Cricut Machines and Cartridges are high demand products and Provo Craft tightly regulates the pricing that retailers can use when selling cricut machines. Even large craft stores, normally well known for their great deals on scrapbooking and paper crafting items, such as Michaels Crafts and Hobby Lobby, have declined to include Cricut Machines in their discount programs. That can make it hard to find discount items and, as the suggested retail price for, i.e. the Cricut Expression, is $499.99, things can get pricey if you are not a careful buyer.
Some online scrapbook stores will occasionally run discounts and sales on cutting machines, but these are sales for very limited time and usually only a few units are available, which means you will have to register for those annoying email newsletters and check back often in hope of catching a bargain.
To make sure you will get the best possible deal, keep these questions in mind when shopping around for your next cricut machine:
- What other items are included in the package? Are you buying only the Cricut machine or is it a bundle that includes cartridges and maybe other accessories?
- In case you have a problem with the merchandise, what’s the return policy?
- What about shipping and handling?
- What is feedback for that store? Read the store’s feedback profile to make sure it has positive reviews.
This next tips may seem obvious, but don’t underestimate their importance:
- Always read carefully the auction and product descriptions to make sure you understand what you are buying. Make sure that it is a product that will do what you want it to do. If you are uncertain then look on YouTube for videos about the product you want.
- Look for sellers offering a 1 year warrantee on Cricut machines, and a 30 day or better on cartridges, they have to supply support for you the customer, on items that they sold you. Quiz them on what the warrantee covers.
- If you have any questions, email the seller and ask them!
Hi. I’m a dyer. I cut stencils to use in this process employing traditional Japanese methods. I’m preparing a series of limited edition books and would like to include real samples. Cutting my stencils is very labor intensive and I’ve been intrigued by the various Cricut machines. However, I would prefer to cut my own designs. Is it possible to hook the Cricut to my own computer to power the cutting mechanism? I use a MAC. Any insight you may have to offer will be greatly appreciated!!
Gratefully,
John
Check out software titled Sure Cuts A Lot. If you look at youtube you’ll find demonstrations of how the software works, how to load it, how to save your pictures in the proper format, etc.
I have yet to purchase this item but will after seeing the demonstrations.
Hi John, I was intrigued by your hobby and would like to give an answer to your question based on my experience. I am in no way an expert, but I’ve owned a few personal paper cutters in the last few years. For what you want to do, you might consider buying a Pazzles Inspiration cutter. http://www.pazzles.com. I used to own a Wishblade personal cutter and sold it to pay for my Pazzles. I think the learning curve for the Wishblade was too steep, instructions were very poorly written, and customer service didn’t have a lot of the answers. The Pazzles Inspiration machine is computer based whereas Cricut is cartrige based. The big difference between the 2 is Pazzles was created for people like yourself who like to make your own designs. It does come with a few shape files already loaded, but not many. You can use their software that is included or use Adobe Illustrator to make the designs, then import them into Pazzles to cut it. And yes Pazzles does cut fabric also. On the other hand, the Cricut is cartridge based, and you can use their software (only sold separately) to design things, but you can only design using the shapes on their cartridges. So if you don’t own a certain cartridge you can’t cut that part of the design! The cartridges can be both cheap and pricey costing anywhere fron $19.99 to $89.99. Now in spite of what I just told you, I bought a Cricut after owning the Pazzles for 1 1/2 years. I like the Pazzles, but felt that I don’t ALWAYS want to make my own designs, I like the fact that I can quickly pick a premade design from a cartrige I own. I found that Pazzles was frustrating sometimes, becasue the auto-trace feature leaves a lot to be desired. Now that I have both cutters AND a Cricut Gypsy, I’m happy with both! I hope this gives you some insight into the personal cutter world and maybe amswers your question.
Thank you for jumping in the conversation. I actually replied to john’s email last week and recommended the Wishblade. I know the learning curve is a little steep, but unfortunately the Pazzles only works on PC using Windows XP or Vista, and he owns a Mac.
It’s a great machine, though…