Buying stuff online with mouse clicks from one's home armchair is quick and easy. In fact, it’s a lot easier and quicker 
than having to get into a car and drive down to a street store to do it, right? We buy iPads, cars, houses and even Ready-Made picture frames online, so why not custom picture frames ? After all there are online picture framing stores with clever wizards and widgets with .. which frame up pretty much anything we want, isn't that so? But this service strategy doesn't really work for custom picture framing... and virtually every picture framing business that has tried this has failed, with some lasting longer than others.
So why doesn't buying custom picture frames online work? The problem is not with making custom picture frames but with making sure that these are delivered undamaged to customers. No picture framer can or will unreservedly guarantee that custom picture frames can or will be safely posted or couriered to customers without damage or loss. Admittedly, there are specialist pack-and-send couriers who can build special wooden crates for picture frames and deliver these from framers to the customers.
But these specialized services are in the specialty niche and their high prices are either uneconomical or unaffordable to most customers and not in the big picture. Let's face it not many people will pay $200 to custom pack-and-personally-hand-deliver a picture frame worth $200 from Sydney to Melbourne. Well, you might say, there are far cheaper postal courier services around which will deliver for anything from $5, $10 or $20. In fact, as of August 2013 we can deliver 25kgs of picture frames anywhere in Melbourne Metro for $7.98. But the items we send out are mostly cheap, replaceable, imported, plastic frames.
We wouldn't dream of posting or couriering our customers' framed artwork. But there -are- online stores telling customers to do just that, to post or courier their artwork to them for framing. They get the artwork, frame it and then post or courier it back to customers after payment. So there -are- customers who parcel up and post or courier all sort of artwork. They even send prized, framed football jumpers, valuable V.I.P. autographs, original watercolours or irreplaceable family photographs.
But, once in a while, parcels arrive damaged to customers of fail to arrive at all. They simply vanish, from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Various couriers we have used over the years have at times lost multiple parcels of 25kgs being delivered to Australian capital cities. Of course, we can replace damaged or lost cheapie frames, but if the parcel had your personal framed artwork, what then? And it a nutshell, this is why buying custom frames or picture framing online doesn't work.
Sure, you can try and get a lawyer to sue the courier, or the framer or both, but let's face it; your prized artwork is lost forever. That's which online custom picture framing sites have never really had great success, at least here in Australia. Thank you for reading "Why buying custom frames or picture framing online doesn't work!".
Well there’s another way you haven’t mentioned to send custom picture frames and custom photo frames by courier and that’s by asking the framer to use perspex or plastic glass instead of real or normal glass. May be that’s costs more and that’s why this isn’t used or mentioned all that much. I got a football jumper picture framed with perspex in Perth and sent over here in Melbourne by courier and it arrived in excellent condition and undamaged. Sure it cost me $65 more for the plastic glass and $185 for the special freight on top of the picture framing cost but to me it was worth it.
I have got mixed results with ordering picture frames online. The first time I my sisters photo frames custom framed and these were fine and cheaper than my local picture framer in Chatswood. The second time I used the online framers for framing my hens night out pictures wasn’t good. The picture frames (3) arrived but two were damaged and one of the photos had glass cuts on it and ruined. When I contacted the online framers they said they’d look into it but I never heard back. When I got contacted them again they said that I’d have contact Australia Post for a claims damage. When I rang Aust. Post they said that the framer was responsible, not them. So I rang the framers for the third time and they said they’d get their manager to ring me and discuss some sort of refund. But I still haven’t heard from them !!! So my opinion ? Forget about custom picture frames or picture framing online !!!!!
I must say I agree. I got a Brisbane picture framer to make me a few photo frames and several picture frames as they were advertising free online picture framing orders delivery. I was in Sydney so and they gave me free freight as my order was more than $500. Well they sent it through Australia Post and it was an absolute nightmare! To save money the picture frames parcel didn’t get registered or insured despite the fact that they said it would be. It took about 12 days and about 22 phone calls to find my picture frames consignment that was delivered 4 houses down the road! The only way I found out was by accident as my little boy plays with the neighbours! Neither the picture framer or Australia Post were of much help and nobody wanted to take responsibility! To top it off, one of the picture frames was damaged by cracked glass and I got told that as I didn’t specifically insure the goods I could not get compensated or refunded! So buying picture frames online is not for me !!!
My experience with this issue is different to that of others. Actually I buy everything online, including picture frames, photo frames and picture framing services. Sure I pay more, but it’s so convenient for me because I’m a small business owner who works crazy hours. Well, my picture frames and stuff are made Ok by the picture framers. They put perspex instead of glass and though it costs more, nothing ever breaks. So my real problem is with the couriers who are either late with delivering my frames or fail to find me at home and send the stuff back. I tried Couriers Please, Star Track, Australia Post and others and they’re all pretty much hopeless morons. Out of 5 deliveries they only got 1 right. I live in a big apartment block and couriers are either too lazy to come and find me or too stupid to ascertain the correct apartment number. I get all my stuff eventually but it’s so frigging frustrating! With 1 delivery from Brisbane it took a dozen emails, a dozen phone calls and 10 weeks to finally receive my framed photo frames parcel. So, is it all worth it? I think may be not unless the freight or transport companies fix up their delivery and customer service first.