Selling on eBay & Postage

With the cost of postage recently increasing, I have to ask myself if it's really worth it to sell on eBay. The shadowboxes I sold cost $4.60 to send in a postal Priority Mail (free to me) box, and $4.30 to send first class with me providing the box. Since finding the right sized box for thirty cents or less was impossible, the choice was easy. But, if someone is paying $5 for an item postage at that price doubles the cost. I'm sure that has made a lot of people think before bidding.

One of the pieces I sold this month was titled "Let It Snow" and featured a vintage reproduction photo of a bundled baby. It fit nicely into a bubble mailer and shipping was very reasonable.

I've started to watch the size of the artwork I list for sale because mailing larger pieces can get quite expensive. In the future, I'm only going to sell artwork that will fit in flat envelopes or bubble mailers, no more boxes for me. I don't want a customer paying twice as much for postage as they paid for the artwork.

Christmas Past - Buy a live Burro!

This is definitely off the usual arts and crafts topic but while scouring the web I ran across vintage Christmas catalog pages from Sears, Penney's, and Spiegel. It's interesting to see what kinds of things were popular back in the day. I think the most interesting thing I found for sale in a catalog was a burro. Yes, a live burro. For some reason I just can't fathom a child screaming, "Mommy, mommy, can I have a burro for Christmas!!?" Or how about this:

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy. This year for Christmas I would like a train set, a Radio Flyer wagon, and a burro.

Love Timmy

If a burro didn't tickle your fancy, in 1955 you could buy a Shetland pony or a monkey. Is it legal to sell live animals from a catalog?? I'm sorry, but that monkey looks diseased.

From the 1966 J.C. Penney catalog we have some interesting dolls. Check out the doll on the page to the far right - the picture in the upper left hand corner. Now tell me, isn't that just about the scariest thing you've ever seen? Other than Wednesday Addams, I can't think of one child who would have put that down on their list. I would have been traumatized for life if I would have found that doll under the tree.

And on the left page, upper left side, we have the Jolly Green Giant doll. Huh? Might have been a favorite of some kid who lived on a farm in the midwest. In any event, it's nice to see some normal toys, like Superman, Batman, and Flipper (??).


As a child, I was always afraid of those Troll dolls. They looked demonic and scared the bejeebies out of me. I always thought they were probably some sort of voodoo doll, disguised as a toy. And they were usually naked - disgusting. Oh how cute, bride and groom tolls. Wouldn't that just be lovely atop your wedding cake?



Now here's a toy I'll bet would be hard to find in a catalog today - a complete chemistry set. I think I might know some adults who would love to have that for Christmas. Are they even allowed to sell these anymore?? I can just see some 8-year-old huddled in a corner of the basement working at his meth lab.



HaPpY Holidays to all!