We are not done yet with the auctions, but for those who are eagerly awaiting the fixed-price sale, here is the low-down. As in the last couple of years, we are following up the auctions with a fixed-price sale of fan items on Etsy/Pattern. You will find it at scissorsandsmiles.patternbyetsy.com and the website will look similar to this:

I say “similar” because I can only give you a screenshot of what the store currently looks like. (The fundraiser sale items are not live yet on the page, so only my own products are currently visible.) However, if you see the above banner with the store name at the top of your screen, you are in the right place. This website is where *all* sale items will be visible. My regular Etsy storefront (accessible via Etsy.com) will only show the items crafted by myself. But there is much more than just my contributions, and here is the teaser you have been waiting for.

As you can see, there is an amazing array of items on sale for you. The gif is very fast, so here is a little re-cap with thanks to the amazingly talented and inventive contributors. In no particular sequence we have necklaces with the Gisborne coat of arms, made by Jen. Poppy has not only put together some heart-shaped key rings with your favourite characters, but also some cute matchboxes. Susanna has decorated and donated two wooden postcards. From Kate’s craft desk comes an array of the much-loved RA tags as well as two round collages. Esther has created some coasters with a thoughtful RA, and Ilaria has taken on the magnet game with her fun Gisborne pebbles. Anne is not only contributing her coveted photo folders but has also collaborated with Ani to create some folder-and-pin sets. From the December Fundraiser I still had a few of Rachel’s magnificent wooden wolf clasp pins in my stash, so those will be available for all who weren’t yet part of the fundraiser fun last year. Lastly, I have collaborated with Violet for some fun ornament sets. There are a few more items on sale, but they will all be mentioned in tomorrow’s sale announcement. For now a huge big thank you to the above-mentioned crafters for their wonderful handiwork and generous contribution. Thank you for making it possible to offer affordably priced items!

In total, we have over 130 individual pieces, so hopefully all buyers will be able to snap something up. To level the playing field even the chances for buyers in other time-zones, I am publishing the sale items in two batches. This applies to most items, but not all, depending on how many are available at all and whether it makes financial sense to create separate (and therefore fee-incurring) listings. The second batch will be dropped about 12 hours after the first drop, i.e. on Monday morning.

However, the plan for tomorrow is to get the auctions done and dusted and *afterwards* push the Etsy items online. With the last of the auctions ending at roughly 4pm GMT+1, and the usual post-auction admin to be expected (sending invoices, ticking off payments, responding to questions), I suspect the Etsy sale will go live around or after 6pm GMT+1. Please cut me some slack if it takes a bit longer – there usually are a lot of concerned e-mails to reply to after the auctions end, from worried buyers who want to make sure they have won their items. I promise the sale will go online tomorrow evening, and I will let you know with an announcement post as soon as I have pushed them live.

You can buy multiples of *one* item, as well as multiple *different* items in one transaction on Etsy. And frankly, that would make *my* life easier because then multiple orders by one buyer would all come in on one invoice. However, I understand if you feel the need to finalise the purchase and snap items up individually. Please also note that the Etsy site is my regular, personal Etsy store, so there will also be my own items visible. You are very welcome to browse, of course. The fundraiser items will be clearly labelled as such in the store. I have created a special section for them, called “2022RABirthdayFundraiser” and you can access all fundraiser items that way. Also, all fundraiser items are labelled with this year’s fundraiser logo in the main gallery picture (see logo on the right) and have the note “THIS IS AN ITEM FOR #2022RABirthdayFundRAiser” at the top of the listings’ descriptions. Direct links to the respective items will be posted here on blog in the announcement post.

Right, I hope I have covered everything for now.

For those who would like to know the small print, here’s a little note on selling on Etsy and the fees we will expect to pay for using the platform: Etsy deducts 4 separate fees for each item sold: 1) a processing fee of 4% of order value plus 0.30€. 2) a transaction fee of 6.6% of item total, 3) a VAT processing fee of 0.20€ and 4) a VAT transaction fee of 0.21€. As an example, an order worth 10€ will incur 1) 0.40€ + 0.30€ = 0.70€; 2) 0.66€; 3) 0.20€ and 4)0.21€. So a total of 1.77€ from an item priced 10€ will go to Etsy. I am mentioning this here FYI so you understand the pricing of items (including shipping paid out of *our* proceeds) and how the final proceeds will be calculated.

I will probably be back later today with an auction update as we head into the last 12 or so hours of the auctions. If you don’t hear anything from me on Twitter or in the comments today, that is due to a) the great weather in Ireland at the moment and b) my father-in-law’s birthday party which I am attending this pm. Hope to be back for the evening update, though.