‘End-of-Year eBay House Cleaning!’

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

Unpaid items:

As most of you already know–even though your item sells at online auction–it may never get paid for. I estimate that about 4% of our bid-for items NEVER get paid for. So out of 600 transactions in December, my assistant or I will spend several hours chasing down payments for about 24 items. It is very frustrating and is a huge time waster. I try and go through my I Sell ‘Waiting for Money’ book every two weeks. Since it is the end of the year, I am doing a major house cleaning!

I have heard every excuse in the book from bidders explaining why they are not going to complete their transaction. I even had one woman call me to tell me that her 16-year-old son had placed the bid and she had no idea that he was even on her computer. Another guy called me to tell me that his ex-girlfriend had bid on the dishes and he just didn’t have the heart to go through with the transaction.

One gentleman didn’t pay for a child’s toy for 30 days because he had been in prison. The stories go on and on.

As many of you know, I bought an Alfa Romeo convertible in September. I paid $3,000 and thought I was getting a deal. Well, let me tell you, cars are not my strong suit. I have decided to “Stick to the Knitting” (a business school term for doing what you know how to do best) and just focus on antiques and collectibles. NO more cars.

Here is how the car saga played out. I got on CarFax.com and ran a VIN search. The VIN search showed that the car should have 60,000 more miles on it than the odometer showed. The car had not passed a smog check since 2001 and that was the last registration. Yikes! It was getting worse.

I took the car to Pep Boys for an inspection. If you are selling a car on eBay I highly recommend getting an inspection. The inspection showed that the car had major suspension issues, was burning oil, and needed quite a bit of other work. My nightmare was continuing.

So I decided to sell it ASAP. I listed it on eBay with a $3,995 reserve (blue book was about $5,500). I was thinking, “How great to make a quick $1,000,” because typically I would have to sell about eighty $15 items to make that same $1,000. Well, the Alfa only got up to $1,670. Back to the drawing board.

I listed the car at $9.99 with no reserve. I was ready to sell. The car got up to $1872. Better, but not great. So, this is how the Alfa saga ties into the story of non-paying bidders. The eBayer who bought the car wanted to come out from LA to inspect it before he paid for it. He never showed up and ended up calling me to say, “I’ve changed my mind.” Is that an option on eBay? I don’t think so–We had a binding contract.

Nevertheless, It was now November and I still had the Alfa in my garage (instead of my own car.) I listed it at $1,995 this time on eBay and it sold for $2,052! I was thrilled. The fellow that bought it actually called me to pay for it! He asked us to tow it to a repair garage in Cathedral City and he was going to pick it up from them. End of Story (Let’s Hope.) But back to non-paying bidders and how I handle them.

I usually give bidders two weeks before I send a reminder email through the eBay system. Before I send the reminder, I take the stack of unpaid I Sell Sheets (that are at least two weeks old) from my ‘Waiting for Money’ book. I input the item numbers into the eBay search page and check the notes next to the bidder’s id. More often than not, they have already been kicked off of eBay and it will say “No longer a registered user” next to their user id. This saves me from chasing them down and I immediately just relist the item.

It is a really good exercise to search your unpaid items on eBay because if they were paid for in PayPal and you missed seeing the payment, it will tell you at the top of the eBay auction page. (You must be logged in to your eBay account for the payment information to be visible.) We process about 100 PayPal payments each week and sometimes the un-cleared ones fall off of the detail screen or we just miss logging a payment in. This does happen and just today, I found an item that we had not shipped that had been paid in PayPal on December 4th. Yikes–we missed it in the Christmas rush. I immediately emailed the buyer and they were very nice. Whew!

Next, I go to “my eBay” to send unpaid reminders through the eBay system. Please remember that even though I have re-listed those items that were bid on by unregistered users, I will still have to send unpaid item reminders through eBay to collect my final value fees (eBay does not refund the initial listing fees).

The following directions apply to those using eBay’s Selling Manager Pro. This is really a great tool if you are selling a lot of volume. The process is similar without Selling Manager Pro, but you won’t be able to process multiple reminders in a batch. To find it, you just go into my eBay and look for “Related Links” and under that you will see “Report an Unpaid Item.”

To send unpaid reminders, you just click on the “Eligible for Unpaid Reminder” link–see below.

“Eligible for Unpaid Reminder” link highlighted

on my Selling Manager Pro page in My eBay

Then you check the box next to each item that you want to send an unpaid item reminder for. These eBay unpaid reminders work great and if the bidder never pays, you will be able to collect your final value fees.

Here is the screen that comes up after you click on each item.

You have to choose two reasons for each unpaid item reminder. I always choose “The buyer has not paid for the item” and “the buyer has not responded.” Then I click “Send Reminder.” Once this has been done, I mark my I Sell sheet with the date that I sent the reminder.

Notice on the I Sell sheet that I have written the number of feedback points next to the bidder’s id. She only has 16 so I know that there is a very good chance that she will never pay. I have found that it is the newer eBay bidders that tend to be non-payers. You can see that I sent her a reminder on 12/4 as noted. Today, 12/28 when I went to check on it she is no longer a registered user. Normally, I would check back on the item after another two weeks but it was Christmas and we were swamped!

After I send the notices and look up all the item numbers, I make a pile of sheets to wait eight more days for payment and a pile of sheets to relist. After eight days if the bidder doesn’t pay, you must close the dispute that was opened up with eBay when you sent the “unpaid item” reminder. You must do this so that you can request your final value fees. Here is more on that….

To receive your final value fees you must CLOSE the dispute anytime after the eight-day waiting period but before 30 days–if the buyer does not respond. If you don’t close the dispute, the final value fee credit will not show up as an option.

Once you have closed the dispute, you need to go to “Eligible for Final Value Fee credit” on your my eBay page to request your fees.

“Eligible for Final Value Fee credit” link on my

Selling Manager Pro page in My eBay

eBay does NOT automatically credit your Final Value Fee and they make it kind of difficult. You have to jump through a lot of hoops. It is a three-step process to get your final value fees refunded:

1. Send unpaid item reminder.

2. Wait eight days and if you don’t get paid close the dispute.

3. Request your fees.

I learned this the hard way because I lost the $40 final value fee on the Alfa because I never closed the dispute (didn’t know I had to)–and after 30 days eBay automatically closes it and does NOT grant the FVF (final value fee) refund. Someday, I hope eBay will make it easier for the sellers.

Once I have finished all of this, my ‘Waiting for Money’ book is clean for the New Year–Here’s to 2007!

Slow-Moving Inventory:

I am working on my end of year/January plan for my slow-moving store inventory. I am thinking about doing a 50% off global sale in my eBay store–but there is no way to do this without paying the full selling fees unless you go in and manually change all the prices–what a pain that would be! I am also torn because I have a lot of new gift merchandise in my store–Royal Copenhagen, Prisms, etc. that I can’t really afford to sell at 50% off retail.

To announce the sale, I would email my newsletter list, send actual postcards to the physical addresses for my customers (from my UPS log) and post it on my web site. What do you all think?

Another idea is to take my eBay store books from 2004 and 2005 and look at each piece on an item-by-item basis and end those that I think will never sell. I would keep the unique items (things that I just have one of) and end auctions for dinnerware and flatware sets that have never sold a single piece. I have plenty of these and by just doing that–I would free up a lot of shelves and save eBay store fees.

I’m also thinking about pulling merchandise from the shelves in my eBay room that I think will never sell, searching for them in my store, ending the auctions and then pulling the I Sell sheets. Then I can throw away the I Sell sheets and then donate it all to charity.

Any thoughts? I will let you know what I decide and what I end up doing in an upcoming newsletter.

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 this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FRE E tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

Hit all your local thrift stores this week and next! I am not kidding, I have been stocking up. As you know, the end of the year is near and we all need those tax write-offs that donations bring. I took four bags of my son’s clothing to my local church thrift store to donate and the sign on the door said “no more donations today.”

Do you know what this means? It means that they are getting swamped with donations and the time to be shopping them is now. Tons of new merchandise is being put out daily. I recommend going in at least every other day if not daily during the next two weeks. Happy Hunting!

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For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

‘How to Hire an Awesome Assistant!‘

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

When my mom took over Mo’s position at the end of October, I was thrilled to have her working with me. Mo and my mom overlapped by about two weeks. Those were the most productive weeks of the year! I realized that it was like having two of me because my mom could take care of a lot of my personal business in addition to marketing my educational products. And Mo was still here to make sure that all the assistant responsibilities were done perfectly. (I miss Mo!) It was awesome.

During those two weeks, as many of you may recall, we completely redid my eBay room floor plan (see ezine v.2 issue 16 here if you missed it), found new office furniture for both the eBay room and my new office, and did a floor move. However, once Mo was gone and my mom started in on all the assistant’s jobs, we found that there just wasn’t time left over to work on the big picture.

We finally decided around Thanksgiving that my mother was much better suited to the big picture and we decided to hire a new assistant. I immediately placed an ad on Craig’s List. Craig’s List is free to post job listings in most cities! Some cities do have a small fee ($25 in Seattle, for example.) What a great site–www.CraigsList.org ! Here is a link to frequently asked questions for posting a job on Craig’s List.

It is beyond the scope of this ezine to cover everything so please use that link. Remember that Craig’s List is regional and does cover almost every area of the country. Rumor has it that eBay has been buying Craig’s List stock. Shocking! Back to my job posting, I made a mistake in placing the ad and I put it in the etcetera jobs category. I only received two inquiries and they didn’t pan out.

We were discouraged so I asked my mom to write a ‘Help Wanted’ ad to place in our local newspaper ‘The Desert Sun.’ She wrote the ad and called it in to them. Can you believe that a 5-line ‘Help Wanted’ ad in a large city newspaper costs over $600 to run for 3 days ? I was shocked. Back to the drawing board.

We decided to make flyers and take them around to the local elementary schools, colleges and churches. The eBay assistant position is perfect for a mom or college student because of the very flexible hours. I found my first assistant (Mari) from a paid ad in one of our local church’s newsletter. You may remember her from my book, The 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay.

While we were printing the flyers, I decided to cancel my Craig’s List advertisement and re-list the job description in a better category. Just like re-listing on eBay–you get a second chance! The category that got us eight great inquiries was admin/office jobs! (Makes more sense doesn’t it?)

Here is a sample of our most recent ad:

Shipping Clerical Admin Assistant to The Queen of eBay Auctions

The Queen of Auctions, author and eBay Power Seller, is looking for an assistant to handle shipping of eBay items and Book orders, reordering of stock and shipping supplies, answering emails and phones, and re-listing items that have not sold. You must be able to handle some medium lifting. It is a part-time to full-time job that can have flex hours. It is really perfect for a college student or mom with kids in school. We are looking for someone who is motivated and not afraid of hard work. You will learn a lot and it is a very interesting environment. Learn while you earn! Please email your resume and any related experience. Thanks!

By the way, we listed this position as salary DOE (Dependent On Experience). The pay range that makes sense for me is between $8 and $12 per hour. You will have to examine your business and your bottom line to see what makes sense for you. I try to start my assistants at the lower end so that I have some room to move them up as they get more experienced. I also love to give bonuses for employees who go the extra mile.

Immediately, the emails started pouring in and I emailed back this query. It is a good idea to do this as a pre-screening mechanism AND you get to know your starting point for salary. Remember, my grandmother always said ‘Whoever names the first price loses’. Wow, her advice just keeps working!

Hi (name),

Thanks for emailing your information.

I have a few questions before I schedule interviews:

What hourly rate are you looking for?

How many hours a week could you devote to this position?

What length of time could you commit to? (I have had two assistants in the past and they both worked for me for two years each)

When are you looking to start a new position?

This job is a lot of shipping and clerical busy work–without much contact with customers and the general public. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Lynn

This was a great pre-screening tool. If the candidates responded, I set up interviews. Even if they wanted too much money per hour, or didn’t seem qualified for this type of work, I still wanted to meet with them. They had made the effort to respond and I will tell you that effort is a great pre-qualifier!

We arranged to meet the candidates every 1/2 hour at our local Wendy’s restaurant. Pick a public place–a Starbucks, fast food restaurant or something close to you for the interviews. You do not want strangers coming to your home.

We had four great interviews this week and I will let you know next week what happens and if we hire someone!

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 this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes ‘eBay Tips & Tricks’ a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

I recommend that we all take some time this holiday season to really enjoy our friends and families. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays–we often forget to stop and spend quality time with the ones we love.

I wish you and your family a very Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!

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For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

“eBay in the 21st Century”

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

I finally entered the 21 Century and bought a Sprint wireless Internet card a few weeks ago. Since I bought the card, I have been hauling my laptop to my son’s baseball games and actually had listed a few things–but nothing truly spectacular had happened with this new technology. It was during this past weekend and our trip to Disneyland that it finally sunk in—I can’t live without this thing!

First of all, we didn’t leave for Disneyland until Sunday morning. You know how it is as an eBayer–Saturdays must be spent garage saling. So, I was sitting in my office at 6:30 am on Saturday printing out more garage sales when I had a brilliant idea (amazing for me at 6:30 am to have any idea–much less a brilliant one–I am NOT a morning person.)

I realized that I did not have to be spending precious garage sale time printing out garage sales or directions! I could just grab my laptop and take it (and my Internet card) with me! Yippeeeee–it was so cool.

It was one of our most productive garage sale days. I used MapQuest to get us from sale to sale and we did not get lost once. It was soooo much better than printing out directions the night before. I could immediately adjust from sale to sale.

As you know, when garage saling, sometimes you end up in places you didn’t ever think you would. Having the computer kept us right on track. FYI–you can only do this if someone else is driving (that would be my awesome mom!)

To give you a frame of reference, the Internet access was so helpful that I ended up spending over $800 last Saturday. I typically spend $200. It was a great day! The Internet access definitely played a part. Of course, the garage sales were also a factor. But because of the directional help, we seemed to show up at each garage sale at the perfect time.

One of the first estate sales we walked into had just placed a sign on the wall that said, “Anything that you can get into a bag–$10.” I was in heaven and spent $180 there. At another estate sale the items were so amazing that I just pulled the lady aside and said, “How much for everything on these three tables?” She said $400. Sold.

Did you notice, when I bought the 3 full tables for $400, I asked her to name the price? She hemmed and hawed and wanted me to do it. I told her that it looked like she had looked everything up and that she would have a better idea (she had paper printouts from both eBay and Replacements on every table.)

My grandmother always told me that whoever names the first price loses–and again she is right!–because I would have offered at least $500. Try this sometime and count the items while the seller is thinking. My grandma used to do this–it makes you look smart (funny how that works) and then you can take their price and divide by the number–$2 apiece was a bargain!

Now back to my amazing wireless Internet access card and our trip to Disneyland, The card cost me $50 up front and $59.99 a month. As you can see–it has already proved to be a money maker.

Prior to our Disneyland trip, I used my I Sell sheet system (click here) to get everything ready before Sunday morning when we left. My mom was kind enough to drive. I sat in the passenger seat with my laptop on (no kidding) my lap! The coverage was pretty great. I only lost contact on the 60 freeway where it winds though the hills above Riverside. Otherwise, it was as fast and reliable as my cable access at home. I was amazed!

You won’t believe how that 4-hour trip (to and from Disneyland) became some of my most productive time ever! I will never waste a road trip again. Unless I am driving–of course!

The ride out:

SUNDAY

We left the house at 7:30 am.

7:35 to 8:54 am (79 minutes). When we arrived at Disneyland I had listed 37 items! ONLY 2.1 minutes per item–WOW!

12:27 pm to 1:34 pm (67 minutes). During our lunch break and when we checked into our hotel room. I listed 22 items! Average 3.04 minutes per item.

5:45 pm to 6:32 pm (47 minutes). While having appetizers and listening to the Dickens Christmas Carolers I listed eight things. OK, I am slowing down as the day progresses, but I was also enjoying a glass of wine. Average time per listing 5.8 minutes.

11:15 pm to 12:00 midnight (45 minutes). While waiting for the kids and Uncle Lee (my brother) to return from the park I listed 24 items. Average time per listing ONLY 1.875 minutes!!!  OK, I am speeding up again. Just so you know, my goal is to list 15 things per hour. So that is 4 minutes an item on average. I was double-productive late at night and my kids hardly noticed that I was working during our Disney vacation!

MONDAY

11:14 am to 11:55 am (41 minutes). While we were checking out and having lunch I listed 12 items. Average 3.41 minutes. Still better than my average!!

The ride home:

3:08 pm to 4:11 pm on our ride home (63 minutes). I listed 33 items–I wasn’t listing during our entire ride home, I actually set up a teleseminar from the car during the rest of the ride!! Amazing this technology. Average time per listing: 1.90 minutes. Wow!

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 this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes “eBay Tips & Tricks” a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

My brother, Mom and I have been working like crazy on an amazing project that is about to launch right before Christmas. Don’t worry–you will be one of the first to know about it. A little hint–It has something to do with an eBay Boot Camp that you don’t have to travel to attend. I can’t wait to finish it because I know that it will change the way you do your eBay Business. eBay Boot Camp in a Box is going to make you and your business more productive and profitable–giving you the tools to take your eBay business to the six-figure annual sales level! I am so excited about this and you will be hearing from me soon. Watch for a special email from The Queen of Auctions.

Tax Benefits for the Family eBay Business

Your family can also benefit from your eBay business. And that benefit isn’t just from the “trickle-down” of more dollars in the house. More than that, your family can benefit directly by becoming involved in your eBay business. In this chapter, you’ll be surprised at some of the ways you can help your family and build your business at the same time!

How Can Your Family Benefit From Your eBay Business? Easily! How does income, medical and dental plan coverage, retirement savings benefits, family vacations, college tuition, helping elders with their expenses and offsetting your kids’ cell phone bills sound? Every one of these things is possible through a home-based business. Do you support one or more children financially? How about older relatives? Get your kids or other dependents involved in the business, so you can begin to shift the after-tax money you would be spending anyway to pre-tax dollars. With your children, you can even continue employing them while they’re away at college, Besides, when it comes to knowing what’s hot and selling, what better barometers of current pop culture trends than your very own kids?

You can find Janelle and Diane’s book here.

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For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

‘eBay can be a Time for Family Fun & Togetherness’

by Lynn A. Dralle, ‘The Queen of Auctions’

My seven-year-old daughter has been bugging me to let her list something on eBay. Well, we all know that you have to be eighteen-years-old to actually list on eBay, but I figured she could do a lot of the busy work for me.

She reminds me so much of how I used to help my grandmother when I was her age. She is always willing to do any job–no matter how big or small–and with a cheerful attitude. I can already imagine just how big of a help she is going to be.

So, for our first undertaking, I decided that listing books would be fun and easy. As many of you know, if you have books with an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and you use the eBay system, a stock photo and detailed information about the book will appear. Also, the eBay system gives you the average start price and average sold price. It is so cool!

A few weekends ago I was out garage saling with my kids. My mom was in Washington State for the Thanksgiving holiday and my ex-husband did not have them that Saturday morning. So, off the three of us went. At one sale, we found a box full of hardcover newer books–all in great condition. The lady only wanted 50 cents each and there were 25 of them. I offered her $10 for the lot and she said sure. Indy and I had our books!

Two nights ago, while I was pulling eBay items to ship, I set her down in front of the computer.

I had her fill out the I Sell sheets by writing the name of the book, the category (378 non-fiction), the auction start and end date, the time, day of the week, starting bid price and shipping cost. I also had her look up the ISBNs and type that into the eBay system on the correct screen.

See the I Sell sheets:

When the research from eBay came up with the average starting and selling prices, she and I discussed it and came up with a starting bid price. If the book sold for more than $5.00, we started it at $4.99. If the book sold for less than $5.00, we started the auction at 99 cents. I input the starting bid price into the eBay system and adjusted the set eBay title that comes up from automatically from the ISBN. Then I clicked submit and I had Indy write down the eBay item number on both the front and back of the sheets. Then I had her write down the listing fees on the back side of the sheet.

She and I worked well together and we listed 20 books that night and the next morning. See the big pile of books! Who knows if they will sell, but I will let you know. And if they don’t sell at auction, guess where they will be going? Right into my eBay store!

Speaking of eBay stores, you can still get a copy of my special report–’15 things you must know and DO to run a successful eBay Store.’  Click here.

There are many ways you can utilize your family members to help in your eBay business. Here are some ideas:

Smaller Children

• Bubble-wrap items to be shipped
• Cleaning items
• Polishing silver
• Taking off price tags–a great job for little fingernails
• Helping to find things that have sold
• Accompanying you to garage sales, thrift stores

Teenagers

• Shipping
• Answering Questions
• Helping to find things that have sold
• Initial Measuring and Noting Condition on the I Sell Sheets
• Photography

Plus any of the things that the smaller kids are doing.

Don’t forget to pay your kids. It will teach them to be responsible, helpful, respectful and they will learn a good work ethic at a young age. There are also tax benefits to hiring your kids. A great reference book for this is Tax Loopholes for eBay Sellers by Diane Kennedy and Janelle Elms. You can find it here.

Husbands/Wives & Parents

• Relisting at Auction
• Moving Auction items into your eBay Store
• New Listings

And any of the Smaller Children/Teenager duties.

Bringing your family into your eBay business is not just a way to make your business more productive, it can also be a fun time to spend with one another. Try it out!

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 this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes “eBay Tips & Tricks” a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

For a nominal fee (much less than I would charge) he will work with you personally to get your banner just right! Click here to order now. What are you waiting for? For the price of a bottle of perfume, you could be making AND keeping customers for life. Now, that is a smart investment.

One of my friends, Julia Wilkinson, author of the super cool book The eBay Price Guide (click here) has also just announced a really neat section on her website.

Here is what she has to say about it…“Need a one-stop-shopping place to find newsletters, blogs, communities and other resources about auctions, eBay, and selling online, all on one convenient page? Check out the new site, Julia’s Auction Links here.

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For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

I received an announcement this past Tuesday, November 28th, that eBay was having a 1 cent listing sale for an entire week! This news came in an email. The email looked legitimate with a picture of Bill Cobb. When I clicked on the link I was asked “To protect your account, please re-enter your password.” Now, this was a HUGE Red flag. eBay would never ask us to do that.

I forwarded the email to my brother and he said, “I hope you didn’t input your password as it goes to a website in Cuba.” Yikes! Please (and I can’t say this enough) NEVER click on a link from an email and then input sensitive information. ALWAYS go directly to the web page and find what you need from the official site. It is also a good idea to check the address in the window at the top of your web browser to make sure you are really on the web site you think you are.

Once again, I get about six fake (phishing) emails a day. Be very careful and NEVER follow the links from an email.

“How an eBay Store can Smooth out the Rough Spots”

by Lynn A. Dralle, “The Queen of Auctions”

I used to have a rule that I would leave items in my eBay store for two years, but with the new store rate increases, my rule has changed to one year (as long as it has gone through a holiday season). Since the new rates went into effect this past August, I made the decision to leave everything as is until after December. I am going to clean house in January. Lucky for me, these dishes sold this November, because they would have been taken out!

Speaking of eBay stores, watch for my new special report–”15 things you must know and DO to run a successful eBay Store” to be released on December 1st. The price goes up at midnight tonight, November 30th so click here.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?

See Lynn’s past ezines here.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes “eBay Tips & Tricks” a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

My brother and I have been working like crazy on this amazing project that is about to launch right before Christmas. Don’t worry–you will be one of the first to know about it. A little hint–It has something to do with an eBay Boot Camp that is more accessible to everyone. Oops! Enough said. Please keep checking my emails!

For a nominal fee (much less than I would charge) he will work with you personally to get your banner just right! Click here to order now. What are you waiting for? For the price of a bottle of perfume, you could be making AND keeping customers for life. Now, that is a smart investment.

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For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

The eBay Radio Interview with Griff (Dean of eBay Education) lasted about 10 minutes and as always, he is the best host! He told me that I don’t look like the dowdy real Queen at all and that I should also be known as Princess of the People. What a great guy! We discussed my work flow, how I keep track of over 4,000 items and how we make it all manageable.

Here is a link to the free download. Here is the link to eBay Radio.

“A Coffee Mug is Worth How Much????”

by Lynn A. Dralle, “The Queen of Auctions”

As I was prepping for the Griff Interview, I started making a list of unusual things that I had sold recently. We usually talk about some of the crazier items and I remembered a Starbucks travel coffee mug that I had sold for over $20 this summer. Who knew? I had originally learned of the non-vintage coffee mug potential during my first eBay Boot Camp that was held in Palm Springs this past summer–Thanks CJ

Starbucks Bas Relief World Map Travel Coffee Mug that sold for a little over $20!

And, in More 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay Money Making Madness, I discuss a coffee mug that originally came from my grandmother’s kitchen cabinet. Now, I knew this coffee mug had potential because it was vintage and jadite. Here is that excerpt from the book with story #49. The text of the story is in larger type below the image.

The Story

I have never had a cup of coffee in my life. OK, I take that back. I had one cup of coffee in Paris in 1985, and it was laced with brandy. It was snowing, I was freezing, and my friends Juliette and Vicki said it would warm me up. It did warm me up, but I still can’t stand the taste of coffee. Instead, I drink about six Diet Cokes every day to get my dose of caffeine.

It’s funny, but I didn’t realize where I learned NOT to drink coffee until I was writing this story. This jadite green coffee mug was in my grandmother’s kitchen cupboard for years and years. It finally dawned on me that my grandmother NEVER drank coffee. No wonder I had no desire to try it or like it. I was following the lead of my favorite role model.

Anyway, I inherited it in one of my boxes. I thought one coffee mug was never going to sell for very much, but decided to do some research anyway. I knew it was jadite by Fire King. Fire King was a group of ovenproof lines launched by Anchor Hocking in the early 1940s. Jadite was named for its green color which resembled jade; it became a signature item of the Fire King line. When I got on eBay, I found that these are super collectible. Three of the jadite coffee mugs together had recently sold for $100! Each mug’s handle curve is named for different letters of the alphabet–there are “c” and “d” curves. I guessed that mine was a “c” handle.

I put it on eBay with all of that information in the title. I started the bidding at $9.99 (my usual) and couldn’t believe it when it got ten bids and sold for $36. It was shipped to Japan and the buyer paid $14 more for airmail shipping. My grandmother would have laughed and laughed over this one. She would have gotten such a kick out of it!

Another thing that she would have gotten a big kick out of was that she and I were appearing in an article in the Antique Trader that very same week. I had interviewed Sharon Korbeck, the editor of the Antique Trader, for my McGraw Hill book, and she thought that my grandmother and I would make a great story. It was written in the spring of 2004 and published at the end of July.

The Antique Trader was my grandmother’s favorite magazine; she read it faithfully cover to cover every week. She would have been thrilled to pieces to be featured in this publication. I now include this wonderful article in each box that I ship out to my eBay buyers. I have heard such nice comments from my customers. Things like, “The article adds such a personal touch,” and “I feel like I know you and your grandma!” I’ll bet they don’t know that neither of us ever drank coffee!

If you liked that story, you will love the rest of Money Making Madness, the second book in my 100 Best Things series. Click here to order in time for Christmas–It makes a great gift and we offer a discount when you buy in quantity!

Another type of coffee mug that I have had successes with is anything Disney. Check out this Large Cheshire Cat Coffee Mug that I bought for $1.50 at my favorite thrift store this past October. Check out the final results here.

When you are shopping your thrift stores and garage sales, do not overlook the coffee mug sections. I think there are a lot of sleepers to be found in this arena. (By the way, a sleeper is what my grandmother used to call a bargain–just waiting to be found!)

I have always told you to be wary of cups and saucers (they just don’t sell as well anymore) and the trend is just what this article is about–coffee mugs are the collectible item replacing the teacup and saucer collectibles of yesteryear.

As I was doing my research (last two weeks completed auctions on eBay), here are some more types to be watching for…

• A Bazooka Bubble Gum Fire King mug sold for $129.05!
• A Snoopy Red Baron Fire King mug sold for $99.00!
• A Burger King Fire King mug sold for $91.00!
• A Google Coffee mug featuring Dilbert for $41.72!

Bottom line: Try anything in a unique or fun coffee mug. They are usually cheap–25 cents to $1.00–and I don’t think you can miss! And remember, even if it doesn’t sell at auction, move it into your eBay store at $9.99 and I bet it will eventually sell!

Speaking of eBay stores, watch for my new special report–”15 things you must know and DO to run a successful eBay Store” to be released on December 1st. For more information and to pre-order it at a special discounted price click here.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?

See Lynn’s past ezines here.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may – just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes “eBay Tips & Tricks” a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

The teleseminar I did with these awesome graduates took place last week. It was great to hear their success stories, challenges and questions. To order a copy of our conference call (almost two hours of audio) at a special early bird discount (that expires at midnight on Thanksgiving), click here.

Another of my friends, Julia Wilkinson, author of the super cool book The eBay Price Guide (click here) has also just announced a really neat section on her website.

Here is what she has to say about it…“Need a one-stop-shopping place to find newsletters, blogs, communities and other resources about auctions, eBay, and selling online, all on one convenient page? Check out the new site, Julia’s Auction Links here.

And I am featured! Too Cool.

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

I got an email this week that Griff wanted to have me back on his eBay radio show. How exciting! I can’t wait to spend about 10 minutes with Griff and Lee next Tuesday, November 21st at 1:08 pm Pacific Standard Time.

Please go to www.wsradio.com and listen to it live. We are going to be talking about the holiday rush on eBay (among other things). We may even chat about that Alfa Romeo that is still in my garage!

“A Five-Point Plan to Fix Your Workflow Bottleneck”

by Lynn A. Dralle, “The Queen of Auctions”

My mom’s first day at work was Tuesday, October 24th. The first thing we did was to take a look at my current workflow setup and realize that it had turned into a montster! It was literally out of control! I had known this for some time and was considering leasing office space. I realized that this would add too much expense to my overhead so I had started shopping around to buy a residential property that I could use as an office.

My mom and I first analyzed our work areas (of which you should have 5). Please analyze your own work areas and draw a floor plan.

1. Staging Items to be Put on eBay
2. Writing up merchandise
3. Photographing area
4. Storing auction and store items
5. Shipping area

When I originally set up my rec room/eBay office (600 square feet) I was only handling about 200 items at a time. I did not have my eBay store going full force and our flow was just fine. As my eBay business grew and grew–(Now we handle about 4,000 items at auction and in our eBay store)–I realized that I had created a monster!

Check out the mess!

1. My Staging area for new merchandise was not in one place anymore. I had 3 large racks of new items in my rec room office, 5 boxes on the floor of my dining room and another 120 boxes in the garage.

My brother was visiting and said, “It has finally happened. You have become Grandma and your family is living in the antiques store.” Yikes! My worst nightmare. I knew then that something must be done and quickly.

1. My area for writing up merchandise (formerly a table in the rec room office) was now my dining room table.

1. My outdoor photography studio was still just perfect! A girl has to get lucky sometimes.

1. My storage area for items currently at auction or currently for sale in my eBay store was no longer in my rec room office. I still had items stored in the rec room office but also all over my golf cart garage and in an old empty freezer in the other half of my garage. Not a good thing!

1. My shipping area had slowly moved from inside the rec room office to the golf cart garage. Maureen was constantly running back and forth from the rec room office (where her computer was) to the golf cart garage. Now, my house is not small and this was taking hours of valuable time.

After doing an analysis of each work area, my mom and I came up with a Great Five-Point Plan. I encourage you to do the same for your work areas.

1. Staging area for new incoming merchandise would be moved out of the rec room office and out of my dining room and it will now take over the entire golf cart garage. This made perfect sense for us because when I come home from garage saling, I can just roll up the garage door and set the boxes inside on a super long table that we purchased.

1. Writing up merchandise will no longer be done at my dining room table. We are not living in an antiques store anymore–Thank Goodness! Writing up of merchandise will be done in the rec room office (where it belongs). We have designated three shelves and a work table for this task.

1. The Photographing station remains the same!

1. All inventory (either up at auction or listed in my eBay store) will be stored in the rec room office. To accomplish this, we knew that major changes would have to take place. I had my desk and computer and my assistant’s desk and computer in this area. We realized that my desk, all my reference books, my greeting card company items, and all my paperwork did NOT have to stay.

Because of my Dralle Method of listing items, I don’t have to be anywhere near the merchandise and I could actually list from another part of the house. The reason I had purchased such a large house (4,000 square feet) was so that I could work from home and be near my kids. We have 5 bedrooms and two of them were being used as guest rooms. Guess what? One of the guest rooms was soon to become my very own QUIET and clutter free office. What a revelation!

My mom and I started searching for office furniture and went all over town. It was quite pricey. There was an ad in our local paper for a beautiful 11 piece set but it was located in Yucca Valley and they wanted $3,500. Yucca Valley is about an hour away, so we called the gal and she sent photos and measurements. It appeared that it just may work. And I kept telling my mom, “I have a feeling about the Yucca Valley set”. Anyway, we ended up getting the set for $3,000 plus $50 delivery. As you can see from the photo, it was like the set was made for my room. I am so excited to be working in a clutter free “executive” zone. Life is great!

My new office

1. The shipping area had to move from the golf cart garage and we wanted it back inside in the rec room office with all the merchandise that was being shipped. Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? To accomplish this, we got rid of a couch and added a long table in front of the hearth. My dad and brother were out visiting so we got them to help install our Packing Peanut Holder and a bar to hold bubble wrap. Check it out! It is an awesome improvement.

The new wrap station

(The pink stool in the photo came from my grandma and was a fixture in the shop for probably 50 years! It is dangerous–please don’t step on it!)

I encourage you to analyze your working areas and come up with your five-point plan for improvement. Saving hours every day in wasted footsteps can add up to a lot of money in your pocket. Good Luck to you!

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?

See Lynn’s past ezines here.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR ON YOUR WEBSITE? Yes, you may just as long as you include this complete blurb with it: The Queen of Auctions and eBay Power Seller, Lynn Dralle, publishes “eBay Tips & Tricks” a weekly ezine with 8000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump start your eBay business, make more money and have more free time, get your FREE tips now at www.thequeenofauctions.com

I did a live teleseminar last night with these awesome graduates. It was great to hear their success stories, challenges and questions. To pre-order a copy of our conference call (almost two hours of audio) at a special early bird discount, click here.

Another of my friends, Julia Wilkinson, author of the super cool book The eBay Price Guide (click here) has also just announced a really neat section on her website.

Here is what she has to say about it…“Need a one-stop-shopping place to find newsletters, blogs, communities and other resources about auctions, eBay, and selling online, all on one convenient page? Check out the new site, Julia’s Auction Links here.

And I am featured! Too Cool.

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

OK, I have lost my mind. It must be Halloween! I have put together an incredible package of audio–not downloads–but actual CDs that you can listen to–in your car (my favorite place to listen to useful info) or your office or wherever you like; and my best-selling DVD. These CDs and my DVD are chock-full of useful tips and tricks. You don’t want to let this pass you by!

Retail Price

e-course teleseminar #1                                     $29.95

2 CD set

e-course teleseminar #2                                     $29.95

2 CD set

e-course teleseminar #3                                     $29.95

2 CD set

Teleseminar with Kevin Nations                          $29.95

2 CD set

Trash to Cash DVD                                              $24.95

1 DVD

Grand total $144.75

Halloween Special Price 1/3 (Get it? — Lucky 13) of Retail   $48.25 + s/h/i

Click here to purchase now.

And this offer is only good until Midnight on Thursday–November 2nd. The EVE of my LAX Boot Camp!

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

Photo of my staged merchandise

These are some of the items that I sold this weekend. These items (along with their I Sell sheets) are ready to be packed (by someone else!)

Check out the I Sell system here.

Here is my schedule for a day without Mo:

8 am                –           Fill out completed auction                                     paperwork, pull store sheets

for sold items,

check-in Payments

10 am               –          Pull items to ship

Noon                 –         Cut off for the day,

last check-in for completed auctions                                     and last Paypal check-in

Noon to 3 pm                Pack, ship and do labels

3 pm                            UPS picks up

Done with packing/shipping for the day

I also want to mention that I would do some of the checking in of completed auctions the night before. THE BIG POINT HERE is that after noon–nothing new that has sold or been paid for gets shipped out until the next day. You must have that rigid cut off or you will be spending too much time on one item. That one package can wait until the next day when it will fit much better into your assembly line process.

As you all realize, an eBay job is never finished.  There is always one more package you could ship, or one more item to list, or one more thing to relist. Make your eBay business and your life sane and have cutoff times each day.

As an example, I try and list my 100 items on the weekend so that I have the week to write, spend more time with my kids and work on other business ideas. However, I often find myself thinking “wow, all 100 new items are already on, I could list 50 more things this week”. When this happens I stop, take a deep breath and honor my cutoff. I know that I make a great living with 100 things and that my personal and writing time is important.

It is funny, but I would rather list items on eBay than do anything else. It is addictive–but in a good way. To keep your eBay experience positive, you must have a limit on how many things you are going to put on each week. Honor that number and take a well needed break once it is accomplished. FYI, I was just interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about being addicted to selling on eBay. Watch for this article to come out sometime in December

Tonight at midnight the price of my eBay Boot Camp goes up. There are fewer than ten seats left. When you wake up tomorrow all the seats may be sold. Don’t miss out. Click here to sign up.

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved

Now if I had taken that stein into an eBay consignment store, the person behind the counter would have spent 10 (wasted) minutes trying to figure out its value. They would have found that the Evolution Harley Beer Steins from 1998 sell for between $18.99 and $34.99 (from completed eBay auction research.) They would have handed it back to me and said “Sorry, it is not worth $50 (our minimum) and we will not take it.”

I listed it with no research and guess what? It sold for more than any in the past month. Click here to see what it sold for.

Let’s look at Item Number 2: A Harley Davidson Clock

This clock was another Harley Davidson item. I did my research using HammerTap (after the fact) for the purposes of this ezine. What I found was that in a 30-day period the average sales price for a Harley clock was $32.42. This also included the more expensive neon clocks. My clock was very simple and plain wood. Again, the consignment store would have turned it down as being below their minimum.

My clock sold for over $50 on September 20th and was shipped to Indiana. Click here to see what it ended up selling for. Cool!

Let’s look at Item Number 3: A pair of Antique Wilson Goggles

These goggles were really neat! I did do some research on eBay and PriceMiner. This was part of my one hour per week on research. I found some important key words to use in the title like “side shield”. I didn’t do my research to ascertain value. So, I went back today to Priceminer and found that the Wilson goggles sell for an average of $39.53. Once again less than the consignment store’s minimum.

You won’t believe what these ended up selling for. Click here to see the actual auction. Way more than I expected! Wow!

What is my secret? Attend my eBay Boot Camp to find out. Click here for Boot Camp info.

Let’s look at Item Number 4: An Asian Enamel Rabbit Lamp

So, lets say I took this lamp into a consignment store and they spend 1⁄2 hour trying to find the value. They could literally spend hours and hours and never find anything about it because it did not have a maker’s mark. Finally, they say the closest lamp to yours sold for $19.99 so we won’t take a chance on it. BIG MISTAKE.

This auction blew my mind. Click here to see the final sales price! Yikes.

The moral of this story is that you can never be sure what an item on eBay is ultimately going to sell for. When someone would ask my grandmother what an item was worth, she would reply, “I never know until it sells. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.” As you have seen, values on eBay vary incredibly from week to week and from seller to seller. This is why you should be the one to sell your items on eBay instead of taking your items to a consigner.

My interview on WS Radio last month with Griff and Lee was a hoot! We discussed those Yankee Candle Tarts that I sold for my sister (from the last ezine.) We also talked about a red Alfa Romeo convertible that I purchased to sell on eBay. Here is a link to the interview so that you can listen right on your computer.

Visit my eBay Store.

Visit my eBay auctions.

For more great eBay tips and stories, visit my web site at:

http://www.thequeenofauctions.com

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.

Copyright © 1998 – 2006 Lynn Dralle – All Rights Reserved