Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume IV, issue number 11

Lynn Recommends: eBay Live Boot Camp–Payment plan ends soon
Special Announcement: Infomercial is airing on National Cable
Feature Article: How to Keep eBay out of your Kitchen
The Queen’s Update: We want to hear your eBay success stories!

Even though my house is filled to the brim with merchandise to sell on eBay, I just can’t help myself from buying more. It really must be an illness. I remember Lisa Suttora telling me on our last teleseminar that the number one cause of lost income for PowerSellers is due to unlisted items.

Well, my dining room, garage, and storage unit is full of unlisted items and I still had the gall to go to an estate sale on Thursday with my mom and buy $278.00 worth of merchandise. Then she called me on Friday morning and said, there are a lot of good sales today. We should really go to them. So there goes another $260 on dinner sets and other assorted sundries.

We can never pass up a Saturday full of garage sales, so there you have it–another $285 worth of merchandise dumped into my lobby (entryway).

Then on Tuesday after working out, I stopped by my neighborhood thrift store. $28.00 later I had a set of Midwinter Stonehenge and two Starbucks coffee mugs. I am going to sell a Starbucks mug someday for more than the $55 Mo got for hers in our little competition. You just watch!!!

But let’s take a look at that Midwinter Stonehenge set I had also picked up. On Monday, Carmen (my assistant) said she wanted to buy some Midwinter Stonehenge that I had listed in my eBay store for her sister who had started collecting the pattern. I said I would give it to her as a bonus because she has been working so hard for me lately and doing such a fantastic job!

I tell you, what comes around goes around. The very next day I find a different pattern in Stonehenge Midwinter at the thrift store for $22. It is the same pattern from story #81 in the first 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay.

I already have the 31 pieces listed in 14 separate auctions and think it will bring in at least $200! Score!

Here is a link to one of those auctions.

With all of this madness going on, I thought it would be a great idea for me to write my feature article about how to handle all this chaos. And with the new lower listing fees, I have been listing about 200 new items each week. This is part of my plan. So don’t miss reading “How to Keep eBay out of Your Kitchen” below.

And if you really want to get the in-depth training to make eBay a success for you, then LIVE eBay boot camp is for you. We have already sold six seats!!! And with almost six months until the event–you know that this will sell out completely. Our six-month payment plan ends soon and I don’t want YOU to miss out–please read more here. And check out the Lynn Recommends section for more.

In the Special Announcements section, I am very happy to reveal that we finally have our media purchase for the infomercial. It will begin airing March 14th. I am excited and nervous. Check out this section to see if it will be playing in your neck of the woods. And I think it was Kara who had an excellent question…”What time zone”? You will have to read that section to find out!

Here’s to Successful eBaying!

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

If you are a Six Steps to eBay Success, Boot Camp in a Box Lite or Full Boot Camp owner–you are eligible for a special price as promised. We will be sending out those invitations once again in the next few days so that none of you miss out!!!

To get the best room rates for my students (and myself!), it will be held the weekend after Labor Day: Friday through Sunday, September 5th-7th, 2008.

Click here to learn more.

This Boot Camp will sell out–especially with the infomercial coming out on March 14th, so I encourage you to reserve your seat as soon as you can.

We have already sold six seats!!! And that is months before the event–you know that this will sell out completely by September. I don’t want YOU to miss out.

I am so excited to have another fun bunch of students meet us here this Fall. I hope that you will be one of those students.

Click here to reserve your spot now.

‘How to keep eBay out of your Kitchen‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

Well, so far eBay has taken over my rec room, living room and dining room, but it has not made its way into my kitchen. Thank goodness for the small things! The rec room is our designated eBay room anyway and hopefully in the near future that will be the only place it is.

I try and write up everything that I buy during the weekend and get it photographed and stored and sometimes even all listed by Monday. This keeps my dining room table and living room clean during the week.

Well after my haul from Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (thank goodness we didn’t go out on Sunday!), it was time to put my five-point plan into action. There was no way I was going to be listing 800 plus items in one weekend.

When you are overwhelmed with merchandise, I encourage you to also follow my five-point plan of attack.

1.     List the dinner sets first

Dinner Sets take up a lot of space and are the fastest items to list. So, as you can see in my auctions this week, there are a lot of dinner sets listed. Click here to see my auctions.

In addition to the Midwinter Stonehenge, I also got a tea set by Poppytrail in the Peach Blossom pattern (I paid $25 for it all). I also found a Nikko Blue Peony set ($75 for the set) and a set of Black Labrador plates from a maker I had never heard of–Angler’s Expressions. I know how well dog items do and these were actually hand made in Boise, Idaho. How cool was that? And I got 13 pieces for less than $30. Couldn’t go wrong with that purchase!

Photo of one of the lab items. A coffee mug. Visit the auction here.

In addition, I found a Fitz and Floyd Papillon (Butterfly pattern) for $65. Fitz & Floyd typically always does well. And finally, I found the most unique cat plates made by anther company I had never heard of–ICC, for Italian Ceramics Company. I got five each of three different styles. When I showed them to Mo (Maureen) she said, “Can’t go wrong with these–made in Italy and wild cats.” I paid about $35 for all 15.

Check out the one with the cheetah here.

I think this style will sell the best.

So, even with that overwhelming pile in my dining room, I was able to list six dinner sets by Tuesday evening. Not bad!

2.     Put the flatware in your storage area.

Unless it is a wonderfully rare set of flatware that you know is going to sell immediately, put it away in your storage area.

Even though flatware is also easy to list, it is also usually priced reasonably (so you are not sitting on a huge investment).

And the best part of flatware is that it takes up so little room in your storage area! In fact, I have two shelves in one of my big baker’s racks out in the garage filled up with flatware just waiting to be listed.

I was lucky enough this weekend to pick up a set of 19 pieces of Towle mid-century modern designed stainless for $65.00. I know I will get at least $190 for the set because the forks list on replacements for about $50 each. So I did go ahead and list that set immediately.

Check out one of the dinner forks here.

3.     List the large individual items next.

After listing the dinnerware and stashing the flatware, I look around and grab those huge white elephants sitting in my living area. Not real elephants but those huge items that you want listed and gone in seven days!

This week, I listed a huge Swid Powell Aluminum serving tray that I paid $20 for. Always buy Swid Powell items when (and if) you can find them. I have typically only seen dinnerware so was excited to find this metal tray. It was only signed with a sticker label on the base so I was also lucky that the previous owner hadn’t taken it off.

Here is that tray.

And I also listed a huge motorcycle helmet that I bought at a church rummage sale for $20. What (you may be asking) am I doing selling motorcycle helmets? Well, as I tell all my students, I will sell anything if I can make money on it! And you should also. Just don’t spend too much. Remember my Alfa Romeo fiasco?

Here is that helmet.

4.     Box up all the smaller items and store them in your storage area.

Once you have all the dinnerware sets and larger items listed, it is quite easy to box up the smaller things that are left and put them away in your storage area–wherever that may be–but get them out of your main living space!

I have shelving in my garage for unlisted merchandise and I also have a 10′ by 20′ storage unit. My storage unit is currently full of little girls’ dresses and a huge pig collection. I will probably get all those things listed when pigs actually fly! But let’s hope it is before then.

5.     List 200 items on those weeks that you make huge hauls.

Finally, make it a point to list 200 items during those weeks that you find a ton of great merchandise. With the new lower eBay fees this makes a lot of economic sense. In the old days it was $75.00 to list 100 items with gallery and today it is less, only $70.00 to list 200.

My grandmother always said, “You can’t sell from an empty wagon.” And not having your items listed on eBay means that they are not in your wagon and not getting any exposure.

Happy eBaying!

Lynn

We are looking for your eBay success stories to share with our ezine readers and possibly make it into a book of our reader’s best eBay stories.

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. 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

Visit my eBay auctions.