Being in Australia I buy ALL my fabrics online... Unless our local craft store has a super sale on... Then I have been known to...
We pay $20-$25 per meter for quality brands like Moda... And I simply cant afford to domthat... So I wait til Hancocks have a free international shipping event on and buy from them.... Same with battings... A queen sized hobbs 80/20 costs $56 AUD here... I make a lot of charity quilts and as generous as I am, I have to source the cheapest suppliers... I recently brought Singer titanium needles from the USA... Even with the shipping they wroked out at $1 each... Here I would pay over $20 for a pack of five..!!!
As for colour matches I KNOW the moda pallettes so stick with them... And if something wasnt what I expected in other brands I simply put it aside and use it for soemthing different later on...
The only place I would never again buy fabric from is ebay.... I brought two lots... One was the most appalling quality, I donated it to my daughters infant school for craft lessons... The other was from a smoke/pet fee home and STANK !!!
It was more expensive returning them to the USA with shipping than keeping them ....
I havent seen FQS do a free international shipping offer for an awful long time... Because I used to love their fabrics too...
high shipping costs is the price I pay for living in paradise! LOL