SLudlow

Volume 3 is quite good in that regard, though many require wooden forms. Tandy also sells a "stand alone" pattern set that is quite good.

This I don't quite understand. Shipping a small tool should never, ever be more than $6, the price of a flat-rate box plus a little for handling. One would think it would be less for items smaller than 13 ounces. USPS will always pick up at residences, so unless it is the holidays and you are away from the business, there shouldn't be an excuse. Anyways, did want to post the initial results of the survey before I went out for the night. You can find them here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlNqN5Khkb_XdDJXdzhOUDZtYzVUSlU1WVdQMnFkZUE&usp=sharing

I appreciate your opinion and candor. As for drop-shipping, I'm afraid you're mistaken. As a business, I can purchase items in bulk or wholesale, or at auction at the various events around the country, and keep them in stock and available at equivalent or slightly discounted prices to retail. I think that I can do a better job with shipping items than many of the larger retailers, who seem to have set their eyes on large margins rather than satisfied customers. As for discounts: If you have already purchased the various "gold club" or "wholesale" or other packages offered by some retailers, then I probably can't beat their rates. My target audience is folks like yourself when you are trying to find hard-to-find items, but at the same time, you probably aren't purchasing loads of Tandy tools at this point in your career. My goal is to provide a place where new leathercrafters can come and purchase the tools they want from manufacturers they know, and at the same time, at the same shop, see alternative and potentially better options. Take for example someone purchasing a Tandy English Point 1 1/2" strap cutter. C.S. Osbourne carries a similar tool, at the same price, but their tool is made much better. I want new folks to the craft to be able to see them side by side, and compare them quickly and easily, without having to have spent years learning to know the ins and outs of manufacturers. As for a warranty, I don't know a single small business out there who would sell a defective product and tell a paying customer to sod off. As a craftsman, and as a business owner, I can't imagine acting like the corporate jerk and not offer to take the product back with a refund, no questions asked. Well, I'll probably ask a question or two, so that when I call the manufacturer the next morning I know exactly what to complain about. And hell or high water, I'm going to carry Ritza25 "tiger thread" and some proper sewing clams that don't cost more than my workbench.

We are now up to 35 responses. Thank you so much for everyone who has participated! Survey monkey won't allow me to export directly, so I will be adding the results into a publicly viewable google doc that I can keep updated. Again, thank you to everyone!!! You have been fantastic, and I hope the results of the survey will be useful to others in the community.

Thank you later to all of you who have taken the survey. Your input is VERY much appreciated, and the candid comments are leading me to shift my ideas of what people really want in regards to shipping. That is to say, most people (76% of those who have taken it) prefer free shipping with the understanding that shipping is built into an item price. No surprises, and TANSTAAFL.

Afternoon folks, Firstly, wanted to thank everyone who responded to our first thread (and through PMs) regarding an online shop. I've gotten a fantastic response from various local folks and online folks about what they would like us to carry. The missus of course is wanting to measure twice and cut once before we take the dive, and she made up an online survey so that we could get a better idea of what you folks are purchasing, from whom, and in what amounts. She's the brains of these things, so I hope you won't object to the questions. Basically we want to know what you guys want a potential supplier to carry, how much stock of it to keep in the back, and what the best plan for shipping is. For tools and such, for example, using flat-rate boxes we can basically manage to charge $5 on any order that can fit into an 8" x 5" x 2" box, which is frankly most leatherworking tools and hardware. If you'd take a few minutes to go through the survey, we would really appreciate it, and it'd help us not end up with a room full of stock that will never move. I'm planning on making the results of the survey freely available (just the aggregate stuff, your personal info won't be kept/stored/captured/sold in any way). Hopefully this survey might be useful to more folks than just myself that way, and I won't feel so bad about asking y'all to do this. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W35QPBW Thank you so much for your time, again we really appreciate the assistance. - Stefan Ludlow Ludlow Leather Supply Co. www.ludlowleathersupply.co (website won't be open until we get stock in, but it's there!)

Are you sharpening, or stropping the blade? That could be your problem, or part of it. From my own experience: 1. Quality casing of your leather 2. Well sharpened/stropped blade 3. Quality of the knife 4. Quality of the leather The first two factors I find make the biggest impact. Until you get 1 & 2 perfected, I would not go to 3 & 4. Just my own opinion, of course.

Thank you all for the advice! Opening my own shop outside of Amazon wouldn't be too difficult. I'm just wanting to make sure that I can make shipping and processing of orders as painless for the purchaser as possible. They do have some nasty fees, including a 15% "referral fee" on some items that I'm trying to figure out how to get out of.

What I can provide is essentially much less expensive shipping. I can purchase wholesale, sell retail, and absorb within that margin a fair part of shipping costs. Amazon will let me store my inventory at their warehouse (for a per-item fee that I pay), and when you order it they handle the packing and shipping much more quickly than I could as a small business. So: If you order more than $35, your shipping is free. If you have Amazon Prime, you get further benefits. Additionally, I would provide a wider variety of products than any single manufacturer at one online location where you already shop at for other things. You could, on a single site, compare Tandy/Springfield/Weaver #2 Edgers without having to navigate to three different sites and without the risk of having your CC information in three different places. Finally, I could provide European goods that are hard to find here in the states, such as Tiger Thread, Blanchard tools, and other niche items. Is that the sort of benefit you have in mind?

Merry Christmas! I currently do a bit of resale in leather tools and supplies, and was looking at the possibility of opening an Amazon-based store to carry a wider inventory of tools, as well as sides/shoulders of various leathers. I'd use them for inventory management and shipping, so that folks could keep their own costs down. Anyways, wanted to see if you folks would be interested in such a thing. What we would carry: - Tandy Tools - Tandy Books & Patterns - C.S. Osbourne Tools - Weaver Tools - Blanchard Tools - new Tooling Stamps - used Tooling Stamps - Variety of thread (Incl. Ritza25) - Misc Vintage Machines - Sides & Shoulders (Horw, Oak, Mex Imp, Etc) Think there would be a market for this sort of "one-stop-shop" place on Amazon?