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Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 9:50 am
by Don Burt
Hi. I'm in Cincinnati, OH. I'm using more and more Bullseye. I was purchasing it at Brazee Street studios. They are a fairly well stocked BE distributor. I was buying small cutoff sheets as I need them, and I was happy to pay retail for the convenience, and because I wouldn't have to buy much more than I need for a given project. However they will be discontinuing their retail glass shop, and focus exclusively on education. I'm disappointed of course. I can probably buy a bunch of Bullseye glass at their sale, but I wonder what other people do who don't live within driving distance of Portland or Santa Fe. Do you buy from a retailer? A wholesaler? Brad, do you keep a lot of BE in stock for retail sale? I'm not so concerned about price of a given sheet: I understand that BE is expensive and glass shipping and inventory is expensive for a retailer, but I'm concerned about not having the stuff on hand and waiting for shipment.

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:25 pm
by Kevin Midgley
Like everyone else outside the US, you have them crate it up and arrange the shipping and pay the lower price for buying in bulk. Then we have the added cost of dealing with customs brokers and paying government taxes and local delivery costs.
Alternatively find someone going out of business, rent a cube van and go and get it. I've done both. If you think Bullseye is expensive in the US try buying it with foreign money.
By the time the glass arrives in your foreign location with transport charges etc., you can look back at the Bullseye catalogue and realize you just paid full retail.
That all being said Bert, you still won't have the colour you want in stock. :lol:

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:14 pm
by Don Burt
Yeah, Kevin i get it. I live pretty close to a number of glass manufacturers, but my taste is for stuff made either in Portland or European stuff sold in New Jersey. Maybe I should adapt to my environment. Humans are supposed to be able to do that

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:59 pm
by Ed Cantarella
I usually save my pennies to make large-ish orders with BE, for maximum discount. I'm in USA so no customs, and even with BE's shipping, I am usually still 20% under any mail-order retail(or Delphi which is about 50 miles one away). The mail order would then have shipping added on. Delphi would require a trip, which might be fruitless anyway. So the slightly local retailer only gets scraps of my business.

*sometimes tweaking a order to maximize a crate charge can make a nice difference with BE. Sure you might have to trim your order to 10 sheets of that favorite glass vs. 12. But hey, you just "felt" you needed 12, you had no immediate plans for it. :lol:

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:26 pm
by peter cummings
I'm laughing from Australia. No I'm not laughing at all.

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 2:52 pm
by jim burchett
I am fortunate enough to live within an hour or so of Brad's store, so I am able to purchase what I think I will need when he has his 40% off sales. But I used to travel 2-3 hours 1 way to buy wholesale from Art Glass House when they were in Ga. It may be worth it to find a wholesaler and travel to them to save the shipping. It is all expensive.

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:54 am
by Marty
Bullseye will give you about 50% off (assuming a sort-of-wholesale buy). Your local distributors will give you 40% on the same buy. The difference is shipping; you'll pay for it one way or another.
I'd rather do the 3 hour round trip to my local and help keep her in business.

Re: Buying Bullseye Glass

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 10:17 am
by Ed Cantarella
Many make the mistake(I did for a few orders) of completing a BE order online when they are in the 50% discount range. Never do that. Save the order and call them. They can arrange for UPS freight for a few hundred dollars less than their shipping system generates for regular UPS. I was placing a roughtly $2.5k order and then panicked "I forgot those sheets for the wife!". Called the next morning, they were like "no problem" and then told me about the freight shipping. Bought 12 more 10X10s and it was still LESS than the original order cost, due to the improved shipping rate. They sent me a refund :lol: