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The thrift bookshop I volunteer at tries to sell online, via eBay, Amazon and the national charity’s own website. However it takes so long for a volunteer* to research, value, photo and list the item that I doubt if they get more than half-a-dozen items online in a good day. Also they find it difficult to prioritise. For example, I’ve been asked to go through what looks like 3,000 mass market fiction paperbacks to sort out what can be put online. Meanwhile the “rare book” stock piles up (literally).
*not me- I’m too useful as a sack mover and sorter 🙂
L. O. Griffith (without the abberant ampersand)
Nice piece! Cast iron is (I think) just iron that’s poured into a mould, rather than beaten out, as wrought iron is. So it’s cast iron whether it’s in one piece or several.
Must admit, from the shape I’m not sure that it is cast iron- the curved pieces will be a bit fragile as cast iron has no bending strength.
As you say, the screws aren’t old. If this was a UK piece I’d think it was off the top of a downpipe or a sewer vent pipe, i.e. to stop birds nesting on top.
Image search on “Chinese jade bird” returned a few of these with crests. All identified as ‘bird’ 🙂 Except one that was ‘Mandarin duck’!
Only one owner as well! Must have been an 18th birthday present from his dad, back in 1965.
Used food? That’s tomorrow’s “potage de jour”. The rest is just gravy.
If required, I start the description with “Poor condition” or “Damaged”- in fact I get a bit twitchy if all I can write is “Good”. Then fill it up- there’s a limit of 850 words. I am acting as ‘in loco videter’ for the buyer.
Thinking about it, the Russian sellers use a lot of low-value stamps. My feeling is that, as the duty is charged on the postage as well as the declared value of the contents, the customs office just doesn’t bother counting up the stamps, converting the cost to sterling and working out the duty.
When I export items, the form (CN22) is about two inches square- very little space to write the description, weight, value, total weight, total value, signature and date.
Apparenlty the tin versions were made by Kreamer Co. in the 1920s, for steamed puddings, bread and ice cream.
I’ve seen the packaging, but I can’t remember how it was labelled. Probably in Cyrillic, and valued in rubles. The only buyer I’ve ever had complain about customs duty was someone in Taiwan, and that was after I’d refunded them fully for a defective camera lens. Felt like sending them a copy of the Little Red Book in a clear plastic envelope!
Yes you’re right. The US package was new components. He’s being regularly purchasing used parts from Russia and Ukraine recently without paying any charges, e.g a 1980s core memory (or something 🙂 ) for £60.
As far as I remember my friend ordered £20 of electronic components from the US. Duty was about £4, and the charge for collecting the duty £8. I know, that doesn’t actually make sense as the value was well under the £135 limit, but that’s what I remember from taking him to the sorting office ten years ago.
Didn’t know that the Royal Mail paid the customs and import VAT upfront to the Border Force. Presumably when the parcel’s refused, the Border Force refund the Royal Mail.
The UK has this scam whereby if the customs fees are not paid upfront the recipient has to pay an extra £8 to the post office when they collect the parcel (I’m basing this on someone else’s experience as I don’t directly import anything). Obviously GSP obviates this, but then probably overcharges on certain categories.
