Lynn’s eBay eZine May 16th, 2013 Volume IX, Issue 05

Hi!

The move is finally finished! What a long and winding road! WE LOVE the new place. It is beyond all my expectations. Here is a photo of the NEW warehouse almost FULL!

I haven’t written an ezine in almost two months. I have so much to tell you but will have to keep it short (probably not going to happen) as I need to get back to listing. While moving, I wasn’t able to list very much at all and my sales were down about $3,000 for April.

Not listing at auction on a consistent basis can really HURT your business. And I ALWAYS tell my Queen’s Court members this, consistently!

Mo wasn’t listing that much either as she is helping Kelly (her son) get into college. Can you believe Mo’s son will be in college next year? I can’t! They grow up so quickly. But Mo did list a collection of giraffes that had belonged to Indy and one was a huge score. I love to start out my ezines with scores.

Click here to view this auction on eBay!

And Indy, being the amazing kid she is, doesn’t even ask for the money. She says, “Mom, I gave them to you, it is your money”. Houston on the other hand is a very different story.

But let’s get back to Indy for a change! She wrote an essay for the Desert’s Best Moms contest and was chosen as a semi-finalist. Go Indy! 25 lucky moms got to attend a beautiful luncheon on Saturday, May 11th with their kids and we got HUGE gift bags.

Here are me, Indy, and Houston at the event.

I am sooooo proud of her. If you would like to read her essay—here it is.

OK, back to the move that has consumed my life for the past 6 weeks. Let’s show some before pictures of the new office and the start of filling up the warehouse space. I love these pictures because we have come so far.

Here is the front office space before we made any changes (ie, knocking down walls, painting and new carpets.)

Here are the kids helping Max move my metal shelves—5 at a time. Max is the manager of the new office building complex and an incredible worker. I was very fortunate to be able to hire him to paint, move shelves and do construction. He is awesome! And he cracks us all up with his quick wit and humor. Not only do I love the new office space, but the other tenants, the manager (Max), and the location all ROCK!

Interestingly enough, my mom was here to help at the beginning of the move (she got off easy ) and my dad was here at the end of the move (way too much for a 79-year-old man to take on). But I LOVE YOU BOTH and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP.

Seriously, no one got off easy. By day 30, I went into the grocery store by my office to get ice water and my friends who work there are like “what is all over your face?” Apparently, I was beyond filthy and had soot, dirt, dust (whatever you want to call it) all over my face, in my hair, under my nails, etc.. LOVELY!

Everyone said I couldn’t accomplish the move in 30 days and by day 25, even I was wondering if it was truly possible to move from 3,300 square feet into 1,300 without getting an extra storage unit and extending my time at the old place.

During this ezine, I want to share my top 3 tips for moving your eBay business safely, efficiently, and successfully.

Tip #1

Move your listed items first—we had about 12,000 items.

YOU MUST move your most valuable inventory first. These are the items that are already listed. The sweat equity in these items makes them worth their weight in gold, so make sure your most valuable items get to their new home first and in order. Order is the most important part of this equation. Everything MUST be put back on its original shelf number/letter or you will NEVER find your sold items again.

Here is my mom with the first two shelving units placed in the new warehouse space! She looks so cute but tired (with her eyes half-closed). Go, Mor Mor! Please notice how the items are all on their correct shelves! Or so we hope

OK, let’s share a score because reliving this move is exhausting me! This was a really cool item that I picked up at an estate sale on the last day with my mom while she was here helping me move. I paid $1. Rock on! Ice Buckets tend to usually sell and sell for GOOD money!

Click here to view this auction on eBay!

Tip #2

Edit Your Listed Inventory While Actually Looking At It

The move gave us an incredible opportunity to look at each item listed. Yes, you must see the positive in every difficult situation.

We were able to edit and remove listings that maybe (just maybe) had been listed too long with no sales.

I was also very fortunate to have some really great friends (besides my mom, dad, brother, Indy, and Houston) helping me out. Mo (of course), Lori (Indy’s best friend Paige’s Mom), Coco (a fellow eBayer), Aaron (my UPS driver for telling me I was not moving fast enough and can we please get back to normal), Danny (from the company behind our building for delivering dumpsters), and Tina Burke (one of my best friends from high school). Tina was in town with her husband for two weeks. They live in Bellevue, WA but have a second home here in the desert. Lucky me!

Tina and I listened to old tunes on the radio (think Hall & Oates and Eres tu) and cracked up while packing up the lettered shelves. She would look at me (like only a dear friend can do) and say, “You know, we could change the channel, they are making new music these days.” And we would laugh like High School Juniors!

She would also yell from the warehouse (while I was in the front working), “Friend, I need you to check this pattern—I think it needs to be donated”. She was right 95% of the time! Darn her!

But, it was great to have her and Indy help me edit those patterns of dinnerware and other items that probably should not be taking up valuable shelf space.

Here is Tina and my kids unpacking the new and improved “Queen of Auctions” inventory at the new warehouse space.

By the way, we had a local charity pick up from us four times during April and I donated approximately 3 truckloads full. Not kidding.

We also had a garage/estate sale. It was last minute and something we should have done much sooner. However, there was no way to be ready for it until the LAST MINUTE.

We reused a sign from the closing of my grandmother’s store.

Here is a photo and the newspaper article about the closing of my grandmother’s store back in 2002. Yikes! Over 10 years ago and it still feels like yesterday.

What I realized, though, when trying to pack up the huge mountains of UNLISTED items is that I have been moving my grandmother’s baggage for my entire life. Lee and I talked about it at length and he said to me “For our whole lives since we were about 3 years old, we have been moving items from one room to the next in an attempt to create extra space. Aren’t you tired of touching the same things that we used to move at Grandma’s back when we were little?” Boy, was I.

Check out these piles that were still left in the warehouse on day 29. Yes, I did say day 29 of the move, just one day before we had to be out. This was almost the end. Believe it or not?

A light bulb went off in my head. I don’t have to do this anymore.

Tip #3

Time to Let Go

When my sister was dying last year, she would say to me, “I don’t care about money or things anymore. Please take what you want, spend my money, but help me live for my boys.” We tried our best and so did Kiki—she gave more than her best—she was amazing & inspiring. There was nothing that meant more to her than “just one more day with those boys”.

This difficult lesson really helped me to weed out all of those “belongings”. As I mentioned, we donated tons of stuff and I decided to sell some things that my grandmother had given me.

It was a very freeing experience and honestly, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders by moving into this smaller, more manageable space.

Here is one of those really neat items that my grandmother had given me. It turned into quite the score. Thanks, grandma! And it sold from my eBay store right after it was listed at the asking price. I probably listed it too low, which I NEVER do. Just kidding. I am glad it went to a good home.

Click here to view this auction on eBay!

On the subject of moving STUFF from one place to another, that is just what we discussed on my most recent eBay radio appearance with Griff and Lee. If you missed it we talk about shoveling “Stuff” and my move. It is pretty funny.

Click here to listen now.

I have to admit that during this interview, the coolest thing that happened was that Griff bought something from me! How awesome is that?

Here is the item that he purchased. It is a wonderful mid-century modern piece!

Click here to view this auction on eBay!

If any of you are planning to attend eBay Radio in Las Vegas this June, I can’t wait to see you. The event is sold out and this is their 10th anniversary. Congrats to eBay Radio!

I will be speaking there, Mo, Indy, and Houston should also be in attendance, and Diva Dawn has planned a Queen’s Court dinner get-together. Doesn’t get much better 

Hope to see many of you in Las Vegas—be ready for an adventure!

OMG, I forgot to talk about baseball. That is a first! Because Houston had to sit out a full 30 days plus spring break, the season was super short. He loves his new school. The baseball team, coaches, and teammates are all wonderful.

Here is Houston after he hit a home run over the fence. Go goose!

Actually, I was so dumbfounded because he hit it off the #2 school in the league that it took me so long to find my camera, that all I got was a photo of him going into the dugout with the coach’s arm on his shoulder. You really can’t see him at all. PRICELESS!

OK, so here is a photo of Houston pitching.

Houston also did an awesome job as the third baseman. For the first time in Xavier’s history, the baseball team is going to the CIF playoffs. Go, Saints! Wish us luck! I am soooooooo excited!

As I mentioned earlier my dad came down to see the end of the baseball season. Little did he know, he would be very involved at the end of my move. Poor papa!

He ended up doing so much. Not the least of which, was to help me pack up ten of the black shelving units at 7 am in the morning so we could be ready for my professional movers at 11 am. What a nightmare. All unlisted merchandise and we had to edit as we went. It was a little stressful.

Here is Indy’s friend Nishadi also working on those black shelves and Mo dressed in a Hannah Montana wig and evil baseball Halloween mask to scare the girls.

You can always count on Mo for a little comic relief. God Bless her!

My dad worked like a dog helping me get those other 10 racks emptied off and we finally got to have some fun on Cinco de Mayo. Here are my kids, my brother Lee and my dad with the awesome dinner they all created. My dad doesn’t look like he is having fun.

Probably just relieved that the worst was over and he would be leaving soon….on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again….Yikes, those 1970’s/1980’s songs are still stuck in my head .

Speaking of fun, let’s wrap this up with another recent score. Well, aren’t they all fun and recent? Let’s talk Dinnerware. One of my favorite subjects.

While moving, I got offers on this set that I had just purchased with Indy at a garage sale. It was against my better judgment to buy it. First, it was pink and white (not a great color combo) and it was by a relatively unsalable manufacturer. But boy did it sell! I sold about $200 worth in a few weeks. I paid $20 for the set.

Here is a link to two of the pieces that sold.

Click here to view this auction on eBay!

If you don’t have my dinnerware eBook yet, you should really check it out here.

Before we wrap up, I want to share some after photos. Here is a photo of the old HQ empty. This is where those black shelves used to reside. Amazing but true!

I am very excited and fortunate to be well on my way to having the new office space perfect! We don’t know whether to call it HQ (as in Headquarters) or the “shop”. My grandma’s antique store (which was also her home) was known as the “shop” and when my kids walked into the front part of my new office they said, “this feels like our house”. It is way homier and cozy like a house or a “shop” instead of a cold and sterile warehouse-like “headquarters” so that just maybe the new moniker.

Here is a photo of the warehouse area in the old HQ empty on the last day. WE DID IT, TEAM!

Here is a photo of my new shop!