Hi!
What a whirlwind the past two weeks it has been. Having a houseful of the company was wonderful but made it hard to get any work done!
- Lynn Recommends: Please Vote Again!
- Special Announcement: Live Boot Camp 12 seats left
- Feature Article: How to Detach, Let Go, and LIST!
- The Queen’s Update: Requesting more stories from YOU
This ezine is published every two weeks.
February 26, 2009, Volume V, Issue 5
Crazy two weeks! I was in San Diego for a day and a half for a mini vacation. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel–very bizarre I must admit. Then, they landed. My mom, sister Kiki, and nephews Zach and Kai.
My brother came out and boy did I have a full house. The weekend brought a baseball tournament and the boys took second place. Yippeee!! Unfortunately, I did not get to ANY garage sales. Oh well, I have enough items to keep me listing on eBay well into the next century. Just kidding (sort of!).
Since I didn’t go to any sales, I took that time and finally got the stein collection listed that had been staring me in the face for quite a while. Check out this Monk stein that sold for more than I could have imagined.
Click here to see how much!
And that is the reason for this week’s article. I am becoming emotionally detached from things and listing them on eBay. Don’t miss this week’s feature article “How to Detach, Let Go and List!” to see how I am handling this.
The fun week with my family ended with everyone (but me) going to Disneyland on President’s day in the pouring rain. I had to stay home and work. They had a blast. Check out this photo of them at the end of the day with my little nephews fast asleep. Too cute!
Great news from eBay. Larger pictures can be uploaded. eBay says between 1000 and 1600 pixels on the largest side. Also, up to 12 pictures are now free in the antiques and collectibles categories. Be careful since categories like books and clothing are not offering this same great option.
In the Lynn Recommends section, I am asking for your help. One of my favorite students, DivaDawnLV, sent me the nicest email. It was about a contest to pick a favorite mom-run business and she thought I should enter. Please read this section to learn more and place your vote (you can vote everyday). I would appreciate it greatly!
In the Special Announcement section, we have an awesome email from Judy/Trudy one of my returning live boot camp students. You will not want to miss out on her find of lamp parts. It was a score that stared her in the face for two years until she took the plunge and got them listed.
Don’t forget the Live Boot Camp special offer ends in two days!
Speaking of in two days, on March 1st my dad will turn 75. What a huge day for him! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to celebrate with him in person but he is coming down to visit a few days later–so will celebrate then.
Here is a photo of my dad that I put in the Bellingham Herald when he turned 60. He was so mad at me! I can’t believe that that was 15 years ago. Boy does time fly.
Last week also brought a terrible cold for me. If any of you Queen’s Court members were on the Lisa Suttora call or have listened to it–you will know how bad I sounded.
For those of you who are not members of the Queen’s Court, the 74-minute call with Lisa was amazing (as usual). Lisa is always such an inspiration and knows so much about marketing, product trends, and what is going on in the world of online selling. We do have this audio download available for sale for a short time at a great price. Click here to purchase now.
Finally, we are looking for more of your stories. Read below to find out how to submit your stories for consideration.
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.
Here is that email I got from DivaDawnLV and why I signed up for the contest on StartupNation. Many of you have voted. Thank you! We are up to about 800 votes and would love to see it go higher.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in to tell us that you can vote once a day. So, if any of you have time, please vote every day!
The contest ends March 31st so there isn’t much time left. Thanks!
Hi Lynn,
I’m sure you’ve received this email. I’m just forwarding it to encourage you to sign up for the Top Mom-Run Businesses competition. I think you do a marvelous job of both running your business and being a mom — not to mention being a friend, daughter, sister and all around terrific person. No one can sign you up, you have to do it yourself, so please do! And then let everyone know that you are participating. I can think of “one or two” folks who might vote for you!
DivaDawnLV
Please go here and place your vote. I would really appreciate it! It has been a lot of fun so far.
Thanks!
Lynn
The value of Live Boot Camp is beyond measuring. How do I know this? It’s because of the 10 seats that are sold, 5 are returning students. One of our returning students, Judy/Trudy, sent me the most awesome email. (Be sure to keep reading after Judy’s letter for some extra motivation to come join us at Live Boot Camp this year.)
Hey Lynn,
I just want to tell you the story behind those chandelier parts I recently sold. It was in mid-October of 2007, a month after Live Boot Camp. I was still learning and practicing the yard sale techniques you taught. You may not remember but I had never been to a yard sale before Live Boot Camp and I was a really intimidated and nervous shopper. Anyway, this was a barn sale with really nice things, many overpriced by my estimation. There was a box with these lamp parts…
…as I was picking through, I remembered something I learned at Live Boot Camp about these types of items. I couldn’t remember what it was, but I knew I needed to buy. I asked the seller, “What if I buy all of the pieces?” She said, “How about $50?” and I said, “I don’t think I want to spend that much.” So she said $35 and I said, “Okay.” In my head I believe I said to myself, “SCORE!!“
But I had no idea that these lamp parts would do as well as they did. I also was completely daunted by the whole idea of listing them so they stayed packed in the box for over a year. Your advice on the Queen’s Court was invaluable. Breaking that lot into so many auctions really maximized the final tally. Final Tally total sale of $390.32!!!! Yippee!!!
So basically, you were a part of this whole process from start to finish and I thank you very very much! That’s why I am coming back to Boot Camp this year. I am hoping to fine tune many of the things I practice every day plus learn more!
Thanks again, Lynn! I so appreciate you!
Sincerely,
Judy (Trudy) Sales by Trudy
Click here to sign up now and remember we have a great six-part payment plan that is ending soon.
And to make this easier for you, we are giving away a $50 gift card to use at the La Quinta Resort for everyone who signs up during February. Treat yourself to the Desert Healing Waters at the spa or use it towards one of La Quinta’s other spa treatments. Or you can treat yourself to dinner at one of the world-class restaurants at the La Quinta Resort.* Sign up here.
I hope to see you in La Quinta and we (Carmen, Lee, Mo, Indy, Houston, and I) can’t wait to help you change your life and your eBay business for the better!
Click here to request your special invitation if you own Boot Camp in a Box, Boot Camp in a Box Lite, my ecourse, or are a returning student.
We hope to see you there!
Lynn
‘How to Detach, Let Go and Just List!’
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions
I am one of the most sentimental people in the whole world. If my grandmother gave me something, if it has her handwriting on it or if she at one time even owned it–I have a very hard time selling it.
It is a terrible trait and that is why I go out to garage sales every weekend looking for non-sentimental items to sell. Well, the garage sales have been few and far between lately and not very good. So, I have started to sell some personal things. It has been a serious challenge for me and I am very proud of my progress. This is one of the reasons that I was motivated to write this article.
Another reason was that I just noticed that my “La Reina no cocina” wall plaque had broken, Houston broke one of my very rare “Dralle” powder boxes and I realized that there are just too many items in my house that could get broken.
Here is my broken wall plaque that translates to
“The Queen Doesn’t Cook”. Darn it!
Instead of waiting for the big earthquake and seeing what survives, I am going to list these fragile items on eBay and put the cash in the bank. There are certain things that I will absolutely never sell, but I have decided to focus on cleaning up my life, my house and really letting go.
The final reason that got me started on this journey was that during the Lisa Suttora interview from last week, Lisa mentioned that research is showing that those in higher income brackets (say $100k to $150k per year plus) are looking on line for expensive items. Their spending has not slowed down in this economy but rather has increased!
What a great time to sell our more valuable items! Thank you Lisa. Once again, if you are not a Queen’s Court member, that downloadable interview is available for sale at a great price, Click here.
With all these awesome reasons to list better items, I took a little tour around my house. I started with one of my master closets. I had recently completely emptied it out and had moved the bride’s basket with tulips that were one of my grandmother’s favorite possessions into my bedroom. Oh my goodness (Or OMG as my kids taught their cousin Zach last week). My sister told me that he says “OMG” all the time now. Great! Thank you Houston and Indy!
Here are H and I holding that beautiful piece.
Anyway OMG, How could I ever sell that item? Then I got realistic. It had been in that closet unappreciated and unviewed for six years. I started talking to Carmen about it and she said, “Lynn, you have too many things that are not being valued by the right collector. It is time to let go and let someone really appreciate the beauty of that piece and not let it sit in a dark closet.” An interesting and quite compelling argument, no?
So, I took a deep breath and wrote it up to sell while the family was at Disneyland. They would not have wanted to witness that process. In fact, when I called my dad to tell him I was selling some of my grandmother’s items, it seemed to make him sad. He said, “I understand why you are doing it and if you really need to talk it through I am here for you, but honestly, I would rather not hear about it.” Wow! He is just as sentimental as I am.
What are possessions anyway? Just things. You can’t take them with you but you can take the memory with you. So, my grandma loved this bride’s basket and enjoyed it for many years. I now have a great picture of it with my kids and I will remember it. Done deal.
It is funny because one of my friends is considering leaving her job and her house to go and live on a boat with the love of her life. She and I had a conversation the other day about traveling through life a lot lighter. What do we really need with us other than our friends, family, and all those great memories (that don’t weigh very much nor need to be packed and unpacked)?
As I took the bride‘s basket apart to list it on eBay, I realized that my clever grandmother had made a bride’s basket out of a gas lampshade! I got such a kick out of that and know that if I could talk to her about it she would just laugh her great laugh. You see things aren’t always as they seem.
So I decided to list the frame separately, the basket as a lampshade, and all the glass tulips individually.
Here is the frame.
Here is the lampshade.
I did start both the frame and the lampshade at $99.00. I would not let them go for less than that. I do have my limits!!
And here is one of the tulips. Notice how dark my photo table is. It just poured down rain here the day I was doing the photos.
We will see how it goes. I will update you on this in the next ezine. However, at the time of my writing this ezine, 46 people had chosen to add that gas lampshade to their watch page. That is A LOT of people! And about 8 people were watching each of the 23 tulips.
As I continued my walk around my house looking for items that I really didn’t need, I came upon a few Abingdon vases. My grandmother was born in Abingdon, Illinois so she collected the pottery. Why not? She collected almost everything imaginable. I remembered that my sister had sold an Abingdon vase recently for quite a lot. I think she told me that it was an unusual glaze combination so I didn’t think that the two plain white miniature vases or the blue vase I found would sell for a whole lot. But, I really didn’t need them and they were gathering a lot of dust.
Here is the blue vase with the original yellow Abingdon pottery sticker from the factory. At the time of my writing this article I couldn’t believe how high it had gone. I started the bidding at $24.99 and it was already up to $75.99 with five days left. Yikes! It just goes to show you that (surprisingly often) when you think something is worth a lot, it isn’t and when you think it is worth a little, it is worth a lot! Strange!
Here is that little blue vase.
Click here to see what it sold for.
In conclusion, when deciding to part with sentimental items, remember these four important considerations.
1. It could get lost, broken, or stolen.
2. Cash is King.
3. Online shoppers are looking for higher-end goods.
4. It should really be in someone‘s collection that will be enjoying it.
Just detach, Let Go, and List!!!!
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Lynn’s past ezines here.
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.