Lynn’s eBay e-zine Volume II, issue number 12

My Bellingham eBay Boot Camp was a huge success and I can’t wait to share some of my student’s finds with you in this e-zine.

Also, you won’t believe my garage sale story. It involves my sister (Kiki) and a garage sale she was getting ready to have this summer in Bellingham. The results will blow your mind! I finally have proof that you should NEVER have a garage sale.

And TODAY, I am on WS eBay Radio with Griff at 12:08 Pacific time. More details below.

Five wonderful students attended my eBay Boot Camp last month in Bellingham, WA. We had so much fun and learned so much! I want to share some of their finds with you.

Sharla, from Denver Colorado, (with a little help from me) found a hanging library lamp shade in Cranberry at the Senior Center sale for $1.00! It sold this week for $79.99!

Some words from Sharla, “Thank you so very much for the beyond awesome time in Bellingham. It wasn’t even a seminar it was a blast.! You have no idea how much you helped me with eBay and my life.”

Michelle from Port Townsend, Washington found (with a little nudge from me) a blue plastic Heller Massimo set of dishes for $2 at the YWCA sale. The mugs sold for $18.07.

The other auctions came in at $9.99 each for a total of $48.04 on a $2 investment. Pretty cool!

Cat from Las Vegas really has an eye and picked out 4 things that she listed and sold immediately. I was really impressed! She has a gift for writing great descriptions. Here is a note from Cat, “Thank you for teaching me the tools I need to provide for my family..the old adage “teach a man to fish” sure applies to my Clan. There are no words to express how thankful I am, so I will do it by becoming the best I can be at eBay.” And I know she will!

Saul (my return student–and in the running for teacher’s pet) and his wife Anne from Gig Harbor absolutely loaded up their SUV. It was pretty impressive. With only $80 to spend they literally filled their truck and it was all great stuff. There was so much merchandise that they haven’t even put it all on eBay yet. I am expecting to hear great monetary returns from them soon! A word from Anne, “I came back from the seminar and I turned in my notice at work, my last day will be September 30th – that’s how much I believe in your system! I know it works. Plus, I really enjoyed meeting you – we really had a blast”. That gives me goosebumps! Check out this video of them in front of their SUV.

The weekend was incredible and I miss all my students! If you are interested in taking your eBay business to the next level, watch for a special email from me in the next few days.

This is an amazing story. My sister, Kiki, had a baby in April and she wants to be a stay-at-home mom. It has been hard for her to list on eBay because the baby is still very small and he takes up a lot of her time. So, she decided to have a garage sale with stuff she inherited from our Grandmother. She never got around to it (Thank goodness)!

Among the things that she found and had priced for her sale was a basket full of Yankee Candle tarts. These are candles shaped like miniature pies and you burn them in a tart warmer. They were originally 95 cents each in our store and she had marked them 10 cents each for her garage sale.

At the same time that this was going on, we were getting ready for my mom’s big 70th birthday party. My mom needed candles to burn, so my sister brought the 10 cent tarts out to my mom’s house for the party. I looked at them and said, “you know–tarts do not have wicks–good luck burning these.” We all laughed and my sister took the basket full back to her house.

Fast forward to a week later and the day before I was set to return to California. I told my sister that I would stop by her house and write up and photograph 50 things (from her garage sale pile) to put on eBay for her.

I randomly grabbed items. I took all 29 of the Yankee tarts, some Eddie Walker Christmas Ornaments, beads and some collectibles. I decided to sell the tarts in groupings of 5, 7, 7 and 10 and I matched them by their scent. As I was writing these up (as 4 of the 50 auctions) I thought to myself–what am I doing? These are never going to sell–they were only 95 cents originally in the shop–and they never sold. We all inherited handfuls. I rarely do research anymore (it can be a major waste of time) so I just went with the flow and trusted my instincts–I knew that there was a reason that I divided them out that way.

Well, guess what? Of the 50 items, I listed for her, 18 sold at auction. Within the next two weeks, 4 more items sold from her eBay store for a total of 22 things. She still has the other 28 items listed in her eBay store and I believe that a high percentage of those will eventually sell. Grand total–$425.99! From a garage sale pile that would have been lucky to bring in $100 (plus all the aggravation). This is proof!!! Never have a garage sale!!

And the icing on the cake–or should I say on the tart? The auction with 7 Yankee candle tarts sold for $23.06, the auction with 5 sold for $53.55, the auction with 10 for $57.89 and the auction with 7 Patchouli and Clove tarts sold for…drum roll please $73.56!!  There is a huge following for retired Yankee candle tarts and that was what these were. Who knew?

I will tell you this. I have been out digging through the boxes I inherited from the shop sniffing for my Yankee tarts. I just hope they haven’t melted!

I am excited to be a guest on eBay WS Radio with Jim Griffin (Griff), the original customer service employee of eBay and now their official spokesperson. He hosts a great show that you can listen to on your computer here. I am on at 12:08 Pacific time TODAY for about 8 minutes. Check it out!

Here is more information: Listen to the friendly voice of host Jim Griffith, “Griff”, Dean of eBay University and author of “The Official eBay Bible”. eBay Radio features helpful guidance from eBay experts for buyers and sellers along with hot topics and news direct from eBay! Call in during the live shows, Tuesdays 11-2 PM Pacific and Sundays, 3-5 PM Pacific toll free 877-474-3302 or internationally at (001)-858-678-8958