Friday, September 16, 2022

NEW! KnitPicks Wholesale for Indie Dyers + Build Your Own Value Packs for Retail Customers

KnitPicks now has a wholesale option for indie dyers with discounts of 20-40% off of bulk packs of yarn! (Affiliate link) This is an exciting change for business owners who love KnitPicks yarn. 

In this post I am going to answer some questions about the new wholesale accounts. These answers come from the perspective of a customer, I do not have any inside information to KnitPicks. I did not reach out to KnitPicks for clarification on any of these questions. Please note that this post contains affiliate links to KnitPicks which means ChemKnits earns commissions on purchases made after clicking on the links. 

I found signing up for the wholesale account to be a fast and easy process. You will need to create a new account with an email that isn't the one you use on the retail website. I got personal assistance from a representative who reviewed my application to make sure that I had everything set up correctly.  My account was approved within a few hours of the application.  

Can retail customers still get bulk discounts on the retail website?

Yes, sort of.  Historically, KnitPicks offered 15% off of pack of 20 skeins of bare yarn, but this option is no longer available.  However, under the "Sale" tab on the website there is an option to Build your own value pack on select yarn bases.  With this sale, add 10 or more skeins from a featured yarn line and use the code "MYVALUEPACK" for 20% off the personalized pack.  I tested the code on 10 skeins of Bare Stroll Fingering weight yarn and bare Wool of the Andes Sport on 9/15/22 and the discount worked.  (Note: this is subject to change.)   


These bases include:
  • Wool of the Andes (Sport, Worsted & Bulky)
  • Swish (DK, Worsted & Bulky) 
  • Palette
  • Stroll Fingering
  • WOTA Superwash (Worsted & Bulky) 
  • Twill
  • High Desert
  • Brava 
Note that the KnitPicks bare yarn options are not linked under the Build Your Own Value Pack link, so you will need to search for those options separately to add them to your cart.  

The Big Sale is coming up in November, so historically there are some great discounts on bare yarn then.  I think my strategy will have shifted from previous years, but I'll talk about that once we know more about the big sale.  

EDIT: 11/9/2022 - The "MYVALUEPACK" discount works on a lot more bare yarn purchases than I originally thought.  See the listing for it to be mentioned in the item description, but it works on a lot of cotton, alpaca, and other bare yarn bases, too.  (It doesn't work on everything, like Bare Comfy worsted, but it did work on Luminance and Super Bulky Soft and others.) 

What are the new KnitPicks bare yarn wholesale discounts?

All of KnitPicks wholesale bare yarn bases are 20% off packs of 20 skein and 30% off 50 packs.  Select yarn bases (some of the most popular ones) are available for 40% off packs of 100.  


What yarn bases are available in 100 packs?

  • Bare Muse Aran
  • Bare Stroll Fingering
  • Bare Stroll Yarn Sock Blank
  • Bare Super Bulky Soft
  • Bare Swish DK
  • Bare Swish Fingering
  • Bare Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky
Some of this is surprising to me.  I'm surprised that Swish Worsted/Bulky aren't at a discount.  Same with Wool of the Andes Worsted.  However, I suppose I wouldn't buy these in 100 packs anyway, so maybe it's not so bad. 

Information as of 9/16/2022.  Subject to change. 


Can non-business owner customers who like to buy in bulk get wholesale accounts?

I don't know.  When I signed up I had to provide my Federal Identification Number (EIN) to show that I'm a registered business. I recommend reaching out to KnitPicks customer service to see what they say.  As of 9/16/2022, I know a few non-business customers who have applied for wholesale accounts, so I will update this if I hear back from them. 

The wholesale application says: "The Bare Yarn Wholesale Program is explicitly for our independent yarn dyeing customers who actively sell hand-dyed or painted yarns, and not intended for resell of Knit Picks products in their original form."

Can you use KnitPicks coupon codes on wholesale purchases?

No.  Coupon codes on the retail KnitPicks website cannot be used on the wholesale platform.  


Is there free shipping with wholesale purchases?

Yes, although the minimum purchase is higher than on the KnitPicks retail website.  As of September 2022, you can get free shipping on orders over $400. Shipping is a flat rate for purchases below $199 ($10 shipping) and for $200-$399.99 ($15).  There are also tiered shipping discounts for Canadian customers with free shipping over $600 USD.  

With the retail pricing of free shipping over $65 USD, 20 packs used to have free shipping automatically.  However, I typically would buy multiple 20 packs at once, so I don't think I'll have any issue hitting the $400 minimum.  I suppose it would be worth a cost benefit analysis to see if it is better to pay $10 for shipping or to pay full retail price through the retail website if you need to make a small order.  Also - note the "MYVALUEPACK" option on the retail website for small purchases of some of the most popular bases.  


What about WeCrochet?

WeCrochet (KnitPicks sister company that offers most of the same products) doesn't appear to have bulk 20 packs of bare yarn anymore, nor do they link to any wholesale options. As of September 2022, some bare yarn lines seem to be missing from the website, so I'm not sure if there is an update there or not. 


How do I feel about this change?

I feel fantastic! When KnitPicks  recently raised prices on a lot of their yarn lines I was considering switching to another supplier. (I was working on a whole blog post about the pricing changes and the feelings I was considering.)  The wholesale option brings the prices of KnitPicks bare yarn down to where they were years ago, and even a bit lower if I buy 100 packs.  This means I can continue to support the business where I first started buying bare yarn, so I'm thrilled.  

I am disappointed that retail prices are more expensive for the average customer.  I hypothesize that some of the price increases are to allow KnitPicks to offer such big discounts to indie dyers... and this could be the reason why Stroll is now more expensive than Stroll glimmer (historically glimmer was $1 more per skein.) The KnitPicks retail website does still have great advantages for new dyers - including solids in the same yarn lines, low minimums for free shipping, an easy to navigate website, and more. Please let me know your thoughts on these changes below.  

Please note that this post contains affiliate links to KnitPicks which means ChemKnits earns commissions on purchases made after clicking on the links.