natalieg

I can completely understand how this issue has so many heated thoughts. If there is ever any special pieces of fabric that would fit into a flat rate envy....please don't hesitate to get hold of me, I would be willing to send a pkg every now and then!
I used to live in England, in Witney, Banbury, Bicester and Greenham Common! They were all for the American-leased bases there and over two different time periods. I was not into quilting when we lived there, but did sewing and I never could afford the fabric off base. I was making the clothes to make it cheaper than buying them, buting the fabric off base would have defeated the purpose.
Too all of you in England-I truly miss your country and would love to go back for a visit of about a year or so!!!
I also am willing to swap fabrics from here for crisps, chocolates and all sorts of neat things that I miss! I used to have a cross-stitch buddy that would swap me XXX mints, candies and crisps for fabrics and threads!!! My kids always had a shopping list of their favorites! Please let me know if I can be of any help.

Favorite Fabrics

I don't think it's really a question of the manufacturer taking advantage of their customers. Each LQS knows the cost of the fabric at the time they place their orders with the manufacturer. If they don't like the price, they don't have to order it. But once the order is placed, to expect the manufacturer to go back and retroactively reduce the price on existing orders, well, that's just not going to happen. (At least, not in my world...)

If the manufacturer took too long to deliver the goods, and the LQS no longer wanted it, a shop can put a "cancel if not shipped by" date on their orders.

I'm trying to imagine what happened here.

You see, if as a LQS buyer you're not "on the ball" and you don't get your order placed for a new collection, you might get shut out of the first printing. And then your fabric just doesn't come. The manufacturer may still be "collecting orders" on that particular print, and when they have taken enough orders to reach their threshold for reprinting (1000 yards? 3000 yards?) then they will place their order with the mill. But it could take many months before they accumulate enough orders to warrant a reprinting, by which time the collection is "old hat" and people are starting to lose interest... and so it comes in and quickly goes to clearance status.

There's a whole lot that goes on behind the scenes in this business!

Cuilteanna

Several websites I use quote prices ex-VAT, as they also sell to people who create finished items (like Irish dance dresses) for sale and VAT is only added at the stage where you're selling to the consumer. So in theory if I set up as a quilting business, I could buy at ex-VAT prices but would then add 21% to my finished quilt price which includes the cost of the fabric. It's obviously not that simple in reality, or we'd all be professional quiltmakers LOL!

loopywren

I used to live not too far from Mildenhall and Lakenheath in Suffolk I was over the border in Norfolk, and used to go to the air shows there. Fabulous!! This would be an idea, I have major health problems just now for myself and my eldest daughter, but when the are less troublesome will pm you to see if we could organise this. in the meantime I expect others may take you up on this.Thank you for your kindness.

Favorite Fabrics

I'd be interested in knowing, if there are any UK based businesses who buy online from US shops, if there's a way to import the goods into the UK without paying the VAT. I guess what I'm asking is how it's handled on the UK end. There's nothing, as far as I know, that we could/would do differently here on the US side.

WilliP

I'd say tariffs that are supposed to encourage and protect the domestic producers --i.e. Canada or US or NZ or AUS depending on where you are at. Import duties will kill you sometimes.

Cuilteanna

Hi Gwen, I wash the fleece first if I haven't used that source before, as a couple have pilled more than I like. But generally they wash very well, and I've found that people love how soft and warm they are!

loopywren

Thank you for quick reply. I will do that.

2ursula

It seems a natural assumptions that prices are based on various rational considerations.

Rational considerations are the costs of making the product and all the costs of doing business, from advertising to delivering the product to the doors of people as well as taxes, fees and other ways the government extracts money from unsuspecting people.

This is however only the basis for the MINIMUM (break-even) price.

The by far more relevant factor in pricing products has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of thought that could appear rational to consumers:

Merchants in general charge what the market will bear. No research institute, no university, no think tank has better or more updated demographics than the big merchandizers.

Here is what merchants actually do: They use their demographics to determine 'what the market will bear' and then have their cost calculators determine whether this is enough over cost. Enough is a relative term. "The business of business is business."(Adam Smith, Founding Father of the Free Enterprise System, sort of) People are in the business to make as much money as they possibly can. It's the nature of business as we practice it.

This system will eat us all, unless we start to be savvy consumers. When I heard what Chinese companies were doing to manipulate their Indian counterparts out of business I startet hording fabrics. I had much fun and now have enough fabric for at least 10 years.

There is only one lever to get this system back into balance. Stop buying for a while.

Most of the merchants NEED to maintain their cashflow to pay the bankers. That's how we get to see lower prices again - wherever we are. (The price at the product originators is below the relevance threshold. Remember, it is demographics that determines the price. People are more interested in quilting and crafting. So naturally, the craft and quilting store prices are (quite predictably) over the moon.)

Rowan8

I just want to cry. It would be so nice to get matieral for thw US price. It must be the postal charge to get it to the UK shops that inceases our prices so much.!!

I found a new fabric shop in Londonderry today. Unfortunatly I was passing by on business and couldn't stop. A four hour return journey. Stopping and shopping would have made my day!