What do you Buy Online?

[ThE_SeeKeR]

Simple Questions

1. When shopping online for craft items, what do you look for before buying?
2. What type of items do you prefer to buy online rather than at a real craft store?
3. When viewing an item you would like to buy, how do you decide whether you want to buy?

**With Question 3, i am looking for possible answers such as, when buying wool, do you prefer seeing the ball of wool for sale, or a closeup of the actual yarn colours / texture or both?

Hopefully this will help me and others improve their sites with how to market their items to customers - Please post no links in this thread (unless its my store ) lol! Thanks

[Caroleecrafts]

1. I tend to buy all my materials on line, may look in a craft shop but unless definate will always order on line.

2. Items that are tried and tested by me, cannot see the point of travelling when I know what I want, easier to have delivered to the door.

3. Like to see a close up of the colour and texture.

[woodtattoos]

Simple Answers

1. Well made items, whether they are finished items or supplies.
2. There are no items I 'prefer' to buy online. I would always prefer to buy craft items in the flesh so I can see what I'm getting, as that's part of the fun of buying crafts goods. They are so much better than mass produced goods and actually picking them up etc is part of the enjoyment.
3. Price and quality.

I get pretty much the same feedback from my customers who shop at www.woodtattoos.co.uk or www.woodtattoos.com (couldn't resist)

Si.

[beadsbydesign]

Please post no links in this thread (unless its my store ) lol! Thanks

on what grounds?

[ThE_SeeKeR]

no grounds lol, was just a joke hence the "lol" and pics on it lol

Main reason for that is that new signups might simply reply "customers use my site to buy because. visit me at :url

Just stating it so that it reduces spam "hopefully"

[elzi]

i buy a mixture of online and from shops, markets, wherever really!
I guess I go online mainly for wholesale to get large quantities for a cheaper price than they sell in the shops. in which case i'd often be buying stuff online that i already knew and had bought a small quantity of elsewhere so i know what i'm getting (the exception to this is occasionally when i see something really interesting and a bit different online - often on ebay)
on websites i'd like a picture of the whole object and a detailed shot/the abilty to zoom in if that's not too fussy! as well as very detailed description including sizes.
i do prefer buying things that i see in person though and love trawling craft shops in the real world...

p.s. i'm afraid i don't think spammers are really polite enough to pay attention to whatever you say in thread, they just post links whatever.

[Cat'seyes]

Buying craft items

Well here goes.

1. I always do a multi search first, usign google or another search engine and then spend time checking quality
2. I will buy things at the best place for value and quality be that online, shop or postal.
3. If online I like to see close up pics as i do when I buy from a catalogue. In the shop ok its different because the item is in front of me.

Hope that is of some use to you.

Take care

Cat'sEyes

[indri]

I usually buy things I can't get in my local craft store. Like Welsh peel-offs (though I don't use many of those) and I have to order my quilling papers by post as the supplier I like don't supply to shops, so it's postal or wait for the next Quilling Guild AGM.... If there is something in particular I want that I can't find in a real shop then online is where I then look, though it's always project dependant.

[Ifor-Jones]

I buy a large percentage of my craft supplies for card making on line- then I can source good prices and often pay less than buying direct locally. If for instance I was buying card blanks I would buy just one packet to start with to see what the quality is like. I look for reasonable delivery charges and hope that there will be a reasonable quantity above which there is no postage charge. If I get a bus from here to the nearest town - which then does not have much in the line of craft supplies - it will cost me £2.60 for a return ticket, so postage does not look so bad when that is taken into account. If I go further afield to the next larger town - where there are more craft items - it would cost another £4 or so.

When looking at a craft site I like to be able to see clearly what is available - some sites put me off at first glance because they are too "busy".

I still love looking at craft shops though as there is nothing like having a good nose around to see what is new.

[Moonbeam Angel]

Well here goes.

1. I always do a multi search first, usign google or another search engine and then spend time checking quality
2. I will buy things at the best place for value and quality be that online, shop or postal.
3. If online I like to see close up pics as i do when I buy from a catalogue. In the shop ok its different because the item is in front of me.

Hope that is of some use to you.

Take care

Cat'sEyes

I agree with these answers, this is also what I do. Although when I buy wool I do like to see it in the flesh so to speak as colours dont always come out right on the computer screen. However, if I see a wool I like in my local shop but its expensive then I would google it to find a better price.

Hope this helps. PS I like your website

[krafty1]

Probably a mixture of all of the above, I mostly buy tools and some craft supplies online, depending on the P&P charge.

I like to see really good close ups of the item and also the P&P charge must be easily visible and clearly stated (I've actually left a website due to the fact that I couldn't find the P&P after trawling through pages and pages)

Things like ribbon I prefer to touch it (I need to know how it's going to look in a bow, and not all materials fold well) and see the actual colour in the shops.