Another quick one, guys – nothing personal, just the usual deadlines and anxieties cramping my style here. I’m hoping everything will be significantly better by the end of next week, but I can’t make any promises.
In spite of the state of my office, I haven’t been able to buy as much as I’ve wanted to in recent months.
Some of it is my chronic lack of free time and the plethora of commitments.
Some of it is the fact that my Web Special entries are apparently being thrown into a deep, dark Internet well, never to be seen again.
The local flea market is also no longer an option: I’d rather not discuss it in detail, but it’s not a matter of time or money, but of personal safety.
A lot of it is the fact that the majority of hobby sales have migrated to Facebook, and dear readers, you know that’s not a place I’ll ever be comfortable going. (I will conveniently delete my cranky rant about how Facebook will probably destroy civilization as we know it.)
And finally, a lot of hobbyists have collectively decided that the only acceptable form of payment is now… Postal Money Orders? Which I would be fine with, if not for the fact that getting to the local Post Office is also a challenge for me, most days. (Which is also why I haven’t put any effort into my online sales at all.)
Sigh.
Anyways, that’s why the sale in Dowagiac is still tempts me. But unless I manage to pull off the impossible and get the project I’m working on done (or nearly done) by Friday, it’s not going to happen.
(Spoiler: it’s not going to happen.)
I did recently buy one nice little treasure recently: a Chicago-Era Factory Unpainted Elephant!
I probably paid a little too much for it, but as I explained above, my options are pretty limited, and he came with as solid a provenance as these things can. He’s still pretty yellow, but he’s brightening up quicker than I anticipated, so that’s a nice bonus.
I don’t have a lot of Unpainted models, but I’m always open to the opportunities as they arise.
6 comments:
That's weird- hobbyist sellers prefer money orders? I can't remember the last time I used a MO for an ebay purchase. Probably close to twenty years ago. I wonder why people might be uncomfortable with Paypal?
Nice ivory-colored elephant! :^)
I think people are leaning towards money orders because they don't want PayPal taking fees out of their payments. If you pay with Goods & Services, you can get your money back if you're not happy with the purchase, and the seller gets a chunk taken out of their payment; Friends & Family is the way to get your seller their full asking price, although you have no recourse (through PayPal) if you're not happy with the purchase.
Sellers prefer postal money orders because new laws require PayPal & other third party online payment services to report anything over $600 to the IRS. So if a seller accepts PayPal or any other internet payment service & they sell more than $600 in a year that money is reported as income to the IRS & the seller has to pay taxes on it. It also affects estimated quarterly payments made by the self-employed & any assistance one may get through the federal government such as food stamps, section 8 housing vouchers, welfare, ACA supplements for health insurance, etc. Postal money orders can’t be tracked & are safer than personal checks.
Years ago postal money orders were THE go-to form of payment. They were just about all that were accepted by sellers. So, like the saying goes, everything that’s old is new once again!
I also am not on Facebook, although I did try it and found it to be incredibly creepy. I will avoid it as long as I can, but fear that eventually it will become unavoidable.
I bought one of those unpainted elephants at an antique store years ago, stupid cheap. I like his aged ivory look. I also have the unpainted calf.
Oh Andrea, I wish you would be able to go to that MI estate sale. You deserve to go!
Some thoughts on Facebook- I've been on it since 2010 (I think), mostly just to keep in touch with friends since I moved from CA to NY.
It is amusing, seeing original content posted by friends, and the "We Love Vintage Breyers" group is a good place to get your fill of horsey pictures. I avoid the stupid games and junk memes people like to share...
I guess it's only as intrusive as you allow it to be. But it can turn into a huge time sink!
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