SoftwareMedia.com

Full review
Online purchasing has become a monthly routine for me and there are very few products or services that I haven't purchased via the world wide web. Besides books, one of my earliest purchases online was that of software. And one of the many online stores for software purchases is Softwaremedia.com, an online store with all the software you need.  
 
What Does This Online Site Offer?:
 
Softwaremedia.com offers software in categories such as:

Business and Productivity
Photos, Design, and Publishing
CAD and Home Design
Multimedia
Tax software
Operating system software
Development and IT
Reference and Education
Security and Utilities
 
Other software services sold at Softwaremedia.com include software licensing and software specially designed for MAC.  Software can be purchased either as physical disks or as downloads (most of the time, but some software is offered only one way or the other), for instant gratification.
 
Payment methods/Shipping:

Softwaremedia.com accepts the usual methods of credit card payment: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. They also accept COD, but the order must be greater than $500.

Shipping at Softwaremedia.com is offered at many different levels, with increasing prices based on the quickness of delivery. There is a free shipping option, but the goods will not be delivered for between five and nine business days. The quickest option is priority overnight delivery. This will get your shipment to you asap, but it will add about forty dollars to your order.
 
Final Thoughts:

I have been utilizing the world wide web for making personal and business purchases for more than eleven years running and it seems like I have purchased just about every known product and service online. My first ever purchase was for books. Software followed shortly afterward and while I don't purchase many software CD or DVD, I still purchase the occasional software download, both for home and/or business use.

Softwaremedia.com is a good online software store and it is a service I first used many, many years ago. My first ever experience with Softwaremedia was through a catalog and was conducted via phone. I don't even know if Softwaremedia had its online site up and running at the time (back in 1998), but I was able to get my first taste of this company when I ordered some software for the company I was working for at the time. In later years, I would return to Softwaremedia several more times, but this time through the online site, Softwaremedia.com.

Software can be purchased through hundreds of different online outlets, including both software specific stores and general merchandise stores, like Amazon.com and others. The advantage I have experienced with Softwaremedia.com is that it often has a much larger selection than other stores, and that includes both software- specific stores and general stores. It also contains some hard- to- find products, as well as a selection of clearance- priced items. These clearance prices are often excellent, and it is common to find prices reduced by fifty percent or more. The other nice fact about the clearance section is that it isn't just a selection of old, outdated software. Some of the selections are newer, and the prices are going to be difficult to beat.

Speaking of prices, the bottom- line cost at Softwaremedia.com is not always the least expensive, and it is very important to check other sites before you make a purchase. There is no pattern to the prices. I have been checking them for quite some time, and I can see no consistency. Sometimes, Softwaremedia.com will offer lower prices than the competition for operating software, but it will be more expensive for drawing software. Sometimes, pricing situation will be in reverse when I check again a few months later. You just don't know with this web site, and that is why you have to check around to make sure your deal really is the best one available.  I can recall times when I was sure that the deal at Softwaremedia.com was very good, but then I opened up another window and took a quick peek at Amazon.com or some other site, only to discover that Softwaremedia.com was substantially more expensive.

One of the many attractions of Softwaremedia.com is that it offers free shipping. If there is one thing that will endure me to a web site more than any other, it is the option for free shipping. Of course, free shipping is usually the slowest option offered, but the fact that it is free is reason enough for me to select it. I don't mind waiting a few extra days to get my order if it means there will not be any shipping charges, but I have found that Softwaremedia.com usually ships its free shipping orders faster than expected. The web site claims it will take between 5 and 9 working days when you select free shipping, but from my experience, the shipping time is usually at the lower end of this range. Be careful when you go through the checkout at Softwaremedia.com. The shipping defaults to Express, which is the next level up and is not free of charge. You have to switch the shipping to Budget if you want your item delivered without extra fees.

Customer service at Softwaremedia.com has limited hours, and this could present problems. The headquarters of Softwaremedia.com is Salt Lake City, Utah, and the customer service office is open only between the hours of 7:00am and 5:30pm, Mountain Standard Time.  This could prove to be a real problem for someone who is shopping the site late in the evening and needs to have some questions answered. I'm not sure why Softwaremedia.com hasn't improved in this area. Most other online stores' customer service departments are open for much longer periods of time and a good number of them now offer ‘round the clock coverage.

I generally like Softwaremedia.com and I have had much success at finding the right software for a good price. But one thing I do not like is the organization and layout of the pages of this site. The main page is laid out in such a way that the main selections are listed on the right side of the page rather than the left side. On the left side, one will find a few large icons with links to specific departments, reviews, facts about the site, etc. The other thing I don't like is the sorting abilties. When you search for a product, you are not provided any way to change the sorting. The options are listed grouped by manufacturer and there is no way to change this around. You basically have to look through the list until you find exactly what you want.

Softwaremedia.com does offer a nice return policy. If you, the customer, are not satisfied with your purchase, you have thirty days to return the product for a full refund. Not only do you get a quick, no questions asked refund, you don't even have to pay for shipping. All you have to do is fill out a product return form and Softwaremedia.com will send you a prepaid air bill package to return the products. Of course, Softwaremedia.com will not accept just anything you try to return. If you have already used and registered the software, then you cannot return it. The return policy insists that the software still be in the proper condition to resell.

Overall, I have found Softwaremedia.com to have its shares of ups and downs, but I am generally satisfied with this service and will visit again. I like the large selection, the free shipping, and the return policy. The prices, however, are not always the most competitive and the design of the site could use a complete makeover. Still, Softwaremedia.com is a good online site for software information and software purchases. They have most every type of software you can imagine and they get orders to their customers quickly and with little hassle.