online shopping – BRYOLOGUE

Fool’s gold: fake Mulberry brouhaha

June 20, 2016bryologue 5 Comments

What would push me to go back writing here? Yeah, a bag post!

To say that I am heartbroken is an understatement. For years, I have been searching for a Mulberry Piccadilly in Oak Darwin that won’t break the bank. It is my HOLY GRAIL. I even wrote this elaborate longing on my Tumblr more than 4 years ago. Up to this day, this EXACT Piccadilly is on the top of my wishlist. How can you not fall in love with that patina, that kind of brown and the sheen only an aged-leather can give off? I’m still in love.

Fast forward to four years after, the fire is still burning. However, my extremely popular and most-Googled Mulberry entry is a cautionary tale – caveat emptor. But my heart skipped a beat when I saw an ad listing back in March. It was simply listed as a Mulberry leather bag, but it surely looked like a Piccadilly to me.

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Love, Makati Post Office

June 9, 2013bryologue 5 Comments

My first weekend going back to Marikina after starting my second job in Pasay was full of — REST. I’ve spent the whole Saturday afternoon lying down and lazily playing with my nephew, niece, dogs and cat. I have also moved my usual Sunday activities with JB on a Saturday, because I should be going back to Makati after early dinner on Sunday to prepare for Monday. I also managed to take pictures of some of the things I will be listing on Ebay.com, using Mama’s newly painted wall by the kitchen. While taking the pictures, I’ve heard the balut vendor pass in front of our house, and we had to rush outside just in time before he turned the corner.

I can’t remember when was the last time I have eaten balut, but I definitely can’t forget that one time in 1996, when I was too obsessed with it and devoured three eggs in one sitting. I eventually ended up with a headache the whole weekend. LOL I am not too fond directly looking at what was inside the shell, so my strategy was just to look at it cross-eyed as I sprinkle a pinch of salt on it.

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My blog turns one!

June 2, 2013bryologue 1 Comment

I never thought I would be able to keep an online account with substantial detail for this long, but time flies so fast and my blog has been running for a year already! A quick scan of of the things I’ve been blabbing about, I think there was a progressive change over the theme of the things I’ve posted. In a month or so, however, I have to pay Faye for the annual fee of having removing that ‘.wordpress.com’ from here.

At the same time, I also have to say goodbye to a bag I’ve used only for a couple of times. This bag is definitely large that it took Mon one “Hindi ba masyadong malaki ‘yan bag mo?” (Don’t you think your bag’s a bit too large?) to make me stop using it… for good. And it has been sitting in the closet for a long time, that it smells a bit, well, like the closet. I decided to finally let it go because it deserves a better owner, who will make full use of it. I think this is a healthy development and a big step to the right direction of downsizing the ridiculous number of bags I have. There. I called a spade a spade. =D It was difficult to let go because it has a sentimental value, but it also has no everyday utilitarian value (well, for me), so bye, bag, bye!

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Interior design fantasy: a framed silk scarf

May 14, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

As I’ve realized last week, I was never adept with interior design or anything similar to that, but it did not prevent me from having an ultimate design fantasy if ever I get to have my own place — I wanted a framed Hermès scarf. A boy can always dream, right? So when I have acquired a Philippe Ledoux in early 2009 from Ebay, and quickly accepted that it was impractical and ridiculous to use a silk scarf in my everyday life (though I actually used it once), I have safely kept it in my closet for the prospect of framing and hanging it in my future living room or bedroom. But again, it was ruined and damaged beyond repair because of the flood and I no longer have any scarf to frame.

I’ve been always enthralled by the artwork and effort put on silk scarves and I was so amazed to read a post from another blogsite, chronicling how an Hermès scarf is made. It awakened my curiosity over framed silk scarves and Google-ing brought me to Griffin Trading‘s website where I saw a framed La Promenade de Longchamps in the exact colorway I have (albeit undamaged).

This foray into another design project territory pulled me again into searching local auction sites to see if maybe, just maybe, it would be my lucky day. And fortunately, it was. I was very quick to jump the gun on a red and orange silk scarf for sale by a man from Alabang, that I pleaded if I can meet up with him in Makati just to get the item. I think he had no idea that he just sold a brand new scarf, with unflattened hems, at a significantly low price that he practically gave it away.

I normally do not put watermark on my photos but I just don’t want these stolen by crooks and use them to sell a non-existent scarf to potential victims. Anyway, it was an ‘Astres et Soleils‘ scarf by Annie Faivre in red and orange, and according to an online scarf catalogue, this particular colorway was produced in 1994. Imagine, it still looks immaculate even after almost two decades! Well, what do I expect, it has been kept inside its envelope all these years and only the tattered paper showed wear and tear.

It’s interesting that I got to end up with this scarf, whose name translates to ‘Stars and Suns‘. I love astronomy, mythology and world history a lot, and I was just watching documentaries yesterday on YouTube about the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. The former, most especially, is most (in)famous for the December 21, 2012 Doomsday prediction, due to their extensive knowledge of the movements of celestial bodies. In this whimsical artwork, Annie Faivre was inspired by the Mayan civilization before its collapse, with the people engaging in burial, agricultural and other religious rites. Among its various colorways, I’m very pleased to get this red and orange one that highlights the vibrancy of the Mayan life in a tropical rainforest climate.

More than the “where to have it framed?” question, I think I should be focusing more on “how” because I’ve read that they need special UV/museum glass to preserve the color and prevent fading, as well as sewing the scarf on a fabric covered matte. I don’t even know if I can find that special glass here, and who knows how much they will cost! Maybe I can scour vintage and thrift shops to see if I can find an existing frame large enough to hold the scarf, then I will do the framing myself! =)

Friday, Friday!

May 3, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

On Fridays, we are allowed to wear jeans but I still opted to wear black pants because my beloved pair of jeans is still yet to be laundered. However, I was more keen to use this printed shirt with the robot bag because they both have the capacity to make me look, errrr, younger. LOL

I’ve been using a lot of canvas and nylon bags lately, and even if I hate to admit it, I’m also kind of getting over my love of heavy leather bags. Under the summer heat, I prefer not to lug around a heavy luggage and anything non-leather makes my life easier. But in a month or so, summer will be up soon, and rainy season won’t be too kind as well. I have been looking at a functional bag on Ebay, from a brand I have never owned before. And that was when I saw this Porter by Yoshida Freestyle 2 Way briefcase bag.

(Photo from the Ebay seller)

Technically, I’ve been seeing this bag listed on Ebay since last year, and I kept on having tentative decisions whether I should just go for it or not. The first thing that put me off was the color. It it were on a happier color (i.e. red or even blue) or anything neutral other than black (preferably camel), I would have definitely gotten it in a snap. But as I already have a lot of black bags, common sense tells me that I don’t need another bag in black. Frankly, I’ve been trying to get rid of some of my bags by selling them online, but things are not going as fast as I’ve originally hoped. I’m really determined to downsize my stuff this year, given that I will be working in another sector where I need more discreet and less recognizable items to use. This Porter by Yoshida bag perfectly fits the bill. Discreet – check, functional – check, weatherproof – check; so what am I waiting for? The seller.

I’m still waiting for the seller’s reply. I remember haggling for the price way back in February but I have completely forgotten about asking. And then I thought of checking if the bag is still available, and saw that the seller had actually answered my request. It has been almost three months since that reply, and I’m still hoping that the offer still stands. I think i’m getting an extremely good deal over it at Php 1,500 total, especially the same bag is sold for US$ 500 on BLACKBIRD, and for US$ 603.25 of Ebay.com! The item looks leather-y but it is actually polyurethane-coated canvas, making it really durable against the elements. Of course, I’m just justifying this purchase again with all my reasoning might. =D

Japan Home Centre rocks big time!

April 22, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

Coming from my mind-boggling and on-going issue with an Ebay dispute, I was quite hesitant to continue selling internationally. However, I have recently acquired a couple of interesting items of clothing, which don’t usually tickle the interest of local buyers.

No other choice but to continue selling internationally and not let the traumatizing experience burn me forever. But in order to do that, I have to make sure that I have to be more precise with the weight measurement of all the items because the last time I’ve sent a batch of items, I had to shell out a couple of pesos because I underestimated the cost of shipping vis-à-vis the item’s weight.

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Hear ye! Hear ye!

April 3, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

It has been almost a month since I bought something for myself from Ebay. That was quite an achievement because I usually purchase several items for personal usage within a 30-day period. I’ve been focusing lately on Ebay selling and it was taking a lot of my time. So, as a gift for my birthday next week, I waged a bidding war for a peculiar jacket — the Gazette newspaper print one! Of course, the action begins in the last 10 seconds and the price have hiked up in those last moments. LOL I eventually won and I am very excited to receive the item on Friday!

(Photo from the Ebay seller).

I know Mon will particularly love this design because he is a BIG FAN of the KPop group, B2ST. He was once happy to see another shirt with an interesting print from Galliano in my closet because he knew that most of the members of his favorite group favor the design. I promised him that we could use the jacket together, and in fact, I think it would most probably spending more time with him. =D

Hyunseung from B2ST with a John Galliano Gazette newspaper print hoodie jacket

(Photo from coordinuna.com)

On a different note, I have tried to transfer some of my PayPal funds to a bank account because all the shipping I have done last Monday and today has greatly affected my finances. =/ The 21 day period is definitely a pain to deal with and I cannot wait to finally have my funds become available. I don’t have a credit card (I’m better off not having one) so it was Mon’s PayPal account and since we are doing this business together, I just think of it as an extension of our partnership. We had to open a PayPal account back in 2011 because the guesthouse we stayed in Seoul required a deposit and it they only accept payment via PayPal.

It was my first time attempting to transfer funds to a bank account and the process of doing so was not really that difficult. From the Home page, I click the “Withdraw” link, which redirected me to the “Add a bank account in the Philippines” page:

I have searched online and found a list of bank codes in the Philippines, listed on a page from Ebay.ph. I had to manually input the Bank name “BANK OF THE PHIL ISLANDS (BPI)”, and honestly, I was worried whether there should be an extra (BPI) in the end. I then added the bank code “010040018” indicated in the list, as well as entering the BPI account number twice.

After pressing “Continue”, I was led next to the “Review your bank account information”, where I was informed of the return fee, in case of wrong information (e.g. incorrect account number, names not matching). I think this was a one time process/s because it was sort of enrolling this bank account to be the default destination of PayPal funds when withdrawing.

After pressing “Save” comes the part where I had to indicate what amount the amount of money I wish to send to the bank account. The dropdown in “From this balance” indicates the USD and Php balances. I only have Php 100 in my PayPal account, which was the fee credited back during the one-time verification.

Then comes a review of the withdrawal, where I had to check and double-check the information from first line to last. And another thing, since I will be transferring less than Php 7,000, there will be a Php 50.00 charge from the account. Ugh, it made me hate the 21 day process more. =/

All I can do now is wait for two to four business days for the transfer to happen. I am crossing my fingers that it would take just the minimum two days because it will already be Thursday tomorrow. I am still stressing out and nitpicking with Mon’s name because I’m not too sure if he had added a dash (-) on his given name when he registered for that bank account. LOL PayPal, don’t fail me please.

A day in the post office

April 1, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

Last Friday, I was able to sell several items on Ebay.com. But even if I still have to wait 21 days for my PayPal funds to clear, I am obliged to ship them immediately because providing a working tracking information MIGHT help to increase the chances of getting my funds quicker. I haven’t been inside the post office in about two years and I can no longer remember the fees I have paid. So before going to Makati Central Post Office, I reminded myself to make a lot of mental notes for future forays into their premises. LOL

Words cannot capture how hot the weather was. Summer is definitely in full swing but it did not deter us from walking all the way to the post office in the intersection of Ayala Avenue and Buendia Avenue. I had everything inside my bag: shipping labels, a packaging tape, a pair of scissors, and the items wrapped in their respective bubble wraps. It took me a while to realize that I have forgotten one important item: a fan. The post office was not air-conditioned and it was definite that I will be sweating a lot. LOL

Upon entering, we immediately purchased corrugated boxed from the e-Post Shop, where they sell different nox sizes. As I only need boxes enough for a single garment, I opted for the number 4, which was sold at Php 20 each. I had no idea what time the post office closes, whether it was 5PM or 6PM but we arrived around 4:30 and we immediately rushed weighing and prepping the boxes. The items must be fitted snugly inside the box before sealing with packaging tapes, so we still had to adjust the size by cutting the four corners. (The lady manning the shop was very kind and gracious, as she helped us in preparing the packages).

Now, the tricky part was the shipping fee. I charged my buyers (who are all from USA and Western Europe) a flat rate of US$ 20 or Php 780 fee. I originally intended to send these via International Express Mail Service (IEMS), but I was not too keen with the prices seen on PhilPost’s website. Shipping a 500-gram item to the United States would have cost me Php 1,409! That was twice the shipping fee I have charged the buyer. LOL But wait, France was more expensive at thrice the fee at Php 1,980!

I scrapped the IEMS and opted for the Registered Mail because it still fell under the average of two weeks shipping period I have promised the buyers. However, I just found out that the rate for items weighing 251 grams to 500 grams weigh was Php 885, meaning I had to add money from my own pocket because I had undercharged the buyers (take note that it was for the shipping alone, not also the handling which includes shipping materials, etc). Now, once the total weight (i.e. the item + bubble wrap + felt cloth container + packaging tape + corrugated box) reaches 501 gram (yes, even a single gram excess in their digital La Poste weighing scales), the cost of shipping automatically doubles from Php 885 to Php 1,770. In two out of four items, I had to remove either the freebie sweets I have included or something as light as the felt cloth container because I reached 508 grams. Removing the latter brought me back Php 885 mark, once the scale showed 498 grams.

I was made to fill up a form, one for each package containing important information about the sender, buyer and the item. I also then paid a total of Php 3,540 for the four items and was thinking of my held up PayPal funds while getting the money from my wallet. =/ She then attached the forms and some weird looking long stamps on top of each package and then stamped them with the date.

After this, I was sent to the next counter, where the lady inspected and began attaching the stickers with tracking code to each items. She also issued a registry receipt, containing the same tracking information.

I have learned a lot from everything that happened to me in the post office earlier. From glaring realities (e.g. my net profit for one of the items was just around Php 20! It was not even a dollar!) to realizations preparations on shipping internationally. I will definitely continue to sell on Ebay.com, but armed with these newly-acquired information, I hope it will help me strategize better for future sales.

Bye, Bye March!

March 31, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

It’s Easter today and my mother was very kind enough to give me a rack for my bags. She thought my room could have a bit of organization with all of my bags in a single place. Well, it was very sweet but I still have some of my bags inside a plastic container. The rack just won’t hold up all of them. I’m in the process of selling some of them off on Ebay, together with the other things I managed to sell internationally.

After lunch, I went to the Marikina Public Market to buy materials I would be needing to ship the items. I found everything perfectly fine, except for some bubble wrap. The ones I found were on a ready-made padded envelope, and I was thinking more of the ones sold per yard. I will most probably be going to National Bookstore tomorrow to buy them, before heading to the Makati Post Office.

When I got home, I was really cautious not to further wrinkle the felt cloth that I’ve bought. I managed to get two kinds of cloth: the white one for the Ebay items and the black one for my own bags. I’ve been hoping to make dust bags for some of them, because they had none when I first bought them online. I was really happy I bought my mother a sewing machine because, ahem, I would no longer have to hand sew a lot of things, which I painstakingly did for a dust bag of an extra large tote bag. =D

Save for minor interruptions, I had no trouble with the Brother BM-2600 sewing machine and I was able to sew eight white felt cloth containers in just an hour. I was only able to use about half of the three yards I bought and I have honestly miscalculated because two of the garments need dust bags with the same capacity as the others. I still don’t know how they would hold up during the shipping, so I really need to buy bubble wrap to make sure they will arrive fine to the buyers. The last time I have shipped internationally, it was for two Gucci bags bound for Australia and the buyer got them within four working days. I am honestly very nervous of this new venture but I know deep inside that I have to get over my fear of international shipping if I were to successfully sell globally.

As for the black ones, they took a much longer time to be made because I had to attach velcro to make sure they would snugly close. I only managed to make two, which were for the ‘quite sensitive’ to humidity bags. The one for the Mulberry was not perfect, but it was still acceptable; but for the Coach one, the dust bag fits like a glove. =D If I have more time next week, I will be doing more for my other bags.

On a different note, it was bittersweet seeing the buyers send the payment to my PayPal account. A lot of them has sent payment within the day, but since I’m a new seller on Ebay.com, PayPal would have to hold my funds for 21 days. What does it mean to me? It means that I would have to shoulder first the shipping of all the items tomorrow and hope to the highest heavens that the buyers will like the item because I don’t want to be traumatized this early. Oh well, at least most of the items got sold and I will hopefully get a good selling history soon. Patience. Be good to me April, my birthday month! =D

From YSL, with love!

February 14, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

Today is Valentine’s Day and the first thing I did before going home afterwork was to buy flowers for my mother and sister. In front of the Immaculation Conception Church in Marikina, there were already several rows of flower vendors selling single long-stemmed roses, up to bouquets with elaborate presentations. I began haggling for the price to be lowered and I finally reached an agreement with one of the vendors when I mentioned I’d be getting two. My mother and sister were very happy this morning when they saw the roses.

Last Friday, I was watching a pair of shoes on Ebay.ph and I was hoping I could snipe bid on it — a pair of black Lanvin suede with patent toe sneakers. But for whatever reason, I completely forgot about the auction ending last Monday evening and I was really heartbroken on not being able to at least take a shot in bidding for it.

(Photo from the Ebay.ph seller)

So yesterday, I decided on a whim to browse auctions in Sulit.com.ph. I was not particularly looking for a particular item, as it was just an online window shopping.

And then I saw a pair of Yves Saint Laurent sneakers, listed by a seller from Binondo. Unfortunately, it was already reserved for another buyer and it was clearly not my lucky day. But I still asked the seller via text message if the item was still available and he replied within a few minutes.

He said that it was already reserved to a buyer from Bacolod but he was still not able to pay. I immediately jumped on the opportunity and eventually secured the pair of sneakers! My apologies to you, the supposed-buyer for whatever inconvenience I might have caused you in getting the pair. It was still the call of the seller and I hope you get to find another pair soon. =/

I met up with the seller and it did not took very long for our transaction to finish. In the vernacular, we call that kaliwaan and it was done in less than a minute.

I was really anxious of the size because looking at its online photos, the size might be larger from what I normally wear. The other pair of YSL sneakers I currently have was already about half-a-size bigger, which was okay. But the one above might be about a size and half bigger and may be a bit umanageable.

But surprisingly, the sneakers fit nicely when I tried it on, and it was just about a size bigger. Thank goodness!

The sneakers were still in good condition, with no rips or tears in any of the leather and canvas parts. But of course, suede tends to react differently towards humidity and it is showing some signs of ‘reaction’, but it was still nevertheless gorgeous.

As an added bonus, he even gave me a box of tikoy! Still a Happy Chinese New Year to me! That was very gracious of him. =D

(Photo from Highsnobiety.com)

The curious me opened Google and tried searching more info about the shoes. After several searches, I was able to find out that these were the Spring/Summer collection of five years ago and Highsnobiety.com even did an article about them here from way back in March 2009.

I’m beginning to think that my luck may not lie in raffle draws, or anything that requires waiting for an opportunity to come, rather than working hard in painstakingly combing online auctions and persuading people for a particular item. I’m not that unlucky, then.