I saw an out of print pattern on eBay for a crochet blue jay that I'd been wanting for some time but which was always offered on eBay in the past as the full set of patterns which is the Blue Jay, Robin, Baby Robin, Woodpecker, Cardinal, Chickadee and Blue Bird. Since these are out of print (1984 I think) and VERY much sought after, the sets always sold for far more than I was willing to pay - some as high as $40 a set! Now all of them are really cute and it would have been nice to get them all, but the blue jay was the one I wanted the most and when I saw it offered by itself - NEW, UNUSED and STILL in original plastic wrapping (like magazines come in) I was pretty excited. Figured I might have a go at winning it - and I did - for just under $4 - FANTASTIC says I! But...
Then it didn't come when expected and the seller said she did mail it and if it didn't show by this weekend she would refund. I was bummed, thinking it had been eaten by the PO machines. Now, this seller has a feedback score of over 800 - so she's been around selling a while and SHOULD know about selling craft patterns as she's sold a bunch of them. All her feedback is positive too, and she was nothing but nice with me about the envelope not coming. So, what I'm about to tell you, I really think she should have seen for herself, especially since I picked it up right away from only a casual handling of the item.
Anyhow - it got here today (by the postmark on it - 12 days to get a small manila envelope first class!) and I opened it and sure enough, it was wrapped in the old style thin, plastic that they heat sealed shut - the way the patterns were originally shipped to those who subscribed to the pattern newsletter. The pattern moved around a bit in there pretty easily and I could immediately see that there was more than one two page leaflet in the wrapping. I turned it a bit to look and sure enough, I could see very clearly that there were multiple individual glossy color pattern sheets in there. Picture a glossy sheet of printed paper folded in half to form a two page leaflet. If I moved them around a bit you could even see by the colors on the sheets that they were different than the blue jay sheet on top - even though you couldn't see much else.
So, what I am saying is that it was very obvious to anyone who looked that there were multiple patterns in the sealed package. Makes sense, since the patterns were sent out as a set to the people who subscribed. And sure enough, when I opened it, it was THE FULL SET OF PATTERNS, NOT JUST THE BLUE JAY. BRAND NEW. MINT CONDITION.
So I'm sure you know what plauges me now. I figure the seller didn't open the package because she was hoping that in "mint" condition she'd get a pretty penny for even just one pattern and maybe that thought is what kept her from seeing the obvious - that they were ALL in there? But her auction was timed to end at such a time that most folks weren't online to be bidding, plus, folks generally WANT the whole set, not just one - which is why I managed to get it so cheaply. In fact, if I recall correctly, she also had an entire set up for sale at the same time but it was the first printing set which was in black and white - these are in color. But even in black and white and used condition, I think she sold the full set for $17 or $18 dollars. I know for a fact that had she sold the one's I got as a set, that she would have gotten at least $20 for them even at an "off" bidding time.
So the delimma is - do I keep them all? I mean, after all, she is the one who didn't look very closely at the package. Her auction stated in bold letters - ORIGINAL PACKAGING, UNOPENED, NEW OUT OF PRINT PATTERN - which is why I think she may have been blinded by the hope of getting big bucks for it.
Also, she charged me $1.50 to ship something that cost less than that to ship - so if I would ship them back to her, do I charge HER for shipping? She seemed like a nice person so I sort of feel like I'm ripping her off - but since it was never my intention and she had every opportunity to see something that she should have seen (and known since she sells a lot of these types of out of print patterns) do you think it's OK for me to just keep the ol' mouth shut and keep them? This is, of course, muddled up by the fact that I would LIKE to have all of them and it feels like Christmas that they were all in there. But, of course, I must question the honesty and integrity of doing it. But then, I ask myself, is she really nice or, like most sellers on eBay is she so afraid of negative feedback that she was willing to refund? (I actually was going to tell her not to refund if it came to that because I had the option to buy insurance and didn't and don't feel she was responsible).
Anyhow, I've rambled - so any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.
I will tell you that my first instinct is to tell her and ask what she wants me to do with them. And then my "greedy crochet artist" side screams "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
