Review and Recommendation: Registering for Baby Gear

Registering for baby gear can feel overwhelming. First up is deciding which retailer(s) will be best for you to host your registry at. Then the fun really begins with wading through the thousands of options of products to choose from. To aid in your search process, I've provided some points for consideration below.

Where to Register 

Information to evaluate when selecting where to register:

1. What is the completion discount?

2. Can you use the completion discount once or twice?

3. What is the return policy? Are receipts required? Does the item have to be purchased from your registry?

4. What other benefits are provided by registering there?

5. What is convenient for you for shopping and returns?

6. What is convenient for your friends and family for shopping?  
   

I registered through both Amazon and Buy Buy Baby, and then linked both registries to Babylist to house everything in one place, and give myself three different opportunities to use a completion discount. Take a look here for reference.

Amazon was a convenient option for shower guests, especially for prime members to take advantage of free two-day shipping (we've all been last minute shoppers at some point). As for the mom-to-be, Amazon has a few unique perks that I very much appreciated. First, Amazon allows you to use your completion discount twice, which is unique from other retailers. The completion discount is 15% for amazon prime members. Second, if you spend over $500 on Amazon through your registry (between gifts you receive and your own completion purchases off your registry) you receive a 20% diaper discount for a year, which you can combine with the subscribe and save feature to get an even deeper discount (a huge benefit because you’ll blow through diapers!). The only downside I found with Amazon is that completing a return involved reboxing the item and dropping it off in the mail. If you end up returning a bigger sized item, this can be a pain.

I loved registering at Buy Buy Baby because I enjoyed going in-store to test things out and appreciated the ease of returns/exchanges by simply taking the item to the store. Also, the registry staff at BBB is generally very knowledgeable and can tell you unique information like which products they see returned often and would recommend against. I called in more than once to ask about things (so if you can't go in to the store, try giving BBB a call). Finally, a perk I really appreciated after the fact is that BBB allows non-receipted returns so if you receive a product that is not on your registry, you can still return it to BBB as long as it is an item they sell.

Babylist also has unique features. On Babylist, you can directly add items from any website and Babylist will show all the different retailers that sell the item along with the cost from each. In addition to directly adding items, you can link another registry. This allows you to have one place for guests to go to see all the items you've registered for, without confining you to one registry site, and purchase from where they prefer.

The final benefit to multiple registries is multiple completion discounts! And who doesn't love a good discount. My new motto on baby gear and nursery items is never buy anything full price. The costs of having a baby add up quickly and you can always find a sale or a coupon!

Selecting Products

When I started my registry, I experienced decision paralysis. There are so many options for every single category of baby items. The beauty and the curse of the internet is that you can find yourself down an endless rabbit hole at 3am analyzing a seemingly simple selection like butt paste. 

A friend recommended the book Baby Bargains to me, and this book dramatically simplified my decision making process. The authors of Baby Bargains are experienced, independent, experts on the topic of baby gear.  Baby Bargains has both a book version and a website. I highly recommend getting the actual book becuase it provides much more detail on the most important topics like infant car seats. For smaller decisions, I would simply pick the recommended product. For bigger items, I would make notes on what features were important to me, narrow down my decision, then dig a little deeper into the final candidates.

Another resource I leaned on for reviews is Baby Gear Lab, which was founded by a pediatrician and provides in-depth and scientific reviews of baby products. This gave me a second opinion when I had multiple favorites to decide between. I especially relied on this resource for crash testing results when selecting car seats.

These two resources helped me feel confident in my selections without having to do hours of my own research on every single topic.

What are your thoughts on registering? What did you find easy to use? What was a pain in the ass? 

XOXO,

The mom next door