I thought about it. In the end, my contractor was able to get a price very close to their cost with shipping. Talk to your contractor and see what discounts they can get.

TANSTAAFL

I have gotten my contractor involved. The prices I have are with his discounts, which are less than the "List Prices" but still much higher than Ceramic-Tile-4-You.

The cost of shipping is somewhat close to the tax I'd have to pay, so that's sort of a wash.

What does TANSTAAFL mean?

Google. And it’s 100% true. If you can’t google, then stay away from anything on the net. You are in danger of losing quite a bit. There is no Nigerian prince.

I see Sophie is being rude and less than helpful, as usual.

grannysmith18, how much tile are you planning to order? What is the dollar amount of the savings? I have ordered a lot of items online to save money. Appliances, plumbing fixtures, even furniture from NC (years ago, even before the internet). I've had zero problems. But for large quantities of tile (especially large format), I would be so worried about shipping damage. Or other issues, like getting mixed lots which don't match. I've had that happen twice, and fortunately the local dealer took care of it with no issues - other than the lost time to get replacements (and one mismatched tile in our family room)

What is the specific tile you are looking at - and how much would you need?

Just because they're not collecting the tax doesn't mean you don't owe it to your state.

Couple of thoughts: I would want the see / hold the tile myself. See the actual color. If anything is wrong (like warped tiles) it would be a real PITA to return them.

Nobody (private individuals) pay use tax.

Sophie is correct - if you can't figure out to put TANSTAAFL in google, then you shouldn't be buy stuff off the net.

Numbers junkie, thank you. I'm going to need about 350 sq. ft. ( 3 different sizes of the same tile) and my savings could run to close to $1,500.

Your experience pretty much mirrors my own. I do buy a lot of things off the internet, but only where I know the brand and model number, and if it's a site I've been happy with before. Also return policies are important to me. For larger items, more expensive items I shop at local stores, where items might be fragile, or there could be problems with variations.

Geoffrey_b, you've articulated my concerns perfectly. I'm worried about variation in lots, and problems with damaged tiles.

I'm pretty savvy on the internet, thank you. It's just that I've found almost all Sophie's reponses to most people to be extremely snarky and not helpful in a meaningful way, so I didn't want to bother.

OP - Houzz is full of sad stories from people who bought cheap tile and ended up with big color variations, bad glazing, uneven sizing - so, very high wastage and an inferior result. You get what you pay for, and in my book, it's better to pay once for a single order of decent tile, than twice because you have to replace faulty tile.

Ceramic Tile 4 U sells brand name high quality tiles. Maybe they do have some junk, but if you buy a good brand name, big color variations, bad glazing and uneven sizes should not be concern. The tile I wanted and found on their site at a great price was made by Caesar (Emotions). I did not pick out the tile based on an online picture- I found it locally and had a full size sample and showed it to my tile setter for his approval. The online price was 6.16 vs the 6.60 I paid through my contractors discount. I still had to pay a $125 freight fee and a home delivery charge. The "retail" price was about $10 if I recall correctly. Ouch. I needed 800 + sq ft and would have gone online if retail had been my only other option.

I recently dealt with them and was not impressed with my experience. I found 12x12 tile we wanted that is manufactured in italy. Our local dealer had the tile for $9 per sqf, had to be ordered and they were non negotiable on the price. I found the tile a few places online and Ceramic Tile 4 U was one of them. They had the tile for $5.98 per sqf which was a substantial savings without considering shipping. Upon calling just to confirm a few things ... I realized there is no customer service, they just tell you to place your order online and sit on the phone in silence after saying that. They also make it very clear they stock nothing, order your tile from a distributor and ship it direct to you, then they pay the distributor, collector your money and take the margin. I don't typically like dealing with folks that don's answer the questions I have so I was
somewhat skeptical. After getting the freight quote ($270 for 280 sqf of tile) I ordered $2000 worth for our room from them. It showed maybe a week and half later all in good shape and I saved a couple hundred bucks. So I thought okay that was a good move. My installer a week later said he was 4 boxes short and we should keep one extra due to possible future damage and the tile being discontinued. I call Ceramic Tile 4 U and ask a few questions, someone answers with "Yeah" and I attempt to confirm it is indeed the tile dealer I am talking to. It was, I asked 2-3 questions about shipping time, etc. and each answer I get is a short and brunt PLACE YOUR ORDER ONLINE. This gentleman was completely rude, I thanked him and hung up. I got online and attempted to place my order, the price on the tile was now almost double @ $10 per sqf, keeping in mind my first order was maybe a week and a half prior. So I call back, the same guy answers with "YEAH?" and I ask to speak to Nelly whom was someone I read in other reviews was a customer service associate and was helpful. He asks me "WHO IS THIS?" and I told him, and he sighed a long sad sigh in the phone and transferred my call. I cordially advised Nelly I was online placing my order(as rudely directed) and I had just ordered $2000 worth and needed some more and I noticed the price had doubled. Nelly again told me that they buy direct and ship direct, if they don't meet certain quantities they have to pay more, and in this case that would be double. I told her that was frustrating considering the amount we just purchased and I told her that really most of my frustration was with what seemed to be a lack of customer service and a lack of even wanting to engage with a customer directly, the gentleman I'd spoke to twice that day acted like he didn't even want to answer the phone much less talk on it. She said I "wasn't listening because I didn't like what she had to say", she buys direct and ships direct, if they don't meet quantity minimums and in this case it costs double. She literally mowed right over the fact that I just told her the customer service was terrible and didn't even acknowledge my statement.

Long story short, they wanted $10 per sqf for 35 more sqf and $270 to ship it. I paid $270 to ship the 290 sqf I already ordered so the shipping paired with now the double tile cost seemed a little crazy. 5 minutes later, I found the same tile( cotte de este, ca del bosco 12x12,) at artwalk tile online for $5.90 per sqf, no minimums, and $100 shipping. So in the end Ceramic tile 4 U was awful to deal with from a human basis, saved me a couple hundred dollars up front to only try and take it back and then some just afterwards. $350 difference from them to Artwalk tile on my 35 sqf order. Really I would pay a little bit more to avoid the attitude and the run around with Ceramic Tile 4 U, also keeping in mind they don't actually touch any of it. If anything they sent showed up damaged, you would really be in nightmare trying to sort it out based off their lack of wanting to engage at all with the customer.

" I don't typically like dealing with folks that don's answer the questions I have so I was somewhat skeptical. "

Guess you should have gone with your initial instinct.........................

They charged $450 freight on a $1300 order...shame on me for paying.

I placed an order, fright was $289. 2 days later I got an email stating that they needed an additional $700 for freight - on a $2350 order, approx 400 sq ft. Very unprofessional, no company identification on emails, rude on the phone. I cancelled the order, of course.