does anyone have any exp with buying plants or fish online? good or bad? i was wanting one of those "starter" kits that have like 30 different plants in it for my 55. but didnt know if it was a good or bad deal, i know that most of the lfs's get there plants shipped into them, but i was wondering if anyone had exp with this?

Well even with the price of gas I'd almost rather drive 50+ miles to get my fish. I went to one of the large chain sites for 6 rummynose tetras and 6 amano shrimp...the price quote with shipping was over $80. I probably spent half that in total between driving both ways and the cost of the fish when buying from a LFS 50 mi away.
Your best bet other than that...I know of -some- independent sellers, in fact I ran into one a few weeks ago, I'm so sorry I didn't bookmark them cause I'm probably going to start breeding cherry red shrimp, and thats exactly what this person does. They had a nice little system down for shipping, were located in Tenessee I believe, and did their selling from their little blogspot site complete with paypal checkout. The price was very reasonable.