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I don't know why this hasn't really dawned on me, but I was looking at a great card made with a super cute hippo. (GinaK site). I have been keeping this set in my "wish file" and am totally relaxed about it. I may get it. I may not. I know it will always be on Ginak's site should I ever decide to buy it.
I just realized I do not have this luxury with SU! I have to decide at some point to purchase, or a set may be gone forever.
Would it not be in SU!s best interests to keep sets alive by putting them on-line and then doing a catty with new sets??
..... isn't that kind of the point? They are creating a sense of urgency and hopefully (for them) giving themselves and their products a higher priority than those you know will be around forever. It falls under the law of supply and demand which I remember only dimly from my economics classes.
For demos, the pressure to buy current sets for business purposes creates one type of need that has to be instantly fulfilled so there is a set of customers right there, but for those who are not demo's, I think it comes down to how you react. If you are one who says " I must have that stamp or my life won't be complete so I must buy it NOW" , again the company wins because if you have a finite budget for stamps, you will choose their product over Gina K's (to use your example). If you are one who says "I would like to have that stamp but my life will continue whether or not I have it" of if you kind of resent the pressure to buy, you will make your choice based on something else - maybe free shipping, or some other special incentive.
I think that with so many companies out there now if you find an image you love from one company that has been retired, chances are you'll be able to find something similar from another that is current.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule! I am aware of the outrageous prices on the bay for some sets, but there is no set I "need" that much.
I totally agree! The sense of urgency creates more sales. I hate buying that way, I think I'm in the minority. If I just HAVE to have a set, I'll buy it, but I would NEVER pay more than the catalog price for any set.
Not that what I think matters, but stamps should be retired only from the current catalog, but still available for purchase.
I teach for a lss that uses Great Impressions stamps and they don't retire their stamps, which customers just love.
..... isn't that kind of the point? They are creating a sense of urgency and hopefully (for them) giving themselves and their products a higher priority than those you know will be around forever.
Yes, you are totally right. I never really thought about it from a business perspective. Good move on their part, BUT, for me it kind of builds up a bit of resentment. Fortunately for SU!, I really like their sets, so I guess they have "got me".
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you know that the set will always be available from GinaK?
Many businesses discontinue old product to bring in new. Think of clothing stores. So many times I've gone back to get the same thing in a different color, and it's gone. It has to do with warehouse/production/pick line space. If we want to keep seeing new stuff, something has to give.
Just my thoughts,
Yapha
__________________ Yapha I help people who are sick and tired regain their energy and improve their gut health so they can stop feeling exhausted every day and get back to feeling their best.
Gosh, you are right. Perhaps stamps on sites like GinaK will not always be available forever either? Well, at least I know they will be available for a longer period of time that SUs. (on average!).
You have all just listed many of the reasons I buy most of my SU sets on ebay.
The constant "get it now or never" push results in lots of sets ending up on ebay when people discover they didn't really need them or even like them that much.
Unlike so many here, I "only" own about 20 SU sets- there is rarely one I *have* to have. I find I can get really good prices on SU sets on ebay if I am patient. I think there is a lot of buyer's regret later with the SU push.
So far, I have never found an SU set that I really wanted that I couldn't get on ebay with a little time. And, I am helping out someone who wants to get rid of a set. Win/win.
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you know that the set will always be available from GinaK?
Yapha
You're right - I should probably have said "something that will be around for longer" rather than forever.
That said, i don't think Gina K, the Bella's or Papertrey have retired anything to date. I do remember Em was going to retire a particular Bella because there was a newer similar one coming out, but bowed to popular opinion and left them both. I'm sure someone will remember what I'm talking about and have the facts!
Forgive my ignorance, but how do you know that the set will always be available from GinaK?
Many businesses discontinue old product to bring in new. Think of clothing stores. So many times I've gone back to get the same thing in a different color, and it's gone. It has to do with warehouse/production/pick line space. If we want to keep seeing new stuff, something has to give.
Just my thoughts,
Yapha
Exactly my thoughts. And, at least with SU, you get a warning. Go into a clothes shop for something you saw a few weeks ago and it won't be there... and the assistant will most likely say something like "We only have what's on the shelves" and "I don't know if we're getting any more in".
It's just not economically viable to keep every old set current. They wouldn't fit in the catalogue so people wouldn't see them and, because they weren't in the current catty, very very few (from a business point of view) would want to buy them.
Also, styles and tastes change. I have sets that I bought when I first started stamping about 6 years ago and some I would never part with and others I wonder what I was thinking. Personally I don't feel pressured to buy just because it is retiring as I have plenty of notice. If I felt that way. I would not have signed up to be a demo. But then again I have worked in retail for 22 years and you have little or no warning when something is on it's way out, even with basic everyday items like soap or shampoo. Which I find frustrating as can be.
EBay is not always a great place to "get a deal". By the time shipping is included, you could have purchased a new set. I found a stamp club where we share our stamps and we have our purchases add up to hostess gifts that we keep in the "club". That way, we can check them out for a period of time and do not feel pressured about anything. i found that used stamps may not be "cut" the way you like them to be.
I have to say...I'm SO GLAD that Stampin' Up retires things. I am a SU demo, and that's one of the reasons I became one. I would get bored if they had the same merchandise available for years and years. And all stamp sets in the main catalog (not this way for the mini catalogs) will be available for at least a year...how can that be called pressure to get it now? And again...if I went to a store tomorrow and found a shirt I loved....I would never expect it to be there even in a month. So I, for one, am glad things retire and fresh stuff is brought out. Just my opinion.
I think, too, that there must be a difference between companies that only have online catalogs versus those that have print catalogs. There's infinite room to keep images available for people to see...not so with a print catalog.
Every company has only so much physical storage/warehouse space; they can't afford to keep *everything* in their line; something has to go, to make room for new.
And, it doesn't make sense to continue to make available a product that sells very poorly in relation to another that sells very well.
Frequent consumer demand for "the latest" and "newest" would also certainly drive new product output among manufacturers, as well as retirement of older products.
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
I know that Rubber Stampede retires their product because there's a stamp of their's that I want and can't get. It's "Santa Collage". I went to a card swap last fall and somebody's card was made with this stamp. Of course, I just had to have it but couldn't find it because it was retired. Occasionally it will show up on Ebay but I refuse to pay an outrageous price for it.
As for SU!, now that they've gone to two catalogs, there's no guarantee that a set will be available for a year. Some of the sets that were in last fall's catty retired when the new catty came out.
I am definitely one that if I see something I like in a store, I will get it then and there because there's no guarantee that it will be available when I come back.
I know that Rubber Stampede retires their product because there's a stamp of their's that I want and can't get. It's "Santa Collage". I went to a card swap last fall and somebody's card was made with this stamp. Of course, I just had to have it but couldn't find it because it was retired. Occasionally it will show up on Ebay but I refuse to pay an outrageous price for it.
As for SU!, now that they've gone to two catalogs, there's no guarantee that a set will be available for a year. Some of the sets that were in last fall's catty retired when the new catty came out.
I am definitely one that if I see something I like in a store, I will get it then and there because there's no guarantee that it will be available when I come back.
SU! has guaranteed that a new set will be available for at least a year!!! Yeah, SU! did retire some sets that were brand new last catalog but going forward, a brand new set will be available for at least a year.
SU! has guaranteed that a new set will be available for at least a year!!!
Not exactly... They said that anything new to THIS catalog (Spring-Summer 0 will be available for a full year, but they did not say that would be true for the next catalog...
Yapha
__________________ Yapha I help people who are sick and tired regain their energy and improve their gut health so they can stop feeling exhausted every day and get back to feeling their best.
Not exactly... They said that anything new to THIS catalog (Spring-Summer 0 will be available for a full year, but they did not say that would be true for the next catalog...
Yapha
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought it's every new set from now on.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought it's every new set from now on.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the promise was only for sets new to this catalog. Doesn't mean it won't hold true for others, but I don't think they said that yet.
Yapha
__________________ Yapha I help people who are sick and tired regain their energy and improve their gut health so they can stop feeling exhausted every day and get back to feeling their best.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the promise was only for sets new to this catalog. Doesn't mean it won't hold true for others, but I don't think they said that yet.
Yapha
Hopefully a clarification will be issued on this point, but I'm pretty sure the idea was that going forward demos and customers can count on any new catalog set being available for at least a year from the time it first appeared in a printed catalog. They may be on the dormant list and not in the next printed catalog, but they will be available for 12 months.
As for the availablility of stamps from on-line companies, most of these companies are still very new and, therefore, have not released a lot of stamps, so even with the older sets they still do not offer their customers the variety that Stampin's Up! offers with their catalog. And while I was not around 18 years ago when SU started to manufacture their own stamps, I'm sure the same was the case for them and stamp sets back then did not retire as frequently. As Stampin' Up! grew in size and popularity the demand for new images grew as well. I assume that if all the other new companies are fortunate eough to make it to their 20th anniversary and enjoy the kind of demand for their stamps that SU enjoys today, their stamp set retirement ratio will be similar to SU's.
Gina K's 3 Amoebos stamp is not there anymore. There may be some others that disappeared when she started selling stamps in sets only.
Oh, I remember that - didn't you get/want that one?
Isn't it funny how we know stuff about each other? I probably wouldn't know you if you showed up in my cornflakes, but I know you wanted/bought the 3 amoebos stamp. The internet is indeed a strange and wonderful thing!
Oh, I remember that - didn't you get/want that one?
Isn't it funny how we know stuff about each other? I probably wouldn't know you if you showed up in my cornflakes, but I know you wanted/bought the 3 amoebos stamp. The internet is indeed a strange and wonderful thing!
Yep! Erin K suprised me with it right before it disappeared. I'm so glad I have it- it's adorable.
Retiring sets is really just "basic" retailing. SU is really not doing anything that the stores you visit every day don't do but you notice it more because SU puts it's products on paper (catalog). I worked for a LSS and we tried to stock the latest & greatest. It's how we competed with the big box craft stores. Consequently, we seldom reordered paper patterns unless they really blew out of the store. Even then we would usually only reorder once. As someone else said, we had only so much physical space and $ for inventory. To keep our customers coming back we needed to keep new stuff coming in the store. I have been in other stores that look pretty much the same every time I go in. I don't visit them frequently because I know they don't have the newest supplies. As an SU customer (not a demo), I view the new catalogs with both excitement and dread. I look forward to the intro of the new sets but dread them retiring too much that is still on my want list.
IMHO...I am glad so many sets retire b/c it makes room for that much new stuff. But, I am not a demo so I don't have to worry about keeping up with what's current and not being able to use my retired stuff.
And I have bought retired stuff on ebay before and I absolutely hate it... I try to get what I want before it retires...that way if I decided I don't like it (which is unlikely) I can be on the money-making end on ebay as opposed to the other way around.
Gina K's 3 Amoebos stamp is not there anymore. There may be some others that disappeared when she started selling stamps in sets only.
I had great intentions of buying the chubby man in an hammock from Ginak's before she opened her store -- but he isn't available. Ginak didn't design him, but hers was the only place where you could find him. Maybe some day he'll be on a summer-set. Fingers crossed.
I have been in other stores that look pretty much the same every time I go in.
Pam
Yeah like my Michael's. Same stamps every time, same ink every time, same paper every time, same ribbon, same albums, same stickers, same embellishments.............sigh.
I have bought sets on eBay too. For the most part, I was displeased with the eBay ones. What one calls in "excellent condition" really stymies me sometimes!
SU! vs other stamp companies-big difference
