Complete Idiots Guide To Buying Sex Toys
Foreword
Thousands of products available, but where do you start? This guide is intended to answer some questions anyone interested in purchasing a sex toy might have and will hopefully help guide you in making your first (or 100th) purchase.Who are you purchasing for?
The first question to ask yourself when considering a product is if you're purchasing it for yourself, for your significant other, or for both of you. This might seem like a trivial question, however it's important because if your significant other is involved & they aren't well receptive to new ideas, a little care will need to be taken to ease them into the idea. Even if you're purchasing the product specifically for YOU, if you have a signficant other and they find out about your new toys there may be some explaination involved to prevent hurting his/her feelings.For You
Is there a signficant other involved? If not, that makes things significantly easier. There are still some decisions to be made regarding what type of product you're comfortable with, finding sites to purchase the product from, reading reviews/opinions before you buy, etc (all of which we will discuss later in the guide) -- but you don't have to worry about your partner feeling inadequate or concerned just because you want to try something new.
If on the other hand you have a partner and they don't know you would like to try something new, it might be best to start off small and ease into things so he/she has time to adjust to the idea. Obviously if you purchase the whiz-bang MegaOrgasm 5000 that gets the job done every time, your partner may feel inadequate and wonder if you are trying to replace him/her. Fortunately there are also many people that would absolutely be thrilled with their partners if they found out you were purchasing a sex toy -- maybe they want to watch!
For Your Significant Other
You should know your significant other better than anyone else, so only you can judge what he/she will or won't like. It's probably a good idea to start off small (and cheap) if you're looking to break the ice. If it's a gift for a birthday/holiday, make sure it's not the only gift unless you're absolutely sure they will like it! By starting off small & not spending a ton of money, you can always joke about it afterwards if your better half thinks you're out of your mind -- or better yet, explain how it was a gag all along and laugh about it! Regardless of how you break the ice if one or both of you have never tried sex toys before, it may spark some ideas down the road even if you NEVER use what you purchased the first time. It's very likely that you'll eventually be able to talk openly about the subject & find out exactly what your partner is looking for in a toy.. as long as he/she is not 100% against the idea. Don't push it on them, but get the ball rolling.
For Both Of You
It's a nice idea to find something you will both like and enjoy. "For both of you" could have different meanings depending upon who you ask, so you will need to know a little something about your partner before making the purchase. Many guys would enjoy watching a girl use toys on themselves and technically it's still benefiting both of you. There are also many products available that are intended for stimulation of you and your partner. It's all personal choice & only you can decide what approach will best suit you and your partner, but you probably wouldn't be looking for sex toys for both of you unless they were at least a little receptive to new ideas. As always for first timers, exercise some caution when buying a sex toy if you're not sure how your partner will feel about it. Again, while many guys would like watching their girlfriends use a toy on themselves, some guys might feel inadequate and feel like you are telling them they can't satisfy you like your new toy can.
Where to purchase?
There are thousands of sites selling adult material -- from adult DVDs and sex toys to subscription-based galleries and video-on-demand. One of the biggest problems you'll face when looking for a site to purchase from is lack of information on the credibility of these sites. It's much easier to discern creditible consumer sites selling the latest and greatest electronics from shady fly-by-night sites selling the same electronics for hundreds of dollars less (and never shipping your product). There are even sites that allow users to rate their experiences at other consumer sites -- but this is not the case for adult material. It's a shame that there aren't any really great resources for consumers who want to purchase sex toy products to find unbiased reviews of products or sites worth purchasing from (tho SexToyOpinions.com is trying to change that!).Here are some helpful tips you should follow before making a purchase:
- Do some research on the site. Try typing the site in on a search engine & see if you find any positive or negative opinions from previous customers.
- Find out where the site's company is based, shipping/delivery times.
- Want to find out if their customer service is any good? If the site allows you to ask a question about products, see how long it takes for them to give you a response about the product you're intending to purchase.
- Make sure they have the product you are looking at in-stock.
- If you get to the checkout and it's asking for your credit card information but the page is not secure (ie. the address in your browser is not https://) do not send any information & go somewhere else to make your purchase.
- Finally, see if they have any price matching policies -- it's always worth trying.
Is XYZ product any good?
Another unfortunate thing with adult material is finding out if the product you're interested in is worth more than the cardboard or plastic packaging it comes in. It's unfortunate because it's very unlikely you're going to find more than a handful of short reviews about the product. Many adult novelty sites allow their users to express their opinions in a sentence or two, but often this is not enough space to explain their likes/dislikes & it also brings to question whether the site monitors & filters opinions if it will affect sales of the item. SexToyOpinions.com attempts to change that in allowing users to post unbiased reviews of products, but right now there is very little information on many adult products and often the only way to know if something is shoddy is to take a shot in the dark and purchase it to find out. From our experiences, if a product LOOKS cheaply made in its picture it most likely IS cheaply made. Additionally, the "You Get What You Paid For" doesn't seem to apply as much to adult products because you can spend $200 on something that breaks as quickly as a $10 product.If you purchase an adult product, please help other consumers interested in purchasing adult products & post your review or opinion on this site. In time, the database will grow & much more information will be available to others where it is currently lacking. For now, the best suggestion we can give if the product has not been reviewed here yet is to type the name of the product into a search engine and find out if anyone has commented on it on other sites.
It broke/Doesn't work/Is horrible, what do I do?
When purchasing sex toys you're almost guaranteed to make a bad purchase here or there. Either the product didn't have a picture or wasn't described as well as it could have been.. or you couldn't find any reviews on it so you figured you'd take a chance. If you bought something and it's not what you expected or broke very quickly, the first thing you should do is write a review on SexToyOpinions.com of course! Let other consumers know about your experience with the product & prevent someone else from making the same mistake based on lack of information on these products. Following this, go back to the site you purchased from & review their return policies. Often times if a product is defective or broke quickly under normal use, the site will refund your money or offer a replacement. If there are no policies regarding returns, look for a contact form, email or phone number. Make all attempts you can to resolve your issues with the site before posting anywhere negatively about the company -- more often than not you will get a friendly response and apology. If on the other hand it broke after a long amount of use or misuse, you're out of luck as most return policies would not cover this.Wanted: Your Opinions!
Your opinions are very important and help SexToyOpinions grow! If you've purchased a sex toy and have had a good or bad experience with it, please take a few minutes & write a review -- if you don't already have an SexToyOpinions account, sign-up today, it's FREE!. Help other consumers like you make informed decisions when purchasing adult products and create a much needed resource of information. Thanks and good luck!DISCLAIMER: This article may contain opinions and is intended only as a reference in purchasing sex toys. Any purchases you make based on the opinions are entirely your choice (ie. don't hold us reliable because you chose to follow our advice!). Now, with that said.. we do think it's very sound advice =)
All reviews/opinions expressed on this site are of their authors.
Reviews or opinions should be confirmed before relying on them.