Lynn’s eBay eZine April 30th, 2015 Volume XI, Issue 07

“I’d like to ask your permission to publish your listing images on our nonprofit website. If possible we’ll reconstruct the pattern (the pictures are sharp enough for that) and publish them both mentioning you as donor on the site, and if you wish, provide a backlink to this item while it is still unsold. If you have no objections to this, please let me know? Your permission would be much appreciated.

By the way, we have images of a quite similar item in our collection, That was a beaded tray to put hot teapots on. 

Thank you and best wishes,
Sytske
Library Director of the Antique Pattern Library, a project of New Media Arts Inc, a nonprofit registered in the USA (although I am Dutch myself)” 

“Hi there! My husband and I have been entrepreneurs most of our lives. Back in the early 80s I had a brick and mortar country store, selling primitive antiques and country decor. Then we had two boys so I quit working and focused on them, as well as, supporting my husband in his various business ventures. The “boys” have long since moved on, both following their own entrepreneurial paths. Now we have a beautiful 3 year old granddaughter who is the light of our lives!

But on to my eBay journey…

It all started back in December 2004 when I began using eBay to liquidate my excess inventory of scrapbooking supplies. Little did I know what I was getting into! As my scrapbooking inventory was successfully depleted, I realized that I didn’t want to quit selling on eBay—I was hooked. So I started going through the house and listing our personal items. I warned my husband that if it wasn’t nailed down, it would probably end up on eBay.

Eventually, I ran out of personal stuff to sell, so the obvious solution to my eBay addiction was to resell other peoples’ stuff, and I began frequenting garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, and auctions. We even purchased the inventory of several stamp and hobby stores that had to close their doors.

Currently my best-selling niches are stamp collecting supplies, scrapbooking supplies, dollhouse furniture, and of course, dinnerware. I just purchased 92 pieces of Longaberger dinnerware this weekend with lots of serving pieces, some hard to find.

Here is one of the listings:

Click here to see this auction.

I discovered Lynn years ago from an offer for one of her books in my Kovel’s monthly newsletter. I subsequently subscribed to her newsletter, read her books, and followed her sales. What makes her unique among other eBay “gurus” is that she actually has a good eBay business!

Here is a score for which I must credit Lynn and the Queen’s Court. I bought a flat of collectible glass shoes at an auction at an average price of $1 a shoe. One was an old kerosene lamp with a shoe base, but the toe of the shoe was completely broken out. I almost ignored my own motto: “Don’t throw it away until you’ve tried it on eBay.” But before I threw it out, I ran it by the QC and was advised that the piece had value even in its current state.

So following Lynn’s advice of “price it high with Best Offer”, I listed it for $225 and happily accepted a Best Offer of $100. Just think, I almost threw away a $100! Here is the listing:

Thank you so much Jan for sharing your eBay journey!

OK, I have to tell you that I have been extremely lucky with computers lately. Yes, I did say computers. Not my usual MO (Modus Operandi) but I was out at a sale with my mom last month and a woman had a Macbook Pro for sale for $500. It was barely used and Indy’s Macbook had just crashed.

I called my brother (our resident computer expert) and told him all the specs and the price and he said “is it stolen?” It was not and that was my first clue that I should buy it! My brother also said that if Indy didn’t need it, he could use a laptop.

It turned out that the darling lady who sold it to me had not wiped it clean. I gave her my driver’s license number, showed her photo id, gave her my phone number, address etc. and assured her that we would securely wipe it.

She was very lucky that I bought it instead of some unscrupulous person. Lee immediately securely wiped all her personal info. He also upgraded Indy’s computer so it worked out great. My brother loves his new/used laptop for a bargain price and Indy’s laptop is humming along like new. A win-win.

That was my first score. My next was a $20 mini pc laptop that actually works at a different estate scale. Can’t have too many backup plans with three computer users in this house!

My third, and I hope luckiest score, was last week at a different estate sale. An entire Mac system for $30. I just thought the monitor and speakers were super cool. After I bought it I called Lee and told him about it. He didn’t think it would be worth much because it was outdated. Turns out “computer vintage” for Apples makes them quite valuable if done in a sleek mid century style.

I am still waiting for my Mac SE30 to be worth a fortune . It was my very first computer EVER that I bought from the USC bookstore in September of 1990 when I was getting my MBA. Still not worth much more than $100 to $200.

But my $30 Mac cube turned out to be valued at close to $500 if in excellent condition. I started the auction at 10 times my purchase price and hoped for a bidding war. It will end the day before this ezine comes out so fingers crossed! Here is the listing.

Click here to see this auction.

So what are those crazy kids of mine up to? Let’s just say A LOT and leave it at that. I am not going to write about them in this ezine. I must start preparing for their leaving my life and going off to college. Just kidding! They will always be a big part of my life wherever they are. So (for once) let’s start with Indiana!

She is running for president of her house. At Xavier, they have six houses, much like the Harry Potter movies. She is a member of Gonzaga and she is running for president with her friend Maddie Rhodes.

These girls will be Juniors next year, and I am not sure, but I think most presidents are probably seniors. Hopefully I am wrong. I am certain that these two girls are way ahead of their competition!

During this past weekend, Maddy baked 80 brownies for every single Gonzaga house member. Then Indy wrote an individual message for each brownie….things like “Gonzaga is lucky to have you”, “Have a wonderful day”, “This is not propaganda” etc. Fun, Fun!

Here are the girls at school on Sunday after they put an individual brownie in each locker and then decorated the outside of the Gonzaga house locker bank. By the way, Indy and Houston’s school is so awesome and safe that the lockers don’t even have locks. Gotta love that!

OK, now Houston’s turn. Baseball has been going super well! Even with his shoulder injury he is playing 3rd base and hitting like a star. The Xavier baseball team is on a 6 game winning streak. I hope that when you read this it has been extended to 7! Go Saints!

Here is a recent newspaper snippet and a photo.

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I’m super excited to announce our newest teaching tool, “Cash from Cutlery”. This brand new teleseminar series will help your take your flatware profits to the next level. Flatware is an easy-to-find, easy-to-sell, and easy-to-ship product category. Whether you are just starting out or have years of experience selling flatware, this teleseminar is for you.

But why are we calling it Cutlery to Cash? Cutlery is what flatware is called in Europe…the origin of our flatware, silverware, and all sorts of eating utensils…whatever you want to call it…Cutlery is the original western word!

In the past 90 days on eBay I have sold $2,785.49 in cutlery/flatware. This translates to $928.49 per month. Please keep in mind that these numbers are not as high as my dinnerware numbers for several reasons.

First, my average sales price for a dinnerware order is $33.42 and my average sales price for a flatware order is $26.03. Secondly, I have 6,234 listings of dinnerware and 2,532 listings of flatware. Lastly, a good set of dinnerware will run you $200 to $1000. A good set of flatware will run you $10 to $100.

To recap the benefits of selling flatware/cutlery:

• You invest much less money when purchasing flatware
• Cutlery is faster to list than dinnerware
• Flatware takes up less space
• Flatware is a breeze to ship.

After my kids both leave for college, I am seriously considering focusing on flatware. It is a joy!

The Flatware Success eBook is one of our top-selling and most helpful tools of all time; I am really happy that it has done so much to increase your bottom line profits.

Since the flatware eBook came out in 2011, there have been major changes to my system of listing and selling flatware. It has evolved and improved over the past years. The improvements include CHANGES to:

• Brands to always buy
• Tricky brands
• Brands to never buy
• Research and new sources for doing so
• How to structure and strategize your listings (this has completely changed)…Markdown Manager, Best Offer, etc.
• How our flatware selling strategy has changed with eBay’s new defect policy
• Shipping pricing, materials and methods

So without further ado, I am very excited to announce our newest teaching tool “Cash from Cutlery”. Think of it as an updated companion resource to the Flatware Success eBook, but it is audio instead of the written word.

I was out at garage sales last weekend and there just wasn’t anything great. There were tons of sales but no quality items. I had just about given up when I spotted signs for a sale in Rancho Mirage. I followed the signs and found one sale that was just Victorian furniture….not a big seller on eBay. I was driving out of the neighborhood when I found another sale right around the corner.

And in the driveway was a bright yellow kayak. My kids have been begging for a kayak because we live on a faux lake. I had passed up one about a month ago for $125 and was kicking myself because they go for about $300 to $600 new. This one was priced at $150 and had never been used.

I tried my usual sales pitch…”single mom, son going to college next year, etc. etc. and could I please have it for $100?” Nope, he and his partner just couldn’t do it as they had paid close to $400. I took pictures of it and decided to think about it.

Luckily while walking around the sale and thinking, I found a pile of Wilton Armetale plates that were only $1 each and there were 12 of them. I asked if they would take $10 for the pile and they said yes. I knew I could make enough on those plates to pay for the kayak so I tried one last time. They said OK, $110. Score!

Here are the guys sitting on the back of my SUV after they helped me get it loaded. Seriously, it barely fit. I couldn’t see out of the passenger side or back at all. It was a scary ride home but luckily we lived really close.

As I was coming through the gates into our community, Cami (one of our favorite guards), just looked at me and shook her head. I unrolled my window and said “Isn’t it awesome?” and she said “The things you do for those kids”! Too funny!

Here is one of the listings for the Armetale plates. They didn’t sell at auction so I have raised the prices and put them in my eBay store with best offer.

Click here to see this auction.

The kids were extremely excited to have the Kayak. Did I say that they were and still are extremely excited? Houston took it out immediately on the lake and spent several hours in it.

Then it was Indy’s turn. She loved it as well!

I took the kayak out the next morning and absolutely loved it. I do need help getting in and out because I don’t want to fall into the disgusting water. As I was getting in, Houston had my arm, but my legs started to do the splits—one was on land and one in the boat. I almost bailed at that point but somehow managed to get my butt in the seat. When I brought the kayak back, Houston held onto the edge of the boat, and I rolled onto the grass. Graceful! Always an adventure around here .

I will learn how to get in and out of that kayak on my own….mark my words! Speaking of marking events, can you believe that this year is eBay’s 20th anniversary year? They officially began in September of 1995 and I have been selling since 1998. Oh my goodness!

To celebrate, I think all of you should join us for the eBay radio party in June. I have been asked back to speak at the eBay radio party in Las Vegas, June 16th to the 18th. This event is always a ton of fun and sells out quickly. So I encourage you to buy your tickets and make your plans now. As you know, Lee says “If it ain’t fun we ain’t doin’ it”.

For more information, click here – Radio Party in Las Vegas Event.

OK, let’s wind this ezine up with a score in progress! By the time this ezine is emailed out on Thursday am, this auction will have ended. I know this Hudson’s Bay Blanket will sell for at least my opening bid price of $49.99 since it already has a bid. Let’s hope it goes higher. I paid $2 for it at a recent estate sale.