Babylist users - opinions please

Louisl

I have been compiling my registry on BabyList, and have not made any registries anywhere else. I thought this would keep it nice and streamlined and everyone could access the same things online and not have to go to stores (we live far from family, so the shower will just be close friends who are internet savvy). My question is, are you making registries at the traditional places and then importing them to BabyList? I didn't, but now I'm wondering which will be less confusing for the older family members. It just seems like that could cause things to be purchased twice? I think all of my relatives will be totally fine using a web registry (my cousin recently did that with her wedding and it was no big deal) but there might be a few of my husband's family members who are confused.

babealertz

I love it! I started my registry on Amazon, then found out about BabyList and transferred everything over and deleted the Amazon registry. I haven't had any issues with people making double purchases--as long as people know that they have to reserve items they intend to purchase for you, you should be fine. Maintaining registries on multiple sites does seem like it would lead to double purchases. BabyList is really designed to replace individual site registries altogether.

One minor issue: I received an invitation to the shower my MIL is throwing for my husband and me, and found that she'd written the address as babyli.st.com. I'd sent her a link to the registry, and because she never had to type it into the address bar she didn't realize that .st was the domain. So now it's up to the guests to figure out where my actual registry is! I can see that people have been buying gifts, so at least some of them have managed to find it.

leighann1

I am using BabyList but also registered at Target and Buy Buy Baby. BabyList has the links to those registries. I have a lot of family and friends who will want to shop in store, but there are a few items I wanted to add to the online registry. For example, we're doing a cloth diaper package from a local store, and we were able to add that to BabyList.

lanaloulittle

If you register at specific stores many will give you a completion discount when your shower has passed to get anything that is left on your registry.

RainNFyre

I love that you can add stuff from Etsy to it. My DH is the only one who bought something from it, so we'll see how things go. We were doing a test run. I would recommend linking registries from certain stores because of the completion discount mentioned above; however, Baylist also has a cool price comparison feature whereby they will show the same stroller (etc) from multiple retailers and then your guests can buy from the most competitively priced retailer.

casserole27

I have registered at Target and Babies R Us, mainly for the discount. I merged them onto Babylist. I plan on primarily sharing Baylist but if anyone does looks us up in store (like great-grandparents) they can find us. I love babylist we registered for a lot of Green products only available online and I love being able to add notes to the things we register for.

devonsd315

I would say the downside of Babylist is you don't get the completion discounts that you would if you registered at more traditional locations. I put my stroller and car seat on my Amazon registry and then purchased them myself because you get 10% back on purchases.

I did sign up for Babylist because I wanted to check it out, and I will say I get really informative emails from them about things to register for. I picked out my stroller based off suggestions they sent. 

jefinley1

I was using BabiesRUs and then switched to Babylist, transferring the BabiesRUs registry and then deleting it. This was mainly because some key items were either missing or not to my taste, or there were way better deals on other sites. I didn't want people spending an extra $100 on a bigger ticket item simply because that's where it would show up as purchased. I have a couple of family members who are internet challenged, and they either contacted my mom to get her help (it was mainly my mom's parents as they don't have internet), or figured it out. It is a pretty simple interface. I like that for a lot of things, it actually lists multiple places the item could be purchased so that they can see the best deals. 

heytallmama

We are using BabyList exclusively. It's so much easier, and as far as purchases go, I think it's more geared toward the shopper getting their deal than us getting a fulfillment discount, which I'm fine with. Since they do the price comparisons, it's easy for someone to get the best price rather than having to spend the extra $ where it might be at a specific store we register at. I had to show my mom and MIL how it works but aside from a few older relatives my mom will need to help shop, everyone is savvy enough to use that versus a traditional registry. Plus I love that you can link in things from places like Etsy + IKEA!

McRad

I did a babyli.st as well as a Target and Babies R Us list. However, I LINKED mine to babyli.st so I could send out one registry website but still get the points and whatnot from people purchasing from Babies R Us. You have to be careful, though, because if you MERGE, you'll have to do as others above have done and delete your original in store list or you could get two of the same item (one listed on babyli.st and one listed on your in store registry). My shower is currently "taking place", if you will as it is a mail shower my mom and MIL are hosting and people haven't had any issues with having technically three registries in one: Target, Babies R Us, and the items on the babyli.st
Just be careful about either merging or linking. My sister in law merged hers and hadn't deleted her store registry and so she ended up with two of a lot of items. Very confusing.

Hope that helps.

Louisl

Thanks for the feedback everyone. So helpful!

juliliu

I'm having the same internal debate about using my Babyli.st registry.  For me, the biggest draw of a traditional registry is the extended return period (90 days for Amazon, 1 year for Babies R Us) and the ease of returns without a receipt.  As long as an item was purchased using my registry number, I'll have all the 'proof' needed to return a duplicate item or an item I changed my mind about without asking for a gift receipt.  Also the 10% 'cash back' for all registry purchases at BRU is a big incentive, and I don't believe that's possible if I just include the BRU items on my Babylist registry rather than maintaining a traditional BRU registry.  The completion coupons are obviously a draw as well, but I figured I can start registries at all the major stores in order to get the completion coupon, whether or not I share those registries with friends/family.  I LOVE how easy it is for friends to use Baby List - putting all items on one list and showing different store options (some people may prefer to spend the few extra dollars to pick up an item at their local Target and others may buy from Amazon to get the lowest price possible).  However, I'm tempted to keep 3 traditional registries (Target, BRU, Amazon) solely for the benefits, link those on Babyli.st, and add any other random items individually to the main list.  The bummer of that method is that I need to select one store for each item I want, and that the user experience is worse for my family and friends.  Has anybody else figured out a way to get the best of both worlds??