Hi!
This ezine is going to be short and sweet because we are in Chicago setting up for eBay Live and we are exhausted!
- Lynn Recommends: The Queen’s Live Boot Camp in La Quinta
- Special Announcement: There is still time to ask your Questions for the experts at eBay Live!!
- Feature Article: Pottery before Porcelain
- The Queen’s Update: I am teaching three Classes at eBay Live!
This ezine is published once a week.
June 19, 2008 Volume IV, Issue 24
Dear eBayers,
Last Friday was a big day for me. Houston graduated from 5th grade and he is on his way to middle school next year. All of a sudden, I felt like he was growing up so fast! And the day after his graduation, he put his headphones on and cranked up his iPod all day! I felt like I had a teenager in the house. I’m scared! But he is such a good kid I know we will get through those ‘tween years just fine.
Remember my garage cleaning adventure from last week? My C. Jere figurine sold for a great price. Click here to see how much.
We all left for eBay Live on Tuesday. After three times at Avis trying to get a rental car that would hold, me, Mo, Carmen and Jason and all our luggage!
We made it to Ontario Airport and then arrived safely in Chicago on Tuesday evening. Lots of fun films so far! Then I raced from the airport to attend an eBay Certified Provider party.
It was great because I got to spend some quality time talking with eBay executives. We didn’t get this on film but we will have an incredible amount of information and answers for you in the new DVD set.
Here I am at that party talking with Rajiv Dutta, President, of eBay Marketplaces. I expressed many of the concerns that you have emailed and asked recently. And Rajiv was very receptive and helpful. He assured me that eBay would always support sellers of unique one-of-a-kind items like you and me because that is the basis of eBay’s Foundation. I am feeling really great and positive about eBay and wish that you could all be here!
Rajiv and me at eBay Live!
And if you can’t be here or are here and want to learn more than you can imagine….Our new three DVD set “On the Road to eBay Live“ is turning out great. Two of the DVDs are educational and one will be just for fun! We still need your participation for one of the educational DVDs and are still taking questions. Please read the Special Announcement section to learn more about how you can be involved!
My ONLY Live Boot Camp of the year is going to be in La Quinta in less than 3 months. There are a few seats left but it usually sells out during eBay Live. I encourage you to read my Lynn Recommends section to learn more and sign up before it sells out. With the economy the way it is, eBay is still a sure thing.
Once again, I am super excited to announce that I have been selected to teach two computer labs and co-teach one seminar at eBay Live this year in Chicago. Please read the Queen’s Update section to learn more. I want to see you guys in those seats!!!!
OK I have to admit that when I went to see the room that I am teaching in on Friday–I got a little nervous. Check out this HUGE room where I will be teaching with Herb Oberman. Sorry, the photo is a little blurry–I was shaking!!!
[You’re going to do a great job! -Lee]
Finally, my feature article is very short this week. I am sure you can understand why….but Mo and I were talking about how pottery and stoneware dinnerware seems to sell better than fine china and I thought that would be a great article for you this week. Don’t miss it!
Here’s to Successful eBaying!
Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box and Boot Camp in a Box Lite.
Check out this email that I got from Diva Dawn–she is to my left in the photo below!
Lynn,
I just wanted to write to tell you what a wonderful day I had yesterday. I sold $350.00 with 40 auctions that were ending. And, I can specifically attribute over $330.00 of those sales to attending Boot Camp! Although I have never doubted your advice and theories, yesterday they were proven tried and true, over and over again. Bill (my husband) was amazed and astounded.
I just wanted to write and express my gratitude to you once again for empowering and inspiring me. I’m slowly growing my eBay business. From not having EVER sold anything on eBay before Boot Camp, and then only sparingly in October, I am approaching receiving my turquoise star for 100 feedbacks and am having a great time. I can work at three in the morning — or during the day — or at eight at night — whatever suits my schedule that day. The freedom is intoxicating.
Again, Lynn, — THANK YOU! You have helped change our lives — and we are so grateful. I can’t say enough about what you have done for me. Fear used to motivate me — but not anymore!
Dawn Ralston
Don’t let FEAR motivate you, either. Take a chance!
…and Diva Dawn will be returning to join us in La Quinta this September for Live Boot Camp. Will you join us too?
The invitations have gone out for the ONE and ONLY Live eBay Boot Camp of 2008. It will be held (once again) at the amazing La Quinta Resort here in the Palm Springs area.
If you are a Six Steps to eBay Success, Boot Camp in a Box Lite, or Full Boot Camp owner–you are eligible for a special price as promised. Let us know if you need another invitation.
To get the best room rates for my students (and myself!), it will be held the weekend after Labor Day: Friday through Sunday, September 5th-7th, 2008.
This Boot Camp will sell out especially with eBay Live next week, so I encourage you to reserve your seat as soon as you can.
Click here to learn more.
There are LESS than 15 seats left so I encourage you to reserve your seat as soon as you can!!! I don’t want YOU to miss out.
I am so excited to have another fun bunch of students meet us here this Fall. I hope that you will be one of those students.
Click here to reserve your spot now. Or email us to ask for a new invitation.
We have extended the time that you can ask your questions for us to get answered at eBay Live. Don’t miss this opportunity. And don’t miss the opportunity to purchase it at a super special low price!
We are still taking your questions to get answered on eBay Live! That’s right, visit this page to ask the pressing questions you have about your eBay business and the future of eBay. The new and improved Road to eBay Live DVD set now includes three DVDs chock full of educational and entertaining information that you need to know.
Here is the rundown of this awesome DVD set:
Disc 1: Ask anything you want and we will take your questions to eBay Live and get you the answers you are looking for…..This Q & A will include your questions asked to Lynn, other PowerSellers, some of the eBay Certified Providers, and hopefully some eBay employees. Please click here to ask your questions now. Even if you don’t purchase this product you can still ask any question you want. Please include your user id and first name as we will repeat this on the DVD giving you added exposure. At least an hour of great learning information!!! Regular price for this single-disc after promotion: $29.95
Disc 2: We have been given the green light to film both of Lynn’s eBay classes. You can be a fly on the wall and learn all her tricks for garage sale in her seminar class and research in her lab class. Approximately two hours of intense and interesting instruction! Regular Price for this single-disc after promotion: $29.95.
Bonus Disc 3: For purchasing Discs 1 and 2 at our amazing low price, you will receive this extra DVD which includes at least an hour of the Behind the Scenes Reality before, during, and after eBay Live. The drama, authors’ luncheons, after-hours parties, and the humor of Mo, Carmen, and Jason. You don’t ever have to watch this but trust us–it is worth the price of the two instructional videos alone! I have seen some of the footage and it is hysterical!!!
Our introductory preorder offer is only good until noon on June 22nd. Order now and you will be first in the queue to receive your copy. We expect this to ship out sometime in July.
This year’s eBay Live in Chicago is going to be a blast and you can be a fly on the wall with Jason Badham’s new DVD “On the Road to eBay Live with The Queen of Auctions”.
Jason is Carmen’s husband and many of you know what a great job he did with the Queen’s Academy Shipping DVD. This is the 2nd DVD package in that series and you won’t want to miss out on our special pre-order offer.
From now until we return home from eBay Live–on Sunday, June 22nd at 12:00 noon–you can pre-purchase three DVDs full of fun and learn for a super special introductory price. Click here to order now because you know we only come out with awesome products!
Click here to order now. Click here to ask your question.
‘Pottery before Porcelain‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
Mo and I were talking on the plane about the three dish sets I had bought recently and my shock and surprise that the one that sold for the most money was not fine china, but pottery/stoneware!
I recently bought a heavy stoneware Otagiri set at a garage sale for $30. I didn’t know whether or not to buy it because I have sold Otagiri (Japan) single coffee mugs before but had never tried a dinner set. I had bought some items from the two guys several years before at the garage sale where I bought the Otagiri set.
One of the items I had bought several years ago was a movie poster that said “Those Crazy Redheads from Seattle.” That perfectly describes my mom and I so I had to buy it! It is now in my office. I love that sign.
Anyway, the stuff that these same two guys had all looked like eBay rejects. What I mean by eBay rejects are things that they had tried to sell on eBay but just didn’t quite make it. Also, they were talking about “looking things up on the Internet.” Not a good sign.
But they only wanted $30 and it was a huge set with a ton of unusual pieces. I hadn’t found any decent dinner sets in a while. So, I went for it. My $30 turned into almost $300 ($275.90) and I still have 14 auctions left to move into my eBay store for at least $9.99 each–so that is another $139.86 for a total eventual return of $415.76.
Here is one of the unusual pieces that sold for the most money. Remember this. Unusual pieces (even in a common pattern) can sell for a lot of money!
Click here to learn more and see what this unusual piece sold for.
Now, this past weekend I was in Riverside for–what reason could it possibly be?–I am going to let you guess. Another baseball tournament! Yikes. We had to get there an hour early on Sunday morning to drop off the Goosie (Houston) so my mom and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s find a garage sale.” It was a Sunday, so it was going to be tough.
I got online but couldn’t find anything. So we drove to Vons and got a newspaper. There were only three sales listed. One was an estate sale about eight miles away that said 50% off on Father’s Day. Guess what? It was Father’s Day. Off we went on another adventure.
I found a beautiful eight-piece Mikasa Fine China set called Kabuki that was only $20.00 at 1/2 price. The pattern looked like a Bonsai tree and Bonsai does sell. I didn’t even bother to look it up on my cell phone because the price was so great.
Below is a link to one of those auctions. No bids yet, but I am hopeful. However, Mo and I have said over and over again that the everyday Mikasa and not the “Fine China” Mikasa sells the best!
Here is a link to one of the auctions. Please bid!
At the same sale, there was a Noritake Fine China set called Silver Key. They wanted $250 for it and I offered them $100. It was a half-price day! I offered this after I looked it up on Replacements.com on my cell phone and found that a dinner plate was worth $29.99. It was a twelve-piece set and beautiful with a Greek Key design in platinum around the border.
Here is a link to one of those auctions.
Still no bids, but as always I am hopeful and know that even if it doesn’t sell at auction, it will sell out of my eBay store!!!
Do you remember my story from The Third 100 Best…Ka-Ching! a book about the Noritake Stoneware Sailboat pattern? The stoneware was not priced expensively because the thrift store people didn’t think it was as valuable as a Noritake fine china pattern. Remember this and look for stoneware!
Stoneware from story number 40 in eBay…KaChing!
As an ending note, the Mikasa Kabuki pattern I bought at that estate sale listed on Replacements.com for $56.99 for a five-piece place setting. The Noritake set I paid much more for, listed on Replacements for $54.99 for a five-piece place setting. Just remember this, not everyone does their research when holding an estate sale and knows what they are doing. And it does stand to reason that Noritake would be worth more than Mikasa–but reason doesn’t always translate to demand!
And the final lesson is this: sometimes the pottery made by a manufacturer is more valuable than the fine china. Don’t overlook the stoneware!!!
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include all links as they are and append this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 10,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your eBay business, make more money and have more time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com
I am excited to announce that I will be teaching one class (Twice now!) and co-teaching another class at eBay Live! I have been asking eBay if I could do this for years and finally my dream is coming true!!! The classes are 90 minutes long each.
I can’t believe that eBay Live! in Chicago is this weekend. Yikes! I have so much to do. In addition to the classes, we will be in a 10′ by 20′ booth–Booth #538. Carmen, her husband Jason, Mo, and I will be manning the booth. Mo’s sister Mary Beth will also be helping out. Can’t wait!
The first class that I am teaching–on my own–is called “How To Research Quickly & Effectively When Selling Higher Profit Margin Items.” It is a computer lab course. I have the dates and times now for all the classes. This one will be taught on Thursday, June 19th from 10:00 to 11:30 am and then again on Friday, June 20th from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. I just found out that this class will be held in a room that has 25, 50, or 75 computers.
To get the larger room here is what needs to happen. Because there are no advanced sign-ups for any sessions interested students CAN go to the Agenda Builder after they register for the conference and build their agenda, showing they will attend your session.
The more people that indicate interest through the Agenda Builder, the larger the room they put the session in. They are not held to their choices, however, so if they change their minds no one will hunt them down! Here is more about the class:
I will bring in ten unique items–typically higher profit margins from the antiques and collectibles category. As an example, a flatware set (just one piece), dinnerware set (just one piece), antique vase, etc., and show them on the computer where to go and find values and identify patterns fast! I will use Google, PriceMiner, eBay and Replacements.
The computer lab classes are workshop classes where attendees can get hands-on experience. They are limited to 100 attendees sharing 50 computers. Lab presentations are similar to Seminars, but have more step-by-step instructions and screenshots/images, so attendees can follow along on the computer. I hope to see you there!
The second class that I am co-teaching with Herb Oberman is called “From One Item To A Truckload – How To Source High-Margin Items Locally.”
My section is about shopping garage sales and thrift stores. This class will be held on Friday, June 20th from 10:30 to 12:00 noon.
Here is more about the class:
If you are looking for ongoing sources of merchandise that are not imported, or want to see how you can make significant profit off of low-cost items, this is a must-attend seminar! Join Herb Oberman and Lynn Dralle aka The Queen of Auctions, to learn more about locally sourcing high margin items that have not flooded the eBay Marketplace. Herb will talk about finding companies in your area that sell products at rock bottom prices which you may then resell on eBay. Lynn will show you how to quickly and effectively shop garage sales and thrift stores to find those unique items that can sell for big bucks on eBay.
It is a Seminar. These are lecture-style classes for large groups of attendees. Seminars look like your classic presentation – with a mixture of bullet point content and screenshots/images. Can’t wait to see you at either one!
eBay PowerSeller and third-generation antique dealer, Lynn Dralle, is the creator of Boot Camp in a Box, the home-study course where you can learn to implement the Dralle Method to maximize your eBay profits.
If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love this step-by-step course that is guaranteed to be the most complete and enjoyable guide to selling on eBay that MAKES YOU MONEY.
Read all about it here.
The Queen of Auctions also offers articles, teleseminars, how-to books, tracking guides, DVDs, eBay Boot Camp training, and other resources to help entrepreneurs make their eBay business a six-figure sales machine. Click here to learn more.
The Queen of Auctions/All Aboard Inc.
PO Box 14103
Palm Desert, CA 92255
760-340-6622
Lynn@TheQueenofAuctions.com
Happy eBaying!!
Lynn
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Lynn is an experienced eBay Power Seller, author, and teacher. If you want to know the eBay tips, tricks, and tools that Lynn uses for buying and selling at an online auction click here.