Dear eBayers,

Many of you have called or emailed to find out when our ONLY Live Boot Camp of 2009 is going to be. We have confirmed our dates and it is going to be Friday, August 28th, Saturday August 29th and Sunday August 30th at the world famous La Quinta Resort! If you can believe it, there are only 15 seats left! And five of the nine who are coming are return students. Too much fun!

By holding it the last weekend in August, we were able to negotiate super great room rates for all you future students and the resort will not be very crowded. We will also be able to get the meeting rooms that we want.

‘Can you really shop retail and make money on eBay? My 3 Top Tips’

by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

Right before Christmas last year, I was in the Dollar Store buying some last-minute stocking stuffers when I spotted the neatest looking dinnerware. It was by Royal Norfolk and it had roosters on it. Can’t go wrong with Roosters, ever. I started wondering if I could buy the dinner plates and the soup bowls and sell them on eBay?

It also got me thinking about shopping at other discount stores like TJ Maxx, Big Lots (Formerly Pic-n-Save) and Marshalls who take the mainstream retailers’ overstocks and manufacturers’ overstocks and sell them at deep discounts. The discount stores stocks are constantly changing so I thought it might be a really great place for sourcing product–especially in the off garage sale months like winter!

So for the purposes of an article that I knew I would EVENTUALLY write, I shelled out $8 for four dinner plates and four large bowls. I listed them immediately at Christmas time in 2007 and they didn’t sell so we moved them into my eBay store on January 13th of 2008.

Here are the dinner plates that are still for sale in my eBay store.

Cute, aren’t they?

Tip #1: Don’t spend too much & watch for markdowns.

I only spent $2 for each $9.99 auction listing so I wasn’t taking a very big risk. The four soup bowls just sold this week! My $4 investment returned $19.98 within a year.

These soup bowls can be seen here.

I am surprised that the dinner plates didn’t sell first, but they will soon. I recommend that you try and keep your spending at $1 to $3 per $9.99 auction listing.

Also, watch for red tags and markdowns. These discount stores rotate their stock quickly so it is a good idea to always check the clearance shelves.

Tip #2: Pick Good Brand Names or Popular Subjects

I am amazed at some of the brand names these discount chains get. I have seen Spode, Lladro, Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, Fitz & Floyd, Lenox and more.

In fact, a good friend is starting to sell on eBay and she called me from Marshalls last week and said, “I can’t believe it, but they have Deruta Pottery from Italy here.” She is Italian and collects this pottery but I told her to wait until it got marked down since the pieces were over $10 each. Deruta is a very good brand and I have had tremendous success with it.

Check out this Deruta Chop Plate I have listed in my eBay store. It didn’t sell at auction last week but will eventually sell from my store.

Try and stick with brand names that you know are good. Mo had a huge success with some dinnerware from TJ Maxx earlier this year. She bought dinner plates, cereal bowls and soup bowls in the Spode Winter’s Eve Blue pattern for between $1.99 and $2.99 each. The dinner plates all sold for $45.00 each!

She still has some of the bowls left. You can check them out here.

As soon as my mom heard Mo’s story, she ran out to a different TJ Maxx store in La Quinta looking for similar items. She bought a stack of Spode Christmas plates that were marked down to $1.99 each with red tags. She didn’t get them listed before she moved to Bellingham for the Summer so when she moved back to Bellingham this Fall, she gave them to me. Thank you Mom!

Anyway, I sold three of the Christmas plates at auction for $9.99 each and then moved the last two into my eBay store. Well, they both just sold out of my eBay store. One sold on December 4th and one on December 9th.

Click here to see for how much.

We had only just listed them in the eBay store on November 21, 2008. It only took about two weeks for them to sell. Amazing!

In addition to looking for good brand names, also look for popular subject matter like farm animals; (cows, horses, roosters, chickens, sheep, pigs) rabbits, cats and dogs. The dinnerware that I sold from the $1 store wasn’t a great brand, Royal Norfolk, but the subject matter and color scheme were.

Tip #3: Keep your Receipts and Return within 30 Days

The best part about shopping at discount chains is that most accept returns within 30 days with receipts. Make sure you have a special place to keep your receipts so that if you do decide to return items, you can find the receipts quickly.

30 days gives you enough time to try items at auction, move them into your eBay store and then make a decision about whether to return or not.

If you have paid less than $3 per auction, I would wait it out. However, if you have decided to try more expensive items, this can really work to your advantage. I have heard some wonderful success stories from people who sell bedding and linens that they find at these discounters. If they don’t sell within the 30 days and they have paid $25 or more, they return the bedding for a full refund.

It is also a good idea to check outlet malls if you have any that are close to you. Get to know the outlet store managers and let them know that you are especially interested in items at final markdown.

Finally, with so many mainstream retailers going out of business, the discount stores, like the Dollar Store chains, Marshalls, Big Lots and TJ Maxx will be getting flooded with manufacturer’s and store overstocks. Now is a great time to go shopping! And make money!