Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume IV, issue number 19

Lynn Recommends: Live Boot Camp 4-Part Payment Plan Ends Soon
Special Announcement: Thank you for the Help with Charity Auctions–a few more items!
Feature Article: USPS & Advanced Search Changes–Oh My!
The Queen’s Update: I am teaching three Classes at eBay Live!

I was lucky this past weekend. I was able to list a ton of items because my mom drove us both ways to the tournament and I listed in the car! I listed 100 items from Saturday am to Sunday pm. In fact, one of the items I listed in the car at 10:30 am was already up to $27.00 when we arrived in Temecula. Now that is the eBay I know and love!

Here is that item. Click here to see what it is up to.

My grandmother got this coin set in 1960 in Norway. She came home with 100 of these in her suitcase. I was lucky to find one left in with my inherited items.

My kids are extremely excited this week because they are leaving on Sunday for a seven day trip to Walt Disney World with their Uncle Lee. My brother is such a great uncle and we figured this was the last year they could miss a week of school to spend in Florida because Houston starts middle school next year. I can’t believe that!

Anyway, they are leaving on Mother’s Day–How ironic! They are going to have a blast and I wish I could join them but I am too busy getting ready for Book Expo America in LA May 30, 31, and June 1st. If you happen to be attending, I will have a small booth in the larger Midpoint Trade Booth #607. Please stop by and say Hello!

Since Lee will be out of town next week, we are going to skip an ezine. There will be no ezine on Thursday, May 15th. Sorry about that!

While we were in Temecula for the baseball tournament this past weekend, my mom, Indy and I decided to check out Old Town Temecula. If you can believe it, there was an antique store called “Cheryl’s Antiques.” It was darling with roses out in front (my grandmother’s store was Cheryl Leaf Antiques and she loved roses!) We knew we had to stop in.

Indy and I in front of Cheryl’s Antiques.

Well, the items in that store were just like the items my grandmother carried in her store. It was so strange. Pickle Castors ($595.00–we never got that much for one!), Vaseline glass and nesting hens etc., etc. As we walked into the back of the store, the sound system started playing the song “Amazing Grace”. My mom and I just looked at each other. That was the song we played at my grandmother’s funeral and one of her favorites. Indy just kept looking at me and saying, “Mommy are you crying yet?”

Boy did I get goosebumps and a few tears, and I was like, “OK Grandma show me the million dollar item that you want me to buy and make a fortune on.” But alas, it was not to be. I couldn’t find anything that I could turn a good profit on. A silver plated flatware set in OK condition was $195.00. Yikes! We left without buying anything but what a surreal experience!

When I got home from Temecula, I received an urgent email from Beth Probst (who will be attending Live Boot Camp this September–Yeah Beth!). She was extremely upset because eBay had changed the Advanced Search feature by Seller and so was I! Anyway, we muddled through it and today’s feature article is about that change and I also discuss the three USPS changes that will affect us the most when they happen on May 12th. Don’t miss this one!

Speaking of Live Boot Camp–It is less than 4 months away! We have sold 18 seats and the 4-part payment plan ends soon. I don’t want you to miss out so please check out the Lynn Recommends section for more info.

For an update on the charity auctions, please read the Special Announcement Section. Thank you, Thank you!

Once again, I am super excited to announce that I have been selected to teach two computer labs and co-teach one seminar at eBay Live this year in Chicago. Please read the Queen’s Update section to learn more. I want to see you guys in those seats!!!!

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.

The Mustangs charity auctions were a huge success! Thank you so much. We almost raised $7,000!  We were about $500 short (after PayPal fees), so I listed a few more of my products–I want to hit the $7,000 mark for the boys!!!

Click here to see what I added to the sale: www.palmdesertmustangs.com

Here is a little bit more info about the team: The Palm Desert Mustang baseball team is comprised of eleven-year-old players from the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Our travel team represents the city of Palm Desert in tournaments. Our boys are very competitive (while still having fun) and have won numerous awards. Our team has qualified to attend the Triple Crown Summer World Series in Steamboat Springs, Colorado this August. It costs a lot of money to send 11 boys and their families on this once-in-a-lifetime trip. We appreciate your help and support!!

Thanks again to everyone who bid!!!! Lynn, Houston & the Team!

Before we get started on all the boring business stuff, let’s have some fun! Remember Mo’s Bullwinkle mug that was selling last week. Check it out to see how much more than $9.99 it sold for! Coffee mugs rock!

Here is a link to Mo’s Bullwinkle Mug

None of my sports jerseys sold, so into my eBay store they will go at higher prices. Speaking of higher prices, The USPS is raising prices again on May 12th. This mainly affects my business in three ways.

Those are the three issues I am going to address in this article. And after we discuss the USPS we will get into eBay’s advanced search changes and Beth’s urgent email. Thanks Beth!

First of all, the letter rate going from 41 to 42 cents is an issue, but nothing so major that I need to address it in its own section.

1. Flat Rate Envelope

I use these all the time! The current rate of $4.60 will be raised to $4.80. This shouldn’t affect us very much. Especially since when they raised it from $4.30 to $4.60 last year, I started quoting $4.95 to $5.95 s/h for flat rate envelope packages.

I hope you are also covered.

Here is what those awesome flat rate envelopes look like. We go through about 50 a week!

I just went to USPS.com to order more flat rate envelopes and the new larger flat rate box and neither were available. Oh no! We are completely out of flat rate envelopes and I tried to order 300. When that didn’t work, I lowered it to 10 and it still said “out of stock”. I hope they get those back in stock quickly.

2. Flat Rate Boxes

Regular Flat Rate Box shipping charges will change from $8.95 to $9.80. Yikes! That is quite an increase (9.5%). The post office says it isn’t raising anything higher than current inflation. I find 9.5% hard to justify. Oh well, just remember that the new price is almost $10.00. The rate to use this set of smaller boxes for international shipments has not increased but there is a 20 pound limit on foreign shipments.

The good news (yes there is some good news) is that now there is a larger flat rate box option. This new box is 12″ by 12″ by 5.5″ and costs $12.95 within the US. Compared to the largest of the old flat rate boxes at 11″ by 8.5″ by 5.5″, we have gained 278 more cubic inches with this new box. It can also be used internationally. $29.95 to Canada and Mexico and $49.95 to all other countries with a 20 pound weight limit.

3. International

International is where I am going to take the biggest hit. If you have my current USPS International Rate Chart because you have attended a Live Boot Camp, bought Boot Camp in a Box, Boot Camp in a Box Lite, or my Shipping DVD, then watch for an email from me this weekend with the updated chart. It is a free upgrade from me to you!

As I was working on the new chart this week, I noticed that most of the rates for first class (4 pounds and under) are not affected drastically. It appears that the priority rates for 4 pounds and over are more drastically affected, so watch for that shipping chart in your in box if you are one of those listed above.

Speaking of international shipments, the golf shoes we had listed in the charity auction ended up selling for $15.50 and were shipped to Spain (of all places). The buyer spent $26.95 for s/h–more than 150% what he paid for the shoes!

Here are the shoes. Click hereif you want to learn more.

From our baseball team manager’s garage to a golf course in Spain–pretty cool! Please make sure you are offering worldwide shipping in your auctions. If not, you are really missing out.

Now to a change that has really affected us this week. eBay has removed the Advanced Search Items by Seller feature by day, two days, week, two weeks and one month. This is the feature that I used to close out my auctions and I know that many of you do also.

In fact, I got this email from Beth on Monday when I got back from Temecula:

Hey Lynn,

As you probably know, the listing date is gone from the advanced search function. I just spent an hour talking to eBay. I was told this information was intentionally deleted and there are no plans to provide this information to sellers. I was told I can use eBay.ca (Canada) to find this information, but eBay Canada will have this information deleted within the next month or two. Without this information I will not be able to locate items in my store. Do you have any suggestions? Can you see if Griff can help us?

Thanks!

Beth

Here is a link to Beth’s store: Whispering Creek Treasures

I had noticed that this feature had been flaky lately and I was very appreciative that Beth had taken the time to contact eBay and get confirmation! I was in the same boat as Beth. We use those listing dates to find all of our merchandise that we have listed on eBay and I was worried. I called my mom and you will NEVER believe this….she had found out where eBay had hidden those listing dates!!!! Now we can find them again!!! Thank you MOM and by the way Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

When you click on ‘Advanced Search,’ then ‘Items by Seller,’ here is what the new screen looks like now:

The option to choose by day, two day, week, etc. is gone. So just fill it out with your seller ID and then check the box next to “Include completed listings.” Then, this page will appear:

It shows everything we have sold most recently but with photos instead of the date it was listed. So, if you look up into the right hand corner you will see these three magic words….”Text-only format.” Click on that and up will come the old style of completed listings (the one that we are used to) and that has the listing date. You will have to scroll through this page until you get to where you need to be as it shows two weeks worth of sales. But at least we can still find the information we need!

I am going to be talking to everyone I know at eBay to see if we can get this feature back in the easier past day, past two days, etc. format. But thanks to my MOM, we have found the data we need!

Happy Mothers Day, Mom! And to all of you who are mothers also, I hope you have a happy and wonderful day!

Happy eBaying!

Lynn

I am excited to announce that I will be teaching one class (Twice now!) and co-teaching another class at eBay Live! I have been asking eBay if I could do this for years and finally my dream is coming true!!! The classes are 90 minutes long each.

I can’t believe that eBay Live! in Chicago is just 70 days away. Yikes! I have so much to do. In addition to the classes, we will be in a 10′ by 20′ booth–Booth #538. Carmen, her husband Jason, Mo and I will be manning the booth. Mo’s sister Mary Beth will also be helping out. Can’t wait!

The first class that I am teaching–on my own–is called “How To Research Quickly & Effectively When Selling Higher Profit Margin Items.” It is a computer lab course. I have the dates and times now for all the classes. This one will be taught on Thursday June 19th from 10:00 to 11:30 am and then again on Friday June 20th from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. I just found out that this class will be held in a room that has 25, 50 or 75 computers.

To get the larger room here is what needs to happen. Because there are no advanced sign ups for any sessions interested students CAN go to the Agenda Builder after they register for the conference and build their agenda, showing they will attend your session.

The more people that indicate interest through the Agenda Builder, the larger the room they put the session in. They are not held to their choices, however, so if they change their minds no one will hunt them down! Here is more about the class:

I will bring in ten unique items–typically higher profit margins from the antiques and collectibles category. As an example, a flatware set (just one piece), dinnerware set (just one piece), antique vase, etc., and show them on the computer where to go and find values and identify patterns fast! I will use Google, PriceMiner, eBay and Replacements.

If you are looking for ongoing sources of merchandise that are not imported, or want to see how you can make significant profit off of low-cost items, this is a must-attend seminar! Join Herb Oberman and Lynn Dralle aka The Queen of Auctions, to learn more about locally sourcing high margin items that have not flooded the eBay Marketplace. Herb will talk about finding companies in your area that sell products at rock bottom prices which you may then resell on eBay. Lynn will show you how to quickly and effectively shop garage sales and thrift stores to find those unique items that can sell for big bucks on eBay.

It is a Seminar. These are lecture-style classes for large groups of attendees. Seminars look like your classic presentation – with a mixture of bullet point content and screen shots/images. Can’t wait to see you at either one!

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.