Babylist Baby Registry Review: Pros and Cons

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When I was pregnant with my first baby, people asked me, “What do you need?” or “Where are you registered?” ‌‌

I was instantly filled with a sense of dread. Not only was I freaking out at the thought of taking care of a whole person, I didn’t know what I’d need or where to get it from.

I headed off to a baby store to start registering. I knew swaddles were important (I didn’t know why), but they didn’t have the ones I saw at another store. I moved to car seats but didn’t know the difference between an infant seat and a convertible seat. I quickly became overwhelmed and decided to go home (plus, I had to pee.)

This is why I think Babylist is such a great place to set up a registry and why I wish it had been around when I was figuring out what I needed for this kid.

Babylist in a Nutshell

Babylist is an online universal registry that lets you to create a wishlist for anything and everything in one convenient location. You can register for items such as clothing, furniture, and diapers, but you can also request hand-me-downs, home-cooked meals, and cash gifts.

I would say its main competitors are Amazon and Target, but I still think it’s a better option if you’re setting up a baby registry. Let me first start with an overview and some pros and cons then explain why.

Babylist Overview

Universal registry: Yes
Welcome box: Yes. You must add three items from the Babylist Shop and three from other stores to your registry. You have to make a minimum purchase totaling $20 from the Babylist Shop and pay the $8.95 + tax for shipping
Completion discount: 15% Receive a one-time 15% discount on items that are sold by Babylist.com 60 days before your due date and up to 6 months after
Shipping: Free shipping on orders over $45
Returns: Within 9 months of the purchase date
Group Gifting: Yes on one Babylist Shop items
Cash Fund: Yes, receive contributions via Venmo or PayPal (or cash or check)
Rewards Program: No

🟢 Pros

Here are the features that make Babylist stand out from their competitors.

✅ Store Flexibility

Babylist is a universal registry meaning you can register for anything from any store online. This is a big one, especially if you’d like to register for your stroller on Amazon but prefer the gorgeous carrier wrap from a seller who doesn’t list their products anywhere but on their website.

✅ Requests Beyond Gifts

You can register for a variety of non-gift items, favors, and services such as home-cooked meals, meal delivery services, Hand-me-downs, housekeeping, lawn care, and childcare services from family and friends.

✅ Cash Funds

Additionally, you can create cash funds to help with expenses (kids are pricey) or register for experiences like family photography sessions, memberships to local attractions, or parenting classes. Sites like Amazon will let you set up a diaper fund, but the cost goes towards Amazon gift cards versus PayPal, Venmo or cash.

✅ Price Tracking

When you add an item to Babylist, the prices and links to other sellers are shown for easy price comparison. This feature is particularly handy during major sales events like Black Friday, as it shows the sale price, the regular price crossed out, and the percentage saved, so you don’t have to do math (huzzah!).

✅ Customer Support

Babylist's customer support is generally regarded as responsive and helpful. They offer a variety of support options, and customers can reach out via email for more personalized assistance. All they do is baby stuff so their customer reps will have a better handle on any baby registry questions than the underpaid kid working at the Amazon call center.

✅ Registry Insert Cards

Babylist provides free registry cards with your unique registry link and a QR code so guests can quickly access your registry online by scanning the code or visiting the link. You can include these cards with baby shower invitations or hand them out on street corners (buy me a stroller, would ya?). This isn't a game changer, but I love these little details that make the process easier.

✅ Registry Import

The platform provides an import feature that allows you to consolidate items from various registries into your Babylist account. This makes it easy to manage all your desired products in one place, streamlining the gifting process for your friends and family.

✅ Customization

When you set up your registry and specify your due date, Babylist recommends products suited to your pregnancy stage or your baby's age. This feature helps you focus on the most useful items as you approach your due date, making the selection process simpler and more relevant, especially for first-time parents. (This would have been helpful in my registry debacle.) They also have really good shopping guides.

✅ Free Baby Box

Babylist's Baby Box is a curated selection of baby products and samples offered to new parents. You need to buy something and pay for the shipping, but the box typically includes items like diapers, wipes, and bottles, and it's generally one of the better welcome boxes.

✅ Gift Notifications

You are notified when someone purchases a gift from your Babylist registry through email notifications. You can also check your registry on the Babylist website or app, where fulfilled items are marked, making it easy to manage gifts and thank-you notes.

✅ Group Gifts

This allows friends and family to contribute towards larger items on your registry, like a crib or stroller. When you enable group gifting for specific items, a dedicated fund is created where guests can contribute any amount. Once the fundraising goal is met, the item can be purchased collectively, and contributors are notified.

🔴 Cons

While Babylist has many advantages, there are some cons to consider.

❌ Completion Discount Limitations

Babylist offers a completion discount that can be used to purchase items that remain on your registry. However, this discount can only be applied to items purchased from the Babylist store. Additionally, specific brands, including Lovevery, Pampers, Mockingbird, Guava Family, Nuna, and UPPAbaby, as well as categories like diapers and wipes, are excluded from this discount.

These exclusions aren't unusual for any baby registry, but it's something to consider when you're adding a large ticket item to your registry that you'd like to use the discount on.

❌ Limited Brick-and-Mortar Store Presence

Babylist is primarily an online registry platform compared to other registries that may have a more extensive retail presence. This can be a disadvantage for guests who prefer to shop in-store rather than online or less tech-savvy people.

❌ Registry Import Challenges

While Babylist allows users to import registries from other platforms, it’s important to note that if you make any changes to your imported registry, you will need to update both the original and Babylist registries separately, which can be a pain in the butt if you have a lot of stuff registered.

❌ No Bar Code Scan Feature

Babylist doesn't offer a barcode scanning feature. This means users have to manually search for and enter items, which can be time-consuming and might make adding products a bit more cumbersome. This wouldn't affect me because I do most of my browsing online anyway, but it's something to consider if you are an 'in-person' shopper.

With its flexible universal registry feature, personalized recommendations based on due dates, and the ability to include tangible items, cash funds, and services, Babylist simplifies the often overwhelming process of selecting baby products.

If I had to build a baby registry again, I would set up a few registries at other stores like Amazon and Target to take advantage of the welcome boxes and completion discounts, then run them all through Babylist.

Yes, I would definitely recommend them.