Mark your calendars, here comes the official announcement! Following suggestions, requests and demand, there will be a December Fundraiser to brighten up the dark winter month. See it as a fun Christmas countdown that will start at the beginning of the month:

We are going to kick off the fundraiser with a number of 3-day auctions from 1st to 3rd of December, followed by 3 days of fixed price sale from 4th to 6th of December, ready to tally everything up on the 7th of December. This will hopefully give everyone a chance to take part in the fundraiser and get their hands on an item. (The 7th of December is the earliest cut-off point for Irish post, so by scheduling the fundraiser early, I can make sure that the items will arrive with their new owners in time for Christmas. No worries: this is just the first of three cut-off points and applies to “rest of the world” only. Europe and US post can be sent until 17th and 11th December respectively.)

As usual, I am keeping the exact items on offer under wraps until closer to the time. But just to say that there will be a variety of fan memorabilia, hand-made one-offs, as well as low-price multiple items on offer. Memorabilia and one-offs will be auctioned on eBay – since they are rare items, it makes sense to try and get as good a price on them, as possible. However, since fixed-price items incur several fees on eBay, I have found a cheaper solution for offering these. As previously done in last year’s RAnet Rescue Fundraiser and the Sale for the Postage Fund this summer, Etsy is an easy marketplace to sell fixed-price items that are handmade. Since we also may have some other multiple items on offer that are not handmade as such, I have expanded my Etsy store with a brand new, connected website via Etsy’s “Pattern” programme. The shop website is powered by Etsy but does not have the handmade rule. Payment is possible via card or Paypal, and Etsy registration for buyers is not necessary. Here’s a look at the site.

This site is already live but currently does not have any fundraiser items on offer YET. They will be added when the time comes and will be clearly marked as fundraiser items so that there is no confusion about the items the profits of which go into the fundraiser pot in their entirety (vs my own items for sale in my store). Luckily I do not have to pay any extra fees for this separate store website, as I am only going to use it for the free 30-day trial period.

Anyway, the small print will be posted at a later stage. For the moment already a big thank you to the lovely donors of items who have sent me packages or whose packages are in the post, as well as the creative crafters who are currently still making or have now finished making their contributions. There will be some supercool things in the auctions and sale – you’ll be amazed!

So mark your calendars and bookmark the pages!