Crafts Beautiful - Quick & Crafty - Let's Make Cards Magazine

Not all of us are lucky enough to have access to local craft shops. And at some point all of us find tempting goodies that we have to order online. And then we hand over personal details as well as credit or debit card data, so I am usually very careful who I give my details to.

But which companies can we trust? Who is not sitting on our money for weeks before despatching our goodies? Mistakes can happen everywhere, but which company is approachable and sorts things without any bother? Often this is difficult to know and buying from a new company can be like a jump into the cold water.

So I wondered, which online sellers/companies you can recommend. Any positive experiences and statisfied customers might make it easier for the others to decide in favour of an online order.

My recommendation is

stamps.co.uk
- quick turnaround
- you don’t need to wait long for replies to emails
- fair p&p;rates with orders over £30 p&p;free
- value for money products from docrafts and dovecraft plus more
- payment via a secure Worldpay payment site (Worldpay are connected to one of the biggest UK banks)
(no connection to stamps.co.uk, of course)

Never had any problem with paypal either, a lot more sites than ebay are using it now xx Maggie

hi scottish lassie as most of all the scottish lassies here will probably agree craft shop are thin on the ground up here. I have been using http://www.cardcraftplus.co.uk for years and always had great service and they send you lovely catalogues regularly. I also used Zed-cards for years and am gutted they have now closed as they made the card and cut it to any sizes. hope that helps look forward to seeing more options for us all ..xx2belle I will add funkykits also just started using them and service is terrific.

http://www.smartgalleries.co.uk -aka Sirius Arts and Crafts
Great selection,Great Discounts available,very fast turnaround ,accepts paypal , no minimum order

http://www.FunkyKits.co.uk - the home of SugarNellies and Tildas ,fantastic selection ,reasonable postage free postage for orders over £25 ,next day delivery ,accepts paypal

http://scrapbookingcastle.co.uk/store/ great selection, good P&P;,no minimum order ,accepts paypal

http://acherryontop.com -US scrapooking store , great selection ,loads of bargains ,shipping is reasonable ,never been hit by customs accepts Paypal -shipped to UK in around 10 days

http://www.jemcraftmemories.com/ loads of bargains,great P&P;accepts paypal,fast turnaround

http://www.artcards.co.uk/ ,good choice ,fast turnaround,accepts paypal ,reasonable postage

http://www.monocodirect.co.uk/store/ -big bargains for bulk buying ,good P & P ,turnaround hit or miss

http://www.scrapz.co.uk/catalog/index.php - P&P;99p flatrate ,no minimum order ,very fast turnaround,great selection -haven for ATCers,accepts paypal

http://www.atripdownmemorylane.co.uk/ -accepts paypal ,fast turnaround,great selection fantastic cusomer service,good P&P;

http://craftybargains.co.uk/ great selection,fast turnaround good P&P;free on orders over £12.49 accepts paypal

http://www.wavecrestcrafts.com/ -£1 P&P;free on orders over £7.50 great selection ,fast turnaround accepts paypal

Some of the online retailers I’ve used personally

Thanks for all these, always on the look out for bargains, some craft stuff is so expensive, especially stamps, I love the Penny Black stamps but just can’t make myself pay £7 or more for a bit of wood with a bit of rubber stuck to it :(

I’ve been buying some of my crafting stuff from Wilkinsons, they have peel offs 99p per pack, but you get 1 gold 1 silver. I’ve bought a pack of 4 tweezers which if memory serves me correctly were under £2. They have toppers in there 80p a pack, I saw the same ones in Asda and they were nearly £3.  I always make a point now of going in there, if I see one when I’m out and about.

Denyze
x

being an online seller myself i always try to get stuff in the post the same or next day, as i know from experience when i have purchase things online i like them to come pretty soon and not have to wait for days for it to arrive!

What a great thread idea! So helpful. I know I’m connected because I’m on their design team but I can say with 100% honesty, Charmed Cards and Crafts is the only store I shop with (unless on rare occasions they don’t have what I want) They are V.quick to dispatch, they have a massive range to choose from and their prices are very good.

I have spent £29 on jewellery making supplies yet couldnt find any pearl strings/beads.
But i will give a review of this site when everything arrives, they sell really CHEAP closinee fish, I bought the black longtailed fish and the purple goldfish

-beads unlimited .co.uk

I have now discovered craftie-charlie.

http://www.craftie-charlie.co.uk/

I placed an order last Friday night, the first chance for them to post my goodies was on Monday, and the package arrived on Tuesday morning. I have not had a quicker delivery of craft items. My goodies were posted first class (Royal Mail) and even wrapped individually. And the postage and packaging was very reasonable (I paid just £1.75 for my order).

I am really impressed.

No connection, just a happy customer.

Sorry to hear you think £7 is expensive for a stamp.
Maybe you are forgetting how many time you can use a stamp,
and maybe you are forgetting just how versatile they are!! there is so much you can do with one stamp.

How do you prefer to decorate your projects?

Hi Ive been using this supplier

http://www.firststopstationers.co.uk/index.html

They are a bit cheaper that many sites ive been too stamps that cost £2.50 are only £1.50 + VAT here, postage is a little higher than I like £5.95, they do have free postage but you have to spend something like £75.00 but service is excellent.  Well I hope that helps some of you

emily13 - 19 April 2008 02:53 PM

Thanks for all these, always on the look out for bargains, some craft stuff is so expensive, especially stamps, I love the Penny Black stamps but just can’t make myself pay £7 or more for a bit of wood with a bit of rubber stuck to it :(

Penny Black also do clear stamp sets.

Also you can get some bargain prices from the USA sometimes, even with shipping costs.  In fact it normally pays to buy a few if the seller uses global priority as for about £6 you can get 6 to 8 stamps depending on size.

Thanks for this I will check these out!
Do you know if any of the above sites supply plain coloured card in bulk????? I’m having a real hard time finding bulk card!! I brought a nice set of pastel coloured card from Wilkinsons...Of course I went back and now it is totally out of stock. Nothing even on their online site.

So am forced to find a new place to get my card!! agh so annoying!!

Any suggestions??? Or crafting shops you recommend in North/central London??

http://www.pdacardandcraft.co.uk/

Any good to you?  They are great for service and the more you buy the cheaper it gets.

Also:
http://www.craftcreations.co.uk/

Offer great service too, but I always find their website hard work to navigate around

Jules x

Yeah thanks for that. Didn’t find what I was after, but definitely one to bookmark. Pdacardandcraft has a whole array of options for colours and card sizes. Reaallly good one thanks!

I’m def going to be sifting through the other recommendations…