ordering info

All the Cross Stitching Supplies a Cross Stitcher "needs" (or craves)

Ordering Info

You can order from us in several different ways.

ORDERING SPECIFICS

Ways to order

1. Using our online shopping cart, just select the items you'd like. THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO ASSURE WE SEND YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT! You would be amazed at the number of times we get an email asking for "that Merry Christmas design with the holly on it". There is a "Special Order" category if you need items that aren't listed online, please feel free to use the comments section of the order form (when you are ready to check out) & list the items you need. You can also send us an email concerning your special order.

2. You can call us at 610-358-9145.

3. You can email us your order, then give us a call with your charge info.

We are very happy to special order items for you, as long as what you need is available to us thru our distributors.

Please note a few things about our shopping cart.

1. When you submit your order, that DOES NOT mean that your card is automatically charged as soon as you hit "go". WE process everything ourselves & we handle the charging. This is because many folks need "ingredients" for their designs, or they want to make changes, or the automated shipping charge is different (more on that below). HOWEVER, things are about to change as far as when we do charge your card ~ so keep reading as this is VERY important.

2. When there is a sale, our shopping cart is not smart enough to apply that discount. So when you check out & you think, "but wait...where's my discount?" don't panic. Again, when we process your order WE WILL APPLY the discount.

A word about orders

We would LOVE to carry 20 of every single item at all times, but alas, even if we could you know that you would be #21, right? So if you happen to order something that we are either out of or we don't carry in stock regularly, we will be more than happy to order it for you. We order from most of our suppliers about every 2-3 weeks; however the bulk of our items come from 4 or 5 distributors from whom we order EVERY week. Some of these companies ship the same day we order, but some ~ especially fabric companies where they have to cut each piece ~ may not ship for 5-10 days. Please understand that we cannot run out back & wave our magic wands & make these items magically appear. IF YOU NEED SOMETHING BY A SPECIFIC DATE, let us know & we will do our very best to make that happen ~ and if we know up front that there's no way that supplier can make it happen we will tell you up front.

Since Covid, the timeframes have stretched significantly. Most of our charts are shipping within 7-10 days instead of the next day. And fabric is STILL in a significant backlog, particularly overdyed fabrics. This is not the fault of any one shop, supplier, manufacturer or distributor. So calling us or emailing us to express your EXTREME DISPLEASURE ~ or worse, hopping on social media to complain about a shop, designer, supplier or manufacturer ~ does not make anything go faster.

We have lost members of our small cross stitch community to Covid. We have others who have lost business partners. These folks are working hard to keep up with their (or their family member's) business, while also dealing with their losses.

And another thing that NOBODY talks about is that all of us ~ ALL OF US ~ are dealing with major cost impacts. When your business is set up to collect payments on a net 30 or net 60 basis, and your purchases are set up to pay your bills in the same manner, throwing a slowdown into the works wreaks havoc. Consider: you are a supplier of fabric (not overdyed, just regular). You order fabric from the mills (which are overseas). Because they are backlogged, your order is 3 months later coming in than you anticipate. In that timeframe your orders from customers have skyrocketed, so by the time your incoming order arrives, everything is already spoken for. Sounds like a great problem to have, right? WRONG. Because now, you are so late in being able to ship orders that you don't have any money coming in. Your incoming money is delayed by not just the 3 month delay from the mills, but also the regular 30-60 day terms. And yet, your payment is still due to the mills on the regular timeframe. You have now lost almost 6 months of income. And if you think anyone in this industry is okay with that, you're nuts. No one likes to disappoint a customer ~ whether that customer is a stitcher or a shop or a distributor.

This is what every business in our industry is facing ~ from retail shops (who are waiting, and waiting and waiting...) to distributors (who are the ones described in the above scenario) to designers (who are waiting for supplies they need to stitch their new creations or to kit their product or create thread & embellishment packs).

Now, consider the companies who dye fabric & fibers & multiply that by 3 or 4.

So every time a shopowner gets a call or email that says "I'm sick of waiting for you to do your job" (and that is in fact what it boils down to) "so I'm cancelling my order", not only is the shopowner affected, but that loss of income will affect their ability to pay their distributor, which will affect THEIR ability to pay their suppliers or designers.

Believe me, NO ONE enjoys delays like we've seen since this pandemic.

Our industry is made up of many VERY SMALL companies ~ usually 1 person designs, stitches, charts, prints, packages & ships everything her- or himself. In addition, they are updating websites/social media/emails so that everyone knows what's new. There are no minions doing the scut work. No one is buying their 3rd or 4th yacht in this industry ~ we do it because we have a passion for it & we do our very best. So, while you may be at the point where you are ready for buttons/beads/metallics/hardware for your piece, it may be 2 weeks before they arrive if we are out of stock. Remember, it's a skein of sparkly thread, not insulin.

We accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express. We're sorry that we cannot accept personal checks.

Returns

Charts, kits & fibers are not returnable unless there is a defect. Fabric may be returned as long as it has not been cut or stitched on. However, we are now having to institute a new rule.

One thing that has cropped up, and for a while it didn’t happen more than a few times a year, but it has become MUCH more prevalent. We are having orders come in, significant sized orders, and before we can get them shipped out, the order gets cancelled. One night I was on FB, and saw a post from another person in our industry who was speaking out about this vehemently. And all I could think was, “Thank goodness it’s not just me”. Then I realized that was a crummy thing to think, but still. So we all began talking & came to realize that this is what’s happening: someone orders basically the same order from 5 or 6 different shops. Then after the first order arrives ~ even if it’s just partial ~ they go back to the other shops & cancel their order. Keep in mind, we are all SMALL businesses. We can’t keep EVERYTHING in stock ~ we rely on our wonderful suppliers to get us some things quickly when we don’t stock them (for instance, we don’t carry a lot of Southwest designs…but we have some on our website & we can get them usually within a week or so ~ covid notwithstanding).

Another aspect is, when a new design comes out that’s just a blockbuster, the fabrics & fibers for it sell out just as fast. And we generally don’t know about the “ingredients” until we see the post online (which is generally about a week before it shows up). But they are not as fast to restock. But we (& by we, I mean not just TSS, but my other fellow shopowners too) are more than willing to get right on reordering it. What we don’t appreciate is when we reorder enough to restock our supply & also order enough extra for orders, only to have someone (or someones) turn around & cancel their order. We’ve now invested more money than we needed to into, let’s just say as an example, a neon green 36ct linen for which there really aren’t any other demands for. And that then reduces the amount of money we have to spend on other inventory.

As you can imagine, if this were simply about 1 chart or 3 skeins of floss, we can live with it. But it has gone beyond that. Just in the last week I have had 3 cancelled orders ~ all of them for significant dollar amounts & all for orders placed within the last 2 weeks. I will have to eat those losses & I will because that has been our policy. But we cannot continue to do this. So we are setting up a new policy. If an order that is more than $40.00 (before shipping) is cancelled, there will be a 20% charge. Call it a restocking fee, call it whatever you like, but this is a situation that we cannot allow to continue. We’re bummed to have to actually take this kind of action & we have fought against it for quite some time, but after the last week we have realized that we can’t allow the few problematic people to ruin it for everyone else.

Shipping Info

The cost of shipping continues to rise dramatically. We have now come to the point where we use USPS almost exclusively. The only time we use UPS is if we are sending someone's framed piece, as the minimum cost for a 1 pound package going UPS is approaching $15.00, depending on your location. Having said that, it's quite obvious that EVERYONE is making that switch & USPS is raising their prices accordingly. We do have a set shipping amount, below, based on the cost of your order. Please realize that this is an estimate & while we have tried our best to get in the ballpark there are times that a single chart ~ usually from overseas ~ will put you into a much higher bracket. When that happens WE ADJUST YOUR SHIPPING DOWN to the appropriate amount. Many people have asked us, "can't you just pop it in an envelope?". Just this week, I sent 1 skein of floss to someone in a regular envelope with a $0.46 stamp on it. It was returned for an ADDITIONAL $0.52 required! So, yes we can just pop it in an envelope ~ and it's still going to be at least $1.00.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you get on our auto ~ say for a year-long monthly series ~ the s&h has to cover all the future shipments as well as the original. So as you can see, at about $1.50 to $2.00 for a flat envelope (not a letter size), for 12 months that's running $18.00~$24.00.

Now, having said all that, we are also faced with what I like to call the "Amazon issue". You know, where your order is shipped seemingly before you even place it & it's "free shipping". Guess what? The shipping is built into that item cost & there are LOTS of minions making it happen.

Please also realize that, while we try to recycle as many boxes as possible but those pesky suppliers never seem to send us the right size for re-shipping! So your fee is called a shipping & handling fee, & that covers the cost of the evelopes/boxes/etc & much as we would all love to work for free, our bill collectors won't go for it, so that fee also pays for all of us who process your order.

Hopefully, this info helps to understand how we come up with our pricing for shipping & handling fees.

Our rates, effective September 1, 2018 are:

USPS packages

Up to $20.00	$4.00
$20.01 to $35.00	$7.50
$35.01 to $75.00	$10.00
$75.01 to $100	$12.50
$100.01 to $200	$15.00
over $200	FREE!
oversize packages	additional $10.00
stitched pieces (either framed or finished)	actual UPS fee (anywhere from $15.00 to $75.00, depending on size & quantity), these will ALMOST always be sent by UPS & insured.