Hello. My daughter and I are trying to get in the Christmas mood. We usually love Christmas shopping together - but obviously that is a bit tricky this year. My daughter has embraced online shopping and really loves tracking the parcels and waiting for them to arrive. She has found some online shops quite easy to use, but not so much others. I help where I can, but I am keen for her to do this independently. One of the main issues is when she has placed orders from websites abroad and has then had to pay shipping.
Has anyone else been in a similar position? Which websites have been best for someone with learning disabilities?
It is also tricky to browse in the same way as you would in a shop. Do you have any good gift ideas? We are planning on doing a lot of baking for people we live near and seeing if we can drop buns/biscuits off with them just before Christmas.
Thanks. Grace.
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Grace2232
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I'd probably avoid buying things from abroad as you can be hit with unexpected shipping costs. My dad found he was charged an extra £100 for shipping costs when he bought something from China 😲
If your daughter likes more independent style shops rather than mainstream shops, she could try Etsy or Not on the High Street. But keep in mind that Etsy is a global online shop. So when selecting items, check the seller info says 'dispatches from United Kingdom'.
Not on the High Street only sells from independent sellers in the UK, so might be safer.
Both Etsy and Not on the High Street are easy websites to use.
I would normally be doing some festive shopping with my brother - but alas not this year.
I have got some great things locally, but I have to admit their websites aren't always easy to navigate and order from. I have ended up ringing a couple of them up - would your daughter be happy calling or emailing instead if she has seen something she wants?
I also know that my brother has been caught out by the one click ordering on Amazon. It was just too easy and he bought things by mistake.
I really think that shops should give this more thought, and perhaps ask people with learning disabilities to get involved. The are missing out on custom!
Hi. Staying safe online is tricky for everyone. I founds this really helpful and I talked about a few bits in there to my parents (who have been forced online). moneyadviceservice.org.uk/e... There may be bits in there you could talk to your daughter about. I hope the shopping has been a success and you have a good Christmas 😀
Hi Grace2232 I have learning disability and classic autism,I live in care with 24 hour support constantly with me.
Just to give you an idea,I have only just been given a MasterCard (a top up/pay card that my appointee adds to ,not a debit card) in the past couple of months,I am under an appointee and up till recently I had to (with help or without) send links of what I wanted to the house office, they woud then send that on a req form which asks my appointee to buy what I wanted on the companies credit card and they got the money back out of my account.
However due to covid, and a lot of shops like Starbucks being card only,the service rolled out a trial with MasterCard pay cards,where they put money on them and we are allowed to buy what we want with our money.
I always need support with making sure I have understood everything properly,and I do recommend that over giving total independence as you not only have different couriers and delivery prices but different dates and countries, import taxes maybecetc there is a lot to look at.
I find eBay to be the easiest,once a card is stored on it your sorted.
it’s not just second hand stuff on there but a lot of shops put new stuff on there to.
You coud change the filters for her and allow her to get on with it-so it only looks for things from this country for example, or free delivery (my mum uses that one a lot) and also ‘buy it now’ I use this one every time as I don’t understand auctions).
Just an other idea, have you heard of nextdoor or an free app called olio?
On nextdoor it is a community a bit like Facebook but only for your local area.
you coud join your local group and explain everything and ask if anyone has got any free baking tools, shapes for cutting out etc.
Olio is very similar,except it’s an app,and the whole idea of it is to either get things for free or give away things for free-I used to give away so much until one person just abused it and kept getting everything.
Victoria mentioned Etsy, I am a lover of etsy the only problem I find with it is they are mega expensive I get told off if I buy any cloud slime on it.
The reason it costs a lot is Etsy charge you a lot to sell on there,in fact they charge you twice for some reason so sellers pass this onto the buyer but it’s such good stuff on there.
I agree that the pandemic has greatly changed our lives. Last Christmas I had to order all the gifts on the Internet, and it's good that I found Printful, click URL printful.com/custom-photo-b... . There I can create personalized clothes, so I made Christmas socks and warm hoodies with Christmas pictures. It's cool service, cause there is a worldwide delivery.
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