Last week was a busy and thrilling week as Jazz's auction ran.
He ended at $7500....my highest sale date...and is going to a follower of this blog!
THAT makes me much more excited than the money does!
It is awesome to be compensated for a job well done, but with so much of my heart into each baby, I love having a connection of some kind with the adopting family.
The top question on everyone's mind on a high end doll and sale is always....
"Did she get paid?"
Yes! My buyer paid and Jazz is on his way to Australia!
Please wish him well in his travels. It is always a breath holding experience while they are enroute anywhere.
I simply am so anxious for his "mommy" to meet him in person!
I couldn't be any more excited for her!!
So, let's talk about that $7500.
Any other artist reading will attest to the fact that daily, we get asked to give our dolls away or sell them at very low prices, like $100.
I have been called greedy before.
It is assumed that time should be given away.
It is assumed that "it's only a doll" so should be cheap or free.
I only post the following numbers in hopes that some will see this break down and be educated.
Feel free to share it.
Please understand that I am in no way complaining and diminishing the outcome of this sale!
I feel VERY blessed!
The final sale was $7500
PayPal's fee on this payment were $298.22
The Final Value Fee and auction fee on eBay were $753.25
The cost of the blank sculpt was $2200
(Yes, I know it is a prototype and typically prototypes are sent to the artist at no charge...IN VINYL. This is not vinyl and rarely are silicone prototypes sent at no charge. I did get a small discount on his sculpt but as you see, he was not free.)
I did not figure the cost of outfits, blankets, accessories, needles, mohair, paints, painting supplies etc etc but I'll throw a number out there of $150.
That leaves a profit of 4098.53
I worked on Jazz for 8 full weeks, plus the time I did not calculate to process the mohair for his hair.
Dividing $4098.53 by 8 means I was paid $512.32 per week ($12.80 per hour) for my work.
I do believe I got a raise!!!!
From my heart
XXOO
Posts
Debbie I am so happy for you, you did a wonderful job on jazz..... and deserve a raise....he turned out beautiful...people don't understand what it takes to make a doll...hours of painting, neck, eye & back strains....just to start....time away from family....like a real job..
ReplyDeleteonce again.... congratulations & you did an awesome job.....
Thank you so much Ruby! What would we do without the support of our peers and our amazing collectors that give our babies homes?
ReplyDeleteHUGS!!!
He turned out gorgeous 😀 You deserved every penny
ReplyDeleteTo bad there isn't a varage sale for reborns that accepts PayPal 😀 I am not fond of those fees but it helps us be secure in our purchases. Can't wait to see what's next 😀
Thank you Sandy!
DeleteThere are other venues for selling dolls that don't have the high fees but they just don't have the traffic that eBay does. And eBay knows it. At one time, they had a max of $50 in final value fees, no matter how high the sale went. I miss those days.