> Everyones in different states so I need a way for them to see what is already bought. Just saw this post and thought I would jump in. I have been managing family lists for years and honestly it is a bit of a toss up. I think MyRegistry is one that people use for syncing different stores, though I recall hearing their mobile app can be a bit finicky for people who arent super tech savvy. IIRC you can manually mark things as purchased there too which helps with the duplicate issue. Another thing to look at is just simple link sharing tools. I use Share Product for my holiday shopping lists and it does the job without too many bells and whistles. It is a decent option if you just need something that works across different devices without a huge learning curve. Not sure if it has every single feature you want but it is worth a look. Usually depends on if your relatives actually remember to click the button though.

Ive been through this nightmare every birthday for the last few years. Tried the group chat thing and even a shared Google Doc once, but relatives always forget to update them. In my experience, the best solution is Giftster. It is basically a registry for people who hate registries and it is totally free. The interface is simple enough that even my tech-illiterate relatives managed to use it without calling me for help every five minutes. Basically, you add the items and when someone buys one, they mark it as purchased. It gets hidden from everyone else so you dont end up with three of the same LEGO set. Honestly, just send the family the link and tell them if it isnt on the list, dont buy it. It saves a massive amount of headache and those annoying trips to return duplicates.

Regarding what was mentioned about > Everyones in different states so I need a way for them to see what is already bought... I think you should be cautious about the technical specifications of these shared list sites. IIRC, some of the free versions have a significant delay in syncing between users. Not sure if it is still a problem, but someone told me that if two relatives are browsing at the same time, the purchased status might not update instantly. That lag usually causes the exact duplicate toy problem you are trying to avoid. I would suggest looking into how share amazon canada cart or similar tools handle real-time updates. If you are going the free route to save money, just make sure to check their privacy policy first. Some of these apps basically live off selling your family shopping data. It might be better to find a tool that allows for manual overrides just in case the auto-sync fails. Honestly, the technical overhead of managing these can be high if you dont pick one with a solid backend.

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Same here!