Mr Armitage is arguing for a quiet, contemplative pre-Christmas.

Um, just not yet, Richard. We have a little bit of fun scheduled for the first week of December. Upon request and demand, a little December Fundraiser is coming your way. A few little Christmas elves and myself have been busy in the background, putting together a plethora of items for auction and for sale. The aim is to raise money for LOROS – as and in lieu of a Christmas gift for Richard.

Here is the plan:

• We will kick of the fundraiser with a three-day auction of coveted fan items from December 1 to December 4. Among the pieces on offer will be autographs, magazines and one-off fan-made items. All items have been donated by fellow fans – a massive thank you to all of the donors. The auctions will be conducted via eBay, as in previous years.
• In a second three-day period, we will follow up the auctions with a fixed-price sale from December 4 to December 6. This is a test-run to see whether the fixed-price sale works as an opportunity to provide a more inclusive fundraising event. On offer here are multiples of low-price fan items, mostly hand-made by fellow fans.
• To make it a full-week event, I have scheduled December 7 as the day for tallying up and dispatching all the items prior to the postal cut-off dates, as well as transferring the donation to LOROS via Mrs Armitage’s memorial page.

As always, the details of the items are kept under wraps – to keep the suspense 😉. What you see above is a glimpse at a parcel received from Kate, containing her contributions to the fundraiser. Note: the colourfully lidded jar of jam is mineminemine and will not go in the auctions 😋. You will be pleased to know that I have also received a package from Aninomori who is supporting the auctions again. Also contributing is Esther, who will hold on to the items and ship them from her own location. I am also currently still waiting for a couple more parcels that have long been sent on their ways by two lovely fans, yet the postal services are rather overworked at the moment. (I’ll give credit to them as soon as the parcels turn up!) We still have Monday for parcel deliveries, so I am yet hopeful.

How it works (small print ):

The upcoming charity auctions will be conducted on eBay for ease of transaction, access and visibility. They are all private and non-commercial, a fundraiser for charity. I.e. the proceeds of the eBay auctions will all be donated to our chosen charity (minus incurred costs such as eBay and Paypal transaction fees). Postage costs will be covered by the proceeds and/or donation by sender.

So, how does an eBay auction work? In case you are not familiar with the online marketplace, you need to register on eBay in order to be able to bid. You can do so on the eBay platform of your country/territory and in your own language – you will still be able to access the auctions (which will most likely be conducted over my home platform, eBay IE). I will provide direct links to the individual auctions, and you can click on them to access the items that you are interested in. From then on it’s pretty self-explanatory. You will see the current highest bid on the item, and you can bid more in order to win the auction. The items will go to the highest bidders, upon payment. If you are the auction winner, you will receive a notification e-mail that contains all the info on how to pay for your item and other next steps.

As a little disclaimer, please bear in mind that the fan items are pre-loved unless described otherwise. That means there may be signs of use on the items, as per item descriptions. For the hand-made items it goes without saying that they might deviate in details – but are perfect in imperfection! Please also note that I have taken the liberty of setting a starting price for the auctions. These reflect regular prices of the items as researched on eBay/Amazon and are an attempt by me to guarantee a nice minimum donation.

Since our items are all for fundraising, we are charging no postage fees (see above). The items will be carefully packaged and sent anywhere in the world. In some cases, the items will be despatched directly from the donor and not me. Depending on items and final price, some packages may be sent by registered mail, so buyers will receive a tracking number to track the progress of their parcel. No returns possible, I am afraid, as this is a charity project: First and foremost, please consider your bids a donation to charity – with the won item a little bonus – hence the no returns policy. Bidding is open to all, anywhere in the world! (But to avoid disappointment, I would like to ask you to please have a look at your national postal services and check whether your postal provider actually accepts incoming mail from abroad *at this time*. Some countries have suspended all overseas postal services. If that is the case in your country, it is possible that there are delays in shipping your auction winnings to you.)

New this year: Apart from the eBay auctions, you will also find affordable fixed-price items for a simple purchasing transaction on sale. These can be bought via my storefront via my temporary Pattern by Etsy website. This is the URL: https://scissorsandsmiles.patternbyetsy.com The items have a set price and are all priced to include regular postage anywhere in the world. There will be several different items, made in multiples. You can buy multiples of the same item (via the “quantity” button in the individual listing) – or buy several different items during the same session. The shopping process is pretty self-explanatory on Etsy – and you don’t have to register for an account there in order to buy. IMPORTANT: The full range of items on offer will only be visible on the above mentioned Pattern by Etsy site (not my regular Etsy storefront.)  Note: As this is my own Etsy shop, there will be other items visible that are not part of the fundraiser. But the fundraiser items will be clearly labelled as such so you know that you are buying an item whose proceeds go into our donations pot.  (Learn more about checking out on Etsy as a guest user HERE.) In some territories, you may be charged sales taxes. This is automatically added by Etsy and beyond my control. However, postage costs are included in all Etsy listings, so there are no additional costs for that (unless you want tracking).

Raise the Fun!

As always, the point of the fundraiser is *not* to make anyone feel obliged to spend money or to make their Christmas donation in Richard’s honour via this fan initiative. Especially this year has been hard on many of us, whose working arrangements have been impacted by the pandemic. Or if you prefer to donate in your own name, that is cool, too. The point is to raise money for LOROS – whether as part of this fan-driven fundraiser, or on your own. LOROS (and Richard) will be pleased either way 😉. So please do not feel you *have to* donate/bid/buy. Your participation as a watcher who comments, cheers and spreads the word is *equally* valuable to us. We’d like to have you along! Watching the bids rise can be a bit of a thrill(er), and following along on Twitter or blog is almost as fun as a community re-watch 😊. I usually try and write updates on the progress of the auctions as we go along – (twice-)daily posts here on-blog, as well as more frequent tweets over on my Twitter. You are welcome to tweet along yourself! It usually culminates in a massive frenzy of tweets on the last day as all the auctions are coming to a close and I try to live tweet the results.

So – mark your calendar:

eBay: Guylty

Etsy: ScissorsAndSmiles