Today, I would like to register my deep gratitude to the Universe for co-creating a stunning 102 successful sales on my Etsy shop since it re-opened after a 17-month pandemic-related closure from Jul 31st 2020 till Sep 2021[ in comparison, the total from Aug '15 till Jun '20 was only 46]. During that closure, my loving Creator brought back a repeat customer in Kedah who spent close to $6,000 on 12 collectible bottles of perfume from May till Oct '21, giving me a much coveted opportunity to whittle down my decade-old collection while raising cash as the stockmarket transitioned from a bull to a bear market which has endured for most the of time since then till recently!
A large, handsome goldtone cannister of Jicky EdT departed, along with a large flacon of Mouchoir de Monsieur & rare bottles of Weil Antilope Secret de Venus, Lanvin Mon Peche, Caron Narcisse Noir, 3 versions of Chanel No. 22, Shalimar, Chamade & Nahema parfums de toilette as well as minis of Schiaparelli Shocking parfum & Balmain Jolie Madame! That Malay customer's purchases stopping in October coincided with the re-opening of my online shop in November & the first delivery to the United States since July '20 of Donna Karan's rare discontinued Signature perfume in the unusual plastic black & gold bottle. This was followed by the sale of a rare Lancôme Climat vintage parfum to a Russian-name buyer in the same country & the sale of my only highly-coveted Caron Tabac Blond parfum to Germany. At least 10-15 sales of empty bottles as well as Guy Laroche's Fidji, Fendi & vintage Miss Dior parfums in Jan - Feb '22.
Then a wall of adversity unexpectedly came up as 3 deliveries were returned for flouting the no-liquids postal restriction! In desperation, I contacted shipping companies of all manner & none provided an option that allowed liquids: I was staring at the closure of my business almost as soon as it had re-opened! Sleep was fitful during that fretful time as I contemplated buying expensive lead sheets from overseas to block the X-ray scanners but finally settled on buying thin metal sheets from an advertising sign shop & cutting them to block off the liquid lines of sight. One Serge Lutens 50ml niche perfume was still returned & I was pleading with my buyers to be patient while I figured out a way to get their purchases to them!
Thankfully, all the 2nd attempts at posting eventually went through & within weeks, I conceived of the idea of using steel to shield the liquid from detection while simultaneously protecting the glass from impact. It worked like a CHARM & soon every package went through customs to my immense relief!!! This year, despite the slow pace of business & apart from two leakages of decants, ALL deliveries were magically successful!
More than half my collection has now gone to new owners, including surprising items like Deneuve the celebrity parfum, Payot's Pavlova, Tuvara bath oil, Molinard's Habanita, a large Bal a Versailles bottle that was shunned for years because it was not verifiable as containing fragrance, empty bottles[many of which went to a single repeat customer in S'pore], Margaretha Ley's Escada, a Gucci EdP and a colourful but little known Missoni parfum & multiple decants of Guerlain's increasingly rare Guet-Apens as well as Grossmith's Phul-Nana: the full cost of my original investment of around US$15,000 in '10-'12 has probably been recouped, with a hard-to-obtain bell jar of Serge Luten's Iris Silver Mist almost emptied out via decant sales to Norway, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Australia, the US & the UK that has earned 5X its original cost! I even sold a toy & a kitchen knife along the way!! Thank you, ALL THAT IS!!!
