Being a little too fond of weird and unusual objects, I, for one, can definitely appreciate ThingsFromMars.com for making me feel welcomed with a host of odds and ends. I have found ThingsFromMars.com to be a satisfying conclusion to many a hurried and desperate search for gifts for the people I hold dearest.

The number one reason I love finding such odd and unique items on the internet is how personal it feels. Someone thousands of miles away from me had the idea to make something most people wouldn’t like and had the confidence that someone like me exists and would indeed like it.

I’ve used ThingsFromMars.com to buy gifts for my friends and trinkets for my own room and each time I come away tingling with excitement to tell people all about my terrific experience.

My (tiny) hauls from ThingsFromMars

My first purchase from the website were the Acupressure earrings. You might wonder why I didn’t start out my experience by ordering something a bit more traditional, so here is why. The description for these earrings led me down an internet rabbit hole about ear reflexology and pressure points and neuromuscular micro-physiotherapy. ThingsFromMars.com is literally why I know a lot more about how emotional tension is stored in muscles and how to release it, than the average person.

Second of all, the earrings were only just over $30 so it was a relatively safe purchase for a wary newcomer like myself.

How to get the best out of ThingsFromMars

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: the website serves as a tastefully curated catalog more than an actual online store. Another way to think of it is as a relatively small search engine for cool and unique products for women, men and even pets.

That should give you a slight idea of how to use the website. You type the address into your web browser, you click the search bar, and type exactly what you are looking for. For instance, one could search for the words ‘nursery rhyme dog collar’. If you like the results, well and good. If you don’t, try making your search terms a little less specific (Unusual Pet Products, for this instance) to widen the horizons. If you still don’t find something cool enough for you, even though this is highly unlikely, keep trying with less specific search strings because I can guarantee you there is something for everyone on ThingsFromMars.com.

If you don’t have anything specific in mind when you log in to ThingsFromMars.com, it is also worth your time to browse the website and take your time going through their vast collection of weird products for men and women of tastes like mine. The website actually invites you to wander their cyber-shelves and browse to your heart’s content. The front page is a seemingly endlessly scrollable page where the algorithm shows you items for sale, personalized and picked out for you. And, mind you, this is no cold, blindingly white, no-nonsense corporate store pitching sales to you. ThingsFromMars.com is not afraid to show the emotions of its own curators while also welcoming yours.

Sometimes I find myself going over to the website with absolutely no intention of making a purchase and just reading through their blog-like collection of different gift guides and I still end up having a fun time scrolling and reading. The gift guide section is where someone from ThingsFromMars.com keeps making cute little lists of their products to give you ideas on what to buy and for whom. And each list makes for a very fun and very quick scroll.

My message to the ThingsFromMars team

While visiting the website is fun enough, I could not help but think how different life would be if ThingsFromMars was installed in my phone as an app. It would be fun to see a new product getting announced in the notifications area of your very own device! Ask anyone who shops a fair bit online and they will tell you how many times they found a notification from their favorite online store app too difficult to resist and ended up making purchases even though they were not in the mood a few seconds ago. But then again, that might not be such a good idea because someone like me would spend far too much time browsing and scrolling through it like one of my social media apps!

I also noted the categories on the website to be far too broad. So unless you are one of the lucky few whose tastes are timely targeted by the people managing the gift guides section, the only sections you can visit are titled ‘Men’, ‘Women’ and ‘For Pets’. These are fairly vague and while it is possible to find what you are looking for in a reasonable span of time, the ordeal will be elongated in time and space as the ThingsFromMars collection grows in number.

Why you should check out ThingsFromMars too!

Since the acupressure earrings, I have made more than my fair share of purchases from ThingsFromMars.com now and then. There is something about obscure small stores on the internet that appeals to me a bit too much. Imagine being enough of an aficionado for a shop on the internet that you even find that the German version of their website is called ThingsFromMars.de.

I and many others around the world have come to harbor an endless love for stores like ThingsFromMars.com, for the business owners and employees who are not out on a quest to take advantage of being little-known and exploiting their customers. Go over to their website when you feel like it, because even if they don’t get you to buy something, they definitely deserve your appreciation. On top of that, YOU deserve the extremely personal experience of getting your unique tastes and inclinations recognized and cherished.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have perpetually crossed my fingers and live hoping to god that the people behind ThingsFromMars.com keeps giving us more and more Things From Mars.