I haven’t bought the big crate, but I have gotten various mystery packages from them. (I don’t have a subscription, though.) In general, they end up worth it — some stuff will be super-strange, but I’ve always ended up with enough to more than pay for it.
That said, their customer service is, uh, challenging. I have been able to resolve my issues but they do not bend on their policies, even when they should. It’s their rules, and they are always right. For example, their website deal gave too big a credit one night. Instead of canceling the order or contacting me, they just didn’t ship. I eventually contacted them and they refunded me — but I had bought things I planned to use for Christmas presents, and it was too late to reorder for holiday delivery. I had also shared the link widely and friends who had ordered were not contacted either. Again, they refunded when I contacted them, but they never did see why I thought they should either email everyone or issue refunds preemptively. (Well, honestly, they should have honored the deal as it was their error, but whatever.) They also said they did email people, but no one I spoke to received it. I found mine in spam – which was odd as all other emails from them arrive.
So I’d strongly suggest using a credit card that gives you good protection. If you do that, you should be fine — as long as you are prepared for the true, totally random mystery package.
All that said, I still shop with them. I love love love the mystery packages and the one-time purchases seem to me to be better than the subscription boxes, based on the reviews I see. (Maybe because they need a quantity of items to set up a subscription box?)
You can look through the website to get a good sense of the kinds of things you’ll get. They always seem to have a lot of different “light” things — flashlights, lamps, etc., socks or gloves, etc. And then it could be any mixture of the kinds of things you see on their sister website, 13 deals. My all time best box had a huge canvas mounted SpiderMan comic cover as just one of the many items for $39. (Which was perfect for my 9-year old nephew, but might not have been a hit with every buyer.) And, sometimes, there is some overlap with the subscription boxes, so check the reviews.
Another option is their monthly “Stupid Good Deals” club. It’s normally $5.99 a month, but it is free in March (or with a subscription). With that, you are sent emails for deals or can follow them on twitter @ExtremeSGD. You might want to do that this month and then decide whether you are seeing the kind of things you’d find fun to get in a gigantic mystery box. I can’t be positive, but I think it is a good bet that your box would include a mix of items on the site and in the tweets. The deal club also gives you 20% off all their websites.
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