Fragile!

I have just weaned myself off yet another eBay buying jag.  It is never easy to finally put a stop to one of these little episodes – for me anyway.  I get about a billion emails from eBay with various searches because I am always on the lookout for the most special and unusual vintage ornaments and decorations to use in my projects.  I spend hours scrolling through thousands (at least it seems like thousands!) of items.  So when I find something that piques my interest, I watch it for days on end, and then decide whether to bid or not and how much.

I love that rush when my bid is the winner.

So, it is incredibly disappointing when a package arrives at the front door and I can hear a little tinkle when I pick it up.  There is no mistaking the sound of broken glass.

This one was especially upsetting.  Every single one in the box broken; and they were fabulous stencils, too.

This is another package that arrived in less than perfect condition.  No big surprise here; the seller did not use a lick of packaging materials!  Amazingly enough, quite a bit actually survived the trip.

It always seems to be the ones I wanted most that are the ones that don’t make it.  I like to buy in fairly large lots and there are usually a few ornaments that are the main reason I chose to bid.  Like these beautiful blue stencils.  Toast.

The pink ones with the flower stencils were why I wanted this bunch, too, although the others are fabulous in their own right.  This is how they were shipped!  Not one was individually wrapped.  Again, it is miraculous that they all were not broken.

Fortunately, most sellers on eBay go out of their way to pack and ship properly.  And also fortunately, I have had good luck with those who shipped stuff that got damaged;  they usually are distressed themselves and hasten to make good.  For that I am thankful.  It is tricky shipping things as fragile as vintage Christmas.  Sometimes despite the most expert packing, an uh-oh occurs as a box makes its way through the mail.

It is hard not to be disappointed though after you have invested time, energy and anticipation into buying these treasures.  But the worst part, the very worst part, is that something somebody and their family collected and cherished (often for generations) is smashed to smithereens.  And that’s a sad thing.