Lynn’s eBay Ezine Volume VI, Issue Number 17

 

Hi!

Live Boot Camp was amazing and I got an award at eBay on Location! Too wonderful.

  • Lynn Recommends: Clothing Teleseminar #2
  • Special Announcement: Coupon Sale…Get your copy of 2010 Live Boot Camp DVDs
  • Feature Article: eBay is Fun Family Time

This ezine is published every two weeks.
September 9, 2010 Volume VI, Issue 17

I think this has been the craziest two weeks of my life. On the day that my last ezine came out, I was setting up for Live Boot Camp. Live Boot Camp was wonderful. I have heard from a lot of Live Boot Campers that this one was our best one ever! Our catchphrase for the weekend was, “Is that a puppet?” by Serena Lee.

Here is that famous puppet.

Check out this email I got from Serena Lee;

Hi, Lynn

I meant to email you sooner, but am still recovering from all the back-to-back activities I’ve had on my plate since before Live Boot Camp!

I want to thank you again for putting on such a great Live Boot Camp for all of us. The 2nd time was really the charm. I really enjoyed learning from you, Houston, Indy, and my fellow attendees. It was such fun going to all those thrift stores and garage sales, “working in the field,” so to speak. Thank you, too, for all the great laughs, esp at the restaurant, with the White Elephant. That was a definite highlight of this year’s Boot Camp :0)

I know you had a lot of help with Live Boot Camp, so please extend my sincere thanks to your Mom, Lee, Mo, Carmen, Jason, Deborah, and of course, Houston and Indy, for putting on such a jam-packed weekend of learning and laughs. Like wine, you all get better with age :0)

Coming back and attending eBay On Location, I feel really good about my eBay business. I know now, more than ever, that I can do it. I know what I need to do now to have a good, solid business. “I see the light,” so to speak :0)

So, thank you, Lynn, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing the Dralle Method with all of us, so that we can have successful eBay businesses ourselves. I know I’m not alone in saying that your generosity and spirit know no bounds. It’s so special to see your Grandmother’s spirit, enthusiasm, and love of life carry on in you and your business. I know she is looking down on you with great pride. You are indeed answer to many people’s prayers, for all that you do and all that you are!

Take care. Looking forward to learning more from you for many years to come!

Serena (“Is that a puppet?”)

Boy, did that email make me happy! To learn how you can get your own copy of my Live Boot Camp 2010 DVDs at a great price check out the special announcement section for our Back to School Coupon Sale.

Because Serena’s email and others I received after Live Boot Camp talked about my friends and family and how thankful we are for them, I decided to write my feature article about making eBay fun family time. Don’t miss it.

Talking about family, do you remember that wonderful set of dinnerware I found in Bellingham while visiting family?

Well, my amazing mom wrote it all up on I Sell sheets while at Live Boot Camp. It turned into 74 auctions. Wow!

On the Monday morning after Live Boot Camp, I took Houston and Indy to their first day of school.

After I dropped them off, I got the Midwinter dinnerware set listed that afternoon and Tuesday morning while flying to San Jose for eBay Live. If I can list 100 new and unique items each week while living a crazy and hectic life (seriously the craziest two weeks of my life), I KNOW you can too!

I was motivated by both Elizabeth from AfricaDirect and Vicki Penne ChicVintageGoods to donate a percentage to charity through eBay’s Giving works (Mission Fish) so I chose my favorite charity Toys for Tots.

Not only does donating to a charity make you feel great by helping others, it will also help your listings get more exposure in best match.

At the auction, I sold 13 pieces for a total of $374.39 in sales! Yippeee. I will list what is left in my eBay store for over $1,000. Now that is a great ROI.

Mo immediately listed most of the Wild Oats in my store. Update–just 12 hours after writing this ezine, I got an offer of $20 each for 2 of the salad plates. Now I am at $414.39 in total sales! Another Yipppeee!

Here is one of the pieces that got a lot of bids. I thought it was a bone dish but I was wrong.

Here is the eBay listing.

I wouldn’t normally repeat something from the last ezine but I just had to because it involved the “Puppet”….Remember this section from the last ezine……”My brother flew up to Bellingham to celebrate our mom’s birthday and it was a blast. It went by too fast but I was even able to drag my brother out to a garage sale! As you past Live Boot Camp grads know, my brother NEVER joins us on Saturday morning for garage sales so it was quite the coup to get him to join us at ONE sale. It was at this sale that I bought a huge stuffed dragon/dinosaur that I will be listing at Live Boot Camp. I think it may become this year’s mascot. (AND BOY DID IT)

Because the Mel and Steve Woods clothing teleseminar were so fantastic I invited them back for another one this month! I have NEVER gotten so many rave reviews and emails after a live phone event like I have for this one. This phone call is going to be the Queen’s Court gift for September and will take place on Tuesday night, September 21st. Please read the Special Announcement section to learn more.

This year’s final eBay on Location was in San Jose on September 2nd and 3rd–eBay’s fifteenth birthday. It was amazing!!

Mo and I flew in on Tuesday and were picked up at the airport by Chris Taylor, the San Francisco Seller’s Group founder. He is so funny and cracked us up the entire time. He drove us to the eBay campus for my guest speaker event. Chris worked tirelessly to get eBay to allow us to have this event on their campus and I truly appreciate it. What an honor to be at the first EVER eBay seller’s event that was held on campus. If you live in the bay area and want to join Chris’s amazing group, here is a link.

Here is a photo of Mo and me at the event.

The next morning, Mo and I headed back to the eBay campus to attend a Certified Provider/Developer meeting with Laurel, Laura, Craig, and Ginger. It was amazing. A lot of programming and directional information but also gave me insight into how difficult changes can be for such a large and complex company. I had never listened in on any of these meetings (and I have been an eBay Certified Provider for three years!) but I will be listening in on them in the future because it gives me the information that I need to teach and guide you all better.

That afternoon we had a meet and greet (thank you to Sherri) for the Queen’s Court members. Too much fun!

That night was the kickoff party for eBay’s birthday and I received an award!!! I was given an award for innovation in marketing. It was such an honor to be singled out at the opening ceremony and THANK YOU to everyone who made it happen.

After the kick-off party, Mo and I got to hang out with Mark Furrer. Mark is another sarcastic and super funny guy who we met when he was in charge of running eBay Live in both San Jose and Las Vegas. It was great to see him!

The next day at eBay on Location was my final panel appearance with Griff. I was happy that my crazy travel schedule is winding down but sad that the first four eBay on Locations are over.

I arrived back in Palm Desert on Friday (from San Jose) and we had to leave at 6:30 am Saturday morning for a baseball tournament in Temecula and Hemet. Houston’s team took second place out of ten teams. They are playing 14U this year, which means they pitch from 60 feet and the bases are at 90 feet. Just like in the major leagues. Crazy!

Hopefully, this means that things are back to normal…. 🙂

Happy eBaying,

Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’
Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
 

Check out these emails and posts I got after the 1st clothing teleseminar…This one came from Vikk who was with us at Live Boot Camp!

Lynn,

I am really looking forward to Live Boot Camp! I know I’ll learn a lot but even more I know I’ll actually get something done. Actionable days, that’s what they’ll be. I think I’ll even blog those days. It’ll be fun.

And I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed this week’s call with the folks about clothing. Who knew? That was one super-packed, highly informational conference call–even more it was fun!

Thanks for all you, Mo, your brother and your mom do to help me and help all QC folks.

Vikk

Then this was posted on the Queen’s Court forums…Under a thread entitled “Lynn, Thank you for Mel and Steve.”

I just got a chance to listen to Mel and Steve’s teleseminar and it was just great! Never thought about branching out into clothing but the enthusiasm on the conference call was so infectious! I’m with Lynn–can’t wait to go shopping the sales now.

Thanks so much for sharing so much information, Mel and Steve.

Posted by Judy.

It was a really amazing teleseminar and I went out and bought $540 of clothes at Macy’s. They totaled over $3,000 at original retail and I have them all listed now at about $2,000 on eBay with our best offer. I will be happy to double my money. Here is one of my listings. It was a blast!!!

Here is a tunic I have for sale.

Mel and Steve Woods are amazing at selling clothing on eBay. They buy directly from Macy’s and other high-end department stores. They know the ins and outs and tricks and tips to get the best deals. They double up on coupons and practically buy for free!

They will be joining us again for Clothing teleseminar #2 on Tuesday night September 21st. It is the September gift for Queen’s Court members. Yipppeee! If you aren’t a Queen’s Court member you can join us on the call by reserving your spot here

Here are Steve and Mel at a cookout in Maryland. He is Melanie’s “bra man” and often lets her hang them from his arm while shopping in the store. What a great guy!

Mel and Steve are awesome. Mo will be joining us for the call. The call will be fun, informative, and it will help you make money on eBay. Click here and join us for the call.

Back to School Coupon Sale!

Use this coupon code to get 25% off of
most items on our website

QABack

Our sale ends in one week on 9/16/10. Just enter the code QABack into the shopping cart before you check out.

(Queen’s Court Members don’t forget your added discount.) (NEW clothing teleseminar, live events, and Queen’s Court memberships are not included in this sale.)

Don’t forget that there are 2 ways to get the new footage of

Live Boot Camp 2010

AND Live Boot Camp 2010
is New and Improved!

Our Live Boot Camp was amazing! To celebrate, there are two ways to get the new footage at super special savings.

First, we are offering the new 2010 DVD set to current Boot Camp in Box owners (and Live Boot Camp Grads) at a great price during our coupon sale.

Secondly, we are offering full Boot Camp 2009 plus the added 2010 footage to new purchasers during our coupon sale.

Please email us for your special link to purchase if you are a current BCiB owner or Live Boot Camp Grad or click here if you are interested in preordering the new footage with BCiB.

I am so excited about this year’s Live Boot Camp. We addressed the latest eBay changes, ways to diversify your eBay business, new ideas to grow your business, and don’t forget that we had SPECIAL Live Guest Speakers.

To see the new revised schedule, click here. We have added even more great lessons to our already jam-packed itinerary.

We had some great lessons from our guest speakers:

Mandy (Mandycrafts) is a teddy bear and Steiff expert. I am thrilled that she agreed to teach. She spoke for 30 minutes on how to tell if a bear is mohair, and old, collectible brands, some identification tips when there aren’t labels, condition issues & what to look for and/or avoid? When and how to clean bears and where to find them.

Diva Dawn (DivaDawnLV) spoke about Lilliput Lane cottages. She is a wealth of information about her little Lilliput Lane cottages, and it is a wonderful narrow niche.

Nancy Nelson discussed ephemera. Ephem-a-what? you may be asking. Ephemera is the upper crust word for paper goods. Nancy showed us many wonderful examples. Too fun!

This is what Diva Dawn had to say
after Live Boot Camp 2010:

Hi Lynn,

I wanted a chance to say “Thank You” for Boot Camp – yet again! It was amazingly different from all the others, and filled with so much fun and inspiration that I can’t begin to thank you enough for taking the time to put it together this year. You must be exhausted with all your traveling this year, and yet you are preparing for another trip tomorrow, this time to San Jose. I can’t begin to imagine what a crazy summer this must have been for you!

You guys are the best … I will miss all of you until next we meet. Bill is talking, yet again, about how he’d love to live in Palm Springs …

Please thank your mom, Carmen, Debra, Mo, Lee, Houston and Indiana for me (and Jason!)  You are all AWESOME!

Diva

Diva Dawn, Las Vegas, California

Even if you attended Live Boot Camp, don’t forget that I am going to be adding extra footage to the DVD sets that wasn’t filmed on location. Do you remember that dish set that I bid on in front of the class? I won the item! I am going to be unpacking it and showing you how I am going to be listing it while Jason films it for the new DVD set.

The set I won during Live Boot Camp

Also, if you can believe it, one of the few book/CD items I listed in front of the class to teach about selling books online sold! Amazing.

This was our BEST Boot Camp EVER.

We talked about all the changes going on at eBay (changes to Top-Rated Seller, no more PowerSeller, DSRs, Best Match) and how we can use those changes to our advantage.

Once again, screenshots will be included on the DVD set.  It is going to be awesome! It will become our full Boot Camp in a Box and replace the one we have now.

Email us for your special link to purchase if you are a current BCiB owner or Live Boot Camp Grad or click here if you are interested in preordering the new footage with Boot Camp in a Box.

Thank you again for buying and learning from Boot Camp in a Box. I love hearing your success stories!

Happy eBaying!

Lynn

P.S. If you are a Queen’s Court Member, don’t forget to use your 15 % discount coupon in addition to our Back to School coupon code: QABack

P.P.S. Don’t wait to order this DVD set! This is a very special offer and it expires soon.

(The set will be shipping when ready sometime after Live Boot Camp weekend.)

‘eBay a Time for Family Fun & Togetherness’
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

At Live Boot Camp this year, my brother taught about photography, my mom taught about clothing and I decided to include Houston and Indy in the fun. You see, they have both been getting their eBay feet wet and they were excited to share what they know with my students.

Indiana taught first about how to list from an iPhone using the new eBay selling app. She looked so composed in front of the classroom and did such a great job! I was so proud of her.  I do want to point out that you have to be eighteen years old to actually list on eBay, but your kids can help you if they are under your supervision and using the eBay account that you (the adult) are responsible for.

In less than three minutes she had an item listed in front of the class. When she sat down with me in the back of the room afterward, I said, “Honey, you did such a great job I am so proud of you, you were so composed.” And she said “Mommy, my legs were shaking and I just told them (in my mind) ‘stop it.'” Too cute!

After a full day of learning on Friday, Indy was ready to go garage saling with all of us on Saturday morning. She spent 25 cents on her first “real” eBay purchase. She bought a troll doll and actually listed it in Lynn Bryson’s (UniqueBoutique411) SUV on the way back to Live Boot Camp. How fun!

Here is the troll auction.

Indy reminds me so much of how I used to help my grandmother when I was small. She is always willing to do any job–no matter how big or small–and with a cheerful attitude. I can see just how big of help she is going to be.

Here I am a few years younger than Indy helping out
my grandmother in her antique store.

Houston taught about buying bats and gloves to sell on eBay and what to look for. He taught us how to tell if a bat has lost its “pop” and some key pointers for mitts. It was a great presentation.

I have been utilizing both of my kids a lot lately (not just for eBay) and they love to earn money that they can spend on things they want. Houston has been helping stuff Queen’s court envelopes with CDs and Indy did my PowerPoint presentation for the eBay Radio event. Check out this video on YouTube that Indy made to welcome the new Live Boot Campers. It is awesome!

Click here to see the video on YouTube

There are many ways you can use your kids in your eBay business. Indy has been listing books and CDs for me lately. As many of you know, if you have books with an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) or CDs with a UPC (Universal Product Code) and you use the eBay listing system, a stock photo and detailed information about the book or CD will appear. Also, the eBay system gives you the average start price and average sold price. It is so cool!

Here is Indy listing some books for me in the eBay room.

I have her fill out the I Sell sheets by writing the name of the book, the category the auction start and end date, the time, day of the week, starting bid price, and shipping cost. I also have her look up the ISBNs and type that into the eBay system on the correct screen.

See the I Sell sheets:

When the research from eBay comes up with the average starting and selling prices, she and I discuss it and come up with a starting bid price. If the book sold for more than $5.00, we started it at $4.99. If the book sold for less than $5.00, we started the auction at 99 cents. I input the starting bid price and adjust the set eBay title that comes up automatically from the ISBN. I adjust the title because it doesn’t always include the keywords that I like to use. Sometimes words like a cookbook, book, and the author’s name are missing. Then I click submit and I have Indy write down the eBay item number on both the front and back of the sheets and the listing fees on the back.

The first time we did this was several years ago and we listed 20 books one evening. See the big pile of books! We did end up selling quite a few of them and if they didn’t sell at auction, guess where they went? Right into my eBay store!

As a side note, because I have learned so much about selling books (thanks Sheila!) since Indy and I first did this together, I would NOT buy most of the books pictured in the photo. I typically ONLY buy non-fiction these days.

There are many ways you can utilize your family members to help in your eBay business. Here are some ideas:

Smaller Children

  • Bubble-wrap items to be shipped
  • Cleaning items
  • Polishing silver
  • Taking off price tags–a great job for little fingernails
  • Helping to find things that have sold
  • Accompanying you to garage sales, thrift stores

Teenagers

  • Shipping
  • Answering Questions
  • Helping to find things that have sold
  • Initial Measuring and Noting Condition on the I Sell Sheets
  • Photography
  • Listing items for you on eBay under your supervision
  • Finding their own items at garage sales to list on eBay under your supervision
  • Listing books and CDs

Plus any of the things that the smaller kids are doing.

Don’t forget to pay your kids. It will teach them to be responsible, helpful, respectful and they will learn a good work ethic at a young age. There are also tax benefits to hiring your kids.

Husbands/Wives & Parents

  • Relisting at Auction
  • Moving Auction items into your eBay Store
  • New Listings
  • Writing up items on I sell sheets to be photographed
  • Photography

And any of the Smaller Children/Teenager duties.

As an example of having your parents help you in your business, check out my mom. She is an amazing write-up person for me. In front of the Live Boot Camp (in just one day) she wrote up over 180 items. Way to go, mom!

Bringing your family into your eBay business is not just a way to make your business more productive, it can also be a fun time to spend with one another. Try it out!

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.