Well, the day we collectors have been dreading has happened: USPS is raising their rates. This increase in rates is supposed to start in October. They say this is a "temporary" increase, although I don't know of any time USPS has ever lowered their rates so I'm thinking this increase will be here to stay. Unfortunately to my eBay buyers, I have to pass on this increase, as I always do calculated shipping on traditional horses. The good news is a secret I just discovered not too long ago: Mercari. I've added a couple new members this past weekend from the website. They have a set rate for shipping rather than paying eBay's expensive calculated shipping, so west coast buyers buying from east coast sellers will get a better shipping deal, and vice versa, so you can find some pretty good deals on Mercari. I was so excited to find Chubasco and Caravelle for $50 including shipping on Mercari, granted they were flawed but they looked very much fixable. Unfortunately the person who sold them to me obviously isn't a collector and thought of them more as toys because look how they shipped them: The box they used was way too small for Chubasco (they took 4 days to find a box before they shipped him and this is the result) with his ears and tail literally poking out of the box. The horses were in a single layer of bubblewrap that wasn't even taped and absolutely no packing material whatsoever so when I opened it, they had rattled out of the bubblewrap and were free floating around the box. I'm really surprised there wasn't more damage. I think this caused a lot more marks than they originally had, and I was half tempted to ask for a return, but in the end, I felt bad for the pair and decided to rescue them. I touched up most of the flaws I could but Chubasco's poor ears were a lost cause since the tip was broken off. They didn't even take the time over those 4 days to clean the horses off. They were covered in dust when I received them. I did ask the seller after day 3 when they were going to finally ship them (maybe they decided they didn't get what they wanted for them or maybe they didn't calculate shipping correctly) so I'm thinking it was maybe a case of seller's remorse. Of hundreds of horses I've received in the mail, I've never had this happen before. I was horrified. I'm trying not to let one bad egg ruin the batch for me, as I have gotten some good deals on there, like this "new to me" Indian Pony, whom I also bought from Mercari, and he was packaged like a mummy. I have one more horse coming sometime this week. I purchased an original Wyatt. I remember when Wyatt was first revealed through the Premier Club how realistic he looked in his prototype photo. I really, really, really liked the mold. Looking back now, he's kind of plain compared to horses of recent years, but for the right price, I've decided to add him to my collection. Besides Hamilton, Altynai and Carina/Selene, whom I already have in my collection, my favorites are Bristol and Bobby Jo, though there are a few other Premier Club horses who I'd love to have if I could find them for a good price. One of them was Wyatt because of his rose grey color, star dapples and amazing pose. I will definitely be posting pictures when he gets here!
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