M Bobbin's

[seamsperfect]

You can also tell them if you bring your own materials to me the cost will be X.  Add your markup to your labor so it washes in the end. I do charge more for COM, but not enough to make it a "wash". If I did that, I would take away ANY incentive to sell fabric at all.
Then, I would be just "playing right into the hands" of wholesalers who unscrupulously sell directly to the public.

The point I was trying to make is that if your prospective customer does not know the manufacture of your materials then they can not shop it online.  If you tell them from the beginning that you charge x an hour more if they bring their own materials then they are most likely going to let you do the entire project including materials.  If they did find out the brand then they are not going to waste their time buying online if the end result is costing the same at the end.
Kevin

[sofadoc]

Kevin: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound argumentative. I do get your point.
But if I charge the same whether they buy fabric from me or not, why would I even want to sell fabric? I think your theory works better from an automotive point of view. But customers can find furniture fabric ANYWHERE.
Good discussion. Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you.

[seamsperfect]

Kevin: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound argumentative. I do get your point.
But if I charge the same whether they buy fabric from me or not, why would I even want to sell fabric? I think your theory works better from an automotive point of view. But customers can find furniture fabric ANYWHERE.
Good discussion. Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you.

Sorry  I see your side,  I guess I was saying,  say if you charge X an hour with fabric then charge X + 15%  an hour if they supply their own. I only deal with automotive, boats and some planes so  the market is much smaller than home fabrics.  I see where you would have a lot of competition in that area. 
Kevin

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

Whole other story to this, too.

I'm not positive where Gregg is going with that statement, but I'll take a stab at it. ;)
People like me, and Mojo only perpetuate the problem when we buy from an E-Bay store.
Same way that every time we buy from Wal-Mart, we drive another nail in the coffin of a "mom & pop" business.
For the record, I have bought a few welt feet, and a 100 bobbins off E-Bay.
But as a rule, I get most of my sewing parts from Gregg. And I only buy thread from suppliers who drive right up to my front door. If I can't touch it, I ain't buyin' it. Same with all other upholstery supplies.

You can also tell them if you bring your own materials to me the cost will be X.  Add your markup to your labor so it washes in the end.

I do charge more for COM, but not enough to make it a "wash". If I did that, I would take away ANY incentive to sell fabric at all.
Then, I would be just "playing right into the hands" of wholesalers who unscrupulously sell directly to the public.

Gregg's right. This topic DOES deserve it's own thread.

Every pereson reserves the right to but items at the lowest possible price they can.  So if Walmart has it for less...

That said, I have an excellent price matching record, and its not often I can't match or beat a competitors price.  In fact a good portion of my sales are priced off of sale matches.