***FAQ: Can I buy an item I see in your blog?

I get emails like this ALL the time:

“I LOVE that ‘whatchyamacallit’ I saw in your blog!!!  I would like to buy it!  How much is it?  What is the size?  What would it cost to ship?”

Seems like a simple enough inquiry that should have a simple answer.  Except it’s NOT that simple.  UNLESS it’s an item that I’ve indicated went to my ETSY SHOP to sell;  it’s a very long and complicated explanation as to why I cannot sell via the internet, the items that I’ve taken to my space in the antique mall.  I’ve TIRED to make this explanation as brief and to the point as possible.  Still, it’s a long and involved one!  But hey ~ YOU asked!

SO, here’s the ‘deal’ with pictures in this blog of stuff that is in my booth at the antique mall:

I really have no way of knowing IF it is still there or has sold, EXCEPT on the one day a week I am actually AT the antique mall cleaning and restocking my booth, and can see with my own eyes.

It’s a 2+ hour round trip for me to go there, so I only go once a week at MOST.  Gas is just too expensive for me to ‘dash over and see if an item is still there’.  And I reallycan’t call and ask the staff to look.  With as much product as I CRAM into that little space, they’d never be able to find it!  Unless it was a big piece of furniture, but then I couldn’t ship something that BIG.

So, most of the time, just because of the logistics involved,  I am NOT able to sell the items in my booth at the antique mall via the internet.   And I honestly can’t even give you an accurate price most of the time.  I price things according to what I paid for them and how much time/work I invested in them, and I sincerely do not remember what I priced everything at.  Once it’s ‘out of sight’ it’s pretty much ‘out of mind’ too!

And I typically cannot even quote you the exact size of something that I’ve taken to my mall space.  I don’t measure those things before I take them.  (for my ETSY shop, all measurements are in the listing though!)   And if you wanted me to measure it for you and check the price ‘my next trip in’ . . . who’s to say that it will STILL be there for me to get for you in another week when I make my next trip out, if you did decide the price and size and shipping costs were right.  And I can’t figure shipping costs without having the item ‘in my hands’ to see what size box it needs and weigh it and look up the cost to ship on-line!

So, I know it SEEMS like a simple request, to ask the price and size and cost to ship of an item I’ve shown in my blog.  And IF the antique mall wasn’t so far away, it might be more feasible.  But, once it’s made that long trip to my booth at the antique mall, there are really just too many obstacles!

BUT, sometimes it may have sat in the booth for months and NOT sold and I bought it home.  Or maybe I haven’t taken it there yet.  In those instances, I CAN answer your queries!  OR if are local and you see something in my booth and you KNOW you want it FOR SURE, without knowing the ‘exact price’  ( I can usually give you an approximate price) and you just want me to bring it home my next trip (IF it’s still there!)  and meet me locally to pay for it and pick it up;THAT kind of thing is very do-able.

AND a lot of time I can replicate something that has sold, and make another one for you.  So, feel free to ASK.  Just please understand if my response was to refer you to this post as the answer.