Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Selecta Casa Bella (and Selecta has been Auf'd)

For those of you kicking yourself for not buying the Selecta Casa Bella before it was discontinued, there's one on ebay right now, with a Buy It Now price of $160 and free shipping, open to Best Offers.


I confess, I had a momentary failure of resolve and pitched a lowball offer before I was saved from myself (and dollhouse overcrowding) by a rejected offer. Shame on me.

In related news, if you were eyeing any of the Selecta Ambiente furniture (or their other children's toys), Selecta has apparently ceased distributing in the United States as of December 31, 2008, due to the higher testing requirements imposed by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The CPSIA, although it seems like a well intentioned but reactionary measure, appears to be having the unfortunate result of reducing the ability of quality overseas toy manufacturers and small independent US manfacturers (not to mention etsy sellers) to compete in any meaningful fashion in the US toy market. Full article from Z Recommends here. Retailers will be allowed to sell their remaining stock.

Photo: Selecta Spielzeug

3 comments:

  1. Good to know! Aww---you just know that Selecta is going to release an even better modern dollhouse now that they aren't distributed here. Guess we'll be relying on ebay and friends overseas...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing, Altera. Don't beat yourself up about bidding -- we've all been there!!! My guess is that this house is being sold by the same person who commented on Modern MC's blog about the Selecta when it was poised to discontinue last fall. She had bought one of the last ones online for $99, but paid hefty shipping to Hawaii. This seller is in Hawaii too and she said it was about 6 months old...just a guess, perhaps not. I wouldn't be surprised if the world was that small...I like small!:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Modern MC - I'm absolutely positive that that's what's going to happen. *Shakes fist* at international shipping.

    Heya callsmall - LOL! Thanks - I also suspected it might be the same commentor from Modern MC's blog. And I'm actually quite relieved the offer was rejected - after I click the submit offer button, I shuddered at imagining how I was going to explain it to Husband, especially since I keep on reminding him daily of my "wishlist".

    -a

    ReplyDelete