Lynn’s eBay Ezine Volume VII, Issue Number 9

 

Hi!

I missed you during that short hiatus! I will probably have to take a few more before all three volumes of the flatware eBook are finished. What a crazy month it has been.

  • Lynn Recommends: Flatware Success eBook–preorder
  • Special Announcement: LOL DVD footage pre-order price ends
  • Special Announcement 2: Live Boot Camp at HQ
  • Feature Article: A Five-Point Plan to Fix Your Workflow Bottleneck

This ezine is published every two weeks.
June 9, 2011
Volume VII, Issue 9

Before I forget to mention it, I want to remind you all about the eBay Radio Party this month on June 22nd and 23rd. How fun that I get to go to Vegas and teach with some of my favorite people; the list of speakers is fantastic! It includes Griff, Marsha Collier, Janelle Elms, Cliff Ennico, John Colder Ice, Debbie Levitt, and Cindy Shebley.

I am bringing Houston, Indy, and Mo with me. It is going to be a blast and hopefully, I am going to hit some thrift stores with Diva Dawn and other Queen’s Court members.

Also, there will be great corporate sponsors in attendance. Kabbage, Doba, eBay, Page Mage, Ship-Rush, Stamps.com, and Terapeak. I am really hoping that my great friends from Terapeak (Denise and her crew) and Kabbage (Marc and his crew) are in Vegas. Terapeak and Kabbage made my Las Vegas LOL event a huge success. You guys are awesome and so are the services you provide to us eBayers!

If you haven’t signed up yet for the eBay Radio Party, here is a link. The dates are June 22nd and 23rd at the Flamingo. Cost of admission is $75 if you sign up now. See you there!

I have been spending a lot of time at Headquarters and working diligently to get it “semi-perfect” for Live Boot Camp. I have downgraded from perfect to semi-perfect. Let’s be realistic  I have opened several boxes on my way through the “Alps.”

My mom was here recently for a visit (let’s be honest, she came here to work like a dog for me) and she got a bunch of teacups and saucer written up from my antique store inheritance boxes that came from the “Alps.” I listed one of the really neat Lenox architecture series sets and it sold! Yay! It sold for more than we had it priced in the antique store. eBay amazes me!

You can see this listing here.

This year’s live boot camp at HQ with a lovely view of the Alps in the background (ha ha) is going to be more important than ever before. So many eBay changes and how we will be dealing with them will be our focus.  Six people have signed up! YAY…You can reserve your seat now (only 14 spots left). Read more about it in the Special Announcement section. The detailed informational page is ready to read. Click here to learn more.

You know I have been hearing the usual anti-eBay grumbling and I have to tell you, I tune it out. Instead, I focus on listing, listing, and more listing. This May was one of our best months of selling on eBay in quite some time. There are many things to attribute this to but I will tell you this, with the new eBay changes for final value fees starting on July 6th, I have cut the girl’s hours way down to protect my bottom line. Carmen and Mo are only working about 12 hours a week each. And Deborah has moved to San Francisco (I miss her ).

Even with these cuts, we sold almost $10,000 of OOAK (One of a Kind) items at great margins in May doing this with Carmen just shipping, Mo listing 100 things a week, me listing 100 things a week and me pulling all I Sell sheets, doing all the bookwork and answering all the questions. It can be done and done successfully! This is a new twist on my business that we are going to teach you at Live Boot Camp.

And FYI, eBay’s fees (even with the new changes going into effect on July 6th) will still be cheaper than Amazon’s. So no more time wasted complaining. Just get it done! Where else can we do what we love doing (turning trash into cash) and make this kind of money? Enough said.

I walked into my local thrift store on Monday and could NOT believe the collection of vintage Starbucks mugs on the shelf!

Check out this one that Mo listed. It was priced at only 49 cents!

You can see this listing here.

Then I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted this pair of Japanese cloisonné vases for $7.99 each. Japanese cloisonné typically sells for much more than Chinese. This pair of vases had a bid within hours of being listed!

See this listing here.

LOL footage has all been shipped! Please read the special announcement section as the price is increasing on June 13th. Click here to learn more and place your pre-order. This set rivals Boot Camp in a Box and the final price will be going up accordingly. We have heard great things about it! Read some of the new testimonials in the special announcement section.

May was a crazy hectic month for me. I got a fantastic surprise when I received a phone call from one of Indy’s teachers in mid-May. Indy had been chosen as student of the month for the sixth grade at the Middle School. This is a HUGE honor. Only 25 kids get it out of 450 for the entire year. I was so proud of her! Luckily my mom was here to see the ceremony.

Here are Indy and I afterward. She did NOT want to take this photo and kept saying. Let me go, I want to go back to the assembly and celebrate with my friends.

LOL footage has all been shipped! Please read the special announcement section as the price is increasing on June 13th. Click here to learn more and place your pre-order. This set rivals Boot Camp in a Box and the final price will be going up accordingly. We have heard great things about it! Read some of the new testimonials in the special announcement section.

May was a crazy hectic month for me. I got a fantastic surprise when I received a phone call from one of Indy’s teachers in mid-May. Indy had been chosen as student of the month for the sixth grade at the Middle School. This is a HUGE honor. Only 25 kids get it out of 450 for the entire year. I was so proud of her! Luckily my mom was here to see the ceremony.

Here are Indy and I afterward. She did NOT want to take this photo and kept saying. Let me go, I want to go back to the assembly and celebrate with my friends.

I can’t believe this, but yes, I will have a high school freshman next year. My mom took us all out to celebrate “everything” at the old Charthouse restaurant, (now Bananaz and soon to be Gigi’s Island).

After dinner, my mom and I took a tour of the iconic building (had our photo taken) and when we went outside to find the kids, they were nowhere in sight. Then I looked up. Remember, my grandmother always told me to look up and down when outsourcing items to sell.

There was Houston on top of the mountain behind the restaurant showing the world his joy for life. I am very blessed to have such great and happy kids.

Last weekend, Houston’s future high school team, the Palm Desert Aztecs made it to the CIF (California Intramural Federation) Division 4 Championship for Baseball at Dodger Stadium. The team is led by Ryan Garvey (Steve Garvey’s son) so of course, we couldn’t miss it. It was so much fun to be in Dodger Stadium with almost the entire city of Palm Desert and still, the stadium looked nearly empty.

The Aztecs lost 7 to 0. Since we were going into LA anyway, I made it a business trip (I apparently deliver furniture now ) and sold this fantastic hidden revolving bar for quite a bit of money. I paid $100 for this at a neighborhood sale about three months ago.

See the listing here.

We drove the piece of furniture into downtown LA, transferred it to my brother’s SUV, and then he would eventually deliver it to the Venice buyer’s home. It also gave Houston, Indy, Lee, and me a chance to have dinner at a really cool restaurant in downtown LA called Casa.

Here is the view from our egg-shaped outdoor booth.

Because I have been so focused on writing the eBook and dealing with the end of the school year, I have had to skip ezine writing. Mo had a great idea. She asked me, “Why don’t you rerun one of your older ezine articles that is still pertinent today. Just like they do on eBay Radio and Oprah.” What a great idea Mo!

I deemed it fitting to run the one from 2006 about bottlenecks in your workflow space. It was perfect because I wrote this one just after Mo had quit working for me (that was the first and only time!) It was also perfect because I had just read some posts on the Queen’s Court about getting organized and how to best utilize your home space.

Please don’t miss this week’s feature article “A Five-Point Plan to Fix Your Workflow Bottleneck”.

Oh, before I forget Mo and I SKYPE interviewed for a reality TV show this week. Wish us luck! It was a blast. And a huge thanks to Lisa Suttora for letting me know about this opportunity. Lisa is amazing!

This is one of the photos of Mo and I that I sent to the
casting company for the reality show tryout.
Fingers crossed.

Happy eBaying!

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

Check out this email I just got from Diva Dawn :

I’ve just started watching the entire LOL series. It’s like being there all over again and I’m picking up on some details that I missed the first time around. The footage is wonderful!

 -Diva

Check out this post from Sherri on The Queen’s Court:

I’ve been watching the LOL DVDs this afternoon and evening and I’m sooooo happy that I bought them. This is exactly the shot in the arm I needed today.

My sales have been so slow the past few weeks that I’ve really been doubting myself. Hearing the experiences of successful sellers is making me feel a lot better. It helps so much to hear that successful sellers have made the same mistakes I’ve made and that many of the things I do are being done by successful sellers.

Right now I’m listening to Diva Dawn. WOW … I am a very organized person but Dawn puts me to shame … she is AMAZING!!!

Anyway, I’m just thrilled with what I’ve heard today and can’t wait to watch to the rest. If you’ve received your DVDs and haven’t started listening to them yet I highly recommend you get started now. Enjoy!

-Sherri

LOL ’11 was Fantastic!

Jumpstart your eBay Business
with DVD Footage from
the Super Successful First

Get yours now at our low preorder price
before the price goes up to Full Price on
Monday, June 13th at midnight

Laugh out Loud with Lynn and Her Crew
while you learn how to…

Make your eBay business more Profitable and more FUN!

Check out this email Lynn just received from Jane (Find more):

Hi Lynn,

Just 2 words to describe the weekend

AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!!!

-Jane 

This “AMAZINGLY AWESOME” weekend featured NEW Content, GREAT Guest Speakers, and Amazing Surprises.

Join eBay entrepreneur, coach, and inspirational speaker Lynn Dralle in the comfort of your OWN home with a DVD set of the event that will help jumpstart your eBay business and your spirit. With the economy finally turning around and eBay sales stronger than ever, it’s a great time to take your eBay business to the next level. You can make that happen and we want to be a part of your inspiration!

It’s your time to learn and to grow your eBay business. Whether you are already a successful eBayer or have never sold a thing online, the footage from this two-day event will help to jumpstart your eBay success. LOL will provide stellar guest speakers, show you what is selling on eBay and where to find it, and get you inspired! You can read more here.

Click here to order now.
Click here to order in two easy payments.

Place your order before midnight on June 13th when the preorder price becomes full price.

Flatware Success eBook!

Great news! The first section of the Flatware eBook is almost finished.

Here is an email that we sent out to those who have already preordered:

We had intended to have Volume One out by the end of May. Due to a family emergency and an “in the field” case study this did not happen. We are on target to deliver Volume One by mid-June and I promise you it will be worth the wait! Not only do I discuss different flatware manufacturers to buy and those to pass by :), I also get into metals and the value of certain precious metals. It has been fascinating for me to write about this and also include ways for you to turn scrap jewelry and metal into cash.

 I did a really fun field study when I wanted to sell some gold (you probably know that gold is at an all time high….over $1,500 per troy ounce). Do you know how to calculate what your jewelry is worth? Where to sell it for the most money? The difference between troy ounces and avoirdupois ounces? I didn’t know all of this either and it is fascinating…I include all of this in Volume One of the Flatware Success eBook. I can’t wait for you to download it in the next few weeks. This is a resource that will enable you to expand your eBay business into this valuable category.

Now you won’t be confused at thrift stores when looking at shelves like this anymore. Yay! Click here to preorder.

To learn more click here.

The Table of Contents looks like this. (This is subject to revision.)

Introduction

1. Types of Flatware/Hollowware
Pewter
Brass
Aluminum
Armetale
Stainless
Silver plate
Coin Silver
Sterling

2. Manufacturers to ALWAYS buy
3. Tricky Manufacturers
4. Manufacturers to NEVER buy
5. Best Selling Patterns of All Times
6. Patterns to Buy
7. Designer/Artists to Buy
8. Good Colors—Gold wash, Plastic?
9. Good Themes
10. Different Countries
11. Identifying the Different Pieces
12. Terms and Definitions
13. Where to Buy?
14. Research in the Field to Make Quick Purchase Decisions
15. How much should you pay?
16. Single pieces to purchase vs. Entire Sets
17. Research at Home
18. Pricing and How to Sell
19. Shipping
20. Condition and Seconds
21. Cleaning
22. Photographs
23. Categories
24. Title

Let’s put it to the test–a Case Study

It was very strange, but as I was unpacking a box at HQ, I found a flatware storage chest. In my grandmother’s handwriting on the price tag, it said, “Box for Silver Flatware.” I love seeing my grandmother’s writing on anything and this was especially significant to me as I am writing this eBook. I think she approves and it is going to turn out fantastic!

Don’t miss out on the special pre-order pricing for this eBook.
Order now.

We even have a 3-part sales plan! Order in three payments here.

Dates for 2011 Live Boot Camp
@ HQ

OK, OK, I broke down. I was going to take a year off from Live Boot Camp and wait until 2012 to have our next one. But, way too many people have been emailing and asking me about it. Then I remembered that when we were looking to lease Headquarters, Deborah said to me, “Why don’t you have Live Boot Camp here next year?” My first thought was, No. I guess my initial reaction to most great ideas is NO.

The more I thought about Deborah’s idea, the more brilliant I realized it was. Now, our select handful of students will be able to experience the entire process from start to finish in our actual office! We won’t just be teaching it, we will all be living it where it all takes place. I am very excited to announce that this year’s Live Boot Camp will take place in

Palm Desert, CA at Headquarters (HQ)

These dates are set…

Friday, September 23rd to Sunday, September 25th, 2011

Seats are very limited. Only 20 students will be admitted. Click here for more info.

Six seats are already spoken for.
Will you fill one of the remaining 14?

Reservations are open, email me for your customized link to reserve your spot.

‘A Five-Point Plan to Fix Your Workflow Bottleneck‘
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

Originally Published in November of 2006…still makes sense today!

When my mom and I took a look at my workflow set up in my home back in 2006 we realized that it had turned into a monster! It was literally out of control! I had known this for some time and was even considering leasing office space but decided at that point to make my homework.

As you probably know, four years later I did make the move into commercial office space and boy am I glad I did!

Here is that original article. I know you will learn from this.

My mom and I first analyzed our work areas (of which you should have 5). Please analyze your own work areas and draw a floor plan.

  1. Staging Items to be Put on eBay
  2. Writing up merchandise
  3. Photographing area
  4. Storing auction and store items
  5. Shipping area

When I originally set up my rec room/eBay office (600 square feet) I was only handling about 200 items at a time. I did not have my eBay store going full force and our flow was just fine. As my eBay business grew and grew–(Now we handle about 4,000 items at auction and in our eBay store)–I realized that I had created a monster!

Check out the mess!

  1. My Staging area for new merchandise was not in one place anymore. I had 3 large racks of new items in my rec room office, 5 boxes on the floor of my dining room, and another 120 boxes in the garage.

My brother was visiting and said, “It has finally happened. You have become Grandma and your family is living in the antique store.” Yikes! My worst nightmare. I knew then that something must be done and quickly.

  1. My area for writing up merchandise (formerly a table in the rec room office) was now my dining room table.
  1. My outdoor photography studio was still just perfect! A girl has to get lucky sometimes.
  1. My storage area for items currently at auction or currently for sale in my eBay store was no longer in my rec room office. I still had items stored in the rec room office but also all over my golf cart garage and in an old empty freezer in the other half of my garage. Not a good thing!
  1. My shipping area had slowly moved from inside the rec room office to the golf cart garage. Maureen was constantly running back and forth from the rec room office (where her computer was) to the golf cart garage. Now, my house is not small and this was taking hours of valuable time.

After doing an analysis of each work area, my mom and I came up with a Great Five-Point Plan.  I encourage you to do the same for your work areas.

  1. Staging area for new incoming merchandise would be moved out of the rec room office and out of my dining room and it will now take over the entire golf cart garage. This made perfect sense for us because when I come home from garage saling, I can just roll up the garage door and set the boxes inside on a super long table that we purchased.
  1. Writing up the merchandise will no longer be done at my dining room table. We are not living in an antique store anymore–Thank Goodness! Writing up of merchandise will be done in the rec room office (where it belongs). We have designated three shelves and a work table for this task.
  1. The Photographing station remains the same!
  1. All inventory (either up at auction or listed in my eBay store) will be stored in the rec room office. To accomplish this, we knew that major changes would have to take place. I had my desk and computer and my assistant’s desk and computer in this area. We realized that my desk, all my reference books, my greeting card company items, and all my paperwork did NOT have to stay.

Because of my Dralle Method of listing items, I don’t have to be anywhere near the merchandise and I could actually list from another part of the house. The reason I had purchased such a large house (4,000 square feet) was so that I could work from home and be near my kids. We have 5 bedrooms and two of them were being used as guest rooms. Guess what? One of the guest rooms was soon to become my very own QUIET and clutter-free office. What a revelation!

My mom and I started searching for office furniture and went all over town. It was quite pricey. There was an ad in our local paper for a beautiful 11 piece set but it was located in Yucca Valley and they wanted $3,500. Yucca Valley is about an hour away, so we called the gal and she sent photos and measurements. It appeared that it just may work. And I kept telling my mom, “I have a feeling about the Yucca Valley set”. Anyway, we ended up getting the set for $3,000 plus $50 delivery. As you can see from the photo, it was like the set was made for my room. I am so excited to be working in a clutter-free “executive” zone. Life is great!

My new office

  1. The shipping area had to move from the golf cart garage and we wanted it back inside in the rec room office with all the merchandise that was being shipped. Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? To accomplish this, we got rid of a couch and added a long table in front of the hearth. My dad and brother were out visiting so we got them to help install our Packing Peanut Holder and a bar to hold bubble wrap. Check it out! It is an awesome improvement.

The new wrap station
(The pink stool in the photo came from my grandma and was a fixture in the shop for probably 50 years! It is dangerous–please don’t step on it!)

I encourage you to analyze your working areas and come up with your five-point plan for improvement. Saving hours every day in wasted footsteps can add up to a lot of money in your pocket. Good Luck to you!

 

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 FRE E 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.

Some links in my emails to you may be affiliate links. You can be confident that I only partner with companies that I fully stand behind.

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.