Here we go again. Some of you may have seen my tweet from last night.

Yes, the eBay listings are drafted, so after one last proof-read I will be ready to list on Thursday. And if you have had a look at the list in the tweet, you might have noticed that the largest number of items are listed as “collectibles”. That is how I like to categorise the unique items in the auctions. By that I mean items that are either handmade or professionally but custom-made. So we are talking things like my pocket shrines but also professionally printed items like coasters, for instance. Without further ado, here is teaser #2.

There are some new ideas for fan items in this year’s fundraiser where our fellow fans have applied their creativity to traditional and non-traditional fan merchandise. In the teaser I have only shown a handful of items that will be on offer, such as two gorgeous, hand-decorated journals by Poppy and Graza, a mixed-media canvas made by Susanna or an amazing hair clip that has been sculpted by Celeste. Kate has applied her creative imagination to altering a little wooden trinket chest, and Armidreamer has captured Daniel Miller in a diorama. Lastly, Thorin’s buckle – although not handmade – comes in a beautiful presentation box, made by Janee. All this and more will be available in the eBay auctions. More information about the objects is available from Thursday. So stay tuned…

Thank you

So thank you to these creative makers who have provided these – and more – amazing items. And a big thank you also to the first donor who has already donated money through the Paypal donation button. The money has been received and is already in the donation pot. (If you would like to contribute to the donation pot, you can do so via the donate button in the side bar, top right corner. The image here on the right is just an illustration 😉)

Talking about Finances…

Since we are talking money, I just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you a little story. A few weeks ago I received one of the donated items in the post. It had a monetary value that was declared on the customs form. It’s a gorgeous piece and worth every penny of its evaluation. So far, so good. A couple of week’s after receiving it, I was hit with a customs fee sent to me by the carrier. I thought it was strange that they delivered the package and only *afterwards* sent the invoice for the customs fees, but ok. However, the point of the story is that I had to pay €69 in fees. That is a lot of money. Now, I didn’t want to appear ungrateful for the generous donation of the item, so I did not notify the kind contributor to the fundraiser and did not want them to pay on top of their fantastic contribution. Instead, the customs fee for receiving this item will have to be covered by the proceeds. (I have already waived a lot of other costs associated with my contributions, so can not pay this out of my own pockets.) So that’s fine. I do not want the fact, that I am telling you this story, appear as public shaming. That is not the point at all. The donor did not intend for this to happen, and I acknowledge that. But this is why I am mentioning it here:

• For bidders and buyers in the fundraiser, please be aware that you might have to pay customs fees for the items you have bought. Most will be sent from within the EU (unless labelled otherwise in the listings, so watch out), so all territories *outside* the EU may charge customs fees. In order to keep the potential fees as low as possible, I intend to label the customs forms as gifts and not with the final bid price, but with the value price.
• For future donations I would kindly ask donors to set the value of the contained items on the customs form *as low as possible* – just for customs purposes, not for our guide price. Even if labelled as a “gift”, the contents of parcels sent to me from outside the EU will incur a customs fee. Customs regulations for Ireland (i.e. my place of residence where I receive your donations) say that “gifts may be imported free of VAT and customs charges where the value of the gift (including insurance, freight and postage costs) is €45 or less and the gift is correctly electronically declared as such for customs purposes etc.” I’m pointing this out because incurred fees get subtracted from the proceeds, therefore making our final donation smaller. And we don’t want that, right 😉
• Etsy is a whole other kettle of fish. When buying from certain territories, you may already be charged a sales tax on your purchase, which is automatically added by Etsy upon check-out. However, this does not include customs charges. I may circumvent the issue by labelling the customs forms as gifts there, too.

Damn, that’s another list of small print, right? 😬 Don’t feel discouraged by it, though. In the past we have had little to no issue with customs charges. I just wanted to mention it.

Right, and now I am going to put the finishing touches to the Etsy listings 😁. Just a couple of submissions remain to be drafted. Still lots of time for that, but it’s always good to be prepared early.

Come back for more teasing tomorrow!