I have some tippet rings from feather-craft, ordered awhile ago along with other flytying and flyfishing stuff and I am on my last tippet ring so I thought I'd give Stockard a try @ $7.95 for a small packet of 20 rings. We all know how thin and small this packet is. Could it be put in an envelope and have a stamp affixed to it, the stamp aka shipping charge rather than pay their usual shipping charge? I decided to call and voila, I got one of the owners. Nope, he said the charge would be $5 because there is more to filling an order than just putting a plastic zip envelope into an envelope to mail, credit card charges, (wha'?), etc.
Didn't understand his trying to justify a $5 shipping charge for a tiny plastic zip envelope so decided to pass. If I had been ordering lots of fly tying materials from my new source, I definitely would understand including the rings with the rest of my order and paying the usual shipping charge, but, as a new customer, I would think, expecting future orders from me, he would have just slipped that little bitty envelope with rings into a standard mailing envelope with a stamp and sent it to me.
There are two saltwater fly tying materials online companies I deal with, very well known, who charge the customer only what it costs them to ship the item(s). Very, very fair of them. I do a lot of business with these two companies.
I would have liked to try Stoddard's tippet rings but, unfortunately, I can't justify spending $5 to ship a tiny envelope to me containing 20 tiny rings costing $7.95:)
So, thanks, Betty and others, who vouched for Stoddard but they're a bit too rigid in their shipping policy for me.