Hi!
We are back in California and I am hoping that all my treasures I shipped back will arrive today also.
- Lynn Recommends: Live Boot Camp in La Quinta–One week away!
- Special Announcement: I am teaching at Rocket Place in Vegas
- Feature Article: eBaying on the Road
- The Queen’s Update: We want to hear your stories
This ezine is published once a week.
August 28, 2008 Volume IV, Issue 33
Dear eBayers,
Well, my Lundberg studios paperweight didn’t sell for as much as I had hoped. But I still did pretty well with it. To see how much it sold for click below.
Check out my paperweight here.
Last week went by quickly and it was a challenge to get all the things I bought packed up and shipped back to California. We went out on two weekends garage saling and I spent about $500. There was no way I could ship it all back home but wanted to take the best pieces.
Check out my feature article about how you can also do eBay when traveling. You won’t want to miss my top tips for doing eBay on the road. This article comes from six years of my doing eBay during the summers from Washington.
Here are the boxes that I shipped home…
I know that many of you have expressed concerns over the new eBay changes and want me to comment. I knew about these changes from my eBay Certified Provider status and was able to sit in on a developer’s meeting at eBay Live this year.
Most of the changes don’t take effect until October, so there is really no way for me to comment until I see the effects. But I will make a few notes here.
1. No checks or money orders–This will hurt the very few customers who still like to do business the old-fashioned way–but overall, there are quite a few risks with MO (not Maureen! but money orders) and checks. I think this is a good move.
2. Limits on shipping costs–I asked about this at eBay Live and was told it will be for very specific categories only. Like iPods etc. I’m not worried about this one
3. Return policies–eBay wants to be more attractive to the buying community so I can understand this requirement.
4. Longer fixed price listings–just eBay’s way to make up for closing eBay Express. It does NOT mean that they are moving away from the auction format.
We will of course get into all of this in more detail for the Queen’s Court members on our monthly Q & A call that takes place this Thursday night at 5 pm Pacific–oops! That is tonight. Can’t wait to do this call with Maureen and all the Queen’s court members–I’ve missed you guys!
We will get into even more detail about these changes at My ONLY Live Boot Camp of the year. It is a small group of about 20 students and we have a little bit of room left to squeeze in a few more of you. It is in just seven days! Just to let you know how great it is, we have four returning Boot Camp grads! Time is running out! Please read more in the Lynn Recommends section.
I will also be teaching a 30-minute class this September at Rocket Place in Las Vegas. Please read the Special Announcement Section to learn more.
Being back in Bellingham is always a little surreal. I think about my grandma a lot and also get to see many of my good friends. Unfortunately, my best friend from high school, Melanie Souve, works for Ikea in Boston and is too far away. Fortunately, Mel’s dad is still here in town and my mom and I got to visit with Ed and Etalka this week. It was quite the treat. Here we are:
A crazy thing happened while here in Bellingham. We went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Dos Padres, and my nephew Zach was being fussy so Indy and I took him on a walk. Up at the Old Fairhaven Pharmacy, they had a bunch of boats pictured in the window so we were showing them to Zach. One boat was named Elizabeth and the one right next to it said, Indiana. Indiana’s middle name is Elizabeth and the two boats were right next to each other in the correct order!
It freaked us out! Indiana was born here in Bellingham and there is a street named Indiana and a street named Elizabeth and they cross! We must get a photo of her at that intersection. Indy said, “This really is my hometown.” And now we have the photo of the two boats!
Finally, we are bringing back the section where you write in with your major scores! Please read The Queen’s Update to hear about
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.
Seven Days Left and Counting.
If you’re thinking about joining us in California for my only Live Boot Camp of the year, now is the time to make your plans.
The clock is ticking down rapidly to my only Live Boot Camp of the Year. Seats are filling up quickly!
We have twenty students coming from:
Missouri, Mississippi, New York, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas, Nevada, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, and Kansas…What a great group!
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 teaching a 30-minute course at Rocket Place in Las Vegas on Thursday, September 11th at 2:45 pm. Rocket Place is being held at the Rio Hotel. I know that isn’t a very long time to teach but Debbie from As Was has put together so many great other teachers that the seminar is definitely worth attending.
Teachers include Jay Berkowitz, Marsha Collier, Jason Guzman, Michael Lambert, myself, and others. You can read more at their website here. My ezine readers will receive $25 off your registration with the discount code: QUEEN. I hope to see you there!
‘On the Road with eBay’
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
I have been coming up to Bellingham for the summers for six years now. The first year we stayed here for two months and I did eBay full time from my mom’s beach house. Since then, I have figured out how to make eBaying from several different locations work better than ever. I wanted to share a few of my best tips with you in this week’s ezine.
1. Buy nonbreakables and small items
The best things to buy on the road are smalls and items that won’t break.
I buy a lot of flatware, wooden items, books, paper goods, and metal pieces.
I got lucky this trip and found a Timmy Woods purse. I had never heard of Timmy Woods (a lady designer) before but the purse was in the shape of a Sharpei dog and was brand new with tags. The lady wanted $25.00 for it but it was the second day of her sale and she was ready to dicker.
And dicker she should. This lady had a tennis court full of items–plus a garage full and the sale had been going on for a full day already! She had collected all the items personally and obviously had good taste. I bought quite a few things from her and will actually use some of them as examples at Live Boot Camp next week!
I was able to get the Timmy Woods purse for $15.00. Check it out. It is adorable and should sell for quite a bit!
See the auction here.
As another example, on this trip, I bought a set of fifteen Beatles pins/buttons for $15.00. I have ten of them listed at auction this week (five were duplicates so I will sell those later).
Here is a link to one of the auctions. It already has a bid!!!
In fact, two of them have bid so I have already recovered my initial investment. This leads perfectly into my second tip.
2. Try and recoup your investment ASAP
Since I had spent $500 over the past two weekends in Bellingham, my goal was to recoup that from a few choice items listed and shipped from Bellingham.
I listed all the large pottery pieces I had purchased (I know I just couldn’t help myself–nor did I take my own advice in step #1) but I couldn’t pass up a nesting bowl set of Le Creuset cookware or could I?
Nope! It was a beautiful blue color and was priced at $35.00 for the three pieces. It was at an estate sale that my friend Teresa was hosting and it was a zoo! I grabbed for one of the bowls to turn it over at the exact same time as another lady. I should have kept my big mouth shut, but I said, “That is a good brand,” and walked away. I waited patiently (from afar) to see if she was going to buy it and this time I kept my mouth shut. Finally, she walked away and I grabbed it. Then she decided she wanted one like it and followed me around throughout the sale saying, “Do they have another set like that?” Yikes!
Here is one of the bowls.
I had to do 3-day auctions to make sure I could get it listed, sold, and shipped before leaving
You won’t believe what it sold for!
So, to recap what I sold and shipped from Bellingham:
Crèche (Nativity set) $20.50
Paperweight $91.00
Paperweight $13.26
5 Miscellaneous Items at $9.99 = $49.95
Fukagawa Bell $30.00
Le Creuset Bowl Set $92.00
Grand Total is $296.71 and I expect to get about $200 for the purse I still have the Beatles pins, which are doing well. So I have recouped my initial investment and made a profit! And this leads me right to tip #3.
3. Edit Before Leaving
Once you have recovered your initial investment, everything else is just gravy. You can now go through and figure out which items make sense to ship back home to list.
I do an initial run-through and look up everything quickly on the computer. If it is large and breakable and won’t sell for more than $9.99–it goes to my mom or sister Kiki as a gift to list. My sister especially needs stock since it is hard for her to go out and look now that she has two adorable children.
Here is one of the items that I gave to my mom
and she already has it listed. Go mom!
Once I have edited, I start packing. I don’t bubble wrap very much because I try and buy fabric items when I am out of town. Things like crazy quilts, saleable vintage dishtowels, tablecloths, and other craft fabric. Then I use these to wrap most of my items.
During the packing process, more items get edited out if I don’t have the correct space for them in the boxes. But as you can see in the photo in the introduction to this ezine, I was still able to ship nine huge boxes full of saleable eBay items back home. A lot of these will be showing up at Live Boot Camp next week!
Finally, if there are some really neat larger items that I had listed but didn’t sell, I leave them with my sister. When they do sell, she gets half of the purchase price, plus the shipping fees and she will ship them for me. It works out well for both of us. I don’t have to pay to ship the item twice (to me in CA and then to the eventual buyer). And my sister and I both make money. It is a win-win situation.
Here is one of those items that didn’t sell
and it is already listed in my eBay store!
4. Bring items with you or bring completed I Sell Sheets
If you can’t shop where you are going to be traveling or want to make it easier, you can also take small items with you. I don’t know if any of you remember, but last year, I brought a box of jewelry from my grandmother’s antique store up to Bellingham with me to list. I didn’t list one thing! I didn’t list anything because I was so busy shopping for more new stock. I think it is an illness (but a good one!)
So this year I promised myself that I would list a few of those items–since like a big dummy I brought the same shoe box up to Bellingham with me in my suitcase AGAIN. I wrote up and photographed (Don’t forget your camera) 20 of the items and here is one that is currently listed. Congrats to me!
Check out this auction here.
And the easiest way EVER to travel is to take completed I Sell sheets with you and just list from those. If any of you were on the call with Lisa Suttora a few months ago, you will remember that she was so impressed with the fact that at all times I have a book full of about 200 I Sell sheets ready to list. I do this so that I can travel at the drop of a hat.
If someone calls and says, “Let’s go to Cabo tomorrow.” I can say, “Sure!” I have a week’s worth of auctions ready to list and I can list in the airport and on vacation. It is an awesome system! Check out more about I Sell here.
5. Recycle Boxes
Finally, the best part of this article is the dumpster-diving we did to get boxes. It was pouring down rain (something new for Washington) this past Sunday and I said to my mom, “I am going into town to buy some big boxes at Paper Zone to ship all my eBay-worthy items home.” But, I also told her that I was going to check with some local stores on the way into town to see if they had any useable boxes.
Well, she was all for that so decided to go with me. We went by the local mini-mart and found a ton of small boxes. Then we stopped behind the liquor store at the casino and found a bunch more but none were big enough for all my stuff. They would be fine to ship the individual items to the buyers but not the right size to ship everything back to CA.
So on our way to Paper Zone to actually purchase boxes (I probably would have spent $100), my mom thought we should try the dollar store. It was so crowded because of the rain (everyone was shopping) that the manager just told us we could go in the back and take whatever we wanted. Score!
Here is my rental truck being unloaded.
I got plenty of big boxes and we got a ton of other ones all for free. I think we saved ourselves hundreds of dollars. I am going to start doing this more in California also. Not only do you save money, but you help save the environment.
I hope this gives you some good ideas for doing eBay out of town or on your travels. The best part is that you can work from somewhere else and still make a good living. And your trip may be tax-deductible! Talk to your accountant.
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
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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.
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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.