If you ever have wondered where to order new scrapbooking supplies, I have an honest comparison for you: Blitsy.com vs Scrapbook.com: Pricing, Ordering, Shipping, and Packaging Pros and Cons. 
Last Tuesday I ordered Graphic 45 Portrait of a Lady and Midnight Masquerade items from blitsy.com and scrapbook.com. This gave me a great opportunity to compare how these two online stores work.
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Scrapbook.com
Pricing
Pros
If you check their coupon and clearance pages before ordering, you may find what you are looking for cheaper than at any other online store.
Cons
If the scrapbooking supplies you need are not on sale, while the price policy is not the highest, it is not the lowest on the scrapbooking market. If you want to save $1 here and there, and you are not in a hurry, try to find the same product on blitsy.com.
Ordering
Pros
Ordering at scrapbook.com is pretty easy: they have an easy-to-find search site option and a great selection of scrapbooking supplies, including new and not-so-new products. Which is cool, especially if you need something that is already hard to find. If this is a case for you – check their Clearance section. In my case, I wanted new products from Graphic 45. As I am writing this, they put all Graphic 45 on 15% sale! I wish they had this promotion on Tuesday… Anyway, I didn’t know that they were going to make this sale (unlucky me). So, I shopped for the full-priced paper packs and chipboard with another coupon code. They also offer guest check-out.
Cons
Even by that time most of the Portrait of a Lady collection had been sold out at scrapbook.com. That is the major “cons” with the big and popular scrapbooking stores: they become sold out pretty quickly on new items that are in high demand.
Here is what I ordered at scrapbook.com:
Shipping
Pros
I placed the order on 04/11/17. A few hours later I received an email with a tracking number saying that my order had been already shipped. Wow! This was fast!
That's not all: I got the package on 04/13/17. Fast two-day shipping is really a good thing.
Cons
That cost me $10.99 without any possibility to change the shipping method. Honestly, I did not need my order that fast. It would be better if they allow customers to choose what they want: pay less and wait or pay more and get an order ASAP.
Packaging
Pros
One word: amazing! First thing I noticed after opening my package is that the small items were carefully placed inside a plastic bag along with the sticker sheet to avoid bending or damaging the delicate products. This is not the first time I order Graphic 45 products, so I know pretty well how they are packed originally. At scrapbook.com the packaging team and/or their manager obviously think about what they are going to ship and how to deliver it safely. They definitely hand-packed each item thoughtfully.
Cons
None at all. I could not be much happier with the scrapbook.com packaging!
Bitsy.com
Pricing
Pros
Prices at blitsy.com are definitely one of the cheapest on the today's market. They also offer a big selection of clearance items.
Cons
There are not so many coupons here.
Ordering
Pros
Blitsy.com is a fast developing online store that tries to add more and more new items to their selection. While you may not be able to find there old well-known products, there are a lot of popular new brands with the newest collections.
As they are not that huge and well-known as scrapbook.com, it is possible to find and order items that have been already sold-out everywhere!
Cons
Cart navigation seemed a little bit slow to me, especially when I tried to edit it. In addition, they do not offer guest checkout, so you have to create an account to see the shipping cost if your order is less than the free threshold.
Here is what I ordered at blitsy.com:
Shipping
Pros
FREE! Yep, absolutely free! Blitsy.com is the only online scrapbook store that offers free worldwide shipping!
Compare it to $10.99 within the USA that I paid at scrapbook.com.
Cons
First, to get free shipping you have to qualify for it. Within the U.S. you the minimum order should be $29. As for the other countries. they say that "The pricing threshold is dependent on your country and will be shown throughout the site, including the top banner of our home page and within your shopping cart. Once your total order balance has exceeded the threshold listed for your country, your shopping cart will remove the shipping costs." You may find full text here.
Second, I placed the order on 04/11/17 and waited for the shipping confirmation until 04/13/17. I received the package on 04/15/17. So, it was free, but I had to wait. Not a big problem for me, but can be a "con" for someone.
Packaging
Pros
I love to see custom-made features on the packaging. It's a small thing but gives a statement that the company is proud of what they are doing.
Cons
To be honest with you, if I had not received the package from scrapbook.com two days earlier, I would have said that the packaging was good or at least OK. But, the best is the enemy of "just good". Because now, when I saw how those small items can be carefully and thoughtfully packaged, I say: this was not good at all. The products were just randomly thrown inside the box. Some small items were sandwiched between bigger ones, making the large paper to band around the small chipboards. The 8x8 paper pack was on top of other chipboards and this caused slight crease. The sticker sheet was placed without a protective plastic.
Bottom line
Taking everything said above into account, it all depends on what you need. If you plan to order something new form a well-known brand that sells quickly and you are not in a hurry, you may try to find it on blitsy.com for an affordable price. This is especially true for non-US buyers because you may save on shipping a lot. However, I strongly recommend you contact their customer service after placing your order to instruct them how you want your items to be packaged.
If you prefer quick and well-packaged shipping, especially if you plan to order something fragile, I suggest going directly to scrapbook.com, check their coupons, discounts, or even subscribe to their newsletter to get email notifications about on-going promotions and daily deals, and order your precious materials there.
Now, what if you want to order something small, like ephemera cards or paper flowers and the total cost is less than free shipping threshold on blitsy.com ($29 for the US)? I did that comparison as well. I placed the same Graphic 45 ephemera cards in cart both on scrapbook.com ($5.69) and blitsy.com ($5.40) and compared the total price including the shipping cost. Blitsy.com counted the shipping cost for 1 set of ephemera cards as $4.95 with the estimated delivery time 4 days. The same item on scrapbook.com may be shipped for $3.99 with estimated delivery time 3-5 business days. The math is easy: $10.35 (blitsy) vs $9.68 (scrapbook) total price.
So, a large order may be cheaper to buy on blitsy.com where you can save on shipping. But, if you need something small, it may be better for your wallet to go to scrapbook.com and order a slightly more expensive item there but to save in total cost as the shipping is less expensive.
By the way, did you know that scrapbook.com has launched $2,500 Year's Supply of Paper Giveaway? I entered, did you? If not, enter now! $2,500 of paper! Think about it! Oh my, I'd love to win! Though I am never lucky on this type of things. Maybe this one will be different? Wish me luck! 😉
Thank you for reading this at this far point!
Happy crafting!
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