Hi!
Happy Valentines Day! Isn’t it strange how my ezine always seems to fall on great days lately…Thanksgiving, Valentines, etc?
- Lynn Recommends: Watch for your Six Steps to eBay Success invitation!
- Special Announcement: Live Boot Camp is open for your Reservation!
- Feature Article: Is it a numbers game again?
- The Queen’s Update: We want to hear your eBay success stories!
This ezine is published once a week.
February 14, 2008 Volume IV, Issue 7
Dear eBayers,
Well, I was right. Boy, did we get a lot of comments from my last ezine. The one suggestion that I kept hearing over and over again and that I completely agree with is this…Buyers should have to go through a PayPal type of dispute system before negative feedback could be left.
Just think, buyers would have to file a complaint with eBay, give sellers time to respond and make it right, and then if they are still upset, negative could be left. I think that this would solve many of our issues and I will bring it up when I am at eBay’s offices in Salt Lake City next week for the Certified Provider’s Fair.
Now enough about all the new changes. Let’s get back to learning how to sell items and make money on eBay. I will tell you this. My January was a very good month and February is turning out quite fine also. No worries here.
Remember last week how my poor son Houston had to stand in a bathroom guarding my Native American Kachinas, Pottery, and other items at an estate sale? Here again, is the cute little vase I showed you last week. I paid $8 and it sold for not much more.
Here is one of those little pieces from that estate sale
eBay continues to amaze me. I paid $1 for this little Peter Mecki Figuren from Austria. She was quite dirty. It was also in the pile that I had Houston watching.
Click here to see what it sold for!!!!
Which brings me to my feature article for this week and something that I can’t say enough, eBay is a numbers game and if you aren’t playing with high enough numbers you just are not going to make it. Don’t miss this article that was inspired by one of my Live eBay Boot Camp Attendees Diva Dawn from Las Vegas. She also has a quote in the section about Live Boot Camp–don’t miss her quote–it is awesome!
In my last ezine, we left out a picture and a link to an Illy saucer that sold. No cup, just a saucer. Here is a photo of that saucer and what it sold for.
Check it out here.
I couldn’t believe how much that one single saucer sold for…
Unbelievable!!
Speaking of Unbelievable, that is what the Live Boot Camp experience will be for those lucky enough to attend. We have already sold four seats!!! And with almost seven months until the event–you know that this will sell out completely. I don’t want YOU to miss out–please read more below.
In the Lynn Recommends section, I am very happy to announce that after two years, I have completely rewritten my original basic ecourse. The launch is coming soon.
Finally, I get emails from many of you that want to buy my full Boot Camp in a Box but just can’t afford it. So I listed one on eBay this week starting at 99 cents. It ends Sunday, February 17th at 2:33 pm Pacific time. Click here to place your bid.
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.
I wrote my original basic ecourse back in 2005. For the infomercial, we had to update it and make it completely current. It is now not sent out week by week but is sent to you all at once as a course you can go through at your own pace.
It is now called “Six Steps to eBay Success” and still covers all the topics of the original ecourse but updated with new screenshots (remember eBay recently changed their SYI (Sell your Item form)) and my new and revised strategies.
I was amazed at how much had changed since I originally wrote it almost three years ago! Yikes, time flies!
So, if you have ever purchased the basic ecourse, watch for an email early next with a special invitation to get this upgrade for a super special low introductory price!!! And if you have never purchased the ecourse, watch for a special intro price for “Six Steps to Your eBay Success.
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!
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.
To get the best room rates for my students (any myself!) it will be held the weekend after Labor Day; Friday through Sunday, September 5th-7th, 2008.
Click here to learn more.
This Boot Camp will sell out–especially with the infomercial coming out sometime in February, so I encourage you to reserve your seat as soon as you can.
We have already sold four seats!!! And that is months before the event–you know that this will sell out completely by September. 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.
‘Is it a Numbers Game Again?‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
You have probably read more than one of my articles on this subject and I can’t stress to you how important it is. That is why I am writing another one! Let me give you an example.
This past weekend we had to go to Temecula for a baseball tournament (Something new and different!–Just kidding). We needed to spend two nights there because the first game was really early on Saturday morning. So in preparation, I wrote up a ton of I Sell sheets and had at least 150 items ready to list on my computer that has wireless broadband Internet access.
I have to admit that I get very nervous watching Houston play baseball. All the team parents know this about me and it is kind of funny. So having my computer there is a little bit like having a security blanket. I have been really lucky lately and all the ball fields have had tables where I set up with my I Sell book and computer.
During the five games this past weekend I listed 100 items while watching games or in our hotel room! Isn’t that amazing? I was able to shield myself from getting stressed about the games by actually making money!
Here is a photo of the pile of sheets I listed.
Point #1: Random really unique stuff takes longer to list than sets of dishes or collections. So, I save these harder-to-list items for when I am out of the office. When I am on the road, I take all the hard-to-list items with me.
I do this because I can totally focus (except when Houston is pitching or hitting) because I don’t have all the distractions that are in my home office. Phones ringing, ezines to write, orders to ship, articles to write, carpool to drive, doctors appointments, business meetings, and kids to take care of etcetera, etcetera.
Before I forget, Houston’s team took 2nd out of 8 teams!!! Hoorah! And here is Houston (crazy as usual) and Indy with her pal Coco the Girl Gorilla. As a fun school assignment, she got to take Coco home this weekend and to Temecula. Indy had to journal all her experiences with Coco and take photos.
Indy & Houston with Coco
Point #2:Listing at least 100 new and unique items each and every week on eBay at auction is what will grow and sustain your eBay business.For last night’s Queen’s Court call I had Auntie Suzi in the hot seat. (Visit her store – Auntie Suzi’s Attic – and let’s help her business!) Auntie Suzi has done a great job of stocking her store (with over 1,000) items but she was not listing enough at auction to drive traffic to her store. Her eBay and PayPal fees were killing her–at almost 35%.
I am working with her to get those fees down into the acceptable range of 15 to 20%. She is very sweet and even emailed me before the call to say, “I know what’s wrong…I need to sell more items.” She is right, but to do that she needs to list more items.
Point #3:The numbers game works not only in the selling but also in the buying.Remember those two items in my introduction–the Native American vase and the Peter Figuren? They were in the huge pile of stuff that I bought at that estate sale that cost me $110. Houston said to me as we were leaving, “I would have only paid $50 for it all.”–I think he is getting more and more like my grandmother every day!
But here is my point. Even though the lady said $8 for the tiny vase and $1 for the Peter figuren, I didn’t care what I listed or sold them for. Why you may ask? Because I got enough stuff for $110 to break it all out into about 70 listings (there was also huge flatware set in with the pile of stuff). Those 70 listings should (eventually) turn into at least $700, if not more.
So using my numbers game theory, I listed everything starting at $9.99. The little vase didn’t sell for a lot, but in case you missed seeing what the Peter Figuren sold for, please….
Click here to see what it sold for!!!!
I am still in shock! When I did my research on PriceMiner, the most that one had ever sold for was $24.99! And mine was dirty. Score!
So you see that by buying in large quantities, I have spread my risk out quite nicely and continue to make huge ROI’s (return on investment).
Point #4: The new eBay fee structure encourages us to list more items at auction and in our stores.
Here is more of that email from Diva Dawn…..and what prompted me to write another numbers game article…Thank you, Dawn!!! Visit her auctions here. Her user ID is DivaDawnLV.
I find that the eBay fee changes won’t really impact me greatly on most auctions. For what my average auction closes for, the fees really only impact each auction by a few cents one way or the other.
HOWEVER, as auctions close with no bidders and I move items into my store, I see a huge impact. What once cost me 81 cents (75c auction listing fees, 6c store listing fee), now will only cost me 33 cents (30c auction listing fees, 3c store listing fee). True, when the item sells, the final value fee will be higher than before, but by then I will have been paid for the item because it actually SOLD.
This means that every item sitting in my store has cost me 48 cents less up front. And that means that I can have 5 items sitting in my store for the same amount of upfront dollars as it used to cost for 2 items.
(81 cents times 2–old cost of $1.62 versus 33 cents times 5–new cost of $1.65).
And, as someone starting out, it’s all about the “upfront” capital expenditures and getting the most bang for every dollar invested/spent, so I think I will actually benefit from the new eBay fee structure.
Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth.
Dawn
Awesome! I love Dawn’s point of view and it was worth more than two cents! So, with the new fee structure, we should be putting more items up at auction and into our eBay stores. About 2.5 times as many! So maybe, I need to start listing 250 items a week. Yikes! I think I will hold at about 100 to 150, especially if I want to write the4th 100 Best book this year.
Point #5: Collections are easy to buy and easy to list. They yield high numbers of listed items.
One of my thrift stores has had a set of flatware in their front counter since October. It was priced at $175.00 with a note attached saying $1,200 on Replacements. Just great. Well, I have been watching it like a hawk, waiting for it to go half price. Well, this past Monday, I walked in and was thrilled to find that the entire store was 50% off!
My lucky day! I got it all listed in about an hour on Tuesday night and if you can believe it–that one box turned into 61 auctions! I already have bids on 26 of the auctions.
Here is a set of iced tea spoons that already have a bid. See how much!
If it added up to $1,200 on Replacements, I can typically expect it to sell for 20 to 30% of that retail on eBay. So on the low end, I was looking at $240 and I couldn’t spend $175 and take a gamble like that. So I was patient, got it for $87.50, and will do very well with it. Patience is a virtue you know.
I hope these examples show you how easy it all is if you just play the Numbers Game and apply the Dralle Method.
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 ithere.
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.