Friday, September 15, 2006
Utterly Disgusted!
I know this is somewhat OT, but I think it deserves to be posted here so that all of you who are knitting the Simple Knitted Bodice can be informed consumers. I don't know how many of you are aware of the situation that occurred with Sarah's yarns and Tilli Tomas, but I for one purchased my yarn from Sarah's yarns and am appalled at what I'm discovering about Tilli Tomas's unethical business practices. Since this may not be the appropriate "arena" for this type of discussion, I thought I would at least post a link to Sarah's blog (scroll down to September 5th for the beginning and move upwards from there) so that those of you are not already aware of what's going on can find out and the "discussion" can continue over on her blog. Personally, I (as a knitter) don't like the idea of wholesalers telling retailers whether or not they can run sales on their yarns. How many of us would not be able to buy some of the yarns we buy if they never went on sale? I for one wouldn't, since the regular prices are frequently out of my budget. If I'd have known about Tilli Tomas's business practices in advance, I'd have never bought their yarns (whether they were on sale or not) and highly suggest that those of you who have not yet bought your yarn for the Simple Knitted Bodice, consider purchasing a substitute for the outrageously expensive Tilli Tomas and do business with a consumer friendly company. In fact, I don't think I could even enjoy knitting my Simple Knitted Bodice with my Tilli Tomas yarn now and will probably unload it on eBay and buy something else that won't make my hair stand on end every time I look at it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
I agree with you. I beleive this practice of specifying the retail pricing to be unfair price fixing. The cosmetics companies were slammed with federal fines for doing exactly that. I don't believe ANY wholesaler ought to specify the retail pricing for anything at all. I won't be purchasing Tili Tomas yarns ever, for just this reason.
Thanks for the link.
Thanks for the info. How does one verify a 'consumer friendly' yarn?
There is a list of some of the yarn companies who have practiced price fixing over on Sarah's blog (in one of the follow up comments).
Sarah should file a price fixing complaint with the New York Attorney General, who will investigate her complaint. In the District of Columbia, for instance, the Office of the Attorney General even has online information about price fixing and how to file a complaint (http://occ.dc.gov/occ/cwp/view,a,1223,q,531303.asp). People can make all the self-serving rationalizations of price-fixing they want (it keeps items from being devalued? hello?) but the reality is that it's illegal.
I also note that several prominent pattern designers are currently working on Tilli Thomas patterns; I wonder if they're aware of this? It would be interesting to see whether, if they are made aware of it, it matters to them that they tacitly endorsing a company that engages in this type of business practice.
I wasn't sure this was the appropriate arena for this discussion either. I bought from Sarah and was amazed and how friendly and professional her service was. She went above and beyond to provide me with fantastic service. I linked to the blog in my post too. I'm glad I'm not alone in my opnions on price fixing. Perhaps people should think about their opinions on buying gas when they look at this issue. Anyway, everyone has their opinions and they're all valid.
I was thinking the exact same thing about the designer's aspect part of the situation. I think that's an excellent point, and as a designer, I would probably not want to do business with a yarn company that was unpopular with knitters, let alone selling illegally. I wonder if Glampyre (the author is the SKB) knows about this and how she feels.
Very interesting! I will certianly make me think twice before purchasing tilli yarn again!
Tilli Tomas is not the only wholesaler to have this policy - Lorna's Laces, Karabella, Blue Sky Alpacas, Classic Elite, Mission Falls, Cascade - they all do. Deeply discounted yarns end up hurting all LYS and online stores. Walmart offers deep discounts but in the end the small shop owner pays the price for their discounts. This may seem like price fixing to all of you, but it is actually keeping the playing field level.
"Keeping the playing field level" is just another way of phrasing "price-fixing" which is illegal. If you haven't been to Sarah's blog lately, I highly recommend you go and educate yourself.
I've yet to hear how and why discounting prices can hurt LYS's, and would love to hear the rationale behind that line of thinking. Bottom line is any company who is engaging in illegal price-fixing is only concerned about themselves (although even that seems to be irrational thinking since it would seem they would sell fewer of their yarns since fewer people could afford them), has no regard for the consumer, deserves to be recognized as such, and will more than likely be hit with hefty fines (at the very least) and/or court sentences.
I heard about this today, and I am deeply troubled. This practice is illegal. Anonymous number 2 says it's hurting the LYS. I almost always shop at the LYS because I can get help from them and because they are nice people. Blue Sky Alpacha, and Lorna's Laces were a specially splurge for me not any more. Companies need to realize they can not take advantage of their costumers like this. Sara should also not be told by someone that she has bought yarn from how much she has to make back on her purchase also.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Post a Comment