Ew, ew, ew, ew, eeeeewwwww!

I was just watching a dumb 'reality' show on Slice called 'Lost and Sold'. It's about people who buy other people's junk that gets left behind in airports or can't be delivered by shipping companies. The only reason I watched it is because the promo said 'Rob and Kathleen get excited about a box full of sex toys and bondage gear'. I thought 'this is up my alley'. The box was sealed up - the auction people won't show anyone the contents of bags and trunks and such because what's the fun in that? People bid on them because they are gambling that there will be something good in them that they can sell. So this couple bought this medium sized trunk for $320 - just on the description that it was full of sex toys. I was wondering what was going on in their heads because if that is actually just somebody's personal trunk of goodies, you don't want that. Who in the world would want that? But they were excited about it and bought it for a good chunk of change. They got it home and busted it open and it was, in fact, somebody's personal trunk of goodies. They were pretty serious goodies - quite high end. There was a harness, a ball gag, some paddles, a bull whip, some latex wear and some sex toys in it. I thought bummer for them, they just blew $320 because all of that stuff is used. Not only can they not sell it, they shouldn't be using it themselves either. You can't really clean latex and leather to the point where you should be using some random's old gear. The only thing that was in there that could have potentially been cleaned and sold was the bull whip. Those aren't cheap.

But these two clearly do not know thing one about sex toys so they took the trunk to a fetish shop. They said the name of the shop but I have absolutely no idea where it is. The woman there bought everything in that trunk except for a sex toy that was not in the package! She did say she couldn't use the ball in the gag but that could be taken out and replaced. She told them it was worth $1000. Now I have say that they didn't actually say that she was buying it, but it sounded very much like she was planning on buying it from them and selling it in her store! How alarming is this? Ew! Ew, ew, ew! She hasn't the slightest clue where that stuff came from, how it's been used, who owned it, what happened to it - nothing. Even if she does understand how to clean these things properly, still ew! I doubt very much that she's going to tell her customers that those items are used - of course not because then who would buy them because - ew! I hope I'm misinterpreting this and she was just telling them what it was worth retail. They did walk out of the store with bags so perhaps those were the items they brought in. But even so - ew! They probably shouldn't be using that stuff.

Now I understand a little better why some people who come into my store ask a lot of questions about whether the products are brand new. That always struck me as odd. Of course they are! We would never sell toys - any kind of toys - that have been used before. I'm a big believer in reusing and recycling, but not when it comes to sex toys. But perhaps people who have run into merchants who think it's perfectly fine and that's why they are so concerned.

I have the heebie jeebies now. That's just not cool in any way. I am all into toys but I'm into brand new ones who's history I know completely. If someone holds up a big trunk at an auction and says it's pre-owned and full of sex toys, the proper response is to let that go to the landfill.

I do feel very bad for the people that lost it though. That was a pretty sweet trunk of stuff if it belonged to you originally. They probably spent a good $1500 to $2000 on that stuff. I hope they never see that show too - how infuriating and uncomfortable to watch someone else raid your personal trunk of goodies. Heart-breaking.