Cléo de Mérode Giveaway Explanation and Update

We're sure that by now all our regular customers are aware of the fact that we're prepared to give away a postcard in excellent posted condition featuring an image taken by Leopold Reutlinger of Paris of the beautiful Cléo de Mérode to the customer who buys the 1,000th item to be purchased from our Red Poulaine Etsy shop.

 NOT FOR SALE Exquisite Cleo De Merode Giveaway Card, circa 1900

We've recently fielded a few questions about how the giveaway works, and we want to make sure all of you have the answers.

First, cards placed on reserve do not count toward the giveaway. Only actual purchases registered by Etsy as completed sales will count. You can see our total number of sales on the menu at the left side of our shop page, as shown in the following image:

Snapshot of Red Poulaine's shop on Etsy, showing the location of our sales figures.

NOTE: The number (984 sales) shown in this image reflects our sales status as of the moment we captured this image. To obtain the current status, you must click through to check our shop on Etsy.

Second, each card purchased is counted toward our total number of sales. Etsy counts each item purchased as a separate sale, even when there are multiple items in an order. If a customer comes in and purchases three cards in a single order, that will count as three sales. We really have nothing to do with counting the sales, as we are using Etsy's counter to determine the final outcome of the giveaway.

We have had customers come in and purchase more than 20 cards at once. That could happen this next minute, and the level would be reached. Or people could buy them one at a time, right up until the 1000th sale, and that could take quite some time.

What this means for you is that it will be possible for someone, maybe you, to swoop in and purchase multiple cards, bringing our total sales to 1,000 in one fell swoop! Or, you could wait, carefully watching until the next purchase will be the 1,000th. It's a bit like one of those radio call-ins, where the 17th caller wins.

Will you be the lucky customer to buy our 1,000th item and receive the lovely Cléo card? We hope so! And we're watching closely so we can announce the final outcome.