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Old 01-13-2019, 03:38 PM
Sherri Tierney's Avatar
Sherri Tierney Sherri Tierney is offline
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I have been around the digital scrapbooking industry for a long time. I would say that kit prices have stayed pretty consistent throughout the years with only slight increases. As Robin showed, kit prices have always been right about the same price point, give or take $1 a kit.

Not all stores price the same, but not all stores have the same quality products either. There have been a lot of stores through the years to open up and have a load of designers that sell kits really cheap without offering the quality that is offered at many of the other stores (including SSD). When I designed (for various stores) we always had quality control checkers to be sure we were putting a quality product in the store. I mean high resolution, no stray pixels, etc. Not all stores have this and sometimes you get a crappy product that you just can't use without doing a lot of work to it (and sometimes not then). I don't know if SSD has a quality control person or not, but I know that the designers here all take quality very seriously. I have worked with many of them over the years and they are the real deal, not just in it to make a quick buck with sloppy product.

You CAN get a lot for a little. You have to know how to shop! Save things to your wishlist. Shop when there are storewide sales. Do the challenges to save even more. There are sometimes kits with special prices too, so stock up when you see that. SSD does not undervalue their product by offering it at rock bottom prices. However, they do seem to understand that many people are on budgets and as this is a hobby, budgets vary greatly. They offer new products at a discount and have sales at least quarterly (from what I have noticed as a shopper). Next month is a birthday celebration here at SSD and that usually brings some special pricing/sales.

Check out the samplers, check designers' blogs, etc. Some of them participate in blog trains where they offer mini kits that coordinate with mini kits offered by others, some of them offer freebies or samplers that way too.

My budget for hobbies is practically nonexistent. If I buy a kit, I have to be creative where that money comes from. I have to make my dollars stretch as far as possible if I am going to get more than one kit every few months. Despite this, I still end up with several new kits a year to scrap with.
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