Hi!
I hope your summer is going great–on and off eBay. My sales have slowed a little bit (as can be expected), but I had some impressive sales this week during just 29 hours.
- Lynn Recommends Live Boot Camp in La Quinta–Oops, I goofed!
- Special Announcement: Teleseminar with Joel Elad–Selling Books on Amazon.com & eBay, plus Web Stores
- Feature Article: List, List, and then List Some More
- The Queen’s Update: We want to hear your stories
This ezine is published once a week.
July 10th, 2008 Volume IV, Issue 27
Dear eBayers,
It was a crazy week for me (on and off eBay). We celebrated both Houston’s and my birthday this past week. His party was a little more fun & fancy than mine. Well, how often do you turn 12?
Instead of doing a big party for 12 kids where you stress out, it costs a small fortune and then you end up with 12 gifts that your child really doesn’t need…I decided to take him and three of his best buddies out in a Limo for a few hours.
We went to The Elephant Bar for an appetizer, to Sluggers batting cages for batting practice, to Red Robin for Lunch, to Blockbuster to rent movies and then we ended up at Dairy Queen. The boys (and Indy and I) had a blast. What a fun and stress-free party. No mess in my house!
Oops, I take that back. I did let them have a sleepover afterward and we are still cleaning up from that. Oh well.
Here we are in front of the limo.
Even with the slowdown in sales that is typical during the summer months, I had an amazing 29 hours that started on the 6th of July. You won’t believe how much I sold out of my store in those few hours! I want to share what contributed to this in my feature article, “List, List and then List some more!”
I also want to update you on how much that art book from last week sold for. Check out the book that I picked up last week at an estate sale for $10. It lists in brand new condition for almost $600 on Amazon.com. What a score! And it has been paid for and shipped out. Even better news!
Because I have been selling a lot of books lately (and I really don’t know what I am doing), I have asked my good friend and fellow eBay Guru, Joel Elad to join us for a Teleseminar on Monday night, July 21st. It will be free for Queen’s Court members and even if you aren’t a member yet, you won’t want to miss this. Please read the Special Announcement Section for more info.
I got some very sad news this week. My good friends’ (Teresa, Susan, and Arden) mother passed away. Priscilla (Perk) was like a mom to me–I think I spent more time at their house than I did in my own. They lived right across the street and her daughter Susan has been the editor on all my 100 Best Books. Perk was a world traveler and her Christmas cards were legendary!
Check out this Christmas card Perk sent from Turkey. As you can see she had a great sense of humor.
Perk will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family this week.
My ONLY Live Boot Camp of the year is going to be in La Quinta is less than TWO months and I made a big mistake. There are a few seats left but it is filling up quickly. Please read more in the Lynn Recommends section to see how I goofed!
Finally, we are bringing back the section where you write in with your major scores! Please read The Queen’s Update section to learn more about submitting your stories.
Happy 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.
56 Days Left and Counting.
I made a HUGE mistake. And I must blame the heat (it is 115 degrees and humid). In one of my recent ezines, I wrote that the two-part payment plan ended on June 30th, and my brother said, “Are you sure?” Of course, I am sure. NOT! Good news for you, Our two-part payment plans do not end until July 31st!
The clock is ticking down rapidly on my only Live Boot Camp of the Year. Seats are filling up quickly but even more URGENT than that–the hotel rooms at $109 for this world-class resort are selling out!
For more information Click here.
I don’t want you to miss out on this amazing opportunity to change your eBay business and your life for the better! Don’t delay.
Click here to reserve your spot now. Or email us to ask for a new invitation because if you own Six Steps to eBay Success, Boot Camp in a Box Lite, or Full Boot Camp, you qualify for a discount.
I am excited to announce that My friend and fellow eBay guru Joel Elad and I will be doing a teleseminar on Monday night, July 21st at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST. It will be an ‘Ask Campaign’ so you can submit your questions ahead of time and I will pick the best ones to ask Joel. Click here to learn more and to ask your question.
Joel and I at Book Expo this past May in LA.
Joel is the author of How to sell anything on Amazon…and make a fortune and is an expert on many things that I know nothing about! Too Cool.
Books that Joel has authored:
Have you always wondered what all your options are when it comes to selling books on the Internet? What about DVDs or CDs? Well, wonder no more! Joel is coming back for another great teleseminar, this time to talk about the Amazon marketplace & eBay. He will answer your questions regarding selling books, DVDs, or maybe even your own original books or media! Think up some good questions, and we’ll talk on July 21st.
So fire away with questions about how to sell books and anything else on Amazon.com. Since I have started selling so many books, I am particularly interested in when I should list a book on eBay and when I should list it on Amazon.com
Joel has also just finished Web Stores for Dummies, so ask him anything you like about starting your own web store. It is always a good idea to have multiple channels, so let’s use this time with Joel to learn as much as we can.
This teleseminar and CD is free for Queen’s Court Members and is your extra gift this month. If you are not a member of the Queen’s Court and would still like to listen in, receive the download, and get the CD in the mail we do have a special introductory rate. Click here to sign up.
By the way, The Queen’s Court members think that Joel is awesome and many of you were lucky enough to meet him in Chicago. He is a wealth of information, so let’s pick his brain!
Even if you can’t make it to the call, drop by and ask your question here. The more questions we have, the more we’ll learn on the call.
‘List, List and then List Some More!’
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
It amazed me that starting on Sunday, July 6th at about 2 pm to Monday, July 7th at about 7 pm, I sold $719.55 out of my eBay store. I did say my eBay store. Nothing was sold at auction during that time period, it was all store merchandise.
Shocking isn’t it? Especially when the media is saying that the economy is so bad. In about 29 hours, I sold more than the average weekly earnings of a full-time worker. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the end of 2006, the average weekly earnings of a full-time worker (before taxes, etc.) was $682.00.
Now, the $719.55 that I sold was not all profit, but pretty darn close to it. Let’s take a look at the different sales transactions that added up to this amount and figure out how close I came to making as much as an average worker in a little over ONE day.
1. Bristol Crown Ducal Pink Dinner set originally purchased in December of 2207 for $125.00 at a thrift store. Sold 4 serving pieces for $165.00 at the auction immediately during the holiday season 2007. Set is paid for. Relisted in my eBay store on December 29, 2007
Here is one of the dinner plates. Check it out.
I sold $379.80 worth on July 6th (21 pieces). All profit.
2. Noritake Silver Key set was originally purchased for $100 in Riverside California. Remember that baseball tournament that I was at on June 15th, (Father’s day), and my mom and I went to an estate sale that advertised 50% off for the holiday? Well of course you do!
I originally sold a sugar bowl for $9.95 and we relisted the rest of it in my store on July 1, 2008. Sold $179.89 worth on July 6th
Here are the cups and saucers in that set.
It is just beautiful and was hardly used at all!
By the way, the buyer was going to be in town and emailed to ask if he could pick it up. I usually say NO but told him that if he bought a reasonable amount, I would meet him at a public location. I do NOT let anyone come to my home anymore to pick up items. I encourage you to follow the same policy.
We agreed to meet at our local Wendy’s and I made Houston come with me. We met in the parking lot and the buyer handed me $180 cash and I handed him a box of lovely china. After I purchased Houston a chicken sandwich for lunch, he looked at me and said, “That wasn’t so bad!”
$180 minus $90.05 cost, leaves $89.95 profit. AND I still have more than 1/2 the set left which includes all the serving pieces. They will eventually sell for about $300.
3. Random pieces of blue and white dinnerware. I am guessing that the person who bought these seven dinner plates from me was trying to mix and match anything in blue and white. What a fun idea!
Sold one Hartstone blue and white checkered plate for $9.99. Listed in my store on July 1, 2008. I had paid $1.00 at a garage sale. See them here.
Sold three Burgess & Leigh Chequers Dinner plates for $14.99 each. Listed in my store on June 8, 2008. I paid $1.00 each at a garage sale. Check them out here.
Sold three Italian Quadrifoglio blue plaid plates for $9.99 each. Listed in my store on December 11, 2007. I paid 50 cents each at the garage sale. See the sale here.
Grand total for this sale was $84.93 and I paid $5.50. Profit $79.43.
4. Odds and Ends from my eBay store that sold in that 29 hour period
Red, white and blue picture frame listed July 11, 2007 $9.99 paid 50 cents
Teak Turtle listed December 11, 2004 $9.99 paid 25 cents
Two Blue Onion Soup Bowls listed October 19, 2007 $9.99 paid 50 cents for both
Plastic Shark Display listed December 11, 2007 $14.99 paid $1.00
I have to show this one! Click here.
Ironstone platter listed April 9, 2008 $9.99 paid $1.00
I Sell Pages $39.95–Since this is one of my teaching tools or books, I am not adding it to the total for obvious reasons.
Alaska bell listed September 20, 2007 $9.99 paid 25 cents
Santa Claus figurine listed January 10, 2006 $9.99 paid 50 cents
Grand total of miscellaneous store items $74.93. Cost $4.00. Profit $70.93.
Total sales $719.55. Cost of Goods Sold $99.55. Gross profit $620.00. Now my eBay and PayPal fees typically run me 15% for both listing and selling. Taking that away leaves me with about $527.00! Not bad for approximately ONE day’s work. I am only $155 away from a worker’s average weekly salary! I love eBay.
One more thing. If something does sell (either from your eBay store) or at auction and the person hasn’t paid within one week. I recommend filing an unpaid buyer’s dispute against them. If they don’t pay for it after seven more days, request your eBay fees and relist the item. I used to wait a month, but on more expensive items, two weeks is my (and also) eBay’s limit.
Check out the Curtis Jere piece that sold for a lot of money several weeks ago. The winning bidder never paid and we relisted it right away. Don’t let the money sit in your “waiting for money” book for too long.
Check out the C. Jere figurine here.
Now the point of this article is that you MUST have an eBay store and you must stock it as quickly as you can. Once something doesn’t sell, get it relisted in your store IMMEDIATELY. Do you see how many items were relisted on July 1st in my store that sold by July 6th? Also, notice how that little turtle took almost four years to sell. You just never know!
The moral here is “List, List, and then List some more!” If you want to ramp up your eBay store, I recommend my downloadable report Fifteen Things You Must Know and DO to Run a Successful eBay Store. Get your eBay store up and running so that it can go to work for you!
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
We are looking for your eBay success stories to share with our ezine readers and possibly make it into a book of our reader’s best eBay stories.
A big thanks to everyone who has already submitted a story! We are looking for more great stories of your eBay adventures. We know there are many great tales out there, so please submit your story along the lines of the stories from the 100 Best Books and a great side story with photos will help. If we use your story, you will receive a $35 merchandise credit on my website and you will have your story featured–along with your user ID–in my ezine! It may also eventually end up in a published book!
By the way, when I mention my ezine readers’ user IDs with links to their auctions–it actually helps their sales! Amazing how that works. Click here for the guidelines for submitting your stories.
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.