Do you think on line tea shops are useful?

I am not certain about who doesn’t trust them. I absolutely need them and have placed orders with many on-line tea shops. I’ve been spoiled by the generally speedy shipping and the ease of ordering tea from my home study. Indeed, I think that on-line shopping has possibly done a lot for tea-drinking in the USA. A lot of us live far from anyplace that sells more than a few tea-bags.

i love shopping online, but also wish i could visit my local shops more often sigh i just work too much.

online shops save those with no local shops, and also offer variety not offered locally

If you go to a physical tea shop, you can usually taste a few of their teas and you can generally smell what you’re buying before you spend money on it. That’s definitely reassuring for novice tea-drinkers and nice even for people who already know what they like. I think it’s probably not that people don’t trust online stores as much as they want to do the equivalent of test driving before buying. (I’m sure some people just don’t trust online shopping, but that’s an attitude which is fading out rapidly in the internet age!)

Review sites like Steepster and the availability of inexpensive samplers are great resources for tea buyers looking to branch out beyond what’s physically available in their localities, though. Tea is very much a specialty item in North America and Europe (and probably elsewhere), so there’s a lot more available online than is going to be feasibly available locally.

If it weren’t for online tea shops, it would be near impossible for me to try any tea besides Lipton or Snapple! Although Whole Foods does carry a small selection of teas from Numi and Rishi….

So far, I have not had any difficulties with any tea vendors including California Tea House, Upton, Samovar, Adagio…

Ditto…here in the Midwest, Republic of Tea is about as exotic as it gets. For any variety whatsoever, sadly, must seek online.

I’m not sure “most” people don’t trust them. Look at how many people buy online here. :) But I think of the people that don’t trust them, most of them tend to not trust most companies for online purchases.

I’ve bought teaware online before (from Den’s, Lupica, Samovar, and Adagio) with no problems, but I can definitely see where more people would be skeptical to buy teaware online than tea. Teaware is something I personally like to physically see and touch to see if it’s the right piece for me.

Being able taste the tea (most tea shops at least have a few “on tap” for you to try) is also a pro to buying in store… but then again, a lot of online companies compensate this w/ free samples- which I like even more because you may get something you never dreamed of getting. Fear of the unknown and getting “stuck” w/ tea is also a factor. Not all companies let you return tea, and even those that do likely will toss the tea due to sanitary reasons. Idk about you, but even throwing out tea I think is vile makes me cry. Rehoming tea isn’t always something a person wants to do either- sometimes they don’t know anyone else that drinks tea and are not comfortable w/ tea swaps/giveaways w/ strangers. Luckily, a lot of tea companies have small samples that can be bought individually or sampler sets so if you decide you don’t like something and choose to either return it or chuck it not as much money and/or tea is wasted.

Shipping can also be an issue- everything from it getting lost (which isn’t the fault of the company), to it getting damaged, to not having instant gratification, to the cost (I like to factor the price of shipping into the cost/g of a tea and doing math takes a little time to do the number crunching). I think this would be less of an issue if people took advantage of company newsletters if available- companies often offer monthly sales including percentages off, free products, free shipping, and frequent buyer programs to help save the customer money. Not to mention some companies offer auto ship to avoid “AH CRAP! I’M OUT!” moments.

That being said, even for tea, a person that has access to brick and mortar tea shops may choose to not buy online (especially to avoid shipping costs), but that isn’t a matter of distrust. I think it also depends on what kind of tea you drink. A person who just drinks grocery store bagged may be less likely to make tea and tea related purchases online.

My own personal opinion: if it just comes down to a security issue- check the company out w/ the BBB and get over it. Why let fear prevent you from not trying amazing products? (tea or otherwise)

Also note: Not all companies have a BBB file like me. I have never had an issue or had an issue get out of control to be reported to the BBB. I also have not paid dues to be come a member either. Personally this message board has more power over a company then the BBB. I would say ask someone that has done business with a company and ask for their experiance.

I love shopping online for tea! I just moved to the middle of nowhere, Texas, so I have no clue where to go to buy tea around here. Additionally, I first discovered tea when I was in college without a car, so I wouldn’t have been able to visit a shop. If it weren’t for online tea sites, I wouldn’t have been able to discover tea.

I tried ordering teas online a while back and got samples, and was really disappointed. Until I discovered Steepster I didn’t even realize how many online stores and different companies there are! Till now I’ve mainly drank from teavana and harney and sons, since I can go to both of those stores (sort of) easily. (teavana moreso). I’m still a little skeptical with ordering teas online though.

A little bit off topic – but I have to admit, nowadays I even shop for lots of my clothes and shoes online, as long as I know about the brands and their sizes :-p