, I'd say the speaks well of the type of people who get involved in the industry. :thumbsup:
I agree there, I have done a few things over the years for a living (plumber/welder/home improvement contractor...service related stuff) I got into the wood business to have a product, cash and carry. I got stiffed on some service work, kinda hard to take the work back once it has been performed and the customer doesn't pay:cursing: . I have found that the guys in the wood business on both ends, seller and buyers, are pretty square dealing folks.
I have only bought lumber (a bunch of 1/4" thick 8"x8" square that I could buy cheaper than I could mill to fill an order) once and the dude was fair. I do sell a decent amount of lumber online and shipping is a problem on both ends. Shipping lumber is a pain in the rear, and I don't charge any handling fees, just what UPS charges I pass on to the customer. I would rather just sell it out of the shop, but if a customer contacts me and needs it shipped, I ship it, a sale is a sale. I said it is a pain, but we know how a guy can get hung up by the "drop by" customer too for hours talking in the middle of the day for a $100 purchase, either way it is part of the business so I am not complaining.
I think the cost of shipping for the customer is unavoidable, if he could find it locally he would, if shipping adds $1 bft to what he was looking for and couldn't find it the price may be a bit higher but he has his wood. I mean try to go to the local lumber yard and find stuff like this on the shelf... a 50" wide curly maple bookmatch.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=104&limit=views
I buy MANY things online, I live in the boonies most things (tools, hardware...) are a 30 mile drive. I would rather, if I am not in a big hurry and can wait a few days for it, order it online and pay a couple bucks shipping and not have to chase parts all day. 1/2 the time the stuff is cheaper online than I can get it locally so even with the shipping I am o.k.
Daren
http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/