Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume V, issue number 8

In the elevator on the way to the ball field, I was talking to Houston about his cleats and making sure he had both molded and steel so that he would be able to pitch. A gal in the elevator looked at me and said, “Are you Lynn?” “Yes,” I said, and introduced myself.

Her name was Debbie. She has a web site to help people sell kids’ toys, kids’ and adult clothing. She reads my ezine and it was wild! We are going to do a teleseminar together next month (on May 13th) for the Queen’s Court members’ gift. If you are not a Queen’s Court member, you can pre-purchase it here and get your questions posted now.

Here is an email I got from her, with a link to her website.

Hi Lynn!

Thank you SO much for being so kind in the elevator at Pechanga. How random was that?! I had always thought that I might meet you some day, but I wasn’t really prepared that day!! It was weird; I had thought of you that morning while we were watching our son at his little league game.

Anyway, I love your ezines and THANK YOU for sharing your knowledge! I also have a website, www.ebay-mommy.com, but my fan base is nowhere near yours. I mostly sell clothing and toys and the occasional collectible (thanks to you!).

I love your stories about your grandmother and can’t wait for your 4th 100 Best book. She reminds me of my late grandmother. :o) Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing you again some time soon.

Debbie

I get recognized quite a bit in Palm Desert and Bellingham, WA, but I have never been recognized in Temecula! As we walked out of the elevator, Houston said, “That was so cool!” I should have taken a photo with her. Oh well! Next time.

Don’t miss our Teleseminar on Wednesday, May 13th at noon. It will be a lot of fun! Queen’s Court members can start posting questions for Debbie on the forum.

‘How to Take a Vacation and Not Let Your eBay Business Suffer‘

by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

The reason my mom and I were talking about vacations is that she is on her way down here this Sunday to spend Spring Break with my kids and do a little work for me. What an awesome mom! I just didn’t know what I was going to do with a house full of bored kids while I am frantically writing my new book. Now, we have a solution.

My mom with my kids.

They love their Mor Mor (Swedish for Mother’s Mother).

My mom was mentioning to me that for her to visit for 12 days, it is almost like shutting down her eBay business for 30 days because she stops listing a week before she leaves and won’t get ramped up again until she returns. I said, “Wait a minute. It doesn’t have to be like that.” “Let me give you my top three tips for planning a successful and stress-free vacation.”

Keep in mind that I was giving my mom these top tips while in a thrift store. You have just got to be able to multitask. I found a bunch of Fitz & Floyd and Dansk that morning. How exciting!

Here is one of those Fitz and Floyd plates I found.

Isn’t it darling?

And I found this huge Fitz and Floyd shell vegetable bowl or soup tureen with an underplate. Not quite sure what it is–but I listed them separately.

Here…

…and here.

But back to my top three tips.

#1. Don’t stop listing. Just schedule your auctions to start one week before you return home.

I said that she needed to make a goal for herself. If she is flying back to Bellingham on April 23rd, she needs to schedule 50 to 100 auctions to start on Thursday, April 16th. That way they will be ending the afternoon she arrives back home.

You can pay 10 cents for each auction to do this through eBay and that is what I do when I go on vacation and don’t want to be working. It may sound like a lot, but 10 cents times 50 is only $5.00 and for 100 auctions only $10.00. Isn’t it worth it for the piece of mind?

Here is what that section of the eBay listing page looks like. I schedule mine to start every five minutes. That way if customers want multiple items, they will have time to place their bids.

#2. Put your store on vacation schedule.

This is such a cool feature and one that works incredibly well. Mo used it this past summer when she was in Canada, New York and Minnesota for six weeks. While out of town, she was still able to sell about $900 worth of merchandise and the customers were fine with waiting for her to ship when she returned.

Unfortunately, this can make for a lot of work when you get home. But who cares, I would rather have the $900 and a little bit of work!

To find the Store Vacation Settings go to Manage my Store. In that section, you will see “Store Vacation Settings.” Click on that and this screen will pop up. This is how I would recommend setting it up.

#3. Make sure you check your messages and questions once a day and email any winners.

Even though you are on vacation, try and check your “My messages” and “Questions” once a day and answer customers. If you are lucky enough to have an assistant (like me!) then ask them to do this for you. And DivaDawnLV just hired an assistant. I was so happy to hear that!

Also, this was a great tip from Mo. Email every winner and say again,

Dear Buyer,

I am out of town until April 23rd. Your item will not ship until my return. If you decide you don’t want to wait for this item, I would be happy to cancel the transaction. Thanks for your business.

This is just extra insurance that you won’t get any negative feedback.

#4. Work for your daughter while you are visiting her in Palm Desert (I just couldn’t resist).

I did ask my mom to please work for me when she is here. She can help me a lot while I am trying to write the new book. I have been getting behind in listing 100 things a week because of so many deadlines. So, remember all those hundreds of little girls’ dresses that my mom wrote up for me but I have not listed?

I have the folder waiting for her on my desk! I will just copy all of the photos onto a disc for her and let her loose on Carmen’s computer when Carmen isn’t here. Awesome! And strangely enough, another one of those little dresses just sold this morning.

Check it out here!

Lynn