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Where to buy sex toys online in Canada: A beginner’s guide!

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The process of online purchasing can be nerve-wracking — but it doesn’t have to be. A good friend and reader recently asked me what sites I would recommend to buy sex toys online, and I realized that, in all my time as a writer and sex toy reviewer, I had never directly answered the question.

Here are some of my favourite Canadian and American sites to shop from.

beginners guide to sex toys

What to look for in a sex toy retailer

Real quick, before we get started: here’s what you want to look for in an online sex toy retailer.

Discreet shipping: Almost everyone ships discreetly nowadays, so you can prevent your Cara Delevigne x Ashley Benson sex bench moment (#iconic) from happening.

Body-safe selection: Not all toys are made equal, and “toxic toys” or non-body-safe toys can cause allergic reactions or irritation. Good retailers, in my opinion, have a wide selection of toys for you to make an informed choice from, but great ones only sell body-safe toys. If you’re not sure about something you see on a retailer’s website, reading a review or two should help sort you out.

Ethical: Everyone makes different choices when it comes to their sex toys, and there’s no “right” thing to prioritize. At theNotice, I only review body-safe sex toys. However, I prioritize pricing, because I think that pleasure should be accessible to everyone, no matter their economic situation. Other bloggers or consumers might prioritize retailers that list their toys by use (e.g. clitoral toys or penis toys) rather than the cis gender binary, or retailers that are co-owned by all of their workers.

where to buy sex toys in canada online

Where I like to buy sex toys online

When I purchase toys for myself, I’m often stocking up on lube, re-buying an old toy that has died (I’m about to buy my third Mimi Soft), or choosing a gift for a friend.

Here are three stores that I like to shop at and have had great experiences with outside of work.

My favourite shops to buy sex toys online in Canada

Come As You Are is a Toronto-based sex shop. They’re a wonderful company that’s run as a co-operative, and their email newsletters are always full of interesting articles and workshop recommendations. Come As You Are carries a smaller selection than other retailers I’ve worked with, but they more than make up for it with their frequent sales and gender-free product categories. Their site also only sells body-safe toys, making it a great place to buy your first sex toy at.

Pink Cherry is another retailer that I shop at a lot. They have a huge product catalogue, but not all their toys are body safe, so make sure you do your research elsewhere. (Also—let’s be honest—their site feels and looks skeevy.) What sets them apart for me is that they frequently have the best Canadian prices on products, and despite their site’s outdated design, I’ve had excellent experiences with their customer service. I shopped with them as a customer long before I started working with them, and I’ve continued to do so even now that I write about sex toys professionally.

where to buy body safe sex toys in canada

Places where you can buy sex toys online, with a little more variety

There are a ton of great places to buy sex toys online, and many options that are better for American readers.

My favourite shop in the US is SheVibe. They have an incredible team, and a long history of creating amazing relationships with bloggers and customers. What really sets them apart (aside from an enormous product catalogue and great prices) is their in-house artist: all of their sales, newsletters, and blogger features are accompanied by an original, superhero-style comic.

SheVibe is the most popular sex toy retailer that I work with. My posts featuring products they sell get the most clicks, and my friends mention shopping with them more often than anyone else in the US. Their product selection is incredible, and they carry body-safe toys at all price points. They also have the best product pages on the market, which I’ll often reference for my reviews: they make it easy to find details like size, waterproofing, and material.

where to buy sex toys online

International sex toy retailers of note — add ’em in the comments!

Internationally, many of theNotice’s readers like Lovehoney. I see the appeal—they’re a monolith, which helps make your purchase feel more secure. Their site is easy to purchase from and their shipping is quick and discreet.

While I really like Lovehoney’s use of plus-size models and generous lingerie selection, a lot of their product catalogue is just… crap. Their house-made toys are weak and buzzy, and a lot of their lingerie comes in just one size. For a retailer this large, I recommend shopping through reviews first: Find what you want to buy, then go to the Lovehoney site to purchase it. You’ll have a much easier time narrowing down your options and choosing something you’ll love.

where to buy cheap body safe sex toys

Where NOT to buy your sex toys online

If there’s just one place that I could tell you not to shop, it would be Amazon. While Amazon is often cheap, easy, and accessible, it’s difficult to make sure that what you’re purchasing from their site is the real thing. (I’ve even bought drugstore false lashes—Kiss PRO Little Black Dress Lashes—on Amazon that were fakes.)

Amazon makes its fast shipping times achievable by storing products from different retailers all in one bin. If your product ships from Amazon (which is easily identifiable if it “ships free from Amazon over $35” or “ships with Prime,”) that means it comes out of a bin. Even if the retailer you’re purchasing from is the brand itself, there’s a chance that the product that get shipped to you from your nearest Amazon warehouse will be fake.

For some products, that isn’t a big deal. Lint rollers, for instance, are kinda just lint rollers. But for sex toys, that can mean that the “pure, platinum silicone” toy you’re putting in your body is actually made from PVC and phthalates. (Here’s a great guide from Spectrum on how to care for different types of toy materials.)

So, here’s my advice: buy from a recommended retailer, even if the product will be a little more expensive. It feels great to buy local, and even better to know that what you’re getting truly is body-safe and backed up by a great team.

Disclaimer

Note: This post contains a number of affiliate links for retailers who I love and shop with. The affiliate commissions that I make from theNotice help me keep doing this as my full-time job, and I’d really appreciate it if you could use my links when possible!

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Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links and/or products submitted to theNotice for editorial consideration. To find out more, please visit our About/Disclaimer page.

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