Before I get to the nitty gritty aka accounts, I’d like to forward you some thanks.
As usual, we received the automated donation thanks from LOROS.
Edit: And just now LOROS has also tweeted thanks:
But equally importantly, Richard also sent his thanks to you:
I think we are very lucky that we are able to donate to a cause that remains very close to Richard’s and his family’s heart. It is also very handy that we can transfer the donations through the memorial site because that will generate a notification to Richard. So he won’t miss all the donations made to LOROS, as well as the birthday wishes attached to them by his fans. As you can see from his tweet above, he actually did not reply to my birthday tweet to him but to my tweet from August 19 in which I celebrated our big 5-0-0-0 breakthrough. I had pinned that to my Twitter profile, so that is probably how RA identified it. The screenshot of my donation message on muchloved, however, is his own, taken on his own mobile device. I am very happy that he has acknowledged our gift this way, as he also did with the many birthday tweets he received yesterday. He “liked” all the messages – that must have taken a while 😉 It is nice to know that *he* knows we have created a virtual gift for him.
The Accounts
So, before I am putting the 2022 RA Birthday Fundraiser to bed, here are the accounts, for formality’s sake. All numbers given in Euro.
The auctions and fixed-price sale generated net proceeds of €4,046.41 (all platform, transaction and VAT fees were deducted at source). I made a number of sales from my own items during the fundraiser, and those net proceeds have been deducted. The donations came up to €2,029.28. The uneven numbers are caused by currency conversions as well as deduction of the fees. The latter are not only set fees but also percentages, hence some decimal numbers.)
As regards selling fees, I can give you the exact total for eBay, which was €323.85 or 12,4% of our total sales. Etsy is slightly more complicated due to my own items thrown in the automated Etsy accounts. The fees cited by Etsy were €205.93. However, this figure includes fees accrued by the sale of *my* items, probably around €20. In order for those not to be deducted from our final donation, I made sure to top up our final donation. (My top-up came to €44.56 – an uneven number because I wanted to create the smooth sum of GB£4525.)
As you can see that means we actually had a net profit of over €6,000. The reason I never advertised that is because of the other deductions that were accrued post-sale. The main part of these are the shipping costs. They exclusively consist of the postage paid for the shipments, both by myself and by donors who sent their donated items directly. We have had no costs deducted for packaging – the packaging materials have either been recycled from my own stash (boxes for parcels, bubble wrap, tissue paper) or were new bubble mailers that I have donated. However, there was also a refund due to a cancelled Etsy transaction, as well as the customs fee I had paid up front in order to receive one of the donated items.
With the deductions subtracted from the net proceeds we arrived at our final tally:
Documentation (postage receipts + monthly statements from eBay and Etsy) are of course available and archived.
Done and Donated
I breathed a great sigh of relief when I finally clicked “transfer donation” last evening. I am well aware that I have been handed a huge responsibility by being the facilitator and treasurer of this community fundraiser, and I would like to thank you all for your trust and support. As I have said before, it is my privilege to helm this initiative, and it gives me much pleasure to do so. No further thanks necessary, btw. I have been spoilt by gifts that have been sent to me in recognition of my contribution – an amazing box of Belgian chocolates that I am still nibbling through, gifts, letters and extras that the lovely donors included in their parcels to me, some very special and much loved breakfast sweets that are apparently on the way to me at the moment, etc. The many messages, comments and tweets of thanks that you have sent are my greatest reward, and I feel very much appreciated. Let’s put the thanks to bed, now, too 😉.
Shipped and Received
Word has already reached me that some packages and envelopes have been received by buyers. And not only here in Ireland but also in the UK, in Europe and even overseas in the US.
I love seeing such tweets – it’s a little bit like unpacking your shopping, i.e. all the satisfaction without the big price tag 🏷 😁. So if you feel like it, please keep them coming. If anything, it will provide some peace of mind that the shipments have made it! 📬
Please do not worry if your package has not arrived yet. Some packages were sent Express Post (because that was cheaper than buying extra tracking), some were sent Registered, some were sent Standard Post. I did not splash out on tracking for *each* shipment because it is rather expensive here in Ireland (€7.50 😱) and I did not want to waste our precious donation money. In general, I invested in Express or Registered for such shipments that contained items bought at premium prices. I hope you understand.
In order to minimise any customs fees for recipients outside the EU, I labelled all shipments as gifts rather than sales and put a nominal value on them. These did not reflect the prices the buyers paid, but the actual values of the items. Please let me know whether this strategy worked for you. I simply wanted to avoid buyers getting hit with customs charges.
Right, and now THAT concludes our fundraiser. 😊
Guylty Pleasure 
good job!!!!!!
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I was just an observer this time (alas!…) but I am very happy and proud of our cosy wonderful corner of the RA fandom. Thank you Sonja and all 🙏🏻 Much love ❤️❤️❤️
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Not “just” an observer, Olga. You RT’d and spread the word, that is also part of the fundraiser! 😘
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I keep trying to tweet a photo of my glorious goodies, which I picked up from the post office on 22nd August, appropriately, but for some reason, Twitter is having none of it. I’ll try again, but in the meantime, thank you thank you thank you thank you!
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hooray, I am just glad that you have received your goodies, photo or not. I hope you are doing ok re. dentist. Much love to you xx
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Awesome! You are helping us spread some love, and I thank you for it.
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oh, I like that. Yes, happy to multiply the love-spreading 😉
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Awesome! Excellent!
Thank you, Sonia, for your efforts and all who contributed in any way.*hugs for the whole army*
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Love the hugs. Thank you 😘
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I’m exhausted just reading all it took — especially the bookkeeping — to get this done. 😲
Waiting for my parcel I’m like a child anxiously eyeing unopened presents at Christmas. The sale was such a whirlwind, I seriously have no idea what I bought. So it really will be a surprise!
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I had a quick look, and I sent your package Standard Post. In the current climate that might mean it takes up to two weeks. Fingers crossed it arrives some time this week. Hehe, and I won’t tell you now what you ordered, keeping the suspense… 😉
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😊 yes, the tornado sped up. Thank you for the tech tip to use before Christmas 😉 😊. Have fun unpacking.
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Well done on all the nitty gritty and how cool that Richard saw and acknowledged the donation. Did he really ‘like’ all his birthday tweets? LOL! I need to check that out. Was editing his chapter 51 not going as planned and did he need the distraction? 😉
Yep, breakfast sweets are indeed on their way but still in the sorting center (for the past 3 days!) I see on DHL tracking. Hope it won’t take too much longer to arrive.
Oh, and speaking of personal Etsy sales – I was wearing my new Persuasion earrings to work today and a colleague remarked on how lovely they are and how her daughter loves all things Jane Austen and might like something like that too, so I forwarded her your Etsy url. Who knows if she’ll actually order anything but hey, worth a shot, no?
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Yep, I had a look and he liked countless tweets. That must have taken some time… distraction indeed 😂
Hehe, I also checked on the tracking… a little suspense makes its eventual arrival even sweeter. Literally! 🤤
I’m delighted to hear that your colleague noticed the earrings. Thanks for passing on my URL, that is much appreciated. Definitely worth a shot ❤️
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My package arrived today, the minis already took possession of it, so maybe tomorrow they could post a few pics 😀
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Oh, that sounds brilliant. I look forward to seeing the minis again.
And many thanks for your contributions ❤️
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Wow, Excellent job 💗👍😊! Now you can sit back and relax, you deserve it 💕.
I also saw he liked so many birthday wishes and replies, that was really nice 😊.
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I’m fully rested and am now enjoying the tweets from people who have received their items. Yay.
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All these messages are so lovely ❤️. Nice that your pinned tweet has this picture of smiling Ray 😊. It looks perfect together with the message from Richard. The fundraiser and everything related to it was just amazing!😊
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I agree – that picture of Ray opening his arms for a bear hug was so fitting. Hehe, still wondering why he didn’t reply to my direct tweet at him with his gift, but chose the old fundraiser update… I had tweeted at him about an hour before he replied on the old tweet…
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😉 Maybe Richard wanted to pass on to us Ray’s virtual bear hug (I know, I know, big possible overinterpretation 😂) or at least his beautiful smile 😊. Anyway, I love this combination with Ray’s photo (and also with the inscription below it), it is really fitting.
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Yippie, my haul has arrived today!!! That was quick. I was so happy when I read about what an awful lot of money came together this year! And totally without the “help” of a certain leather jacket! Thank you so much Sonja for taking the time and effort to set up the fundraiser, and thank you everybody who contributed in some way, especially the crafters!
And I was also glad to see Richard acknowledging the fundraiser! Unfortunately my birthday greetings did not get a like, so he probably sat down at a certain time, once, started liking, but didn’t repeat later, or stopped at some point *cries heavy tears*. Well, I feel included in the thank you for the fundraiser and donation, at least.
Btw, I am already looking forward to December…. we ARE doing another Christmas fundraiser, aren’t we? 😉
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Our proceeds are really stunning, considering that we didn’t get any item from RA or extra exposure through him RTing the initiative (even though you suggested it to him – I saw your tweet).
And yes, there will be a December fundraiser. My RArchive still holds some gems that need new owners 😉
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I keep forgetting to mention — I have a Region 2 dvd of Strike Back: Origins I’d be pleased to donate to the Dec fundRAiser. Any Porter-related gems that would pair well w/it? 😉
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Ooooh, I won’t say no to that… I haven’t got any Porter-gems right now, but who knows, maybe something will come up…
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Sonja, could Porter’s favorite animal 😉 with a different belly color (so that the present generous purchaser will still own the only green one) match or would it be too monotonous or not OK to the present generous purchaser?
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I am sure that would be a great match!
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Shall I send the dvd to you, G? I have your address.
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Yes, that’s a good idea. Please do 🙂
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I was crushed too Jalizar1 not to get a Like, tears actually sprang to my eyes! It’s silly but it just seemed so unfair to include/exclude but you’re right, RA must have liked as many as he could in batches. It certainly made many people’s day too, which was nice.
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I’m still flying under the radar too, but I like that feeling of being undiscovered 😊. I keep my fingers crossed, so that you both will have better luck next time.
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Thanks Graza, perhaps it will become a birthday tradition!
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I’m ready to craft for December…
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😊 Ohh, the mass production on the basis of the prototype will start 😉, so maybe there will be five of these RAngels… or ten (please). It would be the perfect addition to my new tag, although I am still in love with my the boy next door (RA sitting on the box) RAngel 😊.
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There will be more than 5 of that particular one. 😉
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Wonderful 😊
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Well done for another successful event and all the love and admiration it signifies 🙂
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There is really so much more to it than just selling stuff, right? It makes me feel happy that we are doing it, still.
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so satisfying 🙂 and overall wonderful, i took my notebook with my new sign to work yesterday and it made me smile all day long! And now been stroking my new coaster under my tea cup 🙂 Love the smile and look, the charm is as alive as ever and the magic still works 🙂 xx
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