I Stopped Myself From Buying a $70 Tchotchke
The title kind of tells the whole story. Mostly. I had waited for the DCUK company to release a wooden toy for the last year and a half. I kept the email they sent about it back in 2022 in my inbox and reached out to them sometimes to ask when the toy would go on sale.
It finally went on sale, but the announcement went into my SPAM folder, and by the time I saw it (only a day later), the toy was sold out. I was disappointed and added my name to a list to be notified if they ever went back on sale. A few days later, I received a message that they had a few more. Did I want one?
Yes, I wanted one. Very badly.
I went to purchase the toy and discovered that adding shipping more than doubled the cost. It went from a $30 item to a $70 item, with an added caveat that other import taxes may apply when the item reaches the United States.
Was it worth it? It was worth it when it was $30, but only because I had seen the price and was comfortable waiting for the item at that price. There are other things I’m drawn to that I immediately dismiss when I see the price tag, but this one felt reasonable. Until it wasn’t that price anymore, and then my brain had to shift and ask the question again. If I had known from the get-go that it was $70, I might have gotten comfortable with that price tag, but the jump in price made me ultimately close the tab and not purchase the toy.
I don’t have regrets because it is just a tchotchke. It would make me happy to look at it, but I can’t do much more than look at it. Thinking about things as worthy or not worthy vs. want or not want makes for harder but more meaningful decisions, eliminating many of those regretful feelings. It was deemed not worth it, and I need to let it go. Clearly, I’m still trying to make myself feel okay with the decision.
Goodbye, toy.
5 comments
I love that you shared your thought process about this. It’s so relatable. I could splurge $30 on an item that I’d waited for, but $70 is a whole other ballpark in my budget. I’m always asking myself, “Do I want this (whatever it is I want in the moment) or will I want fabric more?” Haha.
I know exactly what you mean. $30 seems reasonable, but $70 does not. I’m constantly making decisions like that. I find giving myself time to decide makes the “no, I’ll leave it this time” decision easier. I hope writing about it has helped you say good-bye. It’s something I decided to do with family stuff after our parents and in-laws died. I figured if I write about the things, I’ll be able to say good-bye. So thanks for this reminder that I haven’t written about most of them yet!
well, all I can say is .. been there done that… we used to buy really nice kids sandals from the US – until the time the import laws changed and we got hit with an additional customs handling fee… and that tipped them over from worth-while to too-much. But just to point out… – you know you have an international readership that even extends to places where ducks have free shipping :).
Thanks for the SJ Bennet recommendation by the way… very fun.
Shipping always makes me hesitate. If it doubles the price of an item…well, I’d rather just wait until there’s a better choice. Sorry you got hit with the unexpected…
I feel like this may make me an accomplice of some sort, but did you check their Stockist Locations? (I think that’s what they call it.) Because there are some here in the US.