MoreHi!
I can’t believe that summer is almost over. I think more people are back inside and thinking about back to school. My eBay business has started picking up again. Thank goodness! I hope yours has also.
- Lynn Recommends: La Quinta Boot Camp
- Special Announcement: My Interview with Janelle Elms
- Feature Article: A Dirty Pan Can Sell for How Much?
- The Queen’s Update: Our 25th 100 Best Story from YOU
This ezine is published once a week.
August 16, 2007 Volume III, Issue 31
Dear eBayers,
Since I got to Bellingham last week it has been a whirlwind. I thought it would be relaxing, but I have been doing a lot of work–eBay and otherwise. I have a rental house here in town that I need to either sell or rent before I return to California, so that has been taking up a lot of my time.
The house that my kids grew up in here in Bellingham is on the market for almost $1 million–I wish I had kept that house! My grandmother always said that she didn’t regret any real estate she purchased, only real estate she sold. How true! We toured it this week and I took photos of the kids in their old bedrooms and on the pickle ball court. It was quite strange!
Indy in her bedroom and Houston in his
My mom’s birthday is this upcoming weekend and we are having a 1970s themed party. I bought a Farrah Fawcett wig, and my kids got wild costumes. I will share those photos in next week’s ezine (Scary!)
As you are reading this, I am in Ft. Lauderdale at the infomercial launch meeting. It should be fun and exciting. I am still looking for testimonials to be featured on this 30-minute show. Please email me!
So with everything going on–and those 300 I sell sheet staring me in the face–I didn’t really feel like going to yard sales this Saturday. But somehow my mom and I dragged the kids into town.
The first sale we went to was five houses down from my mom’s old house. The driveway was so steep we barely made it up to the top. The ladies holding the sale were having a lot of fun. I filled a huge box full of stuff and it added up to $19.75. I gave one of the ladies a $20 bill and said, “Don’t give me any change; let me find a 25 cent item.” You won’t believe what I picked up next. A little blue vase (signed on the base with Mideke). She said “sure” that can be a quarter! Score!
Here is a photo of that darling vase
Click here to learn more about the famous Bellingham Potter Louis Mideke and see what it is selling for!
Even better, as I was leaving I noticed a box of Wade Figurines on the ground. I used to collect these when I was little and I asked how much? Oh, those are in the free pile. I am going to write about how that all turned out and my strategy in selling those 88 pieces in next week’s ezine–You won’t want to miss out on next week’s feature article.
By the way, my mom and I bought so much stuff that she had to buy a $10 wheelbarrow to get it all down the hill. Just kidding! She wanted the wheelbarrow for her beach house, but it sure helped us haul our loot.
Our feature article this week is about another item that I got at that same sale. A dirty pan that I paid $1 for turned out to be a very valuable piece of French cookware. My mom had a wonderful idea for the photo background for the pan and how to clean it up–check out the photos in the article and learn more about Le Creuset.
It is almost September and time for my only eBay Boot Camp of the year. Please read the “Lynn recommends” section to learn more. Time and Seats are running out.
In my special announcement section you can learn about a really fun interview that I did with Janelle Elms this week. She is such an amazing eBay guru and teacher. I learned a lot from her during our one-hour session.
This week we have another great story about the things you all have sold on eBay. This one comes from a couple that loves eBay!
Here’s to Successful eBaying!
Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.
My only Live eBay Boot Camp of 2007 is going to be held at
The world famous La Quinta Resort. There are a few seats left if you have been thinking about attending. It is a fantastic weekend where you will learn and get hands-on experience that will make your eBay business more efficient and profitable.
La Quinta is the resort where old Hollywood used to come to escape. Greta Garbo’s winter home is on the property (some say it is haunted!) The hotel rooms are amazing and so is our meeting location. Come prepared to relax, rejuvenate and revitalize your eBay business as well as yourself.
“It was a blast and I really enjoyed meeting everybody. Part of the value of this workshop is the networking that happens. You get together this group of people and everybody has so much knowledge to share…As well as of course tapping into Lynn’s extraordinary knowledge and experience.” – Linda L. |
To learn more about my Live Boot Camp, click here. See you there!
I did a one-hour interview with Janelle Elms this week. Janelle is an eBay University Instructor and has written a lot of eBay books. She is an eBay guru for certain. I learned so much from her and she was interviewing me! This month’s gift to The Queen’s Court is a copy of the interview on CD mailed to your home and a downloadable transcript. Watch for those coming soon.
In this super session, Janelle and I discuss:
- Holiday vs. Christmas in your titles
- Does Endicia really work?
- How do you clean a sampler? or do you?
- What to look for at garage sales?
- Should you keep buying more and more even though the merchandise is overflowing in your home?
- Do I list everything in my store or at auction on a typical Saturday of listing?
You can find Janelle’s books on Amazon here
‘A Dirty Pan is Worth How Much?‘
by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’
I was still at the garage sale I wrote about above with the very steep driveway. As I mentioned before it was 5 houses down from my mother’s former house. Her house also had a super steep driveway and I can still remember Lee (my brother) and I trying to push my grandmother’s wheelchair up that driveway on Christmas when it was snowy and icy. We were laughing but it was kind of scary because she could have gotten hurt. But everything was an adventure to my grandmother.
Back to the sale, I picked up a dirty orange (or so I thought) enamel pan and turned it over–I was very pleased to see that it was signed Made in France. How much? I asked. It was only $1 and into my growing pile it went.
When I got home I showed it to my mom (masters degree in home economics) and she said, “Let me show you how to clean that.” Now, as most of you know–I don’t clean anything. But I am pleased to report that I let her show me how to clean this piece because it was filthy.
Yuck!
She sprayed it all over with regular oven cleaner and we waited about 20 minutes and you won’t believe how well it turned out! It was a red pan–not orange–even better!
Then she suggested that the beach rocks in front of her cabin would make a great background. Amazing how neat this pan looked on the rocks. I think I may have made it look too good!
I started doing my research. I had a hunch that it was Le Creuset. I have had these pieces before, but they usually said Le Creuset. I couldn’t find any pan on eBay or the internet in this shape that was a Le Creuset.
See the unusual shape?
I also couldn’t find a photo of a true signature so I put it on eBay with this disclaimer: “This is signed Made in France with a round indented circle. I think that this is the signature for Le Creuset but I couldn’t find a sample anywhere on the Internet. Please let me know if you know!”
Within a few hours, a nice ebayer sent me this email and I responded. I had my answer!
Q: Hi Lynn, I have a couple pieces of Le Creuset and looked on the bottom. They do have the indented circle and say made in France but also says Le Creuset. I would say it is Le Creuset as it has the same indented circle. Hope this helps. Aug-13-07
A: Thank you so much! I thought so–I just figured that the Le Creuset words in the circle mark didn’t show up because they didn’t stamp it hard enough. Lynn
Just in from another nice eBayer–I had a feeling when I was doing this research that this might be Cousances, here is more data to support that belief:
Q: Hi I have a couple of Le Creuset pieces and they do have the indented circle but they also say Le Creuset. But i also have a piece made by a company named Cousances, which was also made in France. At that time they were very similar to Le Creuset and Le Creuset eventually bought the company out. I thought that this might be useful to you, which i shouldnt give away the secret as im interested in the item also. Ha Ha.
As of the time of this writing–111 people had already viewed the auction! Wow.
Click here now to see what it is up to.
So now, let’s learn a little bit about Le Creuset and see why it sells for so much. We’ll also take a look at a recent high-priced sale on eBay.
Le Creuset is cast iron cookware with an enamel finish. This is the cookware you will see on many of the cooking shows on television. The iron is cast in sand molds. After sanding, the pieces are coated with two coats of enamel and fired after each coat. This gives the cookware the heating properties of iron with the stain resistant finish of enamel.
Other manufacturers of enameled cast iron are Cousances, Copco and Descoware. Cousances was purchased by Le Creuset in the 1960s. Some people prefer the Cousances pieces that were made pre-Le Creuset and will seek it out second-hand. These older pieces are a good find to sell on eBay.
Here is a vintage piece of Cousances/Le Creuset
This piece sold for quite a bit. Click here to see how much.
Copco is a Danish brand of enameled cast iron which is no longer made. It was made from heavy cast iron and bare iron bases that are more efficient at conducting heat. They have modern design and bright colors.
Descoware was made in Belgium. Descoware was also bought by Le Creuset. You will see quite a few of these pieces on eBay.
When buying enameled cast iron to sell on eBay, check for chips in the enamel and signs of wear. These pieces will sell, but of course not as high as perfect pieces. As you’ve already seen, even pieces which are quite dirty will clean up nicely.
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
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 free time, get your FRE E tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com
I am happy to present our 25th story for The 100 Best Things You’ve Bought or Sold on eBay! This one comes from Scott and Veva. They make over 300 times on a menu that must have been part of a special memory to the buyer. Click below to read…
Click here to read the story…
A big thanks to everyone who has already submitted a story! 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 web site 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
Happy eBaying!!
Lynn
Visit my eBay Store.
Visit my eBay auctions.
For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:
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 © 1998 – 2007 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved
