Hi!
I can’t believe it is June. School is almost out and what am I going to do with two kids for the entire summer? Yikes! I think that I am going to put them to work. Now that is a great idea!
- Lynn Recommends: Interview with Griff & Lee about Books
- Special Announcement: Book Teleseminar #2 with Sheila Anderson Mochrie!
- Contest: The Queen of Auctions’ My Best Find Video Contest Winners!!!
- Feature Article: Grocery Store China?
This ezine is published every two weeks.
June 3, 2010 Volume VI, Issue 10
I have just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Las Vegas. It was such a quick trip that I didn’t even have time to contact Diva Dawn and the other Queen’s Court members (Gary, Tricia, etc.) and meet up.
Houston had to be there to play six games in two days. That is twelve hours of baseball with six hours of warm-up or eighteen hours of baseball in about 48 hours. Yikes! Houston’s team took third place out of eighteen teams from around the country. His team even beat two teams from Hawaii. Houston pitched two amazing games and the boys won five straight. It was pretty cool!
My dad flew in to see him play and on our one free night, we went to Serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate. Ellen Beach had told us to go to the original Serendipity in New York last summer and we never made it, so this time we made it a point to hit the one on the strip.
Frozen hot chocolate. Nom nom nom.
On our way back from Las Vegas (on the Monday night of Memorial Day weekend), I made a huge mistake by taking the 15 instead of going the back roads through 29 Palms. We sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 7 hours. I have still not recovered!
Well, I will be back in Vegas this month for the eBay Radio Party, and believe me; I am taking the back roads. If anyone has detailed directions or a map on how to do that, I would appreciate it! I will be speaking there on Thursday, June 24th. I hope to see you there.
Here is a link to learn more.
Speaking of eBay Radio, I was on with Griff and Lee on May 25th. If you missed it, we talk about books and it was a lot of fun. Check it out in the Lynn Recommends section.
During the Griff interview we also spoke about the product sourcing presentation I will be giving at the eBay Radio Party this month in Las Vegas. I told Griff about buying some items off of craigslist. I bought a bunch of things for $600. Here is a link to one of those items.
Check out what it sold for!
Remember that box of books that I bought about two weeks ago for $29.00? Well, so far I have sold $89.50 worth. What a great return!
Here is a photo of those books. Check out the one on cannibals! Yikes!
The second book teleseminar with Sheila was awesome! We have already gotten so many wonderful testimonials and comments. To learn more, please see the Special Announcements section.
Also in our Special Announcements section, we are revealing the winners from our video contest. Congrats and thanks for sending them in!
Remember my mom was here about a month ago and she wrote up 600 items for me? Awesome! Well, 154 of those items were from one set of china that I bought. It was a set of Blue Willow that I got at a garage sale. Here is a photo of my mom writing it up.
Over the weekend I went grocery shopping and I couldn’t believe my eyes, but that entire line was for sale at my local Ralphs (a Kroger Grocery Store). I was appalled at how low the prices were and I knew that there was an ezine article in this. Please don’t miss my feature article “Grocery Store China?”
Many of you have asked about the Shipping eReport on dinnerware that will only be available for purchase if you already own the Dinnerware Success eBook. I have been working on it for three weeks and I am sorry that it is not finished yet! It will be finished soon and an email will be sent out.
LIVE BOOT CAMP is filling up, we ONLY have seven seats Left for 2010. If you are considering joining us, we recommend that you reserve your spot soon. This one will sell out. Here is a link to read more. We hope to see you there.
Happy eBaying,
Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’
Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
The interview with Griff & Lee about books was funny and informative (as usual)! Here is a link to the eBay group where you can log in and listen to it if you missed it. It is the recording from May 25th.Here is the listing for the Cannibal book that we talked about on air. Griff was hysterically funny when we talked about it.
Check it out here!
I paid $5.00 for it so I started it higher than I normally would. This is the epitome of unusual and strange! Missionaries trying to change cannibals. Wow! This book is in acceptable condition listed for $42.00 on Amazon.com. I would have been happy to sell it for my listing price. It didn’t sell, but I will raise the price and move it into my eBay store.
Check out this email I got from Gary Turner recently, (Queen’s Court member from Las Vegas–WOW this newsletter is all about Vegas)
Lynn,
Great class the other night, in fact it was a great follow up to the original class. Thanks for your help.
Gary, QualitySales4u
Book Teleseminar #2 with Sheila last week was awesome! You can still purchase it here. AND if you don’t already own book teleseminar #1 and #2, you can buy them both here for a very special price.
As you may remember, when I returned home from eBay on Location in Dallas I was astounded to find that I had sold a book on Amazon.com for $122.44. Here is a link to the listing on eBay.
Notice that there was NO picture and it says your item didn’t sell (that is because it sold on Amazon.com and the listing service I use for books shut it down automatically as a no sale on eBay). AND I sold it to the Smithsonian Institute Library. I got goosebumps!
Here is a photo of that book. I didn’t have to take a photo to list it on eBay or Amazon, but I did want to take one to show you what a $122 book looks like!
It really brought home to me that my book business has been such a joy and low maintenance operation since I learned about books from Sheila Anderson Mochrie at last year’s eBay Live Boot Camp.
You really do make your money “in the buying” when dealing with books. You can make some really bad decisions if you don’t know what you are doing and end up with (literally) tons and tons of penny books that you won’t even be able to give away.
Sheila and I discussed book scanners, how to list quickly, and many more critical parts to the book business during our teleseminar that took place on May 25th. Sheila is an incredible teacher and has a wealth of knowledge. The teleseminar ran for 90 minutes. It is available for purchase and immediate download here. Once again if you don’t already own teleseminar #1, you can get both #1 and #2 at a great low price here.
Here is a photo of Sheila from last year’s Live Boot Camp.
Don’t make the costly mistakes that I made in the book buying and selling business before learning from Sheila. This teleseminar is awesome!
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my video contest! I loved your videos and I’m so impressed with how well you’re all doing. So here are the results:
First Prize goes to Anne Zarraonandia for her video entitled “I Sold a JAWS Paperback book Using eBay Selling Tips from the Queen of Auctions.” She will receive a 20-minute phone consultation with me!
Please check out her eBay selling video!
Runner Up is Mary Ellen Scullin with her video entitled “Nutty Mads Game: Using eBay Selling Tips by The Queen of Auctions”
Please check out her eBay selling video also! Ellen will be receiving a 50%* off coupon.
I will be adding these great videos to my website so Anne and Mary, don’t forget to check back to see yourselves on TheQueenOfAuctions.com!
*Live events not included in the discount coupon.
‘Grocery Store China?’
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions
I was out garage saling with my mom last month and we stumbled upon a full house in Palm Desert. On one of the lower shelves in the kitchen, there were a few pieces of Blue Willow china by Churchill. Blue Willow is a very popular pattern and (from what I can figure) over 200 manufacturers have issued this design over the years.
Here is a link to one of my dinner plates that is for sale on eBay so that you can see the pattern up close.
Here is a photo of a sign that tells the legend of this pattern.
Since it may be hard to read, I have transcribed it here for you:
“Once upon a time there lived a very wealthy mandarin who had a beautiful daughter named Hong Shee, who fell in love with her father’s secretary, a man named Chang. To keep them apart, the mandarin imprisoned his daughter in the palace. One day she escaped, and the two lovers raced over the bridge to a waiting boat, with the mandarin in pursuit. They managed to elude the mandarin, reach the boat, and sail away. A storm developed; the boat foundered; and the couple was lost at sea. It is said that the two love birds appeared immediately thereafter — the spirits of Hong Shee and Chang.” Anon
So, back to the house sale in Palm Desert. Since blue willow is so easy to spot and sells pretty well, I decided to take a closer look at pieces on that shelf. There were some vegetable serving dishes and some platters. The sign said $200 firm and there was also a sign that said “Many more pieces”.
I asked the lady holding the sale what else she had in the pattern. She opened up her kitchen cabinets and revealed at least 20 dinner plates, 20 bowls, chop plates, etc. AND then she said that she had several more boxes in her storage unit that went along with it. I said, “I’ll take it.”
My mom and I drove back later that evening and followed her to the storage unit. There were not just several more boxes, but there were at least ten more boxes!!! My mom wrote it all up for me on I Sell sheets and it turned into 154 auctions. I got it listed immediately.
What a total score! Or so I thought until I walked into my local grocery store, Ralphs (Kroger). Can you even imagine my dismay when I saw this end cap display? Indy was sweet enough to pose for this photo.
And look at those price points. $5.99 for a dinner plate? $5.49 for a coffee mug? Oh boy!
I went home and told my mom about it and felt like I had made a huge mistake. What a bummer! Blue Willow by Churchill was now being sold at rock bottom prices at a grocery store.
Well, the auctions played out, and lo and behold, I sold quite a few pieces at auction.
1 – Divided Vegetable $19.99
1 – Coffee Pot $41.00
1 – Platter $49.99
1 – Vegetable Bowl $14.99
5 – Cereal Bowls at $9.99 each
4 – Soup Bowls at $9.99 each
It added up to $215.88 and I recovered my initial purchase price. I was shocked! So I went back to Ralphs to look more closely at that Blue Willow.
When I turned over the different pieces, the back stamp said, “Made in Colombia.” That explained it all.
My pieces were all made in England, not South America.
Here are a few samples of the signatures on my items.
With that important information in hand, I couldn’t wait to get my prices raised and what was left listed in my eBay store. I have 139 pieces listed and they add up to $1786.61. Since listing them in the eBay store and writing this article, I have sold two more items for another $21.98. Grand total now sold is $237.86. When I add that to what is left in my eBay store, it totals out at $2,024.47. This is going to turn out to be a great return on investment! Thank goodness!
I hope that this story helps you to see that even if your dinnerware pattern is being sold at a grocery store, at Marshall’s, at TJ Maxx, or at Ross, there is still a very lucrative market for selling it on eBay. You just have to find it (check the country of origin), buy it right and get it listed and it will sell!
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
Visit my eBay Store.
Visit my eBay auctions.
For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my website at:
http://www.thequeenofauctions.com
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
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.
The Queen of Auctions/All Aboard Inc.
PO Box 14103
Palm Desert, CA 92255
760-345-9355
Lynn@TheQueenofAuctions.com
Happy eBaying!!
Lynn
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.