Cardcraft Plus www.cardcraftplus.co.uk Review

Overall Rating

Good variety of items of special interest to card makers

Easy to spend too much money!

In recent years the hobby of card making has become very popular. It is a pleasant way of spending an afternoon - should you have one to spare - and can also become a very lucrative one should you want to branch out and sell your artwork. I have not actually bought a 'ready-made' card for some years now and each card I make is just a little more personal because of this.

I have recently begun shopping with Cardcraft Plus and am particularly impressed with their on-line store: www.cardcraftplus.co.uk which is the subject of this review.

The site is run by a family owned business based in Preston which was first opened as a shop in 1990 by David and Ann Newhouse. Over the past few years they have expanded and moved to larger premises and recently opened their on-line store.

This is an extremely helpful website, not only providing a vast number of craft items but also in a lot of cases, instructions on how to use them. When I first visited, I found that they also provide a free catalogue for which I registered. This arrived within a few days and since then I have also received two supplements updating the stock shown in the original, which incidentally is a very interesting 98 page glossy brochure. When I went to the website to make an order I found that I was already recognised which was a pleasant surprise and made everything seem much more personal.

When you first arrive at the site the welcome page tells a bit about the history of the company. You will find that you can find out about who they are, who works there. There is a News and Events page with a calendar of events that they are going to attend - craft shows etc. There are even some customer references.

Visiting the on-line stores will show you into various departments. Two I always find interesting are:
What's New - which at present contains 47 items. If you click on any of these you are quite likely to get not only a description of the item but also a brief outline of how to use it.
The other is Special Offers - these are products which may be on offer for a limited time only and on a 'while stocks last' basis. There were nine items on this the last time I visited.

The main shopping 'area' has some fifteen sub-headings (or departments) ranging alphabetically from Cardmaking Essentials through to Tea Bag Folding. There are also 'Top Deals' where at the moment there are six offers with sizeable reductions in price and 'Best Sellers'where there are six very popular items including some 'buy one get one free' offers.

There are the usual shopping essentials such as Product Search, Shopping Cart and Checkout of course. All the usual credit/debit cards are accepted. Postage and packing is as follows: Orders under £10 + £1.00 - for an order between £10 and 39.99 + 10% of order value and for orders over £40 Postage and packing is free. (I believe this applies to U.K. only however).

They state that their aim for web customers is to send out the goods within two working days of receipt of the order. In my case I last ordered on 16th May and was pleased to find that the goods arrived on 19th May. This will possibly take longer during the 'busy' season prior to Christmas and it also takes longer if you order by mail order from the catalogue (which I have also done) but they say that their aim then is seven to ten working days.

I would also say that I was very pleased with the quality of the goods, including those on special offer, none was an inferior product and all were very well packaged. Included were a new order form and a Compliment Slip telling me that it had all been packed by Margaret - which I thought was a nice touch.

All in all I find this to be a very helpful website and definitely one of the best craft sites I have visited. I have no hesitation whatever in recommending it to anyone who enjoys card making or any similar hobby. I hope you will find this helpful and I thank you for reading.