Web Is Offering Few Sweet Deals

Buying Halloween candy online is not much of a treat. Although some online confectioners offer specialty sweets and color-coordinated chocolates, hefty shipping charges mean even cheap candy isn’t cheap.

At NetGrocer (https://www.netgrocer.com), for example, 12-ounce bags of candy sell for as little as $1, but orders cost at least $5 to ship. That’s a $6 bag of candy Mellowcream--about the cheapest one online.

Most confectionary sites sell only in bulk. So you can’t buy just one pound of candy corn. You have to buy 30 pounds of candy corn.

Hershey (https://www.hersheygifts.com) sells miniature candy bars in 5-pound increments with the smallest order costing $30. Order at least 10 pounds, or $40 worth, and receive a free candy bowl.

Standard shipping starts at $6 during the winter. (Orders placed from April to September are mailed only by express air so the chocolate doesn’t melt. Shipping costs nearly triple then.) Even with winter shipping fees, however, a 5-pound order--equal to about 10 of the 8-ounce bags sold at the grocery store--costs about $37. That’s a lot of chocolate.

See’s Candy (https://www.sees.com) wraps its chocolates in warm-weather packaging and cold packs, so its shipping rates, which start at $6, are the same throughout the year. Still, you’d really have to like the neighborhood kids to hand out See’s mini chocolate pumpkins ($6.60 for a 1-pound bag) or Halloween lollipops ($24 for a box of 60). When you add shipping charges, the lollipops cost more than 50 cents apiece.

M&Ms; and Jelly Belly Web sites sell candies in single shades and flavors for those who want to color-coordinate their treats.

Mars Inc. offers 21 colors of M&Ms--including; aqua green, maroon and silver (and yes, orange and black)--at https://www.colorworks.com. An 8-ounce bag of one shade sells for $3.99. Shipping fees start at $7. Although bags of M&Ms; usually cost a few dollars at the store, one bag bought online would cost about $11 when shipping charges are added.

Jelly Belly sells each of its 52 flavors individually in 2.2-pound bags at https://www.jellybelly.com. (Try licorice and orange juice for Halloween colors.) Each bag costs $14.50, plus shipping, which starts at $6.

Although many candy manufacturers and brands have Web sites, not all of them actually sell candy. Willy Wonka (https://www.wonka.com) sells logo-embossed paraphernalia online but does not offer its popular Nerds or Runts candies. Pez (https://www.pez.com) accepts only telephone or mail orders for its dispensers. And Amurol Confections (https://www.bubblegum.com), maker of Bubble Tape and Big League Chew, includes a link to its “cand-e-mall” at https://cyberdog.energes.com/candemall/index.lasso.

Fortunately, online “candy stores” sell seemingly every kind of candy imaginable, offering one-stop shopping.

CandyWarehouse (https://www.candywarehouse.com), for example, boasts a wide variety of Halloween candy, including gummi brains, gummi teeth and gummi broken fingers. The site requires minimum orders of $35, however. It also sells candy in bulk only.

California Candy Co. is one of the few sites that actually sell candy in small, digestible amounts. The site, at https://www.californiacandy.com, offers half-pound bags of mini Hershey bars ($3.69 each), Halloween Pez dispensers ($1.49 each), even the Colorworks M&Ms; ($3.99 a bag).

Of course, it still charges for shipping.

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Christine Frey covers personal technology. She can be reached at christine.frey@latimes.com.