Welcome! Our ordering process is a bit unique, so here’s some information to help everyone understand what various things in the shop mean, how to order and what to expect.
In general, there are three types of products and you will see 4 tabs at the top of your screen when you are in the “Shop” section of the website:
1) In stock: Products that are currently in production (i.e. we currently are dyeing this colorway and it is available to ship or will be shipping in the next few weeks). When something is “In Stock” status on the order page, that means we are currently accepting orders for this product, and it is currently in production. That does not mean it will ship immediately. We wind and package things as orders come in so that they are “fresh” when they are sent out. We usually ship twice a week. If you have an urgent need, please email us through the Contact Us form to get a shipping ETA.
2) Waitlist: Products that are not currently in production. Although this product is out of stock and we are not dyeing it currently, you can put your name on the waiting list by choosing your product (including base yarn preference) and clicking “Join Waitlist”. We will let you know when this colorway or product is back in production. Certain colorways are restocked regularly, some are seasonal and are only dyed once a year. We usually let everyone know what’s coming up in the rotation on the News Update post. When something that you are on the waitlist for comes back in stock, you receive a personalized email alerting you so that you buy whatever you had your eye on.
3) Pre-Order: We do not ever do “Etsy-style shop updates”. They are chaotic, stressful, and further a scarcity mindset that just isn’t a fit for us. People have lives, jobs, and we do not expect anyone in New Zealand or the UK to get up at 2 am to order yarn. In order to create a different way that is relaxing, fun, and inclusive, we have extensively modified our website to fit our ordering process (and we continue to improve it.)
We do several large pre-orders a year. Each pre-order is a set series of gradients. For example, we do a large pre-order once a year for all the Fade To Black gradients, same for the Greydients series. When a pre-order period is open, that means that whatever you order will be made for you. Full stop. It’s just a matter of us getting through the orders. There’s no missing out, no getting “cartjacked”, and all end yardage options are available so you can customize your yarn set to any project you have in mind. So you can take your time, consider what patterns you might have in your Ravelry queue, look at yardage requirements. look at other projects and modifications. Please put your choices all on one order if you can. Some people are conditioned to order one thing and check out immediately so they don’t get cartjacked. That is not necessary during our pre-orders. You can always put in a second order if you change your mind about something, but it’s not necessary to rush to check out when a pre-order period is open.
Generally a pre-order is open for about a week and it’s usually the second week of a month. We receive hundreds of orders in a very short time frame. When the pre-order period closes, we go through and will automatically combine all your orders for shipping purposes. We then refund any excess shipping charges if necessary. It generally takes about 4 weeks from the time the pre-order period *closes* for us to get through all the pre-orders. It can be up to 6 weeks in cases of large or very complicated orders with a lot of end yardage requirements that need to be matched. All orders are shipped USPS Priority Mail insured for domestic customers. International orders are sent USPS First Class Package International unless otherwise specified. Please see the FAQ for more specific shipping related questions.
There is a fourth tab that says All Products that will show you everything we ever make, and functions kind of like a gallery or catalog so you can see all our options. See the FAQ for more information.
Key things to know:
a) you must first make an account on the website in order to join waitlists and have your chosen items saved to your profile / associated with your email address. If you do not input an email address, the automatic notifications won’t be able to send.
b) for more information and details on how the waitlist works, check out this blog post “How Does the Waitlist Work?”
c) for information on how to physically add yourself to the waitlist (what to click where), check out this blog post “Quick Tip: How do I waitlist something?”
For all orders of $80 or more, we offer free US shipping and reduced international shipping rates.
Please feel free to familiarize yourself with our store policies here. We have a very generous return policy.
To subscribe to the Vivid Fiber Arts newsletter, click here.
For more information on our terms & conditions, click here.
For more info on our privacy policy, click here.
For any specific order questions or for other questions, please contact us so that we can help you .
If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for taking time to read. Please add this item to your shopping cart *when you submit your first order of $80 or more*, and we’ll send you a little welcome gift.
Thanks!
Amy & Team VFA