While we all wait for me to wind the latest batch of newly dyed threads, there are a couple of special offers in the shop right now.
**EDIT/UPDATE – now all sold out, thank you. Your threads are on their way.
These are the perle 8 silk skeins that are discontinued, and are reduced to clear. When they’re gone they’re gone forever as I won’t be buying this particular thread again.
Please read the full post before heading to the links – thank you.
There are some beautiful perle 8 sets here:
And there are some single skeins (not dyed by me; please read the shop listing for full details) here:
Please, a caveat if I may – if you are in the US, please check that you’ve picked United States in the drop-down country menu and not United Kingdom. If you accidentally pick the UK option the system will charge the UK postage rate rather than the correct overseas rate, and this causes extra work and stress for me as I then have to email you to explain. Overseas shipping is expensive. I only charge what it actually costs, and I often make a small loss on international postage. The difference between UK and US shipping costs is about £10. This happens surprisingly often – several times a week, sometimes – and I simply can’t afford to lose £10 every time I ship goods to the US because the correct postage hasn’t been paid. It really isn’t fair to make exceptions.
If this continues to happen then I will have no option but to consider – with immense regret – discontinuing overseas shipping altogether.
Also – if you’re in Europe, please be aware that your country will charge import duties. This is an unfortunate consequence of Brexit and nothing to do with me; I have no control over the amount charged and I don’t profit from it in any way. You can use an online import tax checker to estimate what the additional cost will be.
Apologies for the ranting. Of course I could vastly inflate all my prices and call it ‘free’ shipping. I’d be interested to hear your views, particularly if you’re not in the UK.
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I always avoid buying from overseas if at all possible, precisely because of the occasional gotchas, but I think I would always prefer to know what the costs were.
Yes, same – international shipping is pretty expensive either way, whether from here to the US or the other way round. My issue with Big Cartel is that there doesn’t seem to be any way of preventing someone from adding an overseas address but then choosing UK as their country, which automatically undercharges on postage. I’ve raised it with them and they say they’ll look into it…
The import duties are a whole other nightmare.
Hi Karen, As someone who lives in Canada and has ordered many of your beautiful yarns, I would be saddened if they were no longer available. Of course, I expect the international shipping will be more expensive than buying in country, but sometimes I want to support a small business owner no matter where they live especially when they make beautiful, unique products such as your’s Karen. That is my take on the situation. However, I completely understand your frustration if people are not choosing the correct shipping country and know that this causes extra time and money for you which is not fair. It has been awhile since I have ordered from you and don’t remember whether there is a drop-down box for Canadian orders or not. Please continue making them available for “us oversea-ers!!” Thank you.
thanks so much Joane – you totally get it and I feel heard. And thank you so much for your valued support, which makes my chosen profession possible. There isn’t currently a Canada option for postage – I tend to add it in with ‘everywhere else’ because the rates are so similar, but I’m currently reviewing my shop policies and shipping options so I’ll see if it makes sense to add in more locations. The issue with US and UK is that they’re right next to each other in the alphabetical drop-down menu so I can see it’s very easy to pick the wrong one by mistake. I’ve asked Big Cartel to see if there’s a way they can fix this to prevent it from happening. In the meantime it’s a case of picking myself up and carrying on. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your views and for your understanding, it really means a lot to me. And I’m so glad you enjoy using the threads 🙂
Hi Karen….thank you for the response and yes, I do understand. I hope you are able to negotiate with Big Cartel to have the position of U.S. and U.K changed in the drop-down menu. It seems as though this may reduce many errors.
By the way, I think it was a good idea for you to write a post about “shipping errors” so we can all be more aware when placing orders. Being a one-woman business owner is very time consuming and dealing with administrative problems takes valuable time away from creative work.
I am indeed enjoying your yarns…the colours are luscious and rich! Enjoy these last few days of summer!