Do you shop around for stationery? Since I’ve started uni again, my needs for pens, notebooks, printer cartridges and ink seems to have increased exponentially so I was pleased to be asked to test out Frillo, a new online stationery store that claims to be a better way to save. They price items at cost, then add on a handling charge from £5 (for order under £50) to £19.95 for orders over £300. I was given £100 to spend at the store, and picked some items I’d bought in the last few months – so how do they compare? The ‘what I paid’ column includes delivery charges, and it’s not an exact like-for-like comparison, but I did my best!
| Item | Frillo price | What I’d paid before |
| Printer Paper | 5 star copier paper £11.11 | Varicopy printer paper £15.87 |
| Printer Ink | Kodak 2 for £14.48 | Kodak 2 for £30.96 |
| Pens | 12 Zebra sarasara pens £13.75 | 12 Pentel energel pens £14.75 |
| Notebooks | 3 Silvine notebooks £11.21 | 1 Moleskine soft extra large notebook £11.84 |
| Handling and delivery | £15.13 | included above |
| Total | £80.14 | £73.42 |
So, even with the handling charge, I think I’d save on printer ink shopping at Frillo. The notebooks were much better value – but Moleskine probably has a cachet that Silvine doesn’t! The delivery and handling charges mean it makes less sense to order the pens and printer paper this way.
This post is in association with Frillo.
