$46? I don't think so!

Posted on eBay last Thursday, April 17, with a starting price of .99 cents. Five days later, it is at a whopping (joke) $46. See if it has gone up by Clicking Here, or go straight to my beautiful website (yes, I'm proud of this site I made by myself!) and buy a similar one for a fair price, by Clicking Here.

Totally handcrafted, tung nut oiled red cedar, double-brushed heavy copper chimes, a beach stone clapper... $46? I don't think so.

I so pride myself on always going for the highest quality materials, and always doing the very best job I can.

For example, I could save over 50% on the chimes by switching to the lower, thinner tubing. But that's not my bag.

I could slap some nasty cheap finish on the cedar that would look okay for a few months, instead of the $40 a small can eco-friendly tung nut oil. But that's not my bag either.

Or, one more example, I could use the number six copper wire for making the hooklets and so on, and save a couple of bucks instead of the thick number 2 wire (three times the price, and much harder to work with). But that's not my bag either.

All those things could cut my cost a lot, when added together. And, from the pictures, customers would not note the difference. But I would.

While business is good, and I do sell many for the full asking price, when I see something like this auction sitting around at $46, I have to scratch my head a little. Are people just so used to picking imported junk up at the local discount store that they have totally lost touch with the value of some finely crafted work? Perhaps. These days, you just don't come into contact all that often with something not mass produced, where every conceivable corner hasn't been cut to save pennies.

Well, that does have a bright side. I have a lot of customers write extremely enthusiastic thank you emails, after receiving their orders. And they come back and buy again, and again.