Ok, this might be a stupid question but I've just gotta ask anyway...

If you're ordering online and a store offers free shipping if you buy, say, $35 or more... and if you only really needed a *little bit* of fabric...

Do you just order that little bit you need?

Or do you look around to find something else so that you can get up to the magic number and get the free shipping?

It depends if when the shipping is added it would be enough to have free shipping then I would get more items instead of paying shipping. I'm convinced free shipping isn't anything but a mind game.

If the minimum for free shipping is low (like $35), I'd buy at least $35 worth. It's over 40 miles to my favorite quilt shop, so between gas and the extra I'd spend when I'm there, it would work out better.

Some places have great prices and also offer free shipping on occasion. I just ordered a bunch of FQs at a really good price and got free shipping on them. Most places is at least $5 shipping. I got a good deal.

What I "need" has little bearing on what I "must have"! LOL

if you're talking about, say, http://nixiechicks.com/ , who is having a sale right now

with no shipping over $35, when you consider that their blenders are on

sale for $2.99 yd, it's easy to spend that much. it just represents 10-1/2

yds of any ass't of colors. who can't use that? that's cheaper than any fq's

anywhere.

It totally depends on what my shopping mood is that day. If I only need a tiny bit of something, I'll probably just get that...but if I'm close to the "magic number"...I'll always order something else to get me there. I think of it as "free gas" :wink:

sorry - i finally got that link right! :oops: :oops:

Since you are talking about free shipping, I have bought an item online from a store because of the free shipping. The item may be the same price as the store item and I don't have to spend the time or gas money to drive to get to the store. I also find it frustrating when free shipping isn't offered for the higher priced items on some places.

i'm not quite sure what you mean, but the answer seems to be this:

every store, off/on line runs a sale differently. you can't compare tiffany to jared. they might both run sales, but if you start with different price points, you'll end up with different price points. or tiffany may run a sale on saturday and jared won't. or the other way around. since they're independent of each other, you can't expect them to follow each other's rules.

if you mean that the same store is offering no shipping on some items and not on others, the same thing applies. they don't have to offer anything. if you can use the item, you're lucky that day. if not, then it's not the sale for you. i've never seen that, but it seems they would only do it to get rid of something (clearance it out) or to introduce something new.

i know it's frustrating, but their store, their rules. i hope this helps.

If I order and by the time I finish it is close to the $35 or I know there is something I might need later. Then I try to make it add up to $35 otherwise if it is something small, I just order what I need.

I have a variation of the 'free shipping' offer that bugs me.
Lots of suppliers in the UK offer free shipping to UK addresses only.
Why can't they be prepared to deduct the cost of that 'free shipping' from my shipping costs to Ireland???

i.e. cost of book, £20 - free shipping in the UK (worth £2.50)
cost of book to me £20 - no free shipping, so I pay £4.00. Why can't they deduct the value of the free shipping and only charge me £1.50???