Whiskey Militia, our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award winner, is similar to its sister site, Steep and Cheap, in many ways: multiple deals of the day, emphasis on outdoor sporting gear and a multitude of ways to stay connected to the latest deals on the site. Although they’re similar in design, Whiskey Militia’s site isn’t as complete as Steep and Cheap. To find the best deals, check out our reviews of Whiskey Militia and other daily deal sites.
Whiskey Militia shares the same concept as Steep and Cheap; it serves back-to-back daily deals, 24 hours a day. Whiskey Militia’s daily deals are offered, one deal at a time, until the deal expires or sells out. Once a deal is gone, it’s immediately replaced by a new deal. The site even refreshes your screen on its own so you’ll immediately see the new deal.
The site includes thumbnail photos of different colors and styles of the deal. The photos are arranged in a horizontal scrolling bar of thumbnails; larger photos of the overall style choices available are shown below. The photos show just the right amount of detail and don’t detract from the deals themselves.
Each deal shows several essential statistics which are identical to the Steep and Cheap deal site. An “Inventory Remaining” counter shows the number of deal items available overall. A more detailed counter below shows the number of deal items left in a particular size or style. There is also a constantly updated diagram that details how many visitors are currently viewing the deal page.
Whiskey Militia offers a lot of different alert methods including desktop alerts, an iPhone app, browser plugins and standard email and RSS feed. Alerts are very useful for monitoring changes to deal sites, especially when the deals change constantly. Alerts also provide advance notice of daily deals and extra deals that aren’t otherwise made available.
Uniquely, Whiskey Militia offers an AOL Instant Messenger alert system (Yahoo and MSN IM support is coming soon). Subscribing to their AIM alert system, you’ll be notified when a new deal is posted. The site warns that some deals will expire before the AIM alert is delivered due to low quantity and/or high demand for that deal.
Whiskey Militia also has an iPhone app called ODAT (One Deal At a Time) Tracker. The app includes deals from all of backcounty.com’s family of web sites which includes Steep and Cheap and Whiskey Militia. Using the app, you can view each site’s daily deal at that moment in time and even place orders without browsing to the web site.
There are a few other alert methods available including a desktop application, email and RSS feed. The desktop application, WM Desktop alert, will notify you of new deals and will flash in the system tray if you miss an alert. Email notification, called the Daily Shot, provides notification of daily deals. RSS feeds are simple to set up but the site recommends that you set the frequency of message-checking to at least 30 seconds.
Only new, brand-name sport items are sold on the site. Items sold include snow skis, skateboards, clothing and related gear. No refurbished or wholesale items are sold on the site.
Like their sister site, Steep and Cheap, Whiskey Militia offers an unconditional return policy. Any item purchased can be returned within thirty days, no questions asked. No other sites reviewed in our roundup had this feature.
No returns will be accepted after thirty days, however.
Whiskey Militia ships internationally to any country payable through PayPal, assuming there are no manufacturer restrictions. Items ship from Salt Lake City, Utah.
There are some restrictions, imposed by manufacturers, regarding what items can be sold and shipped to other countries. For a complete list of manufacturers and the specific restrictions, review the “Brands We Cannot Ship Outside the US” link in the Whiskey Militia Help Center. Orders which come from a restricted country will ultimately be cancelled so it’s best to check before ordering from outside the United States.
Whiskey Militia’s support options are limited and consist mainly of telephone support, forums and customer comments. Telephone support, a standard among most deal of the day sites, is available. User forums are limited and not particularly helpful. Customer reviews, where available, are often the key to determining whether the offered deal is indeed a good deal.
While Whiskey Militia shares many features with other backcountry.com sites (including Steep and Cheap), it doesn’t offer the same depth. Its alert options surpass most competitors and gives it an advantage, increasing the overall pace of sales. Expanding its post-purchase support options is a must, however, to remain competitive and insure parity with other deal of the day sites that we reviewed.
