A new online store launced last week: 1780 by SariSari – a concept shop under SariSariStore.com. It carries all-Filipino product lines that truly deserve online exposure. Their inventory ranges from sought-after native delicacies to signature regional handweaves.

1780’s main advocacy is to help backyard businesses nationwide – particularly those from areas severely affected by recent disasters, poverty and conflict – to build an economically sustainable living, whereby preserving traditional ways of creating/cooking/crafting products.

I just made my first purchase and today, I’ll let you in on how the buying process went down. Yes, it’s a walkthrough.

First, visit: http://www.sarisaristore.com/1780

Before anything else, you will need to register. It’s a simple one-step process, just 3 pieces of information will be collected (email, create a password, name).

 After completing the email confirmation – standard process: you will receive a link in your inbox – you should be all set and ready to log-in. You are now a member of 1780!

Go the PRODUCTS page and start shopping! Every time you click on ADD TO CART, you will be directed to the shopping cart. If you plan to get more stuff, simply hit the ‘back’ button.

 Here, I bought some Kablon Farms Dark Chocolate bars (in regular). I also wanted to try out the spicy flavors, so I went back to the product gallery to get those.

 You may change the quantities of your orders on this page, too. Once you’re satisfied with the contents of your shopping cart, click on ‘Proceed to Checkout’.

 Checkout is a 3-step process. First, you’ll need to submit your shipping information – this is to determine the shipping fee, too, I guess, since that was not indicated in the shopping cart yet.

 Next, you can pick a payment option: Paypal (Paypal balance) or DragonPay (credit card). If you will be using a gift card, just pick any of these options and hit continue.

 At this point (Order Review), you can see the breakdown of your orders. Here, I encountered a discrepancy. Normally, if you order online from one vendor, you can expect combined shipment of your items – that means they should be able to pack a bunch of items in one pouch. But here, it looked like these items will be shipped separately, hence the separate shipping charges. These are just a few pieces of chocolate bars, so I believe those should fit a standard courier pouch just fine. So, I temporarily stopped the checkout, and decided to email customer service.

I received a prompt response to my inquiry the next business day. Their assistance was superb! I didn’t have to do anything else, they adjusted the shipping fee from their end.

 Any order that you place on hold is automatically saved in your account for a few days (make sure you are logged in). You will receive an email reminder of your pending order with a payment deadline – a generous 5 business days. It’s like putting the products on reserve, which is kind of cool especially if you’re ordering an in-demand item.

So, in the screenshot above, you can see that the shipping fee was adjusted and customer service left a note there, too. Now, on to the next step: Applying a gift card.

Since I didn’t enter the gift card info from the Order Review page, I had to do it another way. Go to the ACCOUNT tab, and click on GIFT CARDS. It’s a pretty straightforward process, no need to elaborate. Now the balance is there but there’s no option from the My Orders page to apply the gift card. At this stage of the order process, the only available options I can see was to choose Paypal or DragonPay. That being said, I made another SOS email to customer service.

A response came ever so promptly the next business day (thanks, guys!). Once again, they have done all the work, and I can see my total all adjusted and just waiting for the payment (my gift card amount was not sufficient, so I had to pay for the remaining balance through other options).

 I picked the easiest one, which is Paypal. A few clicks after that and I’m done!

This walk-through looks so complicated, but it’s just because of the technicalities I encountered. Hopefully all of those minor issues gets fixed so all you guys will have a smooth transaction when you shop ^_^

Stay tuned for the order fulfillment (delivery) review to be posted next!

*This is not a sponsored post.