What Is Cratejoy.com?

Cratejoy is a subscription box service that uses enthusiasts and professionals to organize monthly boxes of hand-selected products. Instead of everyone receiving the same, homogenized box, Cratejoy offers a wide selection of categories for users to choose from when looking for a subscription.

By using this method of organization, Cratejoy caters to a far broader demographic than other subscription services.

 
In addition to subscribing to monthly boxes, Cratejoy users who are interested in creating and selling boxes can also sign up for Cratejoy. As long as you have the proper resources and website, anyone can offer subscription boxes on Cratejoy.

How Does Cratejoy.com Work?

The concept of Cratejoy.com is pretty simple. Browse the wide selection of categories and choose a subscription that is right for you. Fill out the billing information and then receive a monthly box from whoever you subscribe from the site.

If you like what you get, the individual will continue to send you boxes each month. If you do not want it, you can cancel this subscription at any time.

What Types of Subscriptions Does Cratejoy.com Offer?

Cratejoy.com offers twelve different categories to choose from when ordering subscription boxes. Each of these categories has a further subsection with a variety of additional selections. They include:

• Beauty and Fashion — This category offers mostly spa and cosmetic products. The subsections include nail polish and nail art, bath and soap, organic and natural beauty, makeup, and skincare products.
• Books — Personally selected titles from literary experts and writers that offer books, coffee and writing exercises. The subsections include young adult books, adult coloring books, mystery, thriller and horror, fantasy and sci-fi books, children’s books and romance novels.
• Women — Lots of self-care kits and different clothing options for women in this category. The subsections include maternity and pregnancy, period and time of the month, lingerie, women’s clothing, shoes, jewelry and accessories, and bridal and brides products.
• Men — This category contains everything from clothing options to mixologist kits. The subsections include socks, men’s clothing, men’s accessories, and shaving and grooming products.
• Food and Beverage — This category includes everything from snacks to full-on meals. The subsections include coffee, chocolate, candy, vegan, paleo, tea, beer and wine, snacks, cooking and baking, desserts and cookies, cocktail and alcohol, international and foreign food, gourmet food, spices and sauces, gluten-free and meal delivery options.
• Geek and Gaming — If you are a fan of history, technology or comic books, then there is something in this category for you. The subsections include anime, kawaii, and manga, comic books and graphic novels, board games, nerd and fandom, and video games and gaming products.

• Fitness and Outdoors — Different products that cater to a wide range of health and fitness goals. The subsections include sports, outdoors, protein and nutrition, survival and tactical gear, weight loss, supplements, and vitamins.
• Family and Kids — Whether your child is a toddler or a freshman in college, this category offers something to keep them happy. The subsections include kids clothing, college students, toys and games, baby and toddler, teen and tweens, educational, and faith and religion products.
• Art and Culture — This category offers everything from art supplies for artists, to locally-sourced goodie bags for cultural connoisseurs. The subsections include music, planner and stationery, spiritual, new age and crystal, arts and crafts, luxury and high end, and artisan and handmade products.
• Pets — If you have a furry critter at home, this category is great for spoiling them with food and toys. The subsections include cats and dogs.
• Home — This category includes products that will spice up your home’s appearance. The subsections include interior design and decorator, DIY, candles, gardening, herbs and apothecary, home accessories, and eco-friendly products.
• Novelty — The miscellaneous category — everything that does not fit into the other groups. The only subsection, adult, contains everything tech assembly kits to sex toys.

Can I Sell Subscription Boxes on Cratejoy.com?

Yes, anyone can sell subscription boxes on Cratejoy. However, you must create or upload a website onto the Cratejoy marketplace and pay a monthly cost of $39.00 to sell anything. Luckily, Cratejoy has a lot of educational resources for helping businesses and individuals interested in getting started.

Cratejoy also offers its website builder for intuitive design so you can feature your products in all of their glory. The company claims that regardless of how small you are, the website contains everything you need to manage and scale your business correctly.

What Is Wrong with Cratejoy.com?

Cratejoy’s strength, the fact that anyone can sell on the website, is also its biggest weakness. While most of these subscription services are genuine, since anyone can sell on the site, Cratejoy often has trouble keeping tabs on the sellers. Many users report boxes that come late, or sometimes never at all. Indeed, it seems some of the people selling subscription boxes on Cratejoy are nothing more than thinly veiled scams.

Some people also complain that the products in the subscription box are not worth what they paid for it. This lack of control is the price for letting anyone sell on the website. Cratejoy might benefit from more restrictive selling parameters and accountability.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

Cratejoy is pretty intuitive, but it can still be a bit confusing for new members. Here are some FAQ’s and answers most users of Cratejoy end up asking.

Final Thoughts on Cratejoy.com

Cratejoy is an excellent business idea in theory, but it does currently have some pretty significant design flaws in real life, both for buyers and sellers. The concept of allowing specialized individuals and business to sell their product directly to consumers is pretty cool.

Instead of generic products, you get curated selections for your specific tastes. It is a lovely human touch in an age dominated by algorithms. Unfortunately, humans are a lot less predictable than computers.

As such, a lot of Cratejoy customers might have to deal with minor inconveniences, like late boxes, or more massive scams that never deliver the box, or sometimes charge people for the same box twice. And these inconveniences are not limited to buyers.

Cratejoy is pretty expensive for the budding entrepreneur, and small-scale operation can quickly become overrun with orders and requests.

If Cratejoy is going to function as a digital marketplace, it needs to set up more rules for how people can utilize it. These rules mean first setting parameters on who can sell the thing on Cratejoy.

With selling features reserved for verified and qualified businesses and individuals, the website could become the cool concept it markets itself as — a thriving e-commerce site. But at the moment it remains bogged down with some significant flaws.