Vitacost Review

Vitacost is a popular online supplement vendor. Today we offer our Vitacost review, plus additional information and reader input.

About Vitacost

The official website is vitacost.com, which was first registered back in 1999. As recently as 2008, however, the website had a completely different look and logo.

There is one brick-and-mortar Vitacost store, located in Las Vegas, NV. Vitacost’s phone number is 800-381-0759.

Below is a screen capture of Vitacost.com, taken in February 2014:

Our Vitacost Review

We have placed a total of three orders through Vitacost. Our first order was over $50, which enabled us to receive free shipping. The order was placed on a Sunday night, and the package arrived on Tuesday. The quick delivery can be attributed to a Vitacost fulfillment center located in our hometown of Las Vegas, NV. We are located in one of two cities housing Vitacost fulfillment centers, the other being in Lexington, NC.

Shipping

Our second order was smaller, and did not arrive quite as quickly, although the delivery time was certainly acceptable. That order was well packaged, with one of the supplements in a glass bottle having been tightly wrapped in bubble wrap. A divider was also placed between the glass bottle and the other supplements which were in plastic bottles.

If you purchase over $25 in Vitacost brand supplements, you may also qualify for free shipping.

Orders to the lower 48 which don’t qualify for free shipping will cost $4.99.

Cost

The reason we decided to try Vitacost was price. We ran a series of searches at GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Swanson Vitamins, and Vitacost to view prices for comparable products. Vitacost came in at a lower cost-per pill than GNC and Vitamin Shoppe, and about the same as Swanson, using comparable supplement dosages.

Selection

We found Vitacost’s selection to be acceptable, and comparable to their more popular competitors. They claim to carry “nearly 40,000 different healthy products.” We searched for lesser-known supplements such as phosphatidylserine, and Vitacost had these readily available in several brands.

Many of the brand options are Vitacost’s private-label supplements, although you can find other well-known brands such as Nature’s Way and Twinlab.

Specialty options are also available, such as gluten free, soy free, dairy free, and many others.

Cons

• Rating system: Although most supplements have a user star rating, it’s almost impossible to find a supplement that isn’t rated between 4 and 5 stars. This lessens the usefulness of the star rating system.
• Coupons: We have heard a few complaints of coupons not working or still displaying after they expired.
• Marketing: After placing an order at Vitacost, we began receiving emails from the company. Although this may be appreciated by some customers, if you don’t want to receive regular emails, be sure to opt out of them during the ordering process.

Other Vitacost Reviews

• At resellerratings.com, Vitacost comes in with a 9.51 out of 10 rating.
• Sitejabber rates it at 4 stars
• It also has a 4-star rating at Epinions.com
• Reviews of Vitacost’s customer service are mixed, with some users raving about the service they received, and others vilifying the company. We had no problems with customer service.

Conclusion

In our three experiences with Vitacost, the transactions went smoothly, shipping was fast, packaging was excellent, and the products appear to be well-manufactured. Aside from a few cons above, we find Vitacost to  be a worthy option for most consumers looking to buy supplements online.