"I was looking for a small drier part, which their site listed at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, when I went to the checkout process, there was no way to find out the shipping charges prior to giving them all of my personal information. I'd have been happy to provide a zip code, in order for them to estimate the shipping charges, but they required an address, phone number, etc. in order to even get to the phase of the process where shipping costs are determined. My experience with this sort of scheme is that the reasonable price listed for a product is rendered exorbitant by a shipping charge that far outweighs any discounts the company supposedly offers. I've seen similar checkout schemes where hidden shipping charges for a really small, mailable part turn out to be two to three times the purported cost of the item itself.

My "buyer beware" sense (and extensive online shopping experience) tells me that companies choosing this route for online sales are likely doing so to hide ridiculous shipping charges on items they sell."

"Beware! They charge your card more than the confirmation amount. Then when you call to ask about it they are completely RUDE! The girl had an attitude right from the start. I will never order from there again!"

"After calling to confirm the color of a part before ordering, I was ensured that the part was a certain color (black), as the the blue part is insufficient for our needs. When I received my order, the part was in fact, blue. I placed another call to customer service, and the rep has refused to pay for return shipping or my initial shipping.

Partstown charged $20 in ground shipping for a tiny bag of O-rings, and I requested this be charged to my UPS account, which also did not happen. I only dealt with this company based on the guarantee that the part was the correct color/make.

I work in purchasing and deal with countless vendors a year, and this has by far been my worst experience in recent memory. Poor business practices."