Why I am Quitting Selling Rae Dunn and Leaving All Facebook Groups.
Oh no…not another Rae Dunn post. No worries, this will likely be my last!
A lot of my followers and repeat customers are curious as to why I am going to stop selling Rae Dunn. The answer is quite simple: it has taken over my life. My family room looks like a Home Goods store. My dining table looks like a shipping station. My hands are chafed from crumpling tons of kraft paper and I just can’t get much of anything else done in my days.
I started this blog/site as a way to share home decor and remodeling ideas for those who have a limited budget like me. It has evolved into a lifestyle blog as well, but because I have put so much time into hunting, photographing, listing, selling and packing Rae Dunn, I have neglected my blog and I don’t like that. Ultimately my goal has been to blog and have an income from that. This is my passion: home decor and blogging. I also write for another very popular site, moderndaymoms.com, and have for years.
When I first learned about Rae Dunn last November, I quickly realized how trendy it was. I started offering to pick up items for collectors on Instagram because I could easily find it. Some had been waiting to find certain pieces for years! Once word got out that I was doing this, I had numerous people contact me wanting me to do the same for them. Numerous. It became so overwhelming and I couldn’t keep up. People were getting upset with me if they felt I had forgotten about them or got a piece for someone who came after them. It was then that I decided to sell it. I wasn’t making any profit and was losing my time to packing things for people. I wasn’t going to do this for free anymore, plus, I figured the money would help fund my home reno projects and advertising…things like that.
It was fun while it lasted and I thoroughly enjoyed helping people to build their collections. My prices were always lower than other places and I was able to help people who didn’t have the time to hunt or were too far away from stores to risk the hunt and to not go broke in the process. It makes me sad to no longer help others in the capacity that I did, but I need to focus on what is really important for me.
Another reason I am stepping away from the online community is because of all of the mean, catty, hypocritical, controlling people who are abundant in those groups. You have admins who I think get off on having control over those in the community. They set limits as to how much you can sell an item for and if you are suspicious or outed as a seller elsewhere, they kick you out and ban you. But it doesn’t stop there. After they ban you, they will blast you by posting your pics on the group and talk badly about you. The same thing happens in stores should you decide to take all the Rae Dunn.
We are all grown women who are capable of deciding for ourselves how much we want to spend on Rae Dunn. One of the admins for the Rae Dunn Florida group put a few ladies on blast this past week and I just had to shake my head, especially on this one where she called the lady a child for scooping everything off the cart. How childish is it of you to take her picture, run to your group, post her and whine about how she took everything?! All under the guise that you hope to identify her so you can banish her from your group. (I edited out everyone’s faces and identifying info).
This happens all too often in local groups. I don’t see it on the main group, but they still have all these “rules” everyone must follow. I have a FB group (Rae Dunn Sarasota) and my one and only rule is to be respectful of each other. I don’t need someone telling me how to make deals for Rae Dunn. Sadly, it won’t stop.
Lots of people take what you do and say in these groups and privately go to others and make comments. They post it in other groups for others to see so they can all mock you behind your back. I know this happened regarding me recently. When I announced that I was going to stop selling, my post was shared in private groups and PMs amongst others in my area who I know don’t care for me. One man who drives nearly an hour to hunt in my stores told another that I must be quitting because his daughter (who lives states away) and he are too much for me. I honestly don’t care what others think or say about me, but don’t think I don’t know about it. It’s all just so immature.
My advice for everyone is to take a step back and re-evaluate how involved you might have become over Rae Dunn and ask yourself, “Do I really want or need any of it?” I don’t want to associate or be around people who can’t even be honest about why they hunt so much or what they do with Rae. Honestly, it’s no one’s business what you do with it, but when you feel the need to lie about it and your reasons are very obviously different than what you say, people will steer clear of you. I know many store employees are over people acting like lunatics over this stuff, including the aforementioned man. They are over the numerous phone calls and they are nervous about what might happen next. I do not want to tarnish my reputation with my store. I have been shopping there multiple times a week PRIOR to Rae Dunn. I eventually want to have a working relationship with TJX, so you won’t see me acting a fool over some cheap pottery.
I know there are collectors out there who collect every last piece of something a line/designer makes. I don’t understand that because frankly it seems a little impulsive and spendthrift to me, but to each his own. I am selective about items I purchase. I have not decided to quit hunting and collecting Rae Dunn, so that little rumor can be nipped in the bud. I just won’t be involved with anyone in the communities aside from the 2 people I have “adopted” to help out.
From here on, I will be dedicating much more time to my house and blogging. I will see you around!