davidd’s A DOLL A DAY 2022

[Elfy]

I love your out take from the old movie space photo. As soon as I saw it, it put me in mind of Cat Valente's masterpiece Radiance. A great book, which I can't even begin to describe here.

[Lejays17]

Enjoying this latest collection of photos - I'm already slacking on commenting though! Doesn't look good for the rest of the year...

In regards to the ability of middle-graders to do thinsg not-on-a-screen, I look at the birtday card I got this year from the younger niece & nephew, and I'm surprised at how awful the handwriting is. I'm not sure which one did it (i suspect the older one as the letters are the right way around at least, and I know the younger sometimes twists them), but I'm sure I had neater handwriting at that age.

The extended adventures of Space Patrol are intriguing - and I laughed at the caption about Edward Wood Jr - I didn't get that on the Instagram post.

[davidd]

17 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

17 January - Bail Out!

After the most recent rainstorm, Janie and Triv discover that the tray on the ladder has filled up with water, indicating that their attempts to patch the leaking porch roof were not entirely successful. This could necessitate replacing the entire porch roof.

(Note how using the built-in flash allowed the camera to capture a drip from the rafters landing in the tray and splashing! Cool, huh?)

[Alliecat]

Oh no! I hope you don't have to replace the whole roof!!
The posing, and the splash, are great!

Last week I did a business letter project with my eighth graders... the fact that I had to go into deep detail on exactly how to address an envelope, and also show about a third of them how to write their own names in cursive was... an eerience!

Oh boy. I've heard 20somethings say they don't know how to write a cheque. And similar ignorance of how to mail a letter. How does one not absorb this information?? We are more and more surrounded by "information", and less and less smart.
They don't teach cursive anymore, do they.

[Elfy]

Oh no! I hope you don't have to replace the whole roof!!
The posing, and the splash, are great!

Last week I did a business letter project with my eighth graders... the fact that I had to go into deep detail on exactly how to address an envelope, and also show about a third of them how to write their own names in cursive was... an eerience!

Oh boy.  I've heard 20somethings say they don't know how to write a cheque.   And similar ignorance of how to mail a letter.  How does one not absorb this information??  We are more and more surrounded by "information", and less and less smart.
They don't teach cursive anymore, do they.

They actually don't understand anything about snail mail. I work with a couple of milennials and they didn't know how to post a letter.
That's a big job for 2 relatively small dolls.

[davidd]

18 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

18 January - Integrity Toys "Beach Babe" Poppy Parker

Question: keep or sell?

Purchase price: $99 USD.
Currently selling on eBay for $165 and up plus $14 or so for shipping, so around $180 USD. Almost double the original price.

I also purchased a genuine Integrity Toys outfit for the doll. I paid about $60 USD, which I thought was absurd. Now the same outfit is bringing $150 USD.

Poppy Parker "Walkabout" Outfit

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to be careful, I managed to damage a corner of the box while first inspecting the doll:

Approximately 1-inch / 2 cm tear in box corner

My first inclination is to sell! I mean, this is a glorified Barbie doll. Not even particularly glorified, actually. And I can get nearly twice what I paid for the doll, and over twice what I paid for the costume. I might be able to sell everything for $300 or even slightly more. Initial investment was $160.

But then... I have to factor in shipping costs and eBay fees. I usually use a rough rule of thumb that gross take after eBay and other fees is around 75% of the selling price. That would lower my "profit" to around $225. More than I paid, yes, but not double what I paid.

However... and this is what is going to surprise a lot of people a year from now, in early 2023: the US Federal Government is now taxing eBay and Etsy and other online sales. As long as you don't sell more than $600 per year, eBay will probably not report your sales. However, if sales exceed $600 per year, eBay will report gross sales to the US Internal Revenue Service (the tax collectors). The government will levy the tax on gross sales, unless sellers have documentation to support claims of ex-penses related to selling. I have not yet been able to learn for certain whether the tax also applies to what sellers charge for shipping. If shipping costs are rolled in to the item price, then shipping costs are obviously taxed.

If I sell this item, I am likely to sell other things over the next 11-1/2 months, and my total sales are likely to exceed the $600 reporting threshold. Assuming, then, that I can sell this doll and costume, even with the box damage, for $300, I will be taxed approximately $90 by the federal government, unless I want to add a fairly significant level of complication to my tax return next year.

$300 - $90 in federal taxes = $210. I have already calculated that my eBay and other selling-related fees will be approximately 25% of my selling price, or $75. My total cost of selling, then, between taxes and fees, will be in the neighborhood of $165. My total "net," then, would be $300 - $165 = $145.

I paid... what did I say I paid? $99 + $60 = $159.00 USD.

So if I sell this doll on eBay for the current going rates, which are approximately double my initial investment, I will end up losing $14.

I guess I'll be keeping her.

Further, unless I'm selling "old junk" that I absolutely do not care about, or I am desperate for quick cash, my days selling on eBay are largely done.

Selling items that appear to have appreciated in value over a few months, even if they appear to have doubled or tripled in value, is a losing proposition.

Scary, isn't it?

[davidd]

19 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

19 January - "Keep Your Head Down!"

Playing with action figures outside in the dirt and grass, like they were meant to be played with!

[Elfy]

If I were her, I’m nit sure I’d take Basil’s advice.

[davidd]

20 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

20 January - Zelinda getting her Grudge Face on

TBLeague S44 action figure

[Alliecat]

Wow. Well, everything else gets taxed; I'm not surprised. Again it seems like dolls/figures in/out brings you a lot of fincancial concern... Keeping or selling should be about whether you like them enough or have enough fun with them, rather than their perceived value on eBay, just my opinion...
But if you want to go on selling, there are doll sales groups on FB and people mention "Mercari" a lot, which doesn't work for Canada so I don't know much about it... but, there are other places to sell among collectors. Maybe an option?

Yay for playing with dolls action figures outside in the grass! Is there a photostory coming? Or is it over on AMMO?

[Elfy]

I look at the selling this way. Yes it cost you a certain amount and ultimately you’re selling at a loss, but you’re not doing anything with the doll, even if it is a small loss, it’s money you’re not going to realise any other way and it’s money you didn’t have before.

[davidd]

21 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

21 January - Beach Babe Poppy Parker At The Beach

Sand, sun, salt water - there goes the resale value!  

Who knows; this might be the only Beach Babe Poppy Parker in the entire world that has ever been to the beach! The rest of them stay in their boxes or sit in display cabinets until it is time to turn a profit on them.

[Alliecat]

The beach looks lovely! And people-free, too. You can't tell from the perspective how small she is -- nice shot

[davidd]

Yay for playing with dolls action figures outside in the grass!   Is there a photostory coming?  Or is it over on AMMO?

There is a photo-story coming, yes: 
https://actionmanmobileops.forumotion.co...y-speaking

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22 January - A Doll A Day 2022:

22 January - Thrilling Tales of Standing Around and Waiting Adventure

[Elfy]

Your shots at the beach are great. They’re real action pics.