned around what the price tag on the pants said. Well, the price tag on the pants was $48. However, the price listed on the website (which is the price I paid) was $58. When I called the local Hot Topic to get this straightened out, they apologized and told me that they couldn’t do anything because the invoice didn’t have the price listed. The manager knew I wasn’t lying about the pants actually being $58 because she had bought the same pants. I don’t blame the employees at the local Hot Topic. I blame the policies of Hot Topic.
“I had to call the corporate Hot Topic phone line to get this straightened out, which is pending as of right now. All of this just to get a different size of pants!
“Hot Topic’s phone customer service is pretty good, but the Internet chat service is slow and I didn’t appreciate that the lady I was talking to sent me a link to browse their St. Patrick's day stuff while I was waiting for her to answer my question. My advice: Don’t order something from them unless you are 100% sure of the size (I thought I was. I own pairs of pants of the same brand, and yet this one was cut differently). You’re better off just going to a local store, which doesn’t have all of the same stuff as the website.”

exoticlenses.com
“I was pleased that they had the measurements for all the contacts, but now I realise that it’s a given for any good contact site to include such information (and that Exoticlenses is one of the crappier sites I could have chosen to purchase from). I bought one pair and received them promptly, but when I purchased a second pair they never arrived. After about a week, the site contacted me and said the colour I wanted was out, and that I could choose another instead at no extra cost. I did so, and still the contacts never arrived. After a couple more weeks, I emailed the site to see what was going on. They replied to my email saying that they’d already sent out the contacts and that I should have them in a few days, though they weren’t very specific. When I emailed back to try to find what date they’d been posted the site never responded. I waited about a month after this, and still having not received the lenses, I emailed them a third time. This email was also ignored, so – not being a very savvy online shopper – I gave up and vowed never to buy from them again. I’ve still not received said lenses, and I don’t know if this was just because of an unlikely mixup to do with them being out of the colour I ordered, or if it happens every other time an order is made. Either way, I don’t recommend them. There are lots of other, better, sites to buy contact lenses from!”

howcool.com
“I ordered from them in May of last year and didn’t receive my order until October. Every time i contacted them they told me they had sent it out i’d get ‘Oh! It was just returned! I guess we put the wrong address down! I’ll send it out again right away priority mail’. After waiting 5 months to receive my order and dealing with their incompetent staff they gave me a $5 gift certificate to try and make up for this... as if i would ever even go to their site again! It’s funny now but I’ll never deal with them again.”