Shopping Ethically Online. Any Good Websites?

sophisticated-sarah

Hi, does anybody know any good websites to shop for ethical things online?

A good one that I use is

ethicalpresence.co.uk

I bought from them and it came wrapped in ethical paper and free gifts etc.

Are there any others with good customer service?

Sarah

Fire_Fox

Spam I think?

sophisticated-sarah

No it's not spam. I am genuinly interested to find some good websites.

I have bought from one website and mentioned their customer service because it was good. I am new to buying ethical stuff and wanted to know if there were any other sites that are good to buy from.

Why do people always assume the worst of others? Such a nice way to welcome people to a forum....

greenbee

sarah - i think people assume the worst as we've had a lot of spam on the site recently. If they see a post count of 1 with a link they assume that it's suspicious.

Anyway - welcome to the site, have a look round and hopefully you'll find some useful information and post some more.

Sites that I use include:

Ethical Superstore
Natural Collection
So Organic
lovelula
Summer Naturals
Greenfibres

There are a few others I haven't used, but keep an eye on:

Traidcraft
Big Green Smile
Lavera

Hope this helps...

Fire_Fox

sophisticated-sarah wrote: »

No it's not spam. I am genuinly interested to find some good websites.

I have bought from one website and mentioned their customer service because it was good. I am new to buying ethical stuff and wanted to know if there were any other sites that are good to buy from.

Why do people always assume the worst of others? Such a nice way to welcome people to a forum....

I asked a question, I didn't launch a personal attack. If you are genuine I apologise and offer a warm welcome. I am a satisfied Ethical Superstore and Natural Collection shopper - Lakeland also supplies a number of 'green' products and (IME) brilliant customer service.

Cardew

It is always suspicious when the first post of anyone is to promote a website!

Frankly I remain deeply suspicious of the whole 'ethical' and 'green' money making industry.

greenbee

Cardew wrote: »

Frankly I remain deeply suspicious of the whole 'ethical' and 'green' money making industry.

It's a good point... given that the greenest and most ethical thing we can do is to stop consuming, it is somewhat ironic that a whole industry has grown up to cater for green and ethical consumers...

Fire_Fox

The problem is that many of these organisations are not green or ethical at all - they are just jumping on the bandwagon. But they have their place: you can't expect the Western World to go from carbon fiends to self-sufficiency overnight. I started with recycling the odd bottle and can, now I use biodegradable cleaning products, recycle loads, hardly any carriers etc. But it's been one step at a time and will continue to be so.

There's always compromises to be made along the way: we took out a still-functioning electric hob to replace with an induction version. Consumerism, yes. But we now have the oven on far far less often and use less energy each time we cook. I an more inclined to cook from scratch now we don't have to wait ten minutes for the ring to heat, and we hope to buy fewer new pans as Mr. Fire Fox won't burn them getting impatient! The new hob is easier to clean, requiring few chemicals. The old hob and (non-magnetic) pans will be given to charity, and the packaging was recycled.

greenbee

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I started with recycling the odd bottle and can, now I use biodegradable cleaning products, recycle loads, hardly any carriers etc. But it's been one step at a time and will continue to be so.

And most importantly, as you take each step and realise both that it is easier than you thought and that there are direct benefits as well as the environmental ones, hopefully you will be setting an example to, and encouraging others.

Hopefully we can all encourage our friends, family and colleagues to take the small, easy steps and eventually they'll become more aware and take the big ones.

If green/ethical shopping means that they have less of an impact than they would have done, then that's great. When they see (especially in the credit crunch :rolleyes:) that other people have moved on from ethical consumerism to reducing consumption, hopefully they will follow suit. I guess these companies (if you research them properly) are the 'least worst' option...

Fire_Fox

greenbee wrote: »

And most importantly, as you take each step and realise both that it is easier than you thought and that there are direct benefits as well as the environmental ones, hopefully you will be setting an example to, and encouraging others.

Hopefully we can all encourage our friends, family and colleagues to take the small, easy steps and eventually they'll become more aware and take the big ones.

If green/ethical shopping means that they have less of an impact than they would have done, then that's great. When they see (especially in the credit crunch :rolleyes:) that other people have moved on from ethical consumerism to reducing consumption, hopefully they will follow suit. I guess these companies (if you research them properly) are the 'least worst' option...

Mr. Fire Fox now recycles, albeit reluctantly! :rolleyes: I bought a Brabantia steel paper box with it's own paper bags in the January sales, which he laughed at. But the box now lives next to the sofa and he does remember to put the small stuff in. I am going to buy a 'system' for the rest of the recycling eventually - we only have a flat so space is at a premium.

Mum and Dad are pretty good, they pay the extra for companies such as Good Energy and buy a lot of organic or local produce. When I find a decent 'greenish' cleaning products I always tell them - Mum is in love with her microfibre cloths for example! We are all quite into good gifts instead of consumer items and they 'adopted' another child for me last Xmas.

Yes, let's hope the 'credit crunch' does help us all spend/ waste less. I have been questioned on my DFW diary for buying lots of new kitchen equipment: I have bought better quality than previously as my nod to ethical purchasing, because so much of the cheap stuff ends up in landfill. I need to take the bull by the horns a bit with the amount of packaging I end up 'owning' as I don't think about reducing when in the supermarket and buy a lot of stuff online.

tomma100

hi

ooffoo.com / marketplace is a good'un too.

its a new initiative from natural collection and ethical junction

cheers