One of the first challenges scrapbookers, especially those new to the hobby, will find to making finished products out of their collection of photos is knowing where to get the right supplies.

Depending upon where you live, you may or may not have access to much variety. Not everyone wants to have a cookie cut layout. You can run out of creativity quickly if your local scrapbooking supplies store doesn't have a wide variety of paper, page kits, stencils, rub-ons, embellishments, and other scrapbooking must-have's. Thankfully, the Internet has largely solved the problem of being limited what you can find within a fifteen mile radius of your home.

Where to Shop Online

Probably the most commonly used store for finding the variety of scrapbooking supplies you need is eBay. There are hundreds of scrapbookers who have made home businesses out of supplying scrapbooking products through eBay. That means you are likely to find whatever you are looking for by doing a few simple searches on eBay.

Besides eBay, there are also hundreds of online scrapbooking stores. Some of these are online versions of traditional retail stores, such as Joann.com. Others are strictly Internet businesses with no walk-in locations. Their sizes range from hundreds of thousands of unique products, such as with AddictedToScrapbooking.com, to work-at-home mom stores with a handful of specialty products.

Things to Consider When Shopping

Obviously, price and selection (including availability) are two of the main concerns you will have when shopping online stores. Many stores have a page listing shipping policies and costs. You may find one store that is slightly more expensive than another, but offers free shipping for orders totaling more than a specified amount, like $50. If you know where to find them, you can use coupons in some stores, such as Scrapbook.com. A 5% off coupon from a store like that could save you a significant amount of money if you are planning a large order.

If you are interested in comparing prices and variety among various online retailers, you can use ScrapbookFinds.com, a new search tool for finding scrapbooking supplies among online retailers. The site currently compares twenty or so popular online stores, allowing you to sort by price.

If you plan to buy through eBay, make sure you understand the eBay paradigm, especially if you are new to eBay. For instance, you may find a big difference in the products and service you receive if you buy from someone who has a feedback rating of 75% compared to one whose feedback rating is 100%. eBay provides some useful reading for those new to buying and selling there.

The ability to shop online opens up a great number of possibilities for scrapbookers who want more than what their local store can offer.