l Good range of kids shoes and fancy dress wear

l Decent prices on shoes, although delivery and exchange is expensive

l Plenty of sales events to save you money

Shoe Carnival is - as the name suggests - a good place to pick up both unusual and costume footwear. While it has all the usual categories that normal online shoe stores have, Shoe Carnival has a bunch of other categories to help you complete fancy-dress and Halloween costume outfits. You'll see sections like 'Cowboy' and 'Character' on there, which demonstrates a breadth of shoes that many other retailers can't quite match.

The site is great for kids shoes too,Private Label Shoes and there are loads of categories that children will actually want to shop from (as well as the more practical ones they need too). Everything is sensibly laid-out when you get to a product page, with multiple photos of the shoes clearly displayed. You can select size and colors from a drop-down menu, and there are user reviews on page... even if Shoe Carnival doesn't get the same volume of reviews as many other sites. We don't really like how much the site tries to 'sell' extras to you, as it makes the experience feel a bit cheap.

Shipping starts at $6.95, although it's free if you spend in excess of $75. Annoyingly, there's a $10 surcharge if you live in Alaska or Hawaii, which other shoe stores don't impose. You've got 60-days to return items, which is pretty generous, but you will be charged a $6 fee. Exchanges are essentially treated like returns, so if you do get the wrong size, you'll need to pay that fee when you send the original pair of shoes back, and then you'll pay again for delivery. Of all the shoe stores we reviewed, Shoe Carnival has the worst exchange policy.

Shoe Carnival User Reviews and Ratings

l Has an A+ rating via the Better Business Bureau

l Scores 2 out of 5 via Yelp

We looked at around 45 user reviews of Shoe Carnival, as there were fewer related to the online version of the store than the brick and mortar retailer. What we found were a lot of critical reviews that took issue with the delivery and returns process of the site. Some users had really struggled to return items, and in some cases the issue had been ongoing for several months. While users had fewer issues with the stores, they also suggested that customer service was average at best.

Another more troubling review suggested that they were unable to get a refund for a defective item and, while there are often reasons why stores won't accept refunds on worn shoes, this wasn't an isolated case. We also noted that several users didn't like the more aggressive sales tone that both the regular stores and the website take with customers, with one noting "Just let the shoes be the shoes"! We couldn't agree more.