The Magic Word

What is the magic word?
I guess each of us have our own.......
With the terrible situation in the world - where does one even begin - with all of the terrible things that are going on - Japan - suffering from the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami - nothing is really important in the light of that. The nuclear power plants - Libya - Eqypt - have I depressed you sufficiently? I'm sorry, I don't mean to - my blog is supposed to be fun and happy (at least, that is my intention).
So - I hope that you have all made a donation, no matter how big or small to help the people in Japan - they will need all of the help that they can get.

The thing is, life goes on, and we must all live life to its fullest - we learn that everyday.

So anyway - let's get back to the Magic Word - and the magic word for today is HERMES! Again!

One of my great gals gave me two Hermes bags - a bag called TRIM. This particular size and style sells for $5000 at the Hermes Boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City. Did you know that these stores are franchised? I had no idea and I feel that it diminished the name in my mind - I wonder why that would be? I guess somehow I loved the idea of HERMES being owned by a main corporation, family, etc. - But OK, they're certainly successful enough! :)

Anyway, these two bags, one black and one British tan were used, loved and very worn. Not worn to the point that you would want to toss them, but worn where they needed the proper work done on them. You could take them to one of the fine leather spas in New York City, but it seems to me that the only ones who should handle these bags would be Hermes - they can match the leather, color, etc. These bags needed work. I brought them to the store on Madison and chatted with the craftsman in charge of repairs. Very nice gentleman and of course, very knowledgeable. He felt that it was worth the work - $500 for new leather trim at the top of each bag and one bag definitely needed a new handle for another $500. The other bag, probably didn't need a new handle. So what do you do? Invest $1500 and then wind up with two bags that would sell for what (on ebay)? Yes, if you bought one at Hermes - $5000 - but we're talking ebay, not Hermes and we're talking "refurbished" not NEW!

I decided that the best thing would be to just offer them on ebay "AS IS" - start the bidding at $99.99 and let them roll for 10 days. The first bag went for $364. I think that is great. Someone got a fabulous bag - leather in very nice clean condition, interior, suede, clean and nice. This person can put in the $1000 investment and when the bag comes back it will probably look new. Hermes will clean and polish - fix the corners and do whatever other "spa" work that will be needed.

The second bag, the British tan one is up right now - it is up to $182.50 and it will be fun to see where it will go. Again, this person will have a good investment - and I believe this is the bag that only needs $500 worth of work.

Personally, if I wanted one of these bags I would make the investment. I think that the buyers will be very happy.

The gal whose bags these were will have moved them on for a tidy profit for something she probably would have just given away. She will be happy, the buyer will be happy and I am happy too!

Win Win

So, the magic word today is Hermes!

Let's all take some time from our busy lives to think of the people in Japan who need our thoughts, prayers and donations. I made my donation through the American Red Cross through PayPal. Whatever little bit it is, I hope it will help. I will give more next week.

I will come back to this post and put in the photos of the bags. Probably tomorrow - pushing the clock ahead has lost an important hour!

NIGHT