Shoes, Boots and Scarves, Oh My!

Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume V,
issue number 25

Hi %$firstname$%!

The last ezine for 2009. Happy New Year! Here’s hoping that 2010 is going to be the best year EVER for all of us!

Lynn Recommends: Bellingham Live Boot Camp Footage

Special Announcement: How the Queen’s Court Plush is doing!

Feature Article: Shoes, Boots and Scarves, Oh My!

The Queen’s Update: Requesting More Stories from You

This ezine is published every two weeks.
December 31, 2009 Volume V, Issue 25

We had such a great Christmas and I hope you did also! I must admit that I am glad that it is over. December is always a tough month for me as there is Indiana’s birthday, Christmas cards, Queen’s Court gifts, Christmas gifts and then New Year’s! I was very lucky this year because I was able to escape from this madness for a few days and spend some R&R time in Santa Fe while my kids were out of town.

My kids had a blast in Florida at Disneyworld with their Uncle Lee. My mom flew in to surprise them, too. In the middle of twelve fun-filled days in Florida, my brother surprised them with a four-day Disney Cruise!

He told my kids that they were going to change hotels and to get packed up but that they would be stopping at a Target store along the way. Well, Houston fell asleep and when he woke up he said to my brother, “Isn’t that Cape Canaveral?” Indy stayed awake the entire 1 1/2 hour drive and said to my brother, “It doesn’t take this long to get to Target.” At that point he told them to look at the cruise ship and then it dawned on them! What a great surprise and a great uncle!

I am glad they are back because it was awfully lonely without them, but I did get a LOT of work accomplished. Our Christmas was really nice. We went to a Christmas Eve candlelight service at the Presbyterian Church and then we opened all our presents! Not as many this year as in past years but it didn’t really matter. It was all about family.

The next morning, Santa came and brought amazing pool toys for Houston and Indy so we started heating the pool right away. We would use the pool and all the fun toys (including a basketball hoop) later that afternoon and it was a blast!

After seeing what Santa had brought, we all headed over to Indio. My ex-husband, William, had set it up so that we could all go and work at Martha’s Kitchen serving meals that morning, so at 9:45 we all arrived at their amazing facility.

We couldn’t believe the lines! There were 3,000 people waiting for meals and free toys for their kids. What an awesome experience it was for all of us. Houston and I paired up to serve meals from a large tray. My brother was the runner to replenish the large food pans. Indy and her dad were part of the clean-up crew and my mom got the perfect job!

The only bad part were the hair nets we all had to wear!

My mom had hurt her ankle walking so much in Florida, so that when Martha’s Kitchen asked for two people who needed to sit down to help, my mom got lucky. She was in charge of covering up leftovers with tin foil. For any of you who know my mom, she is the Queen of Leftovers! She never leaves a restauraunt without a box of food to take home. It was the perfect job for her.

Back at the house we had a really nice Christmas dinner with my mom’s cousin Gwen joining us. As we were looking over our Christmas gifts, we realized that Indiana didn’t get any shoes. And as they say “Baby needs new shoes”. Indy’s toes are poking out of almost every pair. It was then that I had her try on my size 8’s and I noticed that her feet were as big as mine! She is only 11. I am going to have super tall kids–which is just fine with me!

My mom and I went out to thrift stores on the Sunday after Christmas (because there were no garage sales on Saturday) and we found two pairs of shoes that would most likely work for Indy. One was a pair of Mickey Mouse size 8 1⁄2 tennis shoes that she just loves ($2.99) and the other was a pair of boots that prompted me to write my feature article this week. Please don’t miss this article called “Shoes, Boots and Scarves, Oh My!”

It was strange, but on Christmas day, I got an offer on a case full of Garnets that had been my grandmothers. The offer was pretty close to my asking price of $299.00, so I took it. Thank you Grandma for that nice Christmas gift!

Click here to see what it sold for.

In the Lynn Recommends section, we have decided to extend the offer for the Bellingham Boot Camp footage at an amazing price for previous owners and Live Boot Camp attendees. We just don’t want you to miss out on making 2010 YOUR best year ever on eBay. Order this now before it goes back in the vault!

Important News: USPS and UPS Rates have changed again. Read below to find out how this affects you and changes you may want to implement to save money.

In the Special Announcement section, I have an update about the Queen’s Court special gift for December! Some of the plush animals are listed on eBay and hopefully one will sell for a fortune!

By the way, we have sold 13 seats for Live Boot Camp 2010. If you are considering joining us, we recommend that you reserve your spot early. This one is going to sell out quickly. Here is a link.

Finally, we are looking for more of your stories. Read below to find out how to submit your stories for consideration.

Happy eBaying,

Lynn Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions,’ Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.

Important News Update:

URGENT — INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING PRICE CHANGES

As many of you know, the USPS is raising its Priority International mail rates on Monday, January 4th, 2010 (My brother’s birthday). Not great news, but the increases were not too bad. The USPS will not raise first class international prices until sometime mid-year. I have redone my INTERNATIONAL shipping chart with these new increases.

If you aren’t already using my International Shipping Cheat Sheet, I highly recommend it. It saves us literally hours a month in quoting shipping rates to our international customers. The international market is a great place to get more exposure for your auctions so why not start selling to a wider audience and see what happens to your bottom line? My cheat sheet will make it faster and easier to quote the most commonly asked question you get from international buyers.

A downloadable version will be the Queen’s Court gift for January and is on the forums for download now.

If you want to get the laminated hard copy version – so handy to keep by your computer to make quick shipping quotes – with the 1st class domestic retail page on the back side, you can order it here at a great price with free shipping and be ready for the new changes! I know I can’t live without my laminated USPS International rate chart and use it about five times a day.

Click here to order yours.

UPS has also announced price increases, but I am not worried about these at this time. I have been quietly adding 50 cents to $1 to my base UPS s/h/i prices in anticipation of this change.

Please note, the following offer is only for owners of Boot Camp in a Box or past Live Boot Camp attendees. Want to join that group? Boot Camp in a Box is here. Live Boot Camp is here.

As much as I love writing, I would rather be selling on eBay or motivating you all to sell on eBay. That is what I am truly passionate about.

I believe this comes through in the Bellingham video footage from one of our very first live Boot Camps and the first one EVER that was successfully filmed! The footage from the Bellingham Boot Camp has been ‘lost’ for a while now and for the holidays I have taken it out of the vault and want to make it available to those who already own Boot Camp in a Box.

This footage is special for several reasons. The first reason is that it was filmed by my good friend John Mortensen who did all of my video production when I lived in Bellingham. He is a very talented cameraman and producer. His company serves a client base that includes Boeing, Apple Computer, ESPN, T-Mobile, Intuit/Quicken, Hasbro, and many others. Thanks John! (This Bellingham footage is awesome and it can be yours now and at a special Holiday price!)

Click here to order now (only for those who own Boot Camp in a Box.)

Another reason is that we only had five students at the Bellingham Live Boot Camp. That made for an incredibly small and intimate learning experience.

While our limited supplies last, we are offering this to Boot Camp in a Box owners for a greatly reduced price. Click here to order now so you can learn for yourself how this incredible video can help propel your business to even higher levels.

You may be wondering, “What does an older Boot Camp have to offer?” You know, even with the changes to eBay over the years, there is still very valuable information to be learned from this footage. AND every single boot camp is different. Different locations, different students, different questions answered and different lessons. Don’t miss your chance to add this to your Boot Camp library and with a 2-part payment plan, it makes it even more affordable. Don’t delay as this footage goes back into the vault when the limited number has been sold.

I don’t want you to miss out on this very special offer. Click here to order now.. Don’t delay–I guarantee that it is worth the purchase price. To purchase in two easy payments, click here.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get your own copy of the Bellingham Boot Camp footage. This is your chance to experience this intimate event. It will be just like you were there. Click here to order now.

This is what Boot Camp graduate Sharla had to say about Bellingham Boot Camp:

“Thank you so very much for the beyond awesome time in Bellingham. It wasn’t even a seminar it was a blast…You have no idea how much you helped me with eBay and my life.”

–Sharla Jackson, Denver, CO
eBay store: Tradewinds247

But Hurry! This offer is over when our stock on hand is gone. When that happens, this footage will be going back into the vault.

Click here to order now. To pay in two payments, click here.

The Queen’s Court Members all received a plush animal for their December gift. Many have theirs listed and I hope one does sell for a fortune. Well, I hope that one will sell for at least $100 in this year’s listing madness. There is even a Steiff Monkey Puppet (minus the ear button) in the mix.

Edith in Cincinnati got the Steiff monkey and it is listed now. He is so cute! Check him out here.

Many of the Queen’s Court members have decided to donate the proceeds from their plush sale to charity. What an awesome group! Here is a Queen’s Court post I got from Marcia–she is the member who started this fantastic idea.

St Jude Bear

I received the most wonderful St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital bear in the mail today from Lynn. I have this great bear listed with 100% of the monies going back to the St. Jude hospital to help the kids.

Happy Holidays
Marcia

See Marcia’s auction here:

Happy holidays to all the Queen’s Court members and thanks
for keeping us updated! This has been a lot of fun. Lynn

P.S. If any of you want to learn more about selling plush, don’t miss out on purchasing the Debbie Ybarra teleseminars for immediate download here: Teleseminar 1 and Teleseminar 2.

‘Shoes, Boots and Scarves, Oh My!‘
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

Indiana has been wanting a pair of Ugg type boots and she didn’t get any for Christmas. She won’t be able to wear them much living here in the desert, but in the winter it does get really cold at night. So, while my mom and I were out thrift store shopping last Sunday, I spotted this awesome pair of Italian real fur boots. They were in incredible condition and only $3.99. I scooped them up even though they said 36 on the base and I didn’t know if that European size would fit her. I always knew (in the back of my mind) that I could sell them on eBay!

Well, they didn’t fit and she didn’t really like them, so up on eBay they went. Turns out the suggested retail for these Garden Spot Italian boots is $150 to $180!

Italian Apres Ski Boots. Check them out here.

Here are the Ugg type boots that Indy ended up getting with some of her Christmas money. She bought them on eBay–of course!

The auction is here.

We won this auction with auctionsniper.com. I highly recommend using a sniping service like this when buying anything on eBay!

At the next thrift store that my mom and I stopped by, they had a ton of designer shoes. Some were brand new and others were used. I found Indy a pair of Converse All Star black high tops for $10.00 in brand new condition. Just the night before, she had been on eBay looking at Vans vs. Converse and she couldn’t decide which pair to buy with the rest of her Christmas money.

Now, she didn’t have to! She absolutely loved these shoes I picked up for her and I haven’t seen her that happy in about a week (since Santa came!)

Here she is in her new shoes. Well, here are her feet in the new shoes!

I also bought a brand new pair of Sbicca mules, a slightly used pair of BCBG slides and a used pair of Coach flip flops. They were all $10 each. I did it for a fun trial.

The Coach flip flops were pretty cool (I like them) but the soles were pretty dirty. I asked my mom to write them up on I Sell sheets and the next thing you know, she is in the kitchen cleaning them up. Way to go mom!

I have all three pairs listed now. here is a link to the Coach flip flops.

here is a link to the Sbicca mules.

here is a link to the BCBGirls sandals.

When I told my mom that I was writing about boots, shoes and scarves, she told me about a great score she had had recently. She bought five pairs of used Dansko shoes at a yard sale for $3.00 each. It was in a not so great area of Bellingham and it was late in the day. The lady running the sale originally wanted $7 each and because it was time to close up shop, my mom was able to negotiate the price down to $3.00 each. That is more like it!

She put them all up at auction for $19.99 to $24.99 and one sold for $24.99. That covered her initial investment of $15.00 and then some. No worries about the other four pairs, because they all sold out of her eBay store within 3 months at between $19.99 and $24.99.

Here is a link to the one that sold the most recently. FYI, this brand of shoes is made in Portugal.

The last fun clothing category that often gets overlooked is scarves. Think about it. They are easy to store, easy to ship and can sell for big bucks. Check out this neat email I got from Mandy, a Queen’s Court member.

Hi Lynn,

This was a great score! A Hermes Paris 100% silk scarf I found at Value Village for 2.99 with its seam label and the copyright printed right on the scarf!

It sold with a bidding war for way more than I could have ever imagined. Yippee! I’m going to check the scarves more often when out Thrifting!

Mandy
Mandicrafts

Mandy’s auction is here.

When I emailed Mandy to ask her if I could include her score in the newsletter, here is what she sent back.

Sure you can use the scarf in the ezine, but the follow up to it was that they complained that it had a worn spot and pin holes and a stain. I’d inspected it before it shipped and offered a full refund, confident I could resell or over it as a second chance offer, but they still wanted to give it as a gift and asked for compensation before leaving feedback.

I refunded $20 and that made them happy enough to leave good feedback and it was still a great score for me without all the return hassle!!

Some of that extortion we are all experiencing with feedback held hostage!!

No kidding! But Mandy did the right thing by offering a parital refund. Good job, Mandy! And I just heard from Mandy again, she made Silver Powerseller today!!!! Congratulations–What an awesome accomplishment.

What great lessons learned, just like with antiques and collectibles, anything made in Europe or by a famous designer in Boots, Shoes or Scarves is usually going to be a score! Don’t pass these items up when out thrifting or garage saling.

Happy eBaying!

Lynn

Visit my eBay Store.

Visit my eBay auctions.

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:
http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Lynn’s past ezines here.

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 time, get your FRE E tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

We are looking for your eBay success stories to share with our ezine readers and possibly make it into a book of our reader’s best eBay stories.

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 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.

The Queen of Auctions/All Aboard Inc.
PO Box 14103
Palm Desert, CA 92255
760-340-6622
Lynn@TheQueenofAuctions.com

Happy eBaying!!

Lynn

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.

Tagged as: ebay advice, ebay tips, ezine 2010, selling on ebay

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Kelli August 16, 2009 at 5:54 am: We watched this auction Lynn; it was a fun one. What a score!

2 Angie September 15, 2009 at 11:11 am: Can’t wait for your next blog post!! I LOVE your e-zines, I’ve learned SO much from you.

3 Desiree September 24, 2009 at 2:57 pm: Thanks for always sharing such great info. Love your site and I love the ezine… Keep up the great work!!!

4 mike October 3, 2009 at 7:59 am: surprising..This is ebay..you can run an auction for something and then Booom!!!!

Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume V,
issue number 25

Important News Update:

Please note, the following offer is only for owners of Boot Camp in a Box or past Live Boot Camp attendees. Want to join that group? Boot Camp in a Box is here. Live Boot Camp is here.

The Queen of Auctions

eBay Training Products

eBay Selling Courses

eBay Tips & Tricks

eBay Resources

Shoes, Boots and Scarves, Oh My!

Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume V, issue number 25

Important News Update:

Please note, the following offer is only for owners of Boot Camp in a Box or past Live Boot Camp attendees. Want to join that group? Boot Camp in a Box is here. Live Boot Camp is here.

The Queen of Auctions

eBay Training Products

eBay Selling Courses

eBay Tips & Tricks

eBay Resources

Lynn’s eBay ezine Volume V,
issue number 25