This page gives a little information about each of the retailers available to our Ministry Partners on this site. If there are any online retailers that you would like us to try to add, drop us a line at Phil@ShopOnline4Charity.org and we’ll see if we can get them for you.
Amazon.com
- Amazon.com: We love shopping at Amazon, and you can buy from them on this site, but the only way to access the link to Amazon is to click on the Amazon.com tab in the header of the site. Please read the special note regarding Amazon’s non-participation in the commission sharing program.
Entertainment
- F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment): A wide variety of movies, games, and music.
- iTunes: This media service has everything imaginable, from music to movies to TV series to you-name-it, all available for download to to all of your electronic devices.
- Sirius XM Satellite Radio: People who are on the road a lot and want to be able to listen to the same radio station from coast-to-coast like satellite radio. A lot of other people do, too. They have mobile receivers for vehicles and stationary units for home use.
Department Stores
- Walmart: We only have one department store so far, but it’s a doozy. Why shop online at Walmart when you can go to the one down the street? First, this is the only way to shop Walmart where they will pay a commission to your charity. Second, their Web site has way more stuff available online than even the largest superstore. Third, they will ship your order for free to any Walmart store (convenient for giving large gifts without paying for shipping).
Travel
- Hotels Combined: This is one of the best travel sites that you’ve never heard of. Enter the city and dates that you want to make a hotel reservation for and Hotels Combined will search more than 30 booking sites to find the absolute best deal available. You’re gonna love this one..
- Priceline: Here’s one of the best travel sites that you have heard of. I’ve used them and have always been impressed at the savings I’ve gotten. Check them out for airfare, hotels, car rentals, and package deals.
- A Better Stay: Here’s another relatively unknown travel site. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, check them out. They can hook you up with deals on condos, resorts, and other types of accommodations.
- Sandals: This is a small chain of high-quality, all-inclusive, couples-only vacation resorts in the Caribbean. Consider this site to book a honeymoon, second honeymoon, or special getaway with your spouse.
- Beaches: This is another chain of Caribbean resorts run by the people at Sandals, but these all-inclusives are for the whole family. Not as romantic as Sandals’ couples-only resorts, but lots of fun for the your entire crew. This kind of vacation is the equivalent of a cruise, but on solid ground.
- Cruise Direct: Your humble Webmaster used to sell cruises. While I’m no longer a travel agent, I’m very happy to be able to offer cruise vacations through this Web site. Cruise Direct has been designated one of the Ten Best cruise travel sites by an independent reviewing site. We are pleased to make them available to you here.
Books / Videos / Magazines / Media
- Christian Book Distributors: (Not all pages have this retailer. If you want them to be included on your charity’s page, let us know and we’ll try to get approval from them to include their ad on your shopping page.) CBD is the biggest name in Christian book sales. They’ve been in business for years and have an outstanding track record of customer service and great prices — and they pay one of the most generous commissions of any of the retailers on this site, so buying your church, Sunday School, and small group Bible study materials from here can really help contribute to your organization.
- Alibris: This is a network of independent new and used booksellers. Alibris calls itself the place to find books you never thought you’d find. I’ve put them to that test and found it to be true. I found and bought a book here that I had been looking for since 1983. I bought a rare video at a great price that I couldn’t find anywhere else for less than $50. Love ‘em.
- Book Closeouts: I just recently found this retailer and have bought a bunch of good books at deep discounts. I think you’ll like them.
- Books-A-Million: This is a chain of secular bookstores known for their wide selection.
- Textbookx.com: Have you seen the cost of textbooks these days? Decision time: buy a book or make a car payment? This site can take some of the heat off. They offer deep discounts on new and used textbooks and have a buy-back program when you’re done with them.
- Family Christian Stores: This is a chain of large Christian bookstores. If you don’t have one near you (or even if you do!) you can check them out here.
- Magazines.com: A big selection of magazines of all types (including Christian magazines). I had to reject a lot of other magazine vendors because they sold “adult” magazines. I didn’t find any of those on Magazines.com. Something extra that they offer is free subscriptions to over 200 different magazines of different business interests. If you qualify, you can get one or more of these for free. I’ve been getting an excellent investing magazine through them for a couple of years. Check them out.
- PeachPit Press: Outstanding computer software tutorial books and a series of books that teach you how to get the most from your newest electronic gadgets.
- FT Press: A really excellent collection of business and finance books, including those by marketing guru Jeffrey Gittomer.
- Reader’s Digest: The monthly magazine and more — book clubs, videos, and music, too.
Clothing
- Fashion Bug: Here’s a store that many of you ladies are familiar with. Now you can shop there from the convenience of your computer.
- Blair: This is a huge mail-order clothing company with a great Web site. If you get their catalog in the mail (or especially if you don’t), come back to your favorite charity’s shopping page at this site to place your order online. They feature frequent sales, so check here often.
- Sierra Trading Post: Name brand men’s and women’s clothing, as well as outdoor gear — all at discount prices.
- Willow Ridge: A popular mail order women’s clothing retailer.
- Bedford Fair: Another popular mail order women’s clothing retailer.
- Monterey Bay: Yet another popular mail order women’s clothing retailer.
- Lane Bryant: Here’ s great name-brand store with lots of quality women’s clothing.
- C28: Make a strong (and stylish!) statement for your faith with t-shirts and clothing from this Christian store.
- BowlingShirt.com: Retro fun here with bowling shirts, poodle skirts, and 50’s stuff of all kinds. Anyone who knows your humble Webmaster personally will understand why I’ve included this site.
Computers / Electronics / Accessories
- Tiger Direct: This is one of the largest and best discount dealers of computers and accessories. My wife has a pretty high-end computer rig she had custom built from Tiger Direct and has been very happy with it. (She considers my desktop to be such a slug by comparison that she wants me to get one, too. Yes, dear. Whatever you say, dear.
) I’m really stoked to have them as a retailer on this site. - Tech Depot: If you’ve ever shopped at an Office Depot store, you know they sell a lot of computers, peripherals, and computer supplies at pretty good prices. Tech Depot is the computer section of the Office Depot store, and we’ve got ‘em here just for you.
- Ritz Camera: This is a big nationwide chain of camera stores. They’ve been closing some brick & mortar stores and building up their online business in recent days. You’ll find that they have everything related to digital photography, plus a lot of other good electronics.
- Refurb Depot: Looking for high-tech gear on a budget? Or are you just a smart shopper than knows how to not pay full price for your gear? Refurb Depot has a variety of computers and electronic devices at deep discount prices. Search for my blog on the the Home Page of this site (that’s this site, not the Refurb Depot site) for a list of reasons why I like to buy refurbished merchandise.
- Toshiba Computers: Like to buy directly from the manufacturer? Toshiba has been one of the premier makers of laptops since the laptop was first invented. Let them build one for you.
Food / Beverages
- Mighty Leaf Tea: Many varieties of premium tea in both loose leaf and “pouches” (fancy silken teabags). Makes a great gift for a friend or for yourself. Lots of “sampler” collections so you can try a few cups of several types before deciding which you really like. They have a frequent buyer club and they give you your choice of two tea samples with every order you place.
- Adagio Teas: People from other countries laugh at what passes for tea in America. If you’ve ever shopped at a really premium tea store, you know why. The good stuff doesn’t resemble what we buy at the grocery store. I’ve kinda gone nuts with premium tea vendors.
- Amanzi Tea: Here’s another high-end tea merchant. If I didn’t tempt you enough with the blurb above, take a look at this outstanding article from Heart-Healthy Living magazine to see some of the amazing health benefits of drinking lots of good tea.
- Mark T. Wendell Tea Company: OK, I promise, this is the last high-end tea vendor. It just looked too good to pass up. I think I’ll go brew a cup right now.
- Boca Java: I didn’t want to neglect the coffee drinkers in my audience. Here’s a good vendor for all things coffee related. (Oh, they also sell tea.)
- Coffee For Less: This is a cool site for all things coffee related — ground coffee, coffee beans, coffee in pods and K-cups for popular single-cup brewing systems, coffee machines of all types, and more. Maybe even some tea.
- Olive Nation: Enjoy the tastes of the Mediterranean from this site. Try their olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars, pastas, and more.
- Candy You Ate As a Kid: The name says it all. If you can think of a kind of candy that you enjoyed as a child, this place will likely have it. Makes a nostalgic treat for yourself or a great gift for your favorite “old timer.”
- GlutenFree.com: I’m hearing more and more about people with celiac disease — an intolerance to gluten. Anyone who has this disorder knows that gluten is lurking in lots of common foods, making it difficult to find products that are safe for them. Here is a superstore of gluten-free foods. You’re welcome.
Tools / Hardware / Parts
- Tool King: I haven’t personally purchased from this site yet, but I’ve checked them out against their online competition and think they’re a great find. They have a vast selection of quality, name brand tools at really good prices. I’m a huge fan of buying refurbs and factory reconditioned equipment. (If you want to know more, look for my blog on the Home Page called Why I Like Refurbs.) If you want to save some big bucks, check out Tool King’s reconditioned tools section.
- Little Giant Ladders: I’m really happy to have Little Giant as one of my vendors. They make great ladders that are perfect for two kinds of people: those who use ladders all the time, and those who avoid ladders at all costs because they’re afraid of them. I have one of these Little Giant ladders myself and it is steady as a rock. Working on one of these, ever pretty high up, is almost like being on solid ground. They are safe, they are solid, and they are more versatile than you could ever imagine. I’m a fan.
- Ace Hardware: Yup, Ace Hardware. They’re as helpful online as they are in the store. But your ministry doesn’t earn a commission from the stuff you buy at the store. Only here online.
- Appliance Parts Pros: Those who know your humble Webmaster personally are painfully aware that I don’t know which end of a screwdriver you’re supposed to hold on to, so it’s not likely that I’ll be ordering from this company any time soon, but I wanted to have something for everyone here and this is a good outfit if you know what to do with the products they sell.
- J.C. Whitney: Have you compared the price of auto parts online with what they charge you in the auto parts chain stores. One of my ministry partners did recently and was able to find what he was looking for online for about half what the brick-and-mortar store was selling it for. J.C. Whitney is the best-known mail order auto parts dealer in the country. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for here. (As for me, see the personal revelation above.)
Cooking / Kitchen Supplies
- Taste of Home: Taste of Home is the biggest selling cooking magazine in the world. Now they have a great Web site where you can order their whole line of magazines, cookbooks, cookware, and kitchen gadgets. They are a name you can trust.
- Kitchen Universe: A fine store with every small kitchen appliance and piece of cooking equipment that you could ever hope to find.
- Outdoor Cooking: Yes, they have tons of neat stuff for cooking outdoors (whether at home or while camping), but I especially liked their big selection of cast iron cookware.
Fitness & Exercise Equipment
- Bowflex: I have an old Bowflex and love it. Since surviving my heart attack, I’ve actually been using it. It has helped contribute to my 50-pound-plus weight loss.
- Schwinn Fitness: You know Schwinn for bicycles, but they make a nice assortment of exercise equipment. When I was in cardio rehab following my heart attack, we all fought over the one Schwinn stationary bike. It was the best by far.
- Malibu Pilates: Nothing builds core strength like Pilates training. Malibu Pilates is a popular program, but their ad is a little misleading. You don’t get the whole program for $14.95 — that’s just the first payment. But it’s a good system and very effective at strength building for both men and women without a lot of heavy iron weights or bulky, expensive equipment.
- Bodylastics: Get the benefits of an expensive cable-based fitness machine with this versatile elastic band exercise system — for a fraction of the cost. Small enough to toss in your suitcase when you travel.
Health & Nutrition
- 1–800-Contacts: The most trusted mail order dealer of disposable contact lenses.
- Vitamin Menu: Most of us put way too much trash in our bodies. At least we can take some vitamins to get the nutrition we need. Here’s a huge selection.
Musical Instruments / Audio Equipment
- Musician’s Friend: This is a great musical instrument superstore. My wife bought my birthday present from them this year — a beautiful, hand-carved djembe. Don’t know what a djembe is? Take a look here. They’ve got a ton of them.
- Sam Ash: If you want to do some comparison shopping with Musician’s Friend, this is the place to look. Another great music superstore. Make your wishlist now.
- Guitar Center: Way more than just guitars. This is another musical instrument superstore, like Musician’s Friend and Sam Ash. Comparison shop between these three and find your best deal on an amazing array of instruments and audio equipment.
- Sheet Music Plus: They have a tremendous selection of sheet music, performance tracks, and more. Everything that I did a test search for, they had. Shop here for a wide selection of Christian sheet music.
Hobbies / Crafts
- Scrapbook Supercenter: This site is just what it claims to be, a supercenter for everything related to scrapbooking. They have Cricut machines and all their accessories and supplies, scrapbooking software for creating computerized scrapbooks, and every type of supply for creating your special books of memories.
Gardening / Outdoors
- Gurney’s Seed & Nursery: Vegetable plants and seeds, perennials, roses, bulbs, and more. This is one of the most respected names in mail order gardening.
- Windowbox.com: Want to grow some nice plants, but have limited space? This is a container gardening site that will scratch your green thumb itch.
- Plow & Hearth: Sounds kinda rustic, doesn’t it? Actually, they are great site for all kinds of garden, patio, and home decorating ideas.
Education
- Academic Superstore: If you are a student, teacher, or school, you qualify for name-brand computer software and hardware at deep discount prices. See how far you can stretch a buck at this site. (I bought from them when I was a graduate student.)
- Textbookx.com: Hey! Didn’t we see these guys in the books section? Yes, but these books are educational, so we get to see them here, too. Discount new and used textbooks can save you a bundle. Feeling smarter already, aren’t you?
Outdoor Gear / Camping / Hking
- Sierra Trading Post: Here’s another repeat from above (the Clothing section). Besides clothes for men and women, they carry a full line of outdoor gear. They’re worth repeating.
Home Decor
- Country Store Catalog: Lots of products to furnish and decorate your home, inside and out. They’ve got way more than just “country” things. A great place to shop.
- Stacks and Stacks: Need help organizing all your stuff? Yeah, me too. This vendor has products for every room of your house to help get clutter under control. Neat freaks love ‘em, too.
- Plow & Hearth: Lots of stuff to help make your house a home.
- Oreck Vacuum Cleaners: We don’t really recommend that you decorate your home with vacuum cleaners, but a good one goes a long way toward helping visitors see your home decor rather than the dust bunnies. We’re looking forward to our current vacuum to break so we can justify buying one of these. You’ll see them in hotels, hospitals, and wherever vacuums are used day and night. A high quality product. They make air purifiers, too.
Pet Supplies
- PetsMart: For all your other pet supplies, this is the place to be. Buy it here, online, for ease of shopping, home delivery, and a nice commission for your ministry.
- 1–800-PetMeds: I buy from this site myself. (No, not for myself.) Like their ads say, they are cheaper than buying maintenance pet meds from your veterinarian. Not a whole lot cheaper, but enough of a discount to make it worth your while. And you don’t have to drag your pooch to the doggie doctor’s office.
- Total Pet Supply: Pet supplies and medications from one vendor. Buy it all here or use them to comparison shop.
Business Products & Office Supplies
- Office Depot: One of the nation’s leading office supply companies. A huge selection of products that they will ship to you in the blink of an eye. If they don’t have it, you don’t need it.
- VistaPrint: This is the grand-daddy of online printing vendors. We’ve done business with them for years and have always been impressed with their quality, prices, and quick service.
- Deluxe: You’ve heard of these guys. They print checks. Lots of checks. What you might not know is that do logo creation, Web site design and marketing, printing of all kinds, and promotional products. If you need a creative service and marketing assistance, they are a great resource.
- Bulk Office Supply: The link that says “Office Supplies, Wholesale Prices” is for the generically-named Bulk Office Supply. Every kind of office supply that you ever need.
- Print Runner: If you’ve heard of VistaPrint (another fine vendor in this list), Print Runner is an up-and-coming competitor of theirs…and they pay a really nice commission. Consider them for your business cards, brochures, stationery, notepads, vinyl signs, CD labels, etc.
- Kolar Promotional Products: If you want your company name put on anything (pens, cups, hats, shirts, tote bags, whatever) this is a good source.
- Constant Contact: Do you get any of those really nice looking email newsletters and flyers? Chances are that they were created with Constant Contact. This is an easy, high-impact way to keep everyone on your business or ministry’s email list informed of news about your organization. We’ve used them for our other business (Data Designs Publishing) and will be using them to help keep you advised of special offers and new vendors as we add them to this site.
Software / Web Development
- Artisteer: This is the first Web site I’ve ever done and I didn’t want it to look amateurish or “homemade,” but I didn’t even know how to spell HTML. That’s why I turned to Artisteer. Artisteer is a point-and-click Web site template generating program. There is nothing else like it on the market. For $50, it saved me weeks of having to actually learn what I’m doing, cranking out the template for this site within about an hour. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who wants to start their own Web site or blog without having to learn HTML, CSS, Ajax, PHP, etc. Point-and-click, baby! Point-and-click!
- Webroot Software: Webroot makes a variety of products to keep you safe online. Check them out for anti-virus, anti-spyware, and parental control software to keep the bugs and bad guys out.
- Corel Software: Corel is best known for their eponymous CorelDRAW software suite. We’ve been using it in our desktop publishing business for almost 20 years. Is that enough of an endorsement? They also make photo and video editing software and they own the venerable WordPerfect line of software.
Gifts / Household Goods
- Too Cute Baby Gifts: Your humble Webmaster doesn’t get invited to many baby showers, but if I did, this would be my first stop. They put “cute” right in the name of the store. (All together now: “Awwwww!!!”)
- Current: You know them for their personalized return address labels. We got some from them for all the books in our collection. Every one we loan out has a label on it saying “Borrowed from the library of Phil & Sandy Hovatter.” But they sell tons of other fine products as well: cards, gift wrap, personalized gifts, etc.
- Sky Mall: The seat pocket of every commercial airliner has three standard pieces of equipment: the aircraft safety brochure, a barf bag, and a copy of the most recent Sky Mall catalog. The catalog is way more fun than the barf bag. Now you can shop their complete line of merchandise without the fear of flying or air sickness.
- Plow & Hearth: This is the third placed I’ve listed this store. That’s because they have lots of nice stuff. So nice that you’ll want to give some of it to people you like.
- Miles Kimball: You’ve probably seen their mail order catalogs most of your life. Every kind of household gadget or gift imaginable, all at reasonable prices. This is a fun one to browse.
- Easy Comforts: This company is hard to categorize. They sell many products to help make life easier and more comfortable for people who aren’t as young as they used to be. You might find some unique things here for parents or grandparents.
- BowlingShirts.com: Another retread from a category above, but once again, they have a number of unique gift items and ideas, so I’ve repeated them here. Great gifts for people who remember the 50’s.
- 1–800-Flowers: Don’t dial the toll-free number — access them online through this site so your ministry can earn a nice commission. Flowers and potted plants for every gift occasion.
- As Seen on TV: If you’ve seen a product advertised on TV, this is the place to buy it. They have EVERYTHING all on one site. Gimme one of each!
Investments / Personal Finance
- Jim Cramer — TheStreet.com: Are you or someone you know a fan of Cramer’s Mad Money show on CNBC? Here’s a link to his Web site where you can buy a subscription to his stock picking service. This guy make investing entertaining.
- LifeLock: Have you seen the commercials where the founder of this identity protection company tells you his Social Security number? If you have ever been the victim of identity theft (or if you don’t want to experience it for yourself) this service backs up their claims with a $1,000,000 service guarantee.
Hair Care / Skin Care / Beauty Products
- Wen Hair Care: I’ve never used it, but their commercials look great. Let me know if you like their stuff.
- Proactiv: I could have included this in the Infomercial section, because that’s how they advertise, but I thought it was a better fit here. This is the skin care product that transforms all the Hollywood stars from regular folks like us into glamorous celebrities. No telling what it could do for you.
- Sheer Cover Make-Up: This is another informercial beauty product. I’ve heard good things about this stuff (once again, a product that your humble Webmaster doesn’t use personally), so I thought I’d make it available to you here.