Hi!

Howdy! I hope you are all doing great . Happy New Year (even though it is already March)! I hope the holidays were great to you all!

As I begin writing this ezine from my hotel in Cancun, I can't believe that is has already been a year since I opened my store! Our one year anniversary took place on Friday, March 1st and we celebrated all day! (and yes, I took a vacation to celebrate one year of working my a** off!).

As many of you know, we opened the store on Thursday, March 1st, 2018 in honor of what should have been my dad's 84th birthday (he passed away suddenly from pancreatic cancer in 2017 - here is a link to an ezine that I wrote about my dad and his battle with pancreatic cancer). This year as we celebrate our first year in business, we will honor my father on what should have been his 85th birthday. My dad would have loved Ventura and all of you wonderful consignors and customers. So come in and say "Happy Birthday to Papa" and my store!

And, look how far we've come. This was the Pepperdine crew standing in the store on February 3, 2018.

Speaking of the store, you don't want to miss our Chalk Paint Class Wednesday, March 20th from 5pm to 8pm!

This is the Basic Course offering an Introduction to the Annie Sloan Method of Chalk Painting....Furniture, Lamp Shades, Fabric and just about anything!

Appetizers, wine & other beverages will be served. Come learn four techniques during this 3 hour hands on workshop. We will cover painting, waxing, buffing, mixing, blending, distressing, and so much more!!!

You will create 3 Sample Boards with different finishes to take with you and all the confidence and knowledge you need to go home and tackle any project!!!

Please wear painting clothes and aprons will be provided.....you don't need t obring anything except maybe a friend!

Can't wait to see you and help you learn about the..... BEST PAINT IN THE WORLD!!!

Spaces are limited so reserve your spot today!!! We have already sold a few seats..... $99 Per Student

Basic Workshop

When: Wednesday, March 20th from 5 pm to 8 pm
Where: In our New Workshop behind the store at 1975 E. Main Street.

Using Credit Card

With Paypal

Check out what some of our students are saying about the class.....

"Good morning Lynn. I loved your class last Thursday evening. Your expertise, guidance, artistry, the painting supplies, and food and drink you generously provided made for an enjoyable experience. Happy New Year. See you soon.
Anna :)"

"Thank you for such a wonderful fun class…I can’t wait to paint something now and will definitely take more classes!!!
Lynn Knudson"

"Lynn, besides taking your class(can’t wait for the next), I wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday by giving up your time and helping me pick out my supplies.
Thank you again, Tere"

"Thank-you was a blast! Can’t wait for the new class!!!
Many thanks - Rebecca"

"Hi Lynn. The class was very informative and lots of fun too. Great experience!
Many thanks for everything! Jane"

"Hello Lynn. It was a thoroughly informative and entertaining evening.
Thank you! Margaret Sparks"

"Thanks for such an enjoyable evening last night, such fun and now I feel like I can face the table project with a can of chalk paint! Your energy and enthusiasm was contagious. See you soon to buy my supplies.
Susan (Nodar)"

Hope to see you there!

Let's start off with a score! I bought these beautiful art nouveau pieces at a garage sale down in the Pierpont Beach area of Ventura. The woman having the sale used to own an antique shop. I paid $20 for the two of them.

Click here to see this auction.

They sold for a best offer of $200. How is that for making 10 times the purchase price? Always what I shoot for when selling on eBay .

The last ezine I wrote was in October. Yikes! October was a super busy month for me…well aren't they all? As the ezine was being emailed, I was on my way to Bellingham, WA for our annual girls weekend with my mom on the beach.

I drove out to Palm Desert so I could fly with all of my crew…Mo, Kel, and Candy. We had a blast. Here we are on our way to Canada for the day. We stopped off in Lynden for a super fun detour. I bought this darling Furniture Store sign that is now in my office & even makes an appearance on our Christmas card and I even found my Halloween costume at a thrift store there.

Here is my incredibly awesome and scary wig that I bought for 49 cents. I was wearing it to a Halloween Birthday party for one of my customers…. and my really good friends Gina and her husband Sean (who live across the street from me) did NOT even recognize me. LOL!

Time for a score! When I moved to Ventura to open my store, my neighbor, Sandra, sent some amazing pieces with me to help fill up the space with quality merchandise. This was one of those pieces and I did not want to put it out on the floor in case a piece got lost. Finally got around to listing it on eBay and took a best offer of $300 for it.

The history of these puzzles is incredible and I was able to share some history from a popular website in the listing. Check it out!

Click here to see this auction.

The store was super busy in October, but my social life seemed even busier. I attended Val's daughter's wedding. Val was my first employee! It was so much fun to be included with her family and the celebration was a blast! Here are Val and me with her daughter Taryn and son-in-law JD.

In October, I was fortunate enough to travel to San Diego to take a two day stockist workshop from Iron Orchid Designs. I love what these sisters have done with their company. Their design transfers are AMAZING!

Here I am with Josie and Sally.

Here is a flatware chest that I painted in Annie Sloan Old Ochre, and then layered a floral design transfer with some French Text. Then I used an IOD rubber stamp to distress it. I think it turned out darling! And what a great idea to reuse those flatware chests that NO ONE wants! Am I right?

Time for a score. This one blew my mind. A trinket box that wasn't signed and was really nothing incredible. Picked it up for a couple of bucks at an estate sale. It sold for almost $100 and went to France…home of the Limoges trinket boxes and instead they wanted this metal/resin model. You just never know!

Click here to see this auction.

Indiana was set to star in the musical Curtains at Pepperdine and opening night was November 9th. I was soooooo excited. I had purchased tickets for every performance and had friends and family lined up to see all 6 performances.

On Thursday, the day before opening, I awoke to a ton of frantic texts asking me if Houston and Indiana were OK. I turn off my phone from 10 pm to 8 am every day and had no idea about the tragedy that had occurred at the Borderline Country Bar in Thousand Oaks where some Pepperdine students had been present.

My heart sunk as I text Goose and Indy to make sure they were OK…it wasn't their MO to attend a line dancing night, but you just never know. My kids were fine, but my heart was breaking for the senseless loss of lives in that tragedy.

I was also worried about the DeBell RA's who had taken some of the freshman girls there that night to have fun. Indy had lived in the DeBell dorm freshman year and the RA's this year were the same ones when she was there.

I followed the story all day and my heart broke when we found out that one of the DeBell girls had passed away on the dance floor. I asked Indy if she knew her and of course she did. Alaina was an amazing kid and was in the choir with Indy. Alaina sat one seat over from Indy during rehearsals. UGHHHHHHH! I am still heartbroken for the victims and their families.

We were all reeling from this shock when I was at an appointment and we got news of the fires that had started in that same area of Thousand Oaks. Seriously?

Even with the fire, I was confident that opening night would take place the next evening so I went to Trader Joes and bought three bouquets of flowers, two for Indy and one for her friend Julian who had the male lead.

On Friday morning I still thought that opening night would take place. My heart sunk when this email came in at 10:46 am.

Hello,

Due to wildfires affecting the Malibu area, the Friday, November 9 performance of CURTAINS has been cancelled. If you have tickets to tonight's performance, please visit the following link and complete the survey to indicate how you would like us to process a refund or exchange for your tickets.

We hope that you and your loved ones remain safe. We look forward to having you join us for a performance soon! Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thank you,
Box Office at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts

During this time, I never forgot about Alaina and the fact that she would never be coming home to her parents. I cried a lot. The Pepperdine kids cried a lot. The musical was cancelled for one night. My kids were safe and sound.

Here is a photo of Indiana during dress rehearsal. She would be playing Carmen, the brassy Broadway producer.

Here is a photo of her also taken at dress rehearsal during her solo song performance of "It's a business". WOW!

I still believed that the musical would go on. Then the fires got closer to Malibu. And Pepperdine shut down Campus for that entire week.

TO: Pepperdine Community
FROM: Public Relations Office
DATE: November 10, 2018
RE: Pepperdine and the Woolsey Fire

Pepperdine officials continue to monitor the Woolsey Fire and have begun to assess its impact on the Malibu campus. At approximately 11 PM last night, the wildfire approached the hillsides of campus. Los Angeles County Fire responded swiftly with multiple strike teams and air operations and worked throughout the early morning to extinguish the flames. Despite the velocity and intensity of the fire, the Malibu campus sustained no major structural damage, losing only one vehicle, two container pods, and one small storage trailer. Our annual brush clearance programs, which create fire breaks around campus buildings, as well as our fire resistant landscaping, have again helped to protect the campus.

The University’s shelter-in-place order continued throughout the evening, and all residential students, faculty, and staff who decided to remain on campus spent the night in the safety of Payson Library and Tyler Campus Center where medical services, food, and water were available. Our shelter-in-place protocols, which have been successful for fires impacting campus for more than two decades, have consistently been the University’s safest course of action for wildfires of this magnitude. These plans are also supported by and reviewed regularly with Los Angeles County Fire. After all flames were extinguished, the shelter-in-place order was lifted at approximately 8 AM this morning, and students are now able to move about campus.

University officials have closed the Malibu and Calabasas campuses and canceled all classes and events from today, November 10, through Tuesday, November 13, 2018. At this time, the City of Malibu is still under mandatory evacuation orders and all roads into Malibu remain closed.

The University is profoundly grateful for the support and partnership of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and all first responders. We are also thankful for the leadership of the Emergency Operations Committee, for our student care teams who were on site to support the community throughout the day and night, and for the cooperation and understanding of our community throughout this unsettling event. Our hearts are with everyone in our community who have been impacted by this fire, and the University will be working throughout the weekend to coordinate support and resources in this time of need.

As we evaluate the containment of the fire and its impact in the region, we will keep the community updated as new information becomes available"

Pepperdine was sheltering in place and I knew that it was extremely safe, However, Houston and his girlfriend, Emma decided to drive home down PCH and try and beat the fires. I was scared the entire time they were driving, but were so grateful and blessed when they pulled into town on the morning of November 10th.

I was worried about Indiana all day, but she was OK in the café (cafeteria).

I was getting updates from Indiana and Facebook regarding the sheltering in place. If you have time, watch this clip "Pepperdine Students Haven't Stopped Believing". That is my Indy dancing with her best friend Syd in the midst of it all.

At about 4 pm on November 10th, Indy text me and said "we are making a run for it and I am coming home". I was extremely nervous and finally relieved when that kid of mine arrived home about 10 pm on Saturday night.

The next day, Sunday, November 11th the four of us (Indy, Houston, Emma and myself) decided to go out to breakfast. We ended up at the Golden Egg (right down from my store) and at about 11 am we all got emergency phone calls on our phones. Pepperdine would be shutting down and closing all classes through Thanksgiving. Ughhhhhhhhh. The musical was NOT going to happen after 3 months of intense preparation.

I kept reminding myself that this was a minor bump in the road of life. My kids were safe and sound. We were not losing our home as so many did. I was still sad for the theatre kids. They had just lost a classmate to a violent unnecessary shooting, many of their homes/apartments were in the path of the fires and now the production was cancelled. It was a very trying and devastating time for so many in our area.

One night during this 1 ½ week hiatus from school, quite a few of the theatre kids showed up at my house. I almost had a full cast in my barn…they could perform here I jokingly suggested.

Five days later after the fires had been contained, Indiana got a text message. Kelly Todd and the Pepperdine Theatre Department had arranged to have a "ONE NIGHT ONLY" performance on Tuesday, November 27th at 7:30 pm. It would be free.

We sailed through Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for this year. Indy and I were able to contact all of the friends and family that were going to be seeing one of the six performances and rallied 22 of them for this one show.

It was AMAZING. Here we are after the performance.

We had friends from all stages of our lives attend. Val, Gina, Steve, Paula and Sandy from Ventura. Joanne, Pam, Dean and William from USC days both undergrad and grad. My family (me, Mor Mor, Lee, Hous, Indy and Houston's girlfriend Emma) and kids from Indiana's Musical Theatre University group Hunter and Will. Wow!

Houston and Indiana after the performance. The show did go on!

Time for a score! And this one still blows me away!

WMF Fraser is a great brand of flatware. This particular pattern sells for big bucks. I had a bag full of it that wasn't listed because it all had those terrible disposal marks….you know what I am talking about right? Well, since a teaspoon lists on Replacements.com for $99.95. Yes, that is for just one teaspoon . I decided to try 4 of the disposal marked spoons at auction starting at $79.99. I couldn't believe it when 20 bids later they had sold for $162.50.

Click here to see this auction.

I have been focused on listing and selling more and more flatware. It takes relatively no space to store it and it is easy to ship. With the new postal increases, dinnerware is getting more and more expensive to ship and my dinnerware sales have slown down but flatware has picked up. If you don't have my eBook on how to sell flatware, you really need to get it.

After the musical performance, December just flew by. The store was really busy, but somehow we made time to get a Christmas Card put together.

Here is what our card for 2018 looked like.

One of the reasons (besides deciding to open a brick and mortar store in addition to selling on eBay LOL) that I have not written an ezine in so long is because I had a little accident at the store in January. It was time to close and I was out back closing the roll up garage door. I had my hands flat on the front of the garage door to keep it from rolling down too quickly and hitting a piece of art.

Instead, it rolled down quickly and cut the tip of my pointer finger on my left hand off. Unfortunately, my finger was right where the accordion section snaps shut. Ughhhhh! It was a nightmare. Val (my employee and friend) took me to the ER where I had a minor surgery. They called it a partial amputation. LOL (but not really) It has been about 6 weeks now and I am finally able to type with that finger.

I finally finished volume M of my eBook Antiques from A to Z (learn more about Antiques from A to Z on my homepage). For those of you who have already purchased, if you have not received the new volume, please let me know. For those of you who have not purchased yet, you won't want to miss out. There is a ton of great information!

Here is an example of a recent sale for an item that I teach about in volume M.

Click here to see this auction.

We have been doing some really awesome front window displays at the store. It has been super fun! Here is one that we did right after Christmas. I had saved all of our wrapping paper from the gifts and were threw it all over the front display. Also put a skeleton with a santa's hat on holding an 805 Ventura Beer. LOL.

Here is how I captioned it……The Christmas Magic is over. Now it's time for the mayhem. Don't miss the front window display at Lynn's Consignments. Mayhem at its best!

Here is another recent front window that we did. It is super fancy and glam with a custom bedroom set.

Time for another score before we tackle the 2019 Seller Updates that were announced in February. Nothing major so don't be worrie...be happy. And that is just what this Pineapple decanter made me when it sold for $200 with a best offer from Germany! Happy!

Click here to see this auction.

eBay announced its early 2019 Seller Update on Tuesday, February 26th. There is nothing scary about this one! So take a deep breath and let's check out what will be changing. I am only going to cover those items that I think apply to those of us who sell OOAK (One of a Kind) Unique items. There is actually some good news in this one! Here is a link to read more directly from eBay.

1. Send offers to Buyers. At some point in 2019 eBay will add a feature that will allow us to send offers to those "buyers" who are watching our items. I think this is a great tool and I am excited to give it a try when it is rolled out. I have heard that it is being tested now and some of you may already have this tool available. If so, let me know how it is working for you. Also, the term "buyers" is a little confusing as they are actually just "watchers" at this point. However, eBay is being positive/hopeful/delusional and calling them "buyers". This one is all good news!
2. Edit active listings directly in Seller Hub. This feature will be great as long as eBay gets the kinks worked out. This again is all good news!
3. Download the Orders Report directly in Seller Hub. This is good for smaller sellers. I was told that for larger sellers with a lot of listings that this won't be an option. We will have to wait and see.
4. Listing duration for all fixed price listings will be Good ‘Til Cancelled. This will be the most controversial of all of the updates. However, I think it makes a lot of sense. For years we have been told that the longer duration listings gain traction with Google Image searches and this is a GOOD Thing! No one should be manually relisting their items every 30 days (what a waste of time when you could be listing new items) and it has been proven that this doesn't help sales. Let's embrace this one!
5. Provide item specifics to list items without the eBay catalog. This really doesn't apply to us one of a kind sellers but it is worth learning about. eBay finally figured out that they are not Amazon and cannot possibly build a catalog as extensive as theirs. Whooopeeee! No longer do those of YOU who list items that used to require a catalog identification have to go through the arduous process of submitting items for approval to list that item. Now, you can just use the item specifics.
6. Automatic updates of "New other" condition listings. Again, this does not apply to OOAK sellers that often, but it just may here and there. It is nice to have a "New Other" condition specific instead of just "New", "Used" and "For Parts". Again, Kudos to eBay.
7. Terapeak research is now available in Seller Hub. This is my favorite of the announcements as I have been using Terapeak for years and am a HUGE fan! Now it will be free to all eBay store owners. Yippppppeeeee! I use Terapeak a lot for research prior to buying and as my grandmother always said "You make your money in the buying"! This is a great new feature.
8. State sales tax requirement update. This one is bit confusing. Long story short, it depends upon your specific state and if they passed the laws to require the collection of sales tax. If you are in a state like Washington--where my mom sells (that did pass that law) eBay will be collecting all sales tax and filing it for you. This is GREAT news! For someone like me who sells in California, I will continue to have to collect sales tax for sales within my state and file those sales tax reports. Here is a link to see where you stand with your state.

   Keep in mind that overall, I DO NOT LIKE these new laws as it means that eventually anything we buy on line will incur sales tax. Some of you may have even noticed that eBay is collecting sales tax for your sales in those states that require it….like Washington and Minnesota. Bottom line here is that EVENTUALLY we won't have to collect sales tax at all because eBay will be managing that.

All in all, a very positive and welcome update. Please let me know your thoughts!

February was another busy month and our best month EVER of sales at the brick and mortar! I think we are on a roll . Shortest month of the year and we still beat all of our records!

As many of you can imagine, my eBay business has suffered with so much of my time focused on the store. My sales are down about 25% year to year. Hate to lose that income! Sooooo, my plan is to step back in 2019 and only be at the store 3-4 days each week and work the rest of the days from my home office on eBay. My greatest forte is in sourcing, and that is what I will focus on doing.

Even with dinnerware sales slowing, I still sold these Jars France Jumbo Cups and Saucers for $187.19. That was full asking price with 10 % off! Gotta love anything made in France.

Click here to see this auction.

Our anniversary party at the store was a huge success. Here is a photo of my "staff" .

One last score to end this ezine and then a photo from my Cancun vacation. I am rested, rejuvenated and ready to hit the ground running in 2019. I wish the same for all of you!

I found a set of Ralph Lauren Normandy flatware at a garage sale and was able to pick it up for $200. More than I wanted to spend, but I was able to turn quite a bit of it at auction for over $330. Here is a listing for some that is still for sale in my eBay store and it adds up to almost $400!

Click here to see this auction.

Interestingly enough, at the same sale I also bought a set of gold electroplate Imperial silver and the name of that pattern was also Normandy. Strange, but true!

Thanks for reading my ezines! I appreciate it

Happy eBaying! Lynn

P.S. My nephews (Kiki's kids Zach (12) and Kai (10)) will be in Ventura for Spring Break in April. I am sooooo excited! Will definitely write an ezine about our adventures

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.

Some links in my emails to you may be affiliate links. You can be confident that I only partner with companies that I fully stand behind.

 

Past eZines

As you may have noticed, this is volume 12. I have been writing my ezines for at least 14 years! When we first started over 14 years ago (and I was still living in Bellingham, WA) we didn't even put volume numbers on them! Wow!

 

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