What is SkyMall?

From the website: "SkyMall is a multi-channel, direct marketer offering high-quality, innovative merchandise from top direct marketers and manufacturers through its SkyMall catalog and web site, skymall.com." So to be clear, SkyMall is a reseller, and they find deals and interesting products at other merchants... then they market them to you. And you'll see this is true at the site. If you look at the stores represented on the site you'll find a list of over 200 brands. Some you've definitely heard of, like Brookstone, Frontgate, Hammacher Schlemmer, Improvements, or The Sharper Image. But some are definitely not ones that you're going to find in your local mall... and that's what makes shopping or browsing the site interesting.

Shopping at SkyMall

Skymall combines the inventories of all their partner stores into one browseable experience. They categorize all the products into 8 major categories: Toys & Collectibles, Home Living, Apparel & Accessories, Health & Wellness, Electronics & Gadgets, Gift Shop, Auto & Hardware, and Outdoor Living. You can also shop by store - effectively cutting the inventory on the site down to the particular store that you're looking for... for example you can just see the products from Steiner Sports, if that's what you're into. The amount and array of the items are a total plus in the Insider's eyes...there's stuff here that you're not going to find anywhere else. So I think that the convenience of using the single shopping cart overcomes the cost hurdle.

Once you determine the products that you want, you can check out. One of the best features of SkyMall is that even if you shop from multiple vendors you only incur 1 shipping charge. So you can save some money here for sure.

The shipping charges are a sliding scale based on amount of your order, but other non-standard fees may apply, especially if you're buying larger items. Some items may require additional shipping costs and delivery time due to weight. Shipments to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico require an additional delivery charge, and some items can't be shipped to those areas. Bottomline? You should always check the site's shipping and handling page before you buy anything.

I use SkyMall for gifts for my father-in-law and stocking stuffer gifts every Christmas because I get 5 to 1 FFmiles for each dollar spent. So if I rack up a decent bill I can really get some mileage out of the experience!

The Insider gives SkyMall a thumbs up -- it works for me!