What I am aggravated about is that I won a $30.00 gift certificate from Sara at Sew Sweetness (great blog by the way so be sure and go and visit it) about a month ago for a gift certificate from Stash Modern Fabric. Well I spent the $30.00 on gorgeous fabric
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| Sorry photo taken at night so colors aren't exactly right - my stool is purple irl |
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| £11.99 for the privilege of getting this fabric and they hold It for their ransom until you pay As usual is the British Post Iffice because they charge £8.00 for charging me the damn VAT (that's Value Added Tax which is charged at 20%). I have no problem with paying the 20% tax because in this country unless you are shopping at Costco everything you buy is inclusive of VAT so we don't even notice it to be truthful. |
Sew to end my tale of woe fabric would have cost less if I had bought it here in the UK and not won it. So please people here in the U.K. let this be a lesson to you because it has been for me. I will think long and hard before buying fabric from the USA especially as their postal rates have gone up sew much!
Oh yeah and another thing I won't be buying anymore here is The Jewish Chronicle which has risen in the last year from £1.00 to £1.90 and I shall really miss it.
Okay griping over you'll be happy to know and normal service including a picture of my tidy sewing room after today and a great giveaway which should have been my blogaversary giveaway and even some sewing with my new sewing machine which I haven't even switched on yet and the sewing machine I have bought for our eldest granddaughter for her 10th birthday next month and collecting tomorrow. She will be so excited and photos will be taken of her getting it and using it. I can't wait.
See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way
Oh yeah and another thing I won't be buying anymore here is The Jewish Chronicle which has risen in the last year from £1.00 to £1.90 and I shall really miss it.
Okay griping over you'll be happy to know and normal service including a picture of my tidy sewing room after today and a great giveaway which should have been my blogaversary giveaway and even some sewing with my new sewing machine which I haven't even switched on yet and the sewing machine I have bought for our eldest granddaughter for her 10th birthday next month and collecting tomorrow. She will be so excited and photos will be taken of her getting it and using it. I can't wait.
See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way
That is so terribly sad. I'm in Australia and fabric here is rediculosly expensive so I order from the US but with the latest hike in shipping rates it's seeming less and less viable. Maybe quilting will just be out of my budget. It certainly makes gifting less appealing.
ReplyDeleteI am with Abby. As an Aussie I am finding myself less able to join in swaps as the postage cost is so restrictive. If I create a parcel that weighs more than 500gms I am going to be paying $30 instead of just under $15 postage!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe as internationals we could ask the US shops to put gift in the description so that we don't have to pay anything more.
I'm sorry you had such an unpleasant surprise. I hope this blog post won't negatively affect Beth at Stash Modern Fabric. I don't believe she could have listed your transaction with her as a gift. The gift certificate was a gift from Sara to you; Beth/Stash Modern was completing a transaction that was paid for with a gift certificate. I believe there are fairly serious repercussions for a merchant who misrepresents the contents of a shipment.
ReplyDeleteThe fabric you chose looks lovely. Perhaps when you're quilting with it, what will stick with you is the good intentions of those involved (you included, of course).
I don't know any of the parties involved, but I follow your blog and Sara's, and feel certain that everyone involved meant well.
After reading your blog I have just cancelled an order for cross-stitch charts and threads as I had forgotten how much the duty and charges can cost: it is such a shame as the choice in both fabrics and cross-stitch charts is so much better in the USA, but paying the duty takes the edge off the enjoyment. Thank you Patti for reminding me - you have probably just saved me a fortune!!
ReplyDeleteMay be you can have a blog buddy buy and ship to you as a gift?
DeleteThat's a real shame! Postage is getting out of hand, too bad the service doesn't match the prices charged, it seems the more it costs the slower items move.
ReplyDeleteI've had one experience with a GC from a US company involved, and it'll be my last! In the end the shipping for the few items I chose was more than half the value of the GC.
My solution is to stick with giveaways that offer GC for Canada only otherwise it's just not worth it for me.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what Beth is saying above there, but you really have to weigh the postage against the cost of actually having your items in hand.
Now that you have your fabric, sew up something extra special and enjoy.
I'm so sorry that this has happened! We've got a deep chasm between the world getting smaller via the internet and people being more transnational versus the tax/customs/postage situation. It's very frustrating and discouraging. My son living there in the UK asked me to send him another quilt (I offered one when he recently visited, but he was packed up with new clothes bought at cheaper US prices). It cost $65 to send it! And of course I valued a queen-size, hand-quilted "blanket" at $45 and checked it as a gift. Even gifts are subject to customs if they're over a certain amount.
ReplyDeleteWe all need an American friend to send gifts. With free postage within the US they could then send it on to us....unfortunately all my relations live within 2 miles of where they grew up in the UK!
ReplyDeleteI saw some really nice fabric at good prices on Ebay the other day. But felt that the shipping wasn't worth the total price to buy it. I'll just stick with purchasing in the US.
ReplyDelete