Lynn Dralle worked with her Grandmother, Cheryl Leaf, in her Washington State antiques and gift store since she was a young child. As an expert in the field of antiques and collectibles, and online auctions, Lynn has written two essential workbooks, iBuy and iSell, designed to guide people through the lucrative world of Internet transactions. She is also the author of The 100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay which came out in January of 2004.
After earning a business degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California in 1985, Lynn worked for May Department Stores California as an Executive Trainee. She eventually became a buyer and left May Company after 5 years. In 1990, Lynn returned to USC to earn a Masters degree in Business Administration.
In 1993, Lynn returned to Bellingham, Washington to help run her grandmother's business and they began to witness tremendous sales growth. Several years later, Lynn designed a line of greeting cards that were licensed for distribution by Sunrise/Interart, now Hallmark. She also co-wrote The Unauthorized Beanie Baby Guide for Scholastic, selling over 150,000 copies to date.
By mid-1998, in order to boost sales during a tough antiques market, Lynn started buying and selling on eBay. Lynn felt that a written record keeping system was desperately needed and soon began working on iBuy and iSell. In November 1999, eBay decided that it was just what they were looking for. The books are currently available in the eBay online store.
Lynn has since appeared on hundreds of Radio and TV programs including NBC's Evening Magazine and Inside Edition with Deborah Norville. She was featured in the September 2006 issue of Good Housekeeping. She has also produced and hosted a series of video programs entitled Trash to Cash. She is still an eBay power seller and sells about 400 items each month at online auction. She lives in Southern California with her two children.
Lynn's book, The 100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay, is an entertaining, touching, and inspiring chronicle of the author's most memorable eBay adventures. As Lynn weaves memories of her time with her grandmother into stories about the items she has sold on eBay, she creates a book that is partly a memoir of the woman who inspired and brought together her entire family and partly a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to succeed at online auctions. Through it all, Lynn's fresh and enthusiastic voice keeps the tone upbeat!
Lynn is the author of How to Sell Antiques and Collectibles on eBay…and Make a Fortune with Dennis Prince for Wiley. She is also the author of The Unofficial Guide to Making Money on eBay for Wiley (publisher of the Dummies series.) The second installment of The 100 Best called More 100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay was released in January of 2006. She is currently working on the third installment: I Can't Believe I Sold That on eBay! for release in Spring 2007.
My grandmother, Cheryl Leaf, owned and operated her own antiques and gifts store in Washington State for 52 years. She was a well-known and highly respected dealer and a genius at business. She started bringing containers of antiques over from Europe in the 1960’s, before other dealers thought of doing that. She taught me just about everything I know about antiques and collecting. She trusted me to work in her store from the time I was two years old. I was free labor! I learned a great deal from this amazing lady, not only about collecting, but also about working hard and having a positive outlook on life.
Lee Dralle, my brother, is an amazing photographer and graphic artist. He and I collaborated on my newest book and it turned out great! He can be contacted here.
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