Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume IV, issue number 39

Dear eBayers,

Check out this email that I just got from Dawn and keep in mind that this was her second Live Boot Camp.

Dear Lynn,

I wanted to thank you for another fantastic La Quinta Boot Camp. It was informative, exhausting and invigorating all at the same time. At last year’s Boot Camp I knew nothing — this year I knew what I didn’t know and came armed with a long list of questions — none of which I asked because you covered them all during class. And with all the changes eBay is making, it was very important that we covered them and strategies for making the necessary adjustments. DSRs are so important now, and last year they didn’t even exist. Return policies and limits on shipping charges and listing multiples — you covered them all. And you still found time to educate us about antiques, research, shipping, smart buying techniques, the Dralle listing method, photography, after auction strategies and tips for streamlining our businesses.

And just as important, there was a great group of people at Boot Camp — everyone eager to learn and share their experiences and knowledge. There were plenty of opportunities to interact and get to know each other. We worked hard and we had a great time. You make learning fun and exciting. You have such a genuine love for what you do — your encouragement and positive energy makes me believe that I can do this — and do it well.

Thank you, Lynn. And Mo and Carmen and Lee and Jason and Joel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Dawn
Diva Dawn LV (Check out Dawn’s eBay store here.)

Boot Camp 2008 La Quinta is going to be such awesome footage! Jason did an incredible job filming it and I believe it was our BEST boot camp ever.

If you already own Boot Camp in a Box you can get the La Quinta footage at a special price until it becomes our full Boot Camp in a Box. This special offer ends on October 20th. If you already own the Full Boot Camp in a Box or Boot Camp in a Box Lite, please email us for a special link to purchase the new footage.

If you don’t own the full Boot Camp, you can still get the 4 in 1 Boot Camps in a Box (Bellingham video, LAX audio, 2007 La Quinta video and 2008 La Quinta video) before we retire LAX and 2007 La Quinta video. Read more about this amazing offer here. This special offer also ends on October 20th. You will receive 3 sets of discs now with the boot camp in a box and the La Quinta DVDs later this month or early November.

Don’t delay! This is incredible footage and can change your business just in time for the holidays. The La Quinta 2008 DVD sets will ship out end of October/beginning of November. Read more here.

Thank you Robin! We appreciate it! Lynn

‘Random Happenings and Crazy Coincidences’

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

We have been selling a lot out of our eBay store and I have heard the same from many of you. Missy M (who is a Queen’s Court member & 2007 Live Boot Camp Grad) just sent me an awesome gift and great email.

Here is her email:

Hi Lynn, thanks for the latest eBay info, even though I only have 600 items, it’s good to have a reprieve!

I’m so glad you got the picture in one piece! I wanted to find a prettier frame, the original black frame was in bad shape so I decided to replace it, but I’m not sure the brown one is an improvement!

Here is my gift from Missy. It says “You Can’t Do Business From an Empty Wagon!” That was one of my Grandma’s favorite sayings. However, my grandmother edited it a little and hers was “You Can’t Sell From an Empty Wagon.” I love it! Thank you Missy. But back to Missy’s email

Just to let you know, things are flying off the shelf right now! People are buying random things that have been sitting in my store forever. I’ve been listing steadily and usually have at least 25 auctions on all the time. About half my auctions have been selling, it’s amazing! Just think if I could maintain 100 per week…

–Missy (Visit Missy’s eBay store here.)

It is true, things are flying off of the shelves and we can’t sell from empty wagons–so I challenge you all to LIST, LIST, and then LIST some more. Get your stores stocked for the holidays.

But back to the point of my article. Since we have been selling so much, I have noticed lots of empty shelf space in the eBay room. Thank goodness! I started consolidating shelves to make room for my new store listings. As I was moving items from one shelf to another, I noticed a darling miniature tea set with ladybugs on it. I touched the set while moving it and thought to myself, “I can’t believe that this has not sold.”

See the set here.

About 4 hours later I saw an email from PayPal that I had received a payment. I clicked on the email and could not BELIEVE that it was a payment for the ladybug tea set. It had just sold! Crazy Coincidence. I don’t think so.

Remember the whale story #84 from The 3rd 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay..Ka-Ching!? It is about my kids asking me to show them the most expensive thing I had on eBay so that they could touch it and make it sell. The whale they touched sold for $249.00 three weeks after that.

Enough reminiscing, back to this week. After selling the ladybug tea set, I was doing my Identification on the Queen’s Court Forums and Judy/Trudy had a chalkware face that she didn’t know how to list. I recognized it immediately as being an English piece but I just couldn’t remember the name of the maker. I knew that I had a sailor one like it listed in my eBay store so I searched around on eBay but couldn’t find the listing. I wanted to find the listing so that I could ID the maker for her.

On these chalk face pieces, sometimes the signature would fade and it would become unreadable. I went into the eBay room and asked Carmen if she knew where that Sailor head was so that I could read the signature for Judy/Trudy.

Carmen knew exactly where it was and handed it to me. I looked at the back side and made out Bossons. I was able to post that on the Queen’s Court so that Judy/Trudy could get hers listed. Pretty fun!

Well, two days later that chalkware sailor sold. Coincidence? Once again I think not!

Here is the sailor that sold.

Then yesterday we got a question about a red Vespa moped figurine. It was from someone in Italy who wanted to know how much to ship it to his or her Country. I answered the question but they didn’t buy it.

This morning I got another question about the same red Vespa (but from a different eBay user in the US). They wanted to know if it had any broken parts and how old it was. I answered the question, but again they didn’t buy it.

To my surprise, just now, both the red and the blue Vespas that I had listed in my eBay store since December 7, 2006 had sold. They are going to Italy and the email of the person who bought it is VespaMotorClub@something. Pretty neat!

Here is the red one.

The point of this article is that sometimes when one person shows an interest in an item–it will help it to sell. That one person could be someone from as far away as Italy, or it could be Mo or Carmen, or it could even be Me!

Spend some time in your eBay room–rearrange, clean up, and move things around. You will be surprised at what sells! Coincidence–Once again, I think not.