I just happened to follow a link this morning to a ONS here in Australia. As a matter of interest I jumped into the area for Shepherd’s Bush kits, and got a nasty surprise. In the past I’ve always tried to spend part of my stitching money each year in local stores – but when money’s tight, I just can’t justify the price difference with items such as this. I thought it would be interesting to compare … so here’s a little comparison of SB Needlerolls:
Here in Australia (only one store, mind you,
but I’ve seen them for sale for over $40 in another store!!):
Over there in SB’s home, in the USA:
Considering the exchange rate:
AU$37.90 = US$34.17
or US$30.74 sale price!!
Is it any wonder we sometimes look offshore for our supplies? Even if you throw in US$12 postage prices, you’re still ahead, especially when you bulk buy a few items at a time. I will still continue to buy some items locally, but if I had to pay these sorts of prices all the time I’d have to give up stitching pretty darn quickly!
And on that note, I’d better hurry up and get dressed so I can earn my day’s pay that allows me to continue stitching…
Feather Stitching 
Unfortunately I must confess that I buy most of my stitching needs offshore, as you said, even with the postage (which is often not much more that the postage charged by our local stores!) it’s so much cheaper than buying here. When I see that I can buy stitchy goodies for half the price compared to home and the selection is much greater, what’s a girl with a stitching addiction to do? 😉
Wow! That is absolutely insane pricing!!
Precisely why I spend the majority of my stitching $$ online on US sites. I will buy some items locally but for some reason Shepherds Bush kits always seem to be insanely priced.
WOW! That difference in pricing is crazy! I know my LNS has stuff priced higher too. Sometimes I just pay it to help them out, but other times you have to wonder “why.”
That’s a huge difference, you’d have to wonder how it comes about……. actually I thought Australia was much more expensive for everything than I remembered when I was in Hobart recently. Food seemed so much more than it used to be. I know in New Zealand it is too – my mother came back from the supermarket saying that aubergines were $6 each!
I agree it’s really crazy – I just paid $8 for a 125g tiny punnet of blueberries … that’s my new all-time record here, they’re usually around $5 a punnet. It’s a shame when ‘extravagant’ spending is to buy fresh produce! 😦
Totally crazy! Its the same here in NZ, and availability down here is terrible, my lns has dmc and some Mill hills, a little fabbie and kiddie patterns. So unless I’m in a hurry for a dmc I just get it all overseas.
And that’s why I ordered everything when I lived in the Netherlands. Insane markups.
I always order form the US because things are so expensive here. Not only that, but sometimes items take months before we see them here, if we see them here at all. I have also found not many local stores stock the threads I like to use. I usually make two or three huge orders a year, so the postage is nothing compared to the savings I make, especially when there are sales in the US.
You are correct about the insane prices. A large part of this is due to the insane prices the distributors are charging the LNS. The Australian distributors that is. Places to try, in order to support those of us who are doing our best to keep the prices reasonable include Stitches and Spice, Colours Downunder and myself. Another thing to consider is when was the stock imported. As the Australian Dollar fluctuates, sometimes quite wildly, against the American dollar, the prices you see may reflect when the items were stocked. ( not necessarily the case here.). Another factor to consider is postage and import duties. These can really add up. When you order that one needle roll you will be paying a minimum of $9 just for postage.that is in USD. Just my 2 cents worth.