AIBU to think that Not on the High Street is a bit of a rip off?

[Marmiteandjamislush]

Just been having a browse and noticed that a lot of the stuff is mass produced and can be bought from other shops and websites (often on the high street) much cheaper?

I bought BIL jokey present from a high street £8, it's on the website for £14 plus p&p. it's 365 pranks to play on a flat mate (he rents out some houses to his old school friends and drinking buddies).

Agree there is some lovely stuff on there but its swamped by mass produced stuff. I found something on there, thought it was a bit steep for a stocking filler at £17 with postage but found about 6 versions of it at £9.99 on Amazon with free postage. Bit silly. Did buy something else which was really nice but that was the same price direct with the seller.

Am a bit tired of all the overpersonalised stu

I go on there then google to find it elsewhere cheaper. When it first started it was great but now 300 pages of twee shit is not my cup of tea. For real individual bits go to etsy.

I bought an olive wood breadboard from there last year. Honestly, they must have photographed it with a bread roll on it, it was so small.

is there anyway to drill etsy down just to UK sellers though?

There's a button you click for UK only sellers - I'm not about to pay 15 dollars for postage.

I was looking for a scarf there for my mum, it was 20 but out of stock in November. The seller said they couldn't guarantee it would be back in stock in time for Christmas. I later found it on a market stall for a fiver! The NOTHS seller obviously couldn't get it shipped from China fast enough.

Agreed. I just browse through the site to see things I want and then go directly to the source to buy it rather than from NOTHS because it's cheaper! You can almost guarantee it's more expensive from NOTHS.

Totally agree. use it for inspiration and then find it to buy elsewhere. Would use it almost exclusively if money were no object though

NOTHS have just taken offices in Richmond, where Pepsi used to be. I can't think of many more expensive areas for commercial properties. Given they're just an online market which could be run from anywhere, I reckon they've overstretched - if they're still viable in 3 years, I'll be surprised.

That advert on the TV must have cost ££££ too. It's not wise considering how they operate, they are just the middle man and can be cut out far too easily.

For etsy (select 'United Kingdom' under Shop Location) in the left-hand menu. Having said that, you often get a better deal from e.g. Eastern European makers, even taking the postage into account. Avoid US because you have to pay customs import when you collect the item at the post office.

Folksy (UK version of etsy) also good.

DH brought me something from NOTHS for Christmas but the quality is awful, really cheap and poorly made and nothing like pictured. We are going to send it back if we can but the refund policy is 7 days according to the seller ...

When they first started they were really picky about who they 'invited'. The pictures had to be 'just so' the products unique on the website.
Now they just have pages of unsearchable stuff

I've just bought a scarf I saw on NoTHS. They were charging £34. I went directly onto the supplier's website and the same item was £23! Howcan they justify a 50% markup?