Educate me on SU
 

Greetings,

I am new to paper crafting and lots of time find myself wondering of things that seems obvious to others. So, I see a lot of talks about SU and now heard about items that will be retired. How all this work? Do they go on sale, via the demo person, at a discounted price? Is it even possible to know which items will be retired? I have a demo person, but seems to be a bit hard to get info out of her. I do not have a large budget for craft stuff; I want to order some items, but if they will be retired in a few months I would rather wait and get something else instead. Am I asking too much?
Thanks. Be well
Miriam

There will be a retired list that comes out May 1 this year. That will list all the products that retire. They will not be discounted. However, retired items (but never stamps) MAY show up on the clearance rack sometime after they are retired at a lesser price but there is no guarantee on that! Your demo should be able to forward the retired list to you on May 1 and you should also be able to find out which items will retire on the SU website.

So, you should have a month to figure out what is going to retire. All accessories are while supplies last but SU makes their own stamps so they can make them until they have filled all the orders. Hope that helps!

One more thing to remember is that the demos have no idea what will be retiring either. They find out the day the retirement list posts so they couldn't give you information ahead of that date even if they wanted to.

If you're not a demo it shouldn't matter if an item is retiring or not (unless you are worried that you can't get a particular ink or paper anymore for custom orders if you have a business) But retired stamps work just as well as regular ones, LOL! I often wait until I see the list and then put in a big order of stamps that I know I won't be able to get anymore that I love.

The mini catalog expires and those items may be discontinued forever (sometimes they come out again in the new catalog in July--but you just don't know)

Sale-a-bration is the biggest "sale" of the year where if you buy $50 then you get free stamps so I always buy more during that season. Otherwise, the sales are pretty lack-luster so I don't bother waiting for a possible sale if I like the item--seize the stamp and get them while you like them!

Also, if you SU demo is hard to get info from there are lots of other demos--you might want to shop around to find a better match for yourself.

Myself, if there was something I wanted, I'd get it and not wait to see if it retires, hoping to get it at a better price. Any Stampin' Up stamp that I have ever thought I wanted and didn't get before it retired, I ended up paying more than the book price when I was able to find it on Ebay later. And in one case, it took me a couple of years (Gnobbly Gnomes, anyone) to find it at a price that was low enough that I could wrap my head around it.

Now, I do have some stamps that I bought after they retired that I did get for less than book price - but those were ones that I was more "oh, that's kind of cute" when they were in the book, and I probably wouldn't have purchased them if not for the fact that they were going for such a low price.

If you are not a demo, I would say buy it if you like it (stamp set) you can always use retire paper anytime for many different projects. If you like a certain ink, than I would recommend buying the ink re-fill and your ink pad would last for years!

As a recent, but now former demo, I want to encourage you to find a demo that gives you the information you need. There is no requirement that you stick with the first person you come across.

Especially now, during Sale-A-Bration: Every $50 you spend entitles you to a free item (stamp set, printed paper, cardstock, embossing folders, etc.), so this is the time to capitalize and get the most for your money.

Demonstrators think it's important to have non-retired items at their workshops, because they want their customers to love what they use and order it for themselves (which they can't do if the item is retired). YOU do not need to worry about whether something is retired or not--you can use it forever (stamps) or as long as your supply lasts (paper). I do agree, if you buy a stamp pad, get the reinker at the same time.

As a customer I never worried about what was retiring unless it was something I really wanted and then I just went ahead and purchased it before it wasn't available anymore. Demos will know and someone will most likely post the retiring list here for all to see. And I agree with the above posters who told you about Sale A Bration it is really the best time of the SU! year in my opinion. I love free !!!