MoreHi!
This past week was a tough one for our family. My mom’s cousin–Cheryl Leaf’s niece–passed away unexpectedly. We attended the funeral on Friday and it was very sad.
- Special Announcement: Don’t miss out! It ends at midnight.
- Feature Article: eBay’s Links Policy–Be Aware
- The Queen’s Update: Our 7th 100 Best Story from YOU!
- Lynn Recommends: The 100 Best and More 100 Best on CD
This ezine is published once a week.
March 29, 2007 Volume III, Issue 12
Dear friends,
My mom, my brother and my mom’s other cousin Gwen all just returned from the funeral in Bakersfield. It was really sad. Ann Brown was a very talented artist and a wonderful mother. It was so sad that she passed away at age 71. Her mother had lived to 90 and we all thought she had another good 20 years.
Ann often told me that Cheryl Leaf was her favorite aunt. She told me that my grandma would let her read movie magazines and play with paper dolls. Things that she couldn’t do in her mother’s home.
There were over 340 people in the church in Bakersfield to celebrate her life. What I learned from this past weekend is that life is too short to not be doing what you should be. We must follow our passion and do things that make us happy. My grandmother always said that if you do that, “the money will follow.”
She is so right. I love selling on eBay and my eBay business has increased dramatically every single year. It is my passion and I know that it is for a lot of you also. Maybe it’s time to make it your full time job!
I also learned that the only time our family gets together is for weddings and funerals. A sad state of affairs. The last time I had seen most of these relatives was at Ann’s son’s Mark’s wedding in 1988. How sad is that?
Of course, I had seen Ann many times over the past years. AND One thing I really admired about Ann was her tenacity in keeping in touch. She always made a point to see us at least once a year. She went out of her way to make plans with us–my mom, my brother, my sister, my grandmother and myself.
Ann was an artist and she lived her life following that passion–In honor of Ann Brown and her life, I encourage all of you to do the same. Do what makes you happy! Now is the time to make eBay your Full Time Job. Just do it!
Ann K. Brown, May 13, 1935 to March 15, 2007
Now onto some more cheery subjects. Let’s talk about making money doing what we love and give thanks that we are able to do what we love! The Chocolate pot and five demitasse cup and saucer sets from last week sold for $239.95 total. If you remember, I paid $100 so a great return! I’ll take $139.95 on a 7 day $100 investment anytime. Try and get that from a bank!
This week’s feature article is about eBay’s Link Policy and the scare I got on Thursday. Yikes! You won’t want to miss this article.
Remember that it is Spring Cleaning time around the U.S. Especially with Daylight savings time recently taking effect. Don’t forget to check your thrift stores even more frequently. It is high donation season. See what these rare Heller pieces are going for that I found on Monday at my Thrift store for only $3 for the set. Score!
Heller Plates and trays
You can see an auction for one of the purple pieces here.
You can see an auction for one of the pink pieces here.
Also, don’t miss out on the Bellingham footage and the special pricing on Boot Camp in a Box! The offer expires at midnight tonight. I just know that it can help you all even more and that is my goal–to have each and every one of you just as successful on eBay as I am.
This week we have another great story about the things you all have sold on eBay. This one comes from Annette R. It is about a collectible radio that sells for over $1,000!
Finally, I am hard at work on the audio CDs for the 1st and 2nd 100 Best books. Don’t miss out on our introductory pricing. These 12-16 CDs are a lot of fun and I know you will learn great things!
Here’s to Successful eBaying!
Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, can you imagine how much a moving picture is worth? We are excited to be adding that much value to our Boot Camp in a Box.
Something special has been brewing this month at the behind-the-scenes office of my brother, Lee. I am happy to announce that it is done percolating! We have uncovered never-seen-before footage from my Bellingham Boot Camp. It is all video–not just audio.
It is ready to go and it is awesome! We are offering a special pre-sale price for one week only. This low price will expire at midnight TONIGHT, Thursday, March 29th.
By the way, It will only be offered to current Boot Camp in a Box owners. If you are a Boot Camp owner–please watch for a special email coming to your inbox.
For those of you who don’t own Boot Camp in a Box yet, we don’t want you to be left out so we have a super special offer that includes the lost Bellingham footage for you this week also. The offer expires at midnight tonight, Thursday, March 29th! If you don’t own Boot Camp in a Box yet, Click here to learn more!
And keep in mind that this is a completely different event than the LAX audio you may already own. Different people, different experiences and actual garage sale footage will show you many more important lessons and dimensions to help your eBay business grow and grow! We even have a half-hour presentation by a book expert!
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I have really enjoyed the whole Boot Camp in a Box and have picked up lots of great instruction from you. I also wanted to let you know you are an inspiration and on days when things seem discouraging, your enthusiasm reminds me that it’s all in getting the numbers up and having fun with this. And now, I really am! Thanks again, and God Bless, –Michele R., St. Petersburg, FL Ebay ID: 2chelz |
I am really excited about this and can’t wait to ship the “Lost Bellingham Footage” to my Boot Camp in a Box Owners–So join their ranks and order now! I know it will help you grow your business even more!
‘eBay’s Link Policy‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
On March 8th, I got an email that eBay had shut down one of my auctions for inappropriate links. It always freaks me out when something like this happens! I go into panic mode.
I read the email over and figured that it must have been a really old store item that was still directing customers to my family and friends auctions. You see, in the old days, we could put links to our friends and family’s eBay auctions.
I used to put this text in all of my listings with no clickable links: “Please check out my mom’s auctions at TheXstyles, my sister’s auctions at CaesarPalace, my brother’s auctions at LDralle and my assistant’s auctions at Mosthisnthat.” I have included links here so that you can check out their auctions but in my actual listings–NO LINKS, text only.
I went about my normal eBaying life until I got another email on March 22nd that another one of my eBay items had been shut down for illegal links. Now, I was getting worried. I had visions of my 5,000 auction and store items all being shut down overnight. What a nightmare!
If you have never had an eBay auction shut down, just know that everything will disappear. Your item number will pull up nothing–nada. You will have lost all your hard work–unless of course you use my I Sell system or another system that will store your data. It is not a good thing.
I immediately called the eBay Gold Power Seller’s hotline and was redirected to the Trust and Safety department. They reviewed my account and some of my auctions and phoned me back.
I was told that even though it is not posted on the eBay site, they do have an internal policy now that states you can NOT mention anyone else’s user id. How would I possibly know about that? How would anyone? They explained to me that if it is not clearly stated as an allowable link–then I must (and everyone else must) assume that it is not allowed. Yikes!
I explained to Trust and Safety that it would take at least 80 man-hours to take that sentence out of all of my 5,000 listings. Figuring 1 minute per auction multiplied by 5,000 auctions would be 83.3 hours. I didn’t understand why it was against policy because I was driving traffic to other eBay sellers. I also asked for at least 60 days to accomplish this and to please not shut down any more of my auctions.
Trust and Safety said that their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do. I asked to speak to a supervisor and that was not an option either. I was freaking out. Please finish reading this article to find out what happened to me!
In the meantime, Here is a link to eBay’s published Links policy.
I highly recommend that you check out the above link. But, here is a quick list of what IS allowed:
- One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing
- One link to your email address that opens an email client for potential buyers to ask questions about the item in that listing
- Links to photos of the item for sale
- Links to your eBay Store or Half.com listings
- Links to your Store newsletter and mailing list names are permitted, provided that your inclusion of the mailing list names does not constitute keyword spamming or violate any other eBay policy
- Links to your “Add to My Favorite Sellers and Stores” page
- Links to your About Me page (in addition to the About Me icon already provided by eBay)
- Links to an eBay Wiki article(s)
- Links to your eBay Blog page
- Links to your eBay My World page
- Links that provide credits to third parties
- One link to your listing terms and conditions (providing that the most relevant information is within the listing itself and that this page does not include any links off of the eBay Web site)
The short list of what IS NOT allowed:
- Links to websites or pages that offer to trade, sell or purchase goods or services outside of eBay. This applies whether it is a static URL or an active link.
- Links to sites that solicit eBay User IDs, passwords or email addresses from buyers
- Links that encourage buyers to place their eBay bids through a site other than eBay
- Links or other connections to live chat systems
- Links to subscribe to newsletters or mailing lists hosted outside-of-eBay
So, it was never clearly stated why I couldn’t recommend my family’s auctions. I was really worried. I was finally able to get a supervisor on the phone. George was awesome! He explained to me that although I was referring people to my family’s auctions, some people would use that same option to refer their customers to competitor’s auction with malicious intent. Now, that made sense.
Unscrupulous eBayers could say, “Check out these eBay stores to see what a great deal my item is.” And eBay would not be able to police every auction fairly because how would they know who was referring to good stores vs. bad stores.
Now I understood! I told George I had no problem taking out that sentence, but I would need time. They gave me some extra time and I am so relieved! Thank you, eBay. We have already taken it out of about 200 auctions/store items and will be diligently working on this in the next while.
Be very careful about what you say or link to in your eBay auctions. Your business depends upon it.
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Lynn’s past ezines here.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 9000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FRE E tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com
I am happy to present our seventh story for The 100 Best Things You’ve Bought or Sold on eBay! This week’s story is from Annette–Elmwood Cottage Collectibles. This is an amazing story of a garage sale find that sells for 225 times what Annette’s dad paid for it. I couldn’t bear to edit out any of the story, so the photo Annette talks about can be found in a link below. Click below to read…
Click here to read the story…
Here is the photo of the lamp Annette talks about in her story.
Please patronize Annette’s auctions (pdrost) and her eBay store (Elmwood Cottage Collectibles) and make her business this year even better. Thanks!
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 or towards my eBay auctions 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 Power Seller 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 free 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
I am hard at work recording The 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay and More 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay to be released on audio CD. You will be able to listen and learn in your car or on your iPod! Preorder now at a special price.
Don’t miss out! I will be sharing extra insider info that is not in my two books and I am having a blast recording them. I know that you will laugh, cry and learn along with me.
We are offering a limited time presale special on the package including both audio books. Expected ship date is April 15th. (We want to cheer you up at tax time!) This audio program will be delivered on twelve to sixteen audio CDs. After this introductory special, it will sell for $29.99 each book or $49.99 for the two books–for a limited time we are offering both audio books at a special introductory price of $39.99. Click here to preorder now!
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 online auction click here.
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