This is Neatorama’s second Mystery Sale, and I have to acknowledge that we’ve made some mistakes. Though I think most of the mystery boxes have been neat, a lot of you don’t like the tiaras. Point taken – we’ll do better next time.

For the record, which I have stated earlier, the tiaras aren’t the kind that you get at discount prom stores (for one, the quality is much, much higher and therefore the price is higher too). Still, it’s not the type of thing that seems to go over well with many Neatorama readers.

Some of the things have retail price less than $9.95. Yes, but if you’re careful you’d notice that you get TWO things that if the prices are combined, are worth more than $9.95.

@aelam: We have to list the products shipped on the customs form. It’s da law! If you order 5 things giftwrapped, then of course they’ll show up in 5 boxes. If not, then they’ll all show up in one box.

It’s probably the nature of the Mystery Sale that most people are disappointed that they don’t get the good stuff, but we’ll try harder next time to source better stuff

Lastly, I’d like to point out that good or bad, your comments are shown here without being censored. I do hope that all of you will consider participating in future Mystery Sales. I promise they’ll be much better!

It’s not a complete loss. My office is participating in Toys for Tots this year, so I’ll donate it along with the other items I was planning to contribute.

Though I didn’t particularly enjoy my item, I had fun waiting for it. Thanks Neatorama.

I paid $70 for 5 mystery items and am not very impressed with how it was handled.

1. I was expecting to get 5 different boxes but instead, I found one small box, smaller than a shoebox even. So how am I supposed to distribute this to the 5 different people I bought these for? They’re not even wrapped individually.

2. The customs form lists every single item in the box prior to opening. There goes the suprise.

3. The customs form total cost of all items inside was only listed at $20!!! WTF? I thought all items were supposed to be at LEAST $10 each. I bought 5.

I will not be buying another mystery item. I would have preferred 5 t-shirts. In fact, I wish that’s what I bought instead of this. That’s probably what I’ll do next year. But you can bet your ass it won’t be from the Neatorama store.

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with this tiara?

Instead, I got three crapolas for 34.80.

I think the topper was the giant universal remote. What a worthless item.

Thank you for ripping me off. I think I’ll stick with Woot and leave the Neatorama store alone.

Thanks Neatorama.

I got a tiara, which is indeed a nice tiara (one of the welds is broken, though, but that can be fixed), and the other half got a belt with a star belt buckle. Oh! And a little piggy LED flashlight that oinks. Awesome, especially since we were looking at those things in a store the other weekend and couldn’t bring ourselves to drop $5.99 on a little piggy.

We’re updating the online database (your order may still say “in progress” instead of “shipped”). It’s kind of a long and arduous manual process. Sigh.

I do listen to feedback, and will try to adjust product selection for the next Mystery Sale as to maximize everyone’s satisfaction

I’m only slightly disappointed because I already have a tiara, not because this one’s a bad one. But as others have said – it’s a mystery, you know that going in.

As for the tiara – I suppose a girl can’t have too many of those, eh?

@groovy: Hm, those have been very reliable (we shipped out hundreds with no problem). I’ll email you to find out what’s up.

@crankycat: The value of the item is targeted at $9.95 – if you get a $15 tiara, then you’re already $5 ahead of the game .

i am a little confused though. i ordered two items. in the mail i got three. a lil’ mental floss book, a laser pen, and a LED pig keychain light (which is awesome but don’t work)

i guess im a tad disappointed, as the stipulation was that each item would be at least $9.95 and i don’t think these guys quite make the cut (the book actually has a lower price printed on it)

that being said, the fun of the game, and the knowledge that i am supporting one of my favorite sites makes the difference.

Fun stuff.

We’re going to be sending the last batches in the next few days (including the big winners). I do apologize to everyone for the delay, we’ve been working overtime trying to get stuff out (we even worked through the Thanskgiving holidays). If you haven’t gotten yours, it’s on its way.

Frankly, I was caught off-guard. We prepared for this Mystery Sale quite ahead of time, but we didn’t expect to get that many orders (with the economy being slow and all). So thank you again to everyone who participated! You’ve helped the blog tremendously in so many ways.

The belt size is supposed to be XL for XL orders – the buckle does add another couple of inches to the reach of the belt. For those whose belt is too large, it’s quite easy to make additional holes

The tiaras we got are very good quality, and actually retail for about $10 to $15 (there are a couple of different kinds). I don’t know where Lindsey got her jewelry from, but wherever it is, I’m sure she got a deal if she buys ‘em retail. If she buys jewelry wholesale, then of course they’re going to cost less than $10.

We did a variety of things this time (about 5 major items at a few hundred each). We’ve gotten predominantly positive feedback on the mental_floss book/magazine combo, but someone actually cursed us out for sending them “books” (how dare we sent them things to read! That sucks!)

We’ve also gotten quite a positive feedback on the tiara (a few of them told me that these are a hoot and they wouldn’t in a million years expect something like it or treat themselves to one), yet as the comments above, some are vehemently against them.

It’s probably the nature of the Mystery Sale that it’s difficult to satisfy everyone’s idealized image of what constitute a good item.

Maybe it’s retailing for 9.99 somewhere but this is a major let down. I was hoping for at least a magazine/book combo pack.
Bummer.
No more mystery sales for me.

Thanks!