Archer and Olive Avis 10

Firstly, I must say that the customer service team are just amazing. Very helpful and quick to respond to queries.
The notebooks are beautiful and feel very special.
I;ve never been disappointed with anything I have bought.
I am in UK, so delivery is on the expensive side, but it's worth it in my opinion.

This is an updated review I upgrade the rating for Archer and Olive because I finally got answers. The 3 is because of the headache that was caused they do need to look at their logistics if you don’t mind the wait go for it.

My daughter got me hooked on these products about a year ago (& her sister & grandma). Beautiful high quality journals, washi & coordinating stickers. I’ve gotten several of the subscription boxes. Once I ordered two orders back to back, one qualified for free shipping and the second didn’t. I emailed and asked if they could combine the orders and save me the shipping and they did. There are people that do reveals on YouTube for new products and they have discount codes to save you money. Their products (esp. on sale) are often high demand and do sell out quickly, but I’ve found that they offer opportunities to get items again later.

I recently made an order for their clear glitter notebook covers. It took weeks to arrive, and i paid proper shipping. And then upon arrival. None of the covers are true to size. They fit nothing I own, and i have every journal imaginable. I have reached out to the company three times and heard nothing. That’s a shame, I’d love to support a smaller company, but with that kind of customer service I won’t order from them again.

They never have any stock and expect you to pay months in advance so they can pre order. very odd way to run a business tbh. If you dont log in as soon as they release stuff you don't get it - very stressful unpleasant experience. they are lovely notebooks if you can actually get one!

Journal is OK, doesn't take light watercolour super well. Nice box and I like the 8 x 8 format.

BUT...

The shipping situation to Europe is ridiculous. It is 70$ before import/customs. On a $40 product that competitors can ship for half the amount.

Do better guys. You're scamming people.

I've bought bullet journals from this company several times, and while their customer service seems genuine, friendly and happy to assist, there are a lot of issues that make my personal experience with them less than stellar.

Primarily it concerns the way things are shipped and packaged. A&O bujos come individually packaged in beautiful, shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes with a delicate design on the top of the box. This makes them not only perfect for easy and instant gifting, but also gives you a place to store either still unused or finished bujos...in theory.

The problem is that, in my personal experience, they basically use zero packaging materials inside the shipping boxes: no bubblewrap, no air pillows, nothing. Given that none of the national shipping companies care how your items arrive and the boxes are likely kicked, dropped, thrown all over creation in the process of getting to you, the end result of this means banged up, crimped corners.

I will give A&O credit for being extremely approachable and always working to make a problem right - but it's really frustrating when something so simple keeps happening.

They sent me replacement boxes when I contacted them about an order I placed at the end of last year to tell them I had a bunch of damaged boxes - which is great, but then the replacement boxes also got shipped without packaging materials...as did a second order I placed with them.

I'd like to give them a higher score but leaving aside the fact that this just created additional and completely unnecessary, avoidable waste, it's also just a hassle to have to keep going back instead of getting my order intact in the first place.

I have used several journals in the last few years and Archer and Olive are the very best notebooks I've tried. The paper quality is excellent, particularly for watercolour illustrations, as it doesn't buckle like thinner papers does; nor do pens bleed through to the next page. The paper is a clean white with visible but unobtrusive dots and sets off coloured illustrations perfectly unlike the more yellow paper of other journals. The last book I bought was 192 pages, which for me is sufficient to accommodate both the introductory pages and 12 monthly sections, without having to spit my journal over two books. The books are sturdy and the paper lies flat (which is important when drawing clean lines) and they have two page markers, a back pocket, a closure band and (hooray!) a pen holder. The covers come in a range of beautiful colours with stylish but subtle decorations. It's all I need in a bujo without having to make the usual compromises.
Yes, you can buy less expensive notebooks but Archer and Olive's are so worth the additional outlay. I love them!