Does anyone know if any of these sites ship to Canada? I signed up for Joss and Main and was about to buy something when I realized they don't ship to canada.

Joss and Main won't ship to Hawaii either, was a bummer.

urbancricket - I've had that experience on all flash sites. If something was past season stock, then it may be possible to find it at a lower price from other retailer site.

The other thing is if the color, etc you really wanted is sold out, try googling it before you "settle" for your second choice. (You can always place the item in your cart & then do a quick google before you check out). Sometimes it may not be less on another site but a similar price or just a tad bit more. Its easy to get caught up in the rush to checkout on time on these sites.

You should always check the prices elsewhere before you actually buy something. I did that with some bowls I bought on Gilt and it turned out I was actually getting a great deal, but that might not always be the case.

I had a bad experience with Rue La La where they shipped me the wrong item and were out of stock on what I had indeed ordered. They were fine about returning it, but didn't credit me back the site credit that I had used to pay for part of my purchase. What a waste.

planetgear.com...everyone forgot them... they don't usually sell home things, but they are a great flash site

Has Rednook actually started selling anything yet?

Ok. I'm going to show my ignorance. What is a flash site?

Are these like outlet stores to the internet just curious.

@Kathryn1123 and b77: Flash sale sites are sites that have a sale on a single item (or several of these sales), for a limited amount of time, and/or a limited quantity. Generally they claim a steep discount b/c they are selling a mass quantity in a short timeframe - but it's not often the case.

Outside of home furnishings, woot.com (and its subsidiaries like winewoot.com), and groupon.com, are pretty much the best in breed. I'm waiting for similar to come out in home products, but I don't think any of these are too great....

Oh and by the way, since part of their deal is pressure to make a decision (the sale only lasts xx more minutes!), I'm careful to only buy from flash sites I KNOW I can trust if it's pushing me on time. Barring that, never buy without a froogle/Amazon price check!!

@Dave Barnes, pardon my curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by that? :-)

@vuska
flash sites: meaning either 'websites where steep discounts are offered on limited quantities of merch for a limited amount of time' or 'websites that use the Adobe flash plugin'. iPads can't handle the flash plugin.

I've had decent success with Gilt. The only time I've been let down they let me return the product with no problem and credited the amount to my account again. I can't shop there every day, but when I know I need one particular thing, it makes it easier knowing that I can get it there

I usually order jewelries from these sites if I find something intereseting. For other stuff, i usually find the same or similar stuff from Amazon and dept store when they have on sale for same or less than these sites.

I recently ordered a wooden pedestral from The Foundary...I think i overpaid and wish i can cancel it but it's too late. =(
I checked Foundary's parent store and they were selling a lot of the same stuff Overstock was selling at much higher prices. buyers beware!

I always google before I purchase anything if it's something I'm not familiar with. Gilt's usually excellent on clothing and accessories but not always on things like small appliances. The other sites generally seem to have lesser deals and Amazon is often cheaper.

Once I googled a poster I loved on the Foundary and found it was a public domain image with a full-size scan available at wikipedia commons! Cost me almost nothing to get printed out at a local print shop compared to something like $90 online.

Dave Barnes was probably referring to the fact that iPads and iPhones don't use flash (a website plug-in, not to be confused with flash sales which are just a different use of the term flash.) A lot of those flash sale sites do use the flash plug-in and may not be easily accessible for an iPad user.

In answer to the post I do not use flash sale sites because I don't need enough stuff to warrant the constant emails from them, so the required memberships are not practical for me even if free.

I have been burned Seferal times by One Kings Lane. I got tow lamps that were nothing like the description, but they did refund my money on that one. They didn't send me all the items on 2 separate orders and I have 6 month old Frette sheets that are all pilled. I will never shop with them again.

Oh and it would take One Kings Lane forever to process and deliver the order. In addition they are not responsive when you do have an issue. I guess I am one very dissatisfied customer.

I've purchased from DesignStory, One Kings Lane, and Rue La La before. None stood out to me as particularly great...

BUT my new favorite is Lot18! http://www.lot18.com/i/jm

Not a home dec flash sale site, but their deals on wine are awesome! And lord knows, a glass of wine and home reno go together perfectly (at least for me!).

Funny I should come across this post today. I purchased a Fendi watch from Rue La La just moments ago and just yesterday i received an invite to join a new site- www.olume.com. I'm pretty sure you can't just join Gilt though.You have to be invited by someone else. Very exclusive!

BEWARE of Joss & Main! I ordered a throw and received the poorest quality item you could ever believe. And they refused to take it back!

My new favorite is 55 Downing Street. http://www.55downingstreet.com/
I have been very satisfied - no problems with quality or shipping.

Avoid Kings Lane like the plague. Most of their stuff is mass market, cheap, ugly in person and poorly made imports. None of it really looks like it is portrayed, and it never feels or performs as one believes it should. Interesting as a "concept", the actual execution and merchandise is abysmal. I returned almost 1000.00 of tacky, terrible merchandise I was deeply disappointed in last year (even though they tried to make it "final sale" hah!) They should be embarrassed to still be offering anything but the absolute truly best, nice, real finds. Shame on them!

I also got bamboozled by one king's lane. Such an awful, awful experience. Did not have the item I purchased, took a month to tell me they didn't, but not before trying to hawk a different item. Customer service was clipped and cold, and so slow. I will never ever shop there again.

I window shop Flash Sale sites. Almost the same way I browse Pinterest. Once I saw an item on One Kings Lane that I recognized from my Amazon wish list for waaay more- I've been suspicious of them since. Joss and Main I enjoy browsing, especially the Curator's Collections. But if I find something I like I google it and 8 times out of 10 it's cheaper elsewhere (or better yet reviewed so I can avoid a regret). Still if you can't find a better price and you don't mind the risk and it's exactly what you're looking for- they are well worth shopping.