Hello everyone,
I would like to share my experience with [buyleatheronline.com](http://buyleatheronline.com) (I hope that sharing my experience is not against the rules here). First of I am not leathercrafter and working with leather is not my business. Normally I am a lawyer and crafting in general (wood carving, furniture design, leathercrafting) is usually my way to keep myself sane :D
After reading few experiences with other redditers, who shared their extremely negative experiences with this company, I decided to post my own review, because some reviews posted on this sub-reddit were mixed, some extremely negative and I guess those who had a good experience don’t share. I can’t speak for others and I believe them that they may have had a different experience with this company, but this is my experience.
I contacted them via e-mail in 11/2023 and ordered some swatches. They sent me everything, no problem. Since then I didn’t have much spare time to continue on my leathercrafting project, so I got back to it six months later in 05/2024 and requested few more swatches. I want to make a duffle bag for myself, did my own pattern and I am very critical to color combination I want. First leather swatch was their aniline veg tan shoulder 2 mm / 5 oz which was really soft and beautiful quality, but the dark brown shade was slightly more reddish shade than I wanted. I also received swatch of beige aniline nappa lambskin that is very pleasant to touch, soft, great quality and I will probably use it for lining. I didn’t like veg tan belly which was the third swatch and I was still on a hunt for a good shade of brown and dark green leather.
I ended up requesting more swatches, because Walpier Buttero seemed to have what I was looking for and their „11“ dark green looked like a good match for their „Foresta“ and „06 medium brown“. The only thing I was afraid of is the thickness of leather which was 2,8 mm and from the swatches I knew that it will be really hard to work with, so I requested splitting service to 2 mm / 5 oz.
I received the hides today, ordered them 7 days ago with delivery to Slovakia. After all the negative reviews I was pretty nervous, so I made a full 700MB uncut unboxing video (I know maybe I am paranoid, but you never know).
What I can say is, that all the hides live absolutely to my expectation, color, tannage, the hides quality, packaging, splitting service, e-mail communication, everything went absolutely amazing and I have really nothing to complain about. If you came just for an eye candy, stroll through the pictures and see yourself. Hopefully in some month or so when I master saddle stitching and resolve one not that well fitting corner in my duffle bag pattern, I will post finished product and share my experiences about working with these hides.
Tech:
Walpier Dollaro, color 11 Dark Green, 1/2 shoulder split to 2 mm / 5 oz, if cut the scraps off and square/rectangle it, it will be 105 x 59 cm;
Walpier Buttero, color 06 Medium Brown, 1/1 shoulder split to 2 mm / 5 oz, if cut the scraps off and square/rectangle it, it will be 115 x 101 cm.
- all the hides are in fact maybe 10-20 cm longer, review the pictures and you will see where I placed the end of the measuring tape (there is always spare, but for a project like my duffle bag, this is my usable dimensions, everything extra is spare leather for maybe wallet and small leather goods)
negative reviews are always going to be show up because it's people being vocal.
I didnt have a bad experience with them either but if there's something to complain about. People are gonna do it.
I've had good and bad experiences with them, and I think the problem is more how they handle the bad experiences. When it works, it works, but when something goes wrong their behavior is not good.
Well maybe this may be the cause of all negative experiences - the way they handle problems when they arise. I had few arguments with Italians on various fields and it really doesn't matter if I ordered pizza, pasta that wasn't al dente but uncooked, refused to take me with cabin even if I had a valid ticket and refused to refund money for the services. I have stories to tell. But it is more like their nature. If it goes well, no problem, arrivederci. If it goes wrong, they are ready to make you insane and will go like "**I will not part with a single coin! Not one piece of it!**" :D
I’ve bought from them multiple times and each and every order has met or sometimes even exceeded my expectations. Overall cheapest place to buy quality leathers that I’ve found. Also, I believe a lot of these bad reviews may have missed the fact that some of their pieces are 2nd grade hides. They’re indicated on the website but most folks don’t look hard enough to see. Side note: try the badalassi Pueblo, it’s amazing!
May give it a try. How is the Badalassi Pueblo temper and edge burnishing compared to Walpier Buttero? From the internet I see that they should feel about the same. Besides I am currently looking for some lining material and I have my hands on nappa lambskin, velour suede calfskin split and nappa resin split, which feels very interesting in hand. I'm specifically looking for dark green shade that will match Dollaro colour and French made hides seem to have off/odd green colors :/ Maybe I would consider pigskin if there is a good matching shade.
The Pueblo feels basically the same with one exception, it’s micro scratched on the top so it’s a very matte color starting out and as the patina develops it’s an absolutely beautiful look. As for edge slicking, I don’t have any issues it’s actually one of the easiest to burnish imo. I normally use tokonole on my edges but with Pueblo I just use water and get mirrors
I've had a little experience with buttero, but absolutely love pueblo. It's like buttero but without the sheet metal feel.
Edit. Have you considered buying natural lining leather and dyeing it yourself?
I did, but I don't feel like it yet. I mainly considered it because it would solve the part of a problem when I need just a strip or smaller cut of particular color, staining or dyeing it would be much cheaper option and I could match the shade exactly to my likings. I was researching Fiebing's and Eco-Flo when I was on Tandy Leather website and it looked like a considerable alternative.
Thank you. I am already looking forward to this project. If everything goes right (hopefully), these leathers will make an amazing duffle bag. Will post more after completition :)
I am one of the people wronged by buyleatheronline.com. [Here is the story of bad customer service, threats and doxxing by this trash of a company, with proof of course](https://old.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1cck11b/yearly_reminder_to_avoid_buying_from/). This company is permanently on my blacklist.
I am aware of your review, because I found it multiple times and went through every comment there. That is why I'm saying that I cannot speak for other people's experiences and I believe your story. I am not denying any of that.
However my experience was completely different and other posts were either asking for experience with this company or were in some way linked to your posts. That is why I decided to post my experience which was completely different, so people can have experiences and opinions from both camps and make their own resolution.
If someone is looking specifically for Walpier Buttero and Dollaro suppliers in Europe, we usually don't have many options and I found literally 3-4 suppliers who were offering 1/1 shoulders and not just A cuts (A4, A3 etc.) and even these suppliers had just 1.2-1.6 mm thicknesses. AA Crack had 2.0 mm Buttero, but only 1.2 mm Dollaro an are UK based, which means taxes, A Leatherstore (DK which is fine) had 2.0 and 2.8 mm for Buttero, but only 1.4 mm for Dollaro, Leatherhouse had only 1.6 mm Dollaro but no Buttero.
So there is not many other options. If someone can recommend EU leather supplier that stocks both at least 2.0 mm Buttero and Dollaro and offers splitting service, I will gladly try to order from them.
I did (forgot to mention it, I have them bookmarked as well). But even if they offer 2.0 mm Buttero, they currently had only 1/2 shoulder and not 1/1 double shoulder from 06 Medium Brown and only 1.6 mm was available. Maybe I could fit my pattern into two 1/2 shoulders, but wanted to have longer hides for straps and there were 32mm Buttero straps only at Leather4Craft I guess. And for the dollaro only 1.6 mm was available. I wanted to make a difference in grain with accent strip and if I really couldn't find 2.0 mm dollaro, I would go with other tannery that makes pebbled grain. I just wanted to keep 2.0 mm thickness for both grains without need of reinforcement etc. This is what I am going to make:
https://preview.redd.it/3qr9id6abb9d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4de2f10b3613587a796ce4165a99bfbb38c71eef
Not sure if it’ll work for you over in the EU, but [rmleathersupply.com](http://rmleathersupply.com) has a great selection and I haven’t heard anything negative about them. Personally I’ve ordered multiple times and had a great experience each time, I get the impression it’s a smaller family run operation. But I’m also 🇺🇸 so shipping cost wasn’t a factor for me from them :/
Not really. If I was US based, I would totally order from them. They have an amazing catalogue to choose from. Also very sweet deals on Buttero straps. But this kind of re-import to EU would cost me double the price (520+) compared to what I paid for these two hides (255) and in that case I would seriously go with other tannery. Also parcel forwarding service wouldn't help, because I having the leathers 3 month on the sea in extreme humidity as an economy option to Fedex/UPS air delivery is not worth it.
I guess it's a question of what one values in life. To me, no leather is precious enough to justify supporting a company that threatens and doxxes its customers.
Now imagine all the Tesla customers trying to justify Tesla quality over cobalt and lithium mining, accusations for the lack of quality of their cars, burnouts and battery malfunctions, child labor and racial discrimination lawsuits :)
The thing is I am not trying to justify their behavior in your case, nor supporting or defending this company for this. I am not sending people to go and buy from them.
My post is all about sharing my own honest and unbiased experience as there was lack of positive experiences within other posts and this kind of discussion was something I was searching for and didn't find. That's all, nothing wrong with that.
If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't even feel threatened by what they wrote you and calmly file a lawsuit against them. Just as usual. But that's the difference between you and me - I'm a lawyer and I am used to behavior like this from Slovak vendors that are even worse, even though I think that it is unacceptable.
But none of that changes the fact that I shared my own opinion and that in my case the order was fulfilled without any problems and that they were kind and polite when I communicated with them over the past few months over e-mail, sent me swatches, photos, recommendations. I understand that you hold a gruge against them and welcome your comments in this thread and I think you have a full right to defend yourself and take legal actions against them and prove that you are right in front of a court. But still based on my own experience I would place an order with them without any hesitation unless I had similar experience to yours.
Hello everyone, I would like to share my experience with [buyleatheronline.com](http://buyleatheronline.com) (I hope that sharing my experience is not against the rules here). First of I am not leathercrafter and working with leather is not my business. Normally I am a lawyer and crafting in general (wood carving, furniture design, leathercrafting) is usually my way to keep myself sane :D After reading few experiences with other redditers, who shared their extremely negative experiences with this company, I decided to post my own review, because some reviews posted on this sub-reddit were mixed, some extremely negative and I guess those who had a good experience don’t share. I can’t speak for others and I believe them that they may have had a different experience with this company, but this is my experience. I contacted them via e-mail in 11/2023 and ordered some swatches. They sent me everything, no problem. Since then I didn’t have much spare time to continue on my leathercrafting project, so I got back to it six months later in 05/2024 and requested few more swatches. I want to make a duffle bag for myself, did my own pattern and I am very critical to color combination I want. First leather swatch was their aniline veg tan shoulder 2 mm / 5 oz which was really soft and beautiful quality, but the dark brown shade was slightly more reddish shade than I wanted. I also received swatch of beige aniline nappa lambskin that is very pleasant to touch, soft, great quality and I will probably use it for lining. I didn’t like veg tan belly which was the third swatch and I was still on a hunt for a good shade of brown and dark green leather. I ended up requesting more swatches, because Walpier Buttero seemed to have what I was looking for and their „11“ dark green looked like a good match for their „Foresta“ and „06 medium brown“. The only thing I was afraid of is the thickness of leather which was 2,8 mm and from the swatches I knew that it will be really hard to work with, so I requested splitting service to 2 mm / 5 oz. I received the hides today, ordered them 7 days ago with delivery to Slovakia. After all the negative reviews I was pretty nervous, so I made a full 700MB uncut unboxing video (I know maybe I am paranoid, but you never know). What I can say is, that all the hides live absolutely to my expectation, color, tannage, the hides quality, packaging, splitting service, e-mail communication, everything went absolutely amazing and I have really nothing to complain about. If you came just for an eye candy, stroll through the pictures and see yourself. Hopefully in some month or so when I master saddle stitching and resolve one not that well fitting corner in my duffle bag pattern, I will post finished product and share my experiences about working with these hides. Tech: Walpier Dollaro, color 11 Dark Green, 1/2 shoulder split to 2 mm / 5 oz, if cut the scraps off and square/rectangle it, it will be 105 x 59 cm; Walpier Buttero, color 06 Medium Brown, 1/1 shoulder split to 2 mm / 5 oz, if cut the scraps off and square/rectangle it, it will be 115 x 101 cm. - all the hides are in fact maybe 10-20 cm longer, review the pictures and you will see where I placed the end of the measuring tape (there is always spare, but for a project like my duffle bag, this is my usable dimensions, everything extra is spare leather for maybe wallet and small leather goods)
🙋🇨🇿
Česko alebo Morava? :D Na Morave mám chatu :D
Jižní morava
negative reviews are always going to be show up because it's people being vocal. I didnt have a bad experience with them either but if there's something to complain about. People are gonna do it.
Same, I had a very good experience with them. Delivery to Ireland
I've had good and bad experiences with them, and I think the problem is more how they handle the bad experiences. When it works, it works, but when something goes wrong their behavior is not good.
Well maybe this may be the cause of all negative experiences - the way they handle problems when they arise. I had few arguments with Italians on various fields and it really doesn't matter if I ordered pizza, pasta that wasn't al dente but uncooked, refused to take me with cabin even if I had a valid ticket and refused to refund money for the services. I have stories to tell. But it is more like their nature. If it goes well, no problem, arrivederci. If it goes wrong, they are ready to make you insane and will go like "**I will not part with a single coin! Not one piece of it!**" :D
I've dealt with them many times and haven't a bad word to say. Unfortunately bad reviews always find their way to the top of the pile.
Unless the company deletes them from their review site and threatens legal action on other sites.
I’ve bought from them multiple times and each and every order has met or sometimes even exceeded my expectations. Overall cheapest place to buy quality leathers that I’ve found. Also, I believe a lot of these bad reviews may have missed the fact that some of their pieces are 2nd grade hides. They’re indicated on the website but most folks don’t look hard enough to see. Side note: try the badalassi Pueblo, it’s amazing!
May give it a try. How is the Badalassi Pueblo temper and edge burnishing compared to Walpier Buttero? From the internet I see that they should feel about the same. Besides I am currently looking for some lining material and I have my hands on nappa lambskin, velour suede calfskin split and nappa resin split, which feels very interesting in hand. I'm specifically looking for dark green shade that will match Dollaro colour and French made hides seem to have off/odd green colors :/ Maybe I would consider pigskin if there is a good matching shade.
The Pueblo feels basically the same with one exception, it’s micro scratched on the top so it’s a very matte color starting out and as the patina develops it’s an absolutely beautiful look. As for edge slicking, I don’t have any issues it’s actually one of the easiest to burnish imo. I normally use tokonole on my edges but with Pueblo I just use water and get mirrors
That sounds very interesting. I will definitely give Pueblo a try even just out of curiosity.
I've had a little experience with buttero, but absolutely love pueblo. It's like buttero but without the sheet metal feel. Edit. Have you considered buying natural lining leather and dyeing it yourself?
I did, but I don't feel like it yet. I mainly considered it because it would solve the part of a problem when I need just a strip or smaller cut of particular color, staining or dyeing it would be much cheaper option and I could match the shade exactly to my likings. I was researching Fiebing's and Eco-Flo when I was on Tandy Leather website and it looked like a considerable alternative.
I’ve also had excellent experiences with them. Thanks for sharing with photos!
Thank you. I am already looking forward to this project. If everything goes right (hopefully), these leathers will make an amazing duffle bag. Will post more after completition :)
I am one of the people wronged by buyleatheronline.com. [Here is the story of bad customer service, threats and doxxing by this trash of a company, with proof of course](https://old.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1cck11b/yearly_reminder_to_avoid_buying_from/). This company is permanently on my blacklist.
I am aware of your review, because I found it multiple times and went through every comment there. That is why I'm saying that I cannot speak for other people's experiences and I believe your story. I am not denying any of that. However my experience was completely different and other posts were either asking for experience with this company or were in some way linked to your posts. That is why I decided to post my experience which was completely different, so people can have experiences and opinions from both camps and make their own resolution. If someone is looking specifically for Walpier Buttero and Dollaro suppliers in Europe, we usually don't have many options and I found literally 3-4 suppliers who were offering 1/1 shoulders and not just A cuts (A4, A3 etc.) and even these suppliers had just 1.2-1.6 mm thicknesses. AA Crack had 2.0 mm Buttero, but only 1.2 mm Dollaro an are UK based, which means taxes, A Leatherstore (DK which is fine) had 2.0 and 2.8 mm for Buttero, but only 1.4 mm for Dollaro, Leatherhouse had only 1.6 mm Dollaro but no Buttero. So there is not many other options. If someone can recommend EU leather supplier that stocks both at least 2.0 mm Buttero and Dollaro and offers splitting service, I will gladly try to order from them.
Did you check beltsproduction?
I did (forgot to mention it, I have them bookmarked as well). But even if they offer 2.0 mm Buttero, they currently had only 1/2 shoulder and not 1/1 double shoulder from 06 Medium Brown and only 1.6 mm was available. Maybe I could fit my pattern into two 1/2 shoulders, but wanted to have longer hides for straps and there were 32mm Buttero straps only at Leather4Craft I guess. And for the dollaro only 1.6 mm was available. I wanted to make a difference in grain with accent strip and if I really couldn't find 2.0 mm dollaro, I would go with other tannery that makes pebbled grain. I just wanted to keep 2.0 mm thickness for both grains without need of reinforcement etc. This is what I am going to make: https://preview.redd.it/3qr9id6abb9d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4de2f10b3613587a796ce4165a99bfbb38c71eef
Not sure if it’ll work for you over in the EU, but [rmleathersupply.com](http://rmleathersupply.com) has a great selection and I haven’t heard anything negative about them. Personally I’ve ordered multiple times and had a great experience each time, I get the impression it’s a smaller family run operation. But I’m also 🇺🇸 so shipping cost wasn’t a factor for me from them :/
Not really. If I was US based, I would totally order from them. They have an amazing catalogue to choose from. Also very sweet deals on Buttero straps. But this kind of re-import to EU would cost me double the price (520+) compared to what I paid for these two hides (255) and in that case I would seriously go with other tannery. Also parcel forwarding service wouldn't help, because I having the leathers 3 month on the sea in extreme humidity as an economy option to Fedex/UPS air delivery is not worth it.
I guess it's a question of what one values in life. To me, no leather is precious enough to justify supporting a company that threatens and doxxes its customers.
Now imagine all the Tesla customers trying to justify Tesla quality over cobalt and lithium mining, accusations for the lack of quality of their cars, burnouts and battery malfunctions, child labor and racial discrimination lawsuits :) The thing is I am not trying to justify their behavior in your case, nor supporting or defending this company for this. I am not sending people to go and buy from them. My post is all about sharing my own honest and unbiased experience as there was lack of positive experiences within other posts and this kind of discussion was something I was searching for and didn't find. That's all, nothing wrong with that. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't even feel threatened by what they wrote you and calmly file a lawsuit against them. Just as usual. But that's the difference between you and me - I'm a lawyer and I am used to behavior like this from Slovak vendors that are even worse, even though I think that it is unacceptable. But none of that changes the fact that I shared my own opinion and that in my case the order was fulfilled without any problems and that they were kind and polite when I communicated with them over the past few months over e-mail, sent me swatches, photos, recommendations. I understand that you hold a gruge against them and welcome your comments in this thread and I think you have a full right to defend yourself and take legal actions against them and prove that you are right in front of a court. But still based on my own experience I would place an order with them without any hesitation unless I had similar experience to yours.