The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Fun with Fabric => Topic started by: sewingj on March 14, 2018, 13:07:29 PM
-
Sherwoods Fabrics have some nice stuff and I bought 2 metres of viscose jersey last night £7.50/m. But their minimum delivery charge is £6.99! I was having a bad day or I would have abandoned the order.
Ditto Fabrics on the other hand have a sliding scale depending on the weight of the order and Minerva is completely free if you spend a very easily achievable £20.
I know I am teaching all of you grannies to suck eggs but it is something that people new to internet fabric shopping need to watch out for. Sometimes I have spotted the same fabric in two places and the one that appears to be cheapest really isn`t by the time you add in the delivery
(while I`m at it - you also need to watch out for the suppliers who will only supply full metres which really bumps the cost up if the fabric is expensive)
-
It's not only fabric shopping which is like that, it's all mail order. Very often the "cheaper" product ends up more expensive once postage/shipping/delivery is included.
£6-99 probably reflects that they send by Royal Mail first class, maybe tracked as well. It would be nicer though if they gave the option of 1st or 2nd class.
I send quite a few small parcels (up to 2Kg). 1st class is £5-50, 2nd class is £2-90 which is quite a dofference. Our localish newsagent is also an agent for MyHermes and I can send a parcel from there for £4 up to 5Kg. Quite a lot cheaper but a lot of people prefer Royal mail.
-
I always want to know the shipping costs before I place the order as I don't want a nasty shock at checkout. I prefer to buy in full metres and my minimum is five, but I don't internet shop for fabric.
-
I can't really go anywhere for less than £5 worth of diesel and then there's no guarantee that I will find what I want so carriage charges aren't really out of the way. However, I won't order something if the postage is more than the item.
-
I recently bought some power mesh, only needed 1 meter which was £5 but when I saw delivery was £5 too, I bought 2 meters instead to get my money's worth from the delivery!
-
If you buy from Minerva through ebay they charge £2.99 per item (although that may have a cap) but directly through the website it doesn't take many taps to get your basket up to £20 as sewingj says.
Ebay suppliers sometimes do give a choice and often list twice for the same thing, one with free P&P and another at a cheaper price but with P&P then added on. Sneaky!!! >:)
It pays to watch 'em!
-
I was looking at the Art Gallery fabrics on Minerva Crafts, it’s £22 a meter and it will only let you put whole meters in your cart... I rang them and if you order over the phone you can order any amount you like in increments of 10cm.
-
Thanks for that Efemera. That's worth knowing...now scuse me while I go adjust my basket!!! :D
-
I was 'just looking' at fabrics on Sherwood yesterday, probably won't order now from them knowing the postage charge. I know it includes RM fees which are high and the time it takes to pack the order but it still seems a bit on the high side.
-
@Efemera thanks for much for the info about Minerva - I recently bought something from them that needed 2.2m and I bought 3 - and it was £15 per metre! Will know better next time
-
I'm spoilt by the fact that most of my online shopping (ASOS and Amazon) is free delivery so I always end up scoffing at any delivery fee :/ The Textile Centre is where I get most fabrics and luckily they are reasonable.
-
I don't have Amazon Prime but I do often take advantage of the free delivery on Prime eligible items by making sure that an order is over £20. But, sometimes (possibly most times!) the Prime eligible price is higher than the price asked by an Amazon marketplace seller.
-
I don't have Amazon Prime but I do often take advantage of the free delivery on Prime eligible items by making sure that an order is over £20. But, sometimes (possibly most times!) the Prime eligible price is higher than the price asked by an Amazon marketplace seller.
I think that's because you are paying, in part, for the free delivery by way of an increased price. It makes sense.
-
£6-99 probably reflects that they send by Royal Mail first class, maybe tracked as well. It would be nicer though if they gave the option of 1st or 2nd class.
I send quite a few small parcels (up to 2Kg). 1st class is £5-50, 2nd class is £2-90 which is quite a dofference. Our localish newsagent is also an agent for MyHermes and I can send a parcel from there for £4 up to 5Kg. Quite a lot cheaper but a lot of people prefer Royal mail.
As an update - the parcel from Sherwoods arrived today delivered by DPD and didn`t weigh much as it was only 2 metres of jersey- so I really don`t know how they can justify £6.99 for delivery.
To add to my displeasure - I measured the fabric and there is actually slightly less than 2 metres - not much but enough to convince me not to shop with them again
-
I would tell them....