Magazines.com

Full review
After my debacle with MagsForLess.com, I probably should have bypassed all subscription services and just subscribed straight through the publishers of the magazines I wanted but I had been getting email from Magazines.com and I wanted to buy my sister, my husband, and myself a couple magazine subscriptions and didn’t have time to hunt down each one and order through the publishers.

I had ordered through the site before but it was a long while ago and couldn't remember at that time if all went well so I went to check the site out.

Magazines.com looked reliable. There was a phone number visible on the page and the prices were not too low to be true but were reasonable.

I decided to roll the dice and get my subscriptions through the site.

We are all enjoying our subscriptions and everything went picture perfectly. I am not sure if that is the norm for this site but I couldn't have asked for anything else from a magazine subscription site.

What The Site Sells

This site sells magazines subscriptions of all kinds from mainstream to niche types. They also sell e-cards and gift cards for magazine subscriptions.

Navigation and Purchasing

The site is fairly simple with categories of magazines down the side as well as the ability to browse alphabetically. They also have a search box to look for specific magazines.

Many top names are represented and there are many lesser known hobby types on the site as well.

Descriptions for each magazine are very complete and, under each subscription are customer reviews. I have no idea if they edit or censor negative reviews but most of the ones I saw were positive. You can also write a review of a magazine and give it a star rating. I didn’t bother with any of that.

I never rely on website reviews to tell me anything anyway. I knew what magazines I wanted and I looked each magazine up via the search box.

When you click on a magazine to subscribe to, you will be offered several other choices of magazines that are similar in content. You can add those or ignore them.

Be aware that they offer uninterrupted service. This means, as your subscription is nearing the end, they will notify you and, if you want the subscription renewed, your credit card will be charged the same fee and you will re-up for a year.

Gift subscriptions are not eligible for this service until the last stages of buying the subscription. You can opt to be notified a few months before your gift sub ends and you can renew or not or just tell them you want the gift sub for one year and they won't email you or renew the subscription.

At any rate, choose the magazines you want and add them to your cart.

You will specify if the magazine is a gift or not so, later, you can have a gift card sent to the recipient.

When you have finished shopping, go to the checkout. There you can pay by credit card or by phone, specify gift recipients addresses and emails, choose to send email notifications and/or postcard notifications and opt into the renewal gift service if you want.

Once you have filled out the addresses for the gift subs and your own for your subs and billing, chosen how you want to notify your recipients, and everything looks right, you will pay. You can stop there and call in your order via a toll free number or complete it with a credit card.

You will get a confirmation email and all recipients will get gift postcards notifying them that magazines are on the way. I got my postcards in a few days for my husband and myself and my sister got hers that a day or two later. The subscriptions I bought started within a month.

You can pick a password for access to the site again and your info will be stored. Then you can log in and check order status, order more magazines faster, change the set up, or cancel the renewal provisions.

My Experience

Every year, I get my husband Field and Stream and Outdoor Life as well as a photography mag subscription. I always get Jane Magazine and a couple others. This year, I got lucky (ha) and bought both my sister and I subscriptions to Lucky Magazine - all though Magazines.com. Prices were good but not too good to be true. All were better or the same as the lowest publisher price.

I had no trouble finding what I wanted and no trouble with the checkout process. I had a $5.00 off my order promo code which was immediately taken and applied.

I asked for postcards to be sent to my husband and sister and picked my design. I even asked for one to be sent to me for each magazine I ordered.

I paid via credit card and received a confirmation email and was told the subscriptions would start within six to right weeks.

I got my Lucky Magazine in just two weeks and the others came within four. The ending dates on the magazine address labels are correct and all seems fine.

I have ordered through Magazines.com before but totally forgot about my experience. I looked up my old confirmation letter and I did, indeed, get everything I ordered and all of magazines I paid for. I have not been billed for the auto renewal because, at the time, I clicked that I did not want to continue the magazines I was subscribing to but my memory fails me as to why. I think I had overlapping subscriptions for a while - the fault of me and my screwy memory not knowing which magazines I did and didn’t get.

The point is, everything went smoothly with my prior Magazines.com order and everything has gone smoothly with this one. I am confident that I will have no problems with my subscriptions but it is comforting to know there is a toll free number to call and reference numbers on the site to refer to if I run into a snag.

I am a satisfied Magazines.com customer and will return with confidence.

Shipping and Guarantee

There are no shipping charges for subscriptions. They are included in the overall price of the magazine.

According to the site: "100% Guarantee.
We guarantee your right to CANCEL at any time if you are not 100% satisfied with your subscription! Simply call or email our Customer Service and we'll refund you for all un-mailed issues."

Conclusion

My experience at Magazines.com was uneventful and satisfying. I got what I wanted at a price I liked and everything went very smoothly. I received the postcards to give to my husband for Christmas (since the magazines hadn’t come yet) and my sister got her notification as well.

We all got our magazines within a short time and everything looks to be on track.

Naturally, if something happens down the road and I have problems, I will update this review to reflect that and to tell you about the customer service I received. I really don’t think I will have a problem because, once the magazine is in the publisher's subscription system and dated, it is an automatic thing. But things happen and I will be on the look out.

As of now, I have nothing but praise for the site and am rating it 4 stars. I would go with 5 but I will wait for a few months to be 100% sure then change my rating if I am still this satisfied.

Definitely, this site is a huge improvement over MagsForLess.com which is just a big scam. Low prices snare you in and you never see your magazines. Here, the prices are sane but you won’t lose your sanity trying to get what you paid for so it really does balance out.