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Lynn's eBay ezine Volume VI,
issue number 23
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Hi!
Happy Holidays! I want to take this time to thank you for being a loyal ezine reader. I am grateful for you and hope that the Holidays treat you well and that 2011 is your best year ever!
This ezine is published every two weeks.
December 23, 2010 Volume VI, Issue 23
My dad has been in town for a few weeks now and it has been great to have him back down here in California. He hasn't visited since February. Way too long! The modus operandi is this: you get off of the plane and I whisk you away to do some work at HQ (headquarters)! My poor parents. My mom arrived a few days ago and the same thing happened to her.
My parents were here to help celebrate Indy's birthday. She turned 12 this month. Check out this fun sign I had her school run on her birthday. I picked her up after school and wanted to take a picture of her in front of it and she was too embarrassed. We had to go back at night (in the dark) to take the photo. Pre-teens  !
Then she had a sleepover birthday party for four girls plus herself in our new EMPTY Rec Room (that was formerly the eBay room). That was interesting. They actually got along very well and the party was a huge success. My kids love having their huge house back, clean and void of eBay items. I, however, am having a hard time not working on eBay listing at home. I am sure I will get used to it but it has been a difficult transition.
Here is Indy and her friends at the party with a creepy Santa Claus doll that I got from….of course….my Grandma!
Luckily for my parents, Houston had a baseball tournament while they were both here. His team took first place in the American Division and Houston had some huge hits. He also pitched incredibly well against a Major team out of Los Angeles. Amazingly enough, we watched four games last weekend in the rain here in Palm Desert. Southern Cal has just been getting deluged with rainfall.
Here are the boys after their win.
We have all been working incredibly hard at HQ. Carmen, Mo and I are all trying to list 100 new items each per week at auction. We are up to 251 at auction today. We struggled some with the inside photo studio but Lee came out from LA this past weekend also and he got it fixed up for me in about two minutes! Yay. I felt like I was a student at my own Live Boot Camp!
All the boxes from my grandmother and all the inventory I have been buying over the past eight years are all now ensconced at HQ. I call this mountain of boxes the Alps and it is my New Years Resolution to get it all listed in 2011. Wish me luck. I will definitely need it.
One of the first things we have been doing is to get the larger items listed and out of the way. I couldn't believe it when this Santa Claus that I bought for $20 for my kids several years ago sold for SOOOOO much. Merry Christmas to me!
Here is the listing.
I did eBay Radio with Griff and Lee last week and we talked a lot about headquarters and how I am trying to grow my eBay sales to $1 million in 2011. If you missed that interview you can access it in the archives from the eBay Radio broadcast page here.
I have three things that I am doing to increase my eBay sales. Tripling my eBay auction listings each week, tripling my total store inventory numbers and tripling my average sales price. My average sales price right now is about $16.58. We are shooting for an average sales price of about $50.00.
Here is an item that sold recently that is one of those higher end antique/collectible items that I am sourcing and (YAY) selling!
Check it out here .
As a thank you to my family for all of their hard work, I took them out for a really nice pre-Christmas dinner at the Homestead restaurant in La Quinta. It is a really cute place that used to be a ranch home. They have an outdoor fire pit where you can make complimentary s'mores after dinner. The kids loved it but it was the night after the baseball tournament and the day after Indy's sleepover birthday, so both kids could barely stay awake!
Trash to Cash the Pilot Episode is finished!! Learn more about it in the Lynn Recommends section. It is really great and I am very excited about the series.
The day I got to preview the pilot, I also got great news from eBay. I will get to have a Daily Deal special. It is going to be "The 100 Best Thing's I've Sold on eBay" book and it will start on December 27th. Watch for it.
LOL (Lynn on Location) will be happening in Las Vegas on Saturday and Sunday March 12th and 13th 2011 at the Paris Hotel. We are so excited for this live event!!! The doors are open and seats are for sale. Please read the special announcement section to learn more or click here.
Our Queen's Court call this month was really fun because Mo and I did it from HQ. During the call we talked again about the problems with printing shipping labels through PayPal. Robin M from Arkansas told us all about Auctane. It works with Stamps.com and we already LOVE it!!!! Thank you Robin!
Because of this hot tip, I decided to share more information about it by writing about Auctane as a great shipping solution that works with the eBay system. Don't miss this article. It will save you time, money and best of all it will reduce frustration!!!!
While Mo and I were at headquarters doing the Queen's Court call, Indiana got dropped off so she wouldn't have to sit outside in the cold and watch Houston practice baseball. As she listened to our call, she decided to go through all the plush stuffed animals that we had waiting to be listed and see if there were any of her old stuffed animals that she wanted to keep.
She had just gotten back from a trip to Walt Disney World where the new Duffy the Bear is the big marketing push. She thought she had bought one several years ago but wasn't able to find it in her room. During the call, she found her brown Duffy the Bear in one of the bins. Mo's jaw about hit the floor. Mo has been on the lookout for a Duffy Bear since Live Boot Camp in 2009 when Pam Clayton showed the class how much money she got for hers. And there was one right there under our noses!
Indy agreed to let me sell it if I give her half the proceeds. What a smart kid! Here is a link to the listing.
Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!
Lynn Dralle, 'The Queen of Auctions,'
Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
Trash to Cash the Pilot Episode
I have wanted a reality show for about ten years. My original Trash to Cash DVD was intended to be just that…a reality show. So after years of shopping it to networks, agents, cable channels, etc, we decided to just do our own!
Fortunately, I have Carmen's husband Jason here in Palm Desert. He is an incredibly talented producer and you have seen his work if you have any of our recent Live Boot Camp footage.
I am extremely proud to announce that Trash to Cash, our reality show series is here!!! The pilot is 22 minutes and it is fun, informative and you get to see a behind the scenes insider view of the Queen of Auctions.
It features me, Mo, Carmen, my mom, Indy and Houston.
This pilot episode focuses on four eBay items. You will see where we find them, how we research them and ultimately how well they sell.
It is a crazy and fun look at how we make eBay a successful business. The only downside for me, mo, Carmen and my mom has been to see ourselves in HD (high definition) ! I don't think that has bothered Houston and Indy one little bit!
The Queen's Court is also involved in this as they are "my experts." We even talk about one member's help in this episode!
The downloadable episode is available for purchase here.
If you would like to purchase it on a DVD, that can be done here.
We are currently in production for Episode 2. It has been fun and like Jason said, his "vision was to bring the 100 Best Books and the stories behind them to life."
He has accomplished this with our first Pilot episode. That is so COOL!
LOL, WOW!
LOL -- Lynn on Location...Laugh out Loud and Learn with Lynn & her associates at our first ever LOL event. I want to point out that this will be different than a Live Boot Camp where each student gets hand holding and actual work done. Rather this is an event to network, brainstorm, and learn from the speakers and the attendees.
This very special 2-day event will be held in Las Vegas on March 12th and 13th, 2011 (Saturday and Sunday) at the fantastique Paris Hotel in the Champagne Ballroom! We have negotiated super room rates with the Paris for those attending the event. (Many of you have been asking what those rates are...Friday night $119.00, Saturday night $129.00 and Sunday night $89.00.)
It will be two jam-packed days of teaching, networking and just plain having eBay fun. I have already gotten confirmation from four very special guest speakers. Lisa Suttora, souring expert, Mel & Steve Woods, clothing experts and Diva Dawn, organizational expert, will be joining us.
Many of the usual suspects will be joining me. Carmen, Jason, Mo, Deborah, my brother Lee, Houston, Indy and my mom hope to join us.
We can't wait to see you all in Vegas!
To learn more, click here.
To purchase your seat at our still low rate, click here. The price will be going up again soon and will keep rising until it reaches its full published price some time before LOL.
(Sorry, no Queen's Court discount or other coupons can be applied to Live Events.)
To learn more, click here.
To sign up now, before the price rises, click here.
'Auctane is as awesome as Stamps.com…a wonderful shipping solution'
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions
Once again a Queen's Court member has shared an amazing find with us! Thank you to Robin M from Arkansas. Robin's store is Stuff4Uand4U . Please check out her store and help her business.
This is what Robin posted on our Queen's Court forums.
I am using the eBay App AUCTANE to print my USPS shipping labels. AWESOME!
Auctane Shipping Manager
The cost is $10 per month, and you need a "paid Stamps.com account."
The reason I mention this is they are now UPS certified. When I was frustrated printing UPS labels, I asked Auctane when the feature would be available, and as a result, I am a Beta Tester and have UPS shipping availability. This will be beyond Awesome once the bugs are worked out.
In addition to the HUGE time savings in printing labels, there will also be a postage cost savings. The drop-down boxes show the cost for the different shipping options, and I can pick the cheapest. UPS, Priority, Parcel, etc.
And, just check a box to insure any shipment (domestic or international)
-Robin M.
Thank you to Robin!!
Here is a screen shot from my Auctane account showing the different costs for mailing a package using USPS…it will quote parcel, media, express and priority and you can choose the best option. The same will happen for UPS and you can compare regular ground, 3-day, 2-day or next day. It is fantastic and very EASY to use.
Once I heard about Auctane, I got on the phone with Jason (Auctane's Founder). We started chatting and I asked him if he had worked with eBay Austin on his application. Yes, of course he had. Austin is one of the eBay employees that Mo and I dragged out bra shopping to Macy's in Salt Lake City during the Certified Provider fair. He also accompanied us to Park City with eBay Andy for more fun! He is an awesome guy.
So with those pleasantries behind us, I asked Jason if we could also be set up as a beta account to test the UPS portion of the application. Yes and it is fabulous! Auctane will be rolling out their UPS feature to everyone in January. I suggest signing up now and getting used to it. January is right around the corner.
Here is a link that takes you right to the app page on eBay.
We have only been using it for a few days and Carmen LOVES it. She says, "It is the best thing to happen to us since the invention of the wheel." Carmen has a funny sense of humor. Then she said, "It is actually the best thing since Stamps.com." And the ironic thing is that Auctane works with Stamps.com. The two companies that have made our shipping a breeze actually work together in harmony with eBay. It's a beautiful thing!
Here is Carmen working in our new HQ using Auctane.
I got another post from Robin with more good news.
Hi Lynn,
I got a pleasant surprise when I got my UPS bill. With Auctane, UPS bills you and I are now receiving the Back Office discount.
The discount will more than pay for the Auctane service.
So many advantages to Auctane:
1. Pick the cheapest shipping option from the drop down lists (USPS or UPS)
2. Check a box to insure any shipment even international (Shipsurance)
3. UPS Back Office discount!
4. All tracking information automatically uploaded to eBay
5. Much faster label printing because you can check all of your paid items at one time, fill in the weights and batch print.
Just thought I would share. Happy Holidays!!
Carmen and I also agree with Robin and added these advantages.
- We get our additional Back Office discount now by getting billed through UPS WorldShip because of our high volume. We weren't getting this discount when we were printing through PayPal.
- We love the photos that show each item so that when we go to ship all the paid items, we can double check that we have the correct item.
- Seamless interface with eBay. We used to have to batch our shipments from eBay into Stamps.com and then batch them back when finished to get our tracking information uploaded. No more of this. Since Auctane is an eBay application it happens automatically.
- Finally, if Carmen goes in and marks an item paid in the eBay system (when we take a cc over the phone or receive a check in the mail), Auctane will know that it is paid and move it to our paid items for easy shipping!
Just remember that to use Auctane it will cost you $10.00 per month, plus you will need a paid Stamps.com account (that will cost you $15.99) per month. However, the Back Office discount that we are now getting again from UPS, the time we save, being able to easily add insurance for international shipments and the seamless interface with eBay make it a win-win application.
Also, UPS is in the beta testing phase right now, but should be rolled out in January!
I can't wait to hear your success stories with using these two great companies together.
If you sign up for stamps.com through this special link, you get a great offer from them because you are my ezine readers!
Access the Auctane Shipping Manager here.
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
Visit my eBay Store.
Visit my eBay auctions.
For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site 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 antiques 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
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 online auction click here.
Copyright © 2015 Lynn Dralle - All Rights Reserved..
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