The Queen of Auctions » eBay Money Making Success Stories

Are Coffee Mugs Trash or Treasure?

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:19:41 +0000

As I was prepping for EOL (eBay on Location in Florida) and my speaking engagement there, I started making a list of unusual things that I had sold recently.

I know that this is not a huge score, but the fact that it sold and sold for over $10 is very cool.

See the listing here.

I was thinking about some of the crazier coffee mugs I’ve sold. I remembered a Starbucks travel coffee mug that I had sold for over $20 during the summer of 2006. 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 in 2006–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 jadeite. Here is that excerpt from the book with story #49.

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 jadeite 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 jadeite by Fire King. Fire King was a group of ovenproof lines launched by Anchor Hocking in the early 1940s. Jadeite 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 jadeite 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 all of my 100 Best Things I’ve Sold Books. Click here to learn more.

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 and sold for nearly $15.00

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!

And a few more shout out scores from the Queen’s Court. Thank you QC!

Here is an email from Mandy,

Hi Lynn

I’ve been on a Swedish kick this week!! ALWAYS BUY SWEDISH anything!

Here is an Eames Era Stainless & Teak mug made in Sweden I found in GW for 1.99 & sold at auction with 3 bids and it ended at…Click here to find out! I started it at 24.95 thinking it was pretty good!

Mandy

Mandicrafts

Here is another email from Mandy,

Hi Lynn,

You specifically asked for Taylor & Ng & I had this one sell in July at auction for $89.88. I’d found it at Re-Use It for .25 cents. Cobalt horse CHEVAL from 1979 (original).

See the listing here.

I know Reta posted a score recently for a Taylor & Ng original too, & a different design.

Mandy

Mandicrafts

Wow! I got so many wonderful emails from other QC members. I couldn’t add them all as I have to speak tomorrow morning at 5 am my time…so watch for more QC scores in the near future.This has been so much fun. OK one more. This one is from Victoria…

This one is pretty cool for it’s history, and for my own personal link to the family

Paid 49 cents, sold for $21.87 to a buyer in Canada.

The Roy Roger’s Victorville museum — near Roy and Dale’s retirement ranch in Apple Valley, CA — was very popular with Roy’s movie fans, but is probably best known for the fact that Roy’s horse, Trigger, was stuffed and displayed there, as was Dale’s horse Buttermilk, and Roy’s German Shepherd, Bullet. Roy’s son Dusty (Roy Jr.) closed the museum in 2003 and relocated it to Branson, Missouri, where it was run by his son Dustin. The museum did poorly there, and was permanently closed in December 2009. The museum’s contents were auctioned by Christies in 2010, and Trigger was purchased by an Omaha TV station for $266,500.

I met Roy & Dale several times in the late 1970s, when I was working with Roy’s daughter Cheryl (and her husband and their 4 children) in Los Angeles. During the 2 years I worked with Cheryl, I attended many family activities, as well as her youngest daughter’s wedding. Roy and Dale were both extremely gracious, and Roy was an absolute hoot to talk with on virtually any subject. I have an old photo of myself standing next to Trigger, but have absolutely no idea where it is after all these years.

You can see this listing here.

-Victoria

Kitchen-Kitsch

Auction Girl Vintage

By the way, the QC came through for this ezine. They went out of their way to help me and I LOVE THEM. I will post more of their scores in upcoming ezine (as long as they approve…thanks QCers).

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!

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 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

TRS and Removing Negatives

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:49:18 +0000

I was going to be TRS (Top Rated Seller) by July 6th (my birthday) and I didn’t make it. I want you all to know that it is a difficult distinction to achieve and don’t EVER give up. Also, a huge congratulation to those of you who do have the honor of being Top Rated Sellers!

I spoke about this at the eBay Radio party as I felt that it was very important for the powers that be to hear how hard we work at it and that as sellers we do take it very seriously. But sometimes, we need a little extra help from eBay corporate.

If you can believe this, my DSR (Detailed Seller Ratings) have improved in every category except…Item As Described. How did that happen? Those DSRs actually got worse.

Here is a photo of my current DSRs.

I believe that to be a TRS, eBay should really be looking at the total ratings, the 4.9s and 4.8s that I have achieved in the past twelve months. I don’t think that they should be looking so harshly at those low 1s and 2s.

In the past three month’s rating period, I am being judged on 934 transactions. I got 10 1s and 2s in Item as Described which at 1.07% puts me in jeopardy of losing my premium eBay store (and we aren’t even discussing TRS yet).

You can have no more than 1.00% of 1s and 2s in the Item As Described category to be a premium store owner. You can have up to 2.0% in the other three categories and not be in jeopardy but Item As Described is looked at very seriously. And I do take it very seriously. I never misrepresent my items.

Losing my premium store would be a disaster to my bottom line. If I were demoted to a basic store, my insertion fees for a GUC (good until cancelled) listing would go from 5 cents per listing (I have over 6,000 listings) to 20 cents per listing. That translates from a current $300 per month fee to a $1200 per month fee. This got my attention!

I have to tell you that this did ALMOST happen to me several months ago when I got 20 1s and 2s in shipping time. I quickly got that fixed and to give eBay credit they do give you 60 days to get it taken care of before they demote your premium store to a basic store. So if this happens to any of you, don’t panic–you have some time.

Luckily, I got that fixed but now I was in a quandary. How do I fix item as described ASAP? I pulled up my recent feedback and I saw the culprit who had put me over the 1.00% level. I couldn’t believe who it was.

Remember that “eBay Deal of the Day” satellite radio docking system that I thought I was so smart to buy and resell?

See this listing here.

I had bought it before Christmas as an “eBay Deal of the Day” for $12.99, which included shipping. I sold it for over $20 plus $14.95 in s/h/I charges. Then I received an email from the buyer saying, “It looks used and you didn’t say in the description what systems it works with.” I could smell trouble. I immediately emailed and said:

I am very sorry about this. We did open it to answer some questions about the item for other customers. It is brand new. I will immediately refund your entire purchase price with shipping and you can keep the item.

I refunded all his money that second, including s/h/i. The guy still left me negative feedback. Are you kidding?

So, I decided I would go in and ask him to revise his feedback rating.

Here is the link the the customer support page. Type in ‘revise feedback’ and follow the links to check and see if you are eligible to ask for feedback revisions. eBay has a limit on these based on your total transactions and how many days ago the feedback was left.

Here is what that screen looks like.

I had already asked for him to revise his feedback, so on the screen capture above, it shows that currently I am not eligible to have any feedback revised.

It turned out that the buyer was nice enough to revise the feedback. What a relief! Here is what his new and revised feedback reads.

When I saw that he had revised it, I quickly went to my seller dashboard to make sure that the low 1 or 2 was taken away from my Item as Described DSR. Guess what? It was still there. Not cool! I was very vocal about this at eBay radio last week. I truly believe that if a buyer revises his feedback to a positive based on a seller going the extra mile that the low 1 or 2 DSR should also be retracted.

In any event, those low 1s and 2s in Item as Described will be falling off soon and I should be fine in the next evaluation period (end of this month).

Let’s also look at my numbers in relation to TRS.

As you can see, the only category that I qualify for Top Rated Seller is in communication (you have to be at .50% or less in all 4 categories). I am very close in shipping time and not too bad in shipping and handling charges either. So, to end on a positive note, we are making progress! YAY! I will continue to work with my buyers to make eBay a very positive place for them to purchase and I know that you are all doing the same!

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

A Five-Point Plan to Fix Your Workflow Bottleneck

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:47:35 +0000

Originally Published in November of 2006…still makes sense today!

When my mom and I took a look at my workflow setup in my home back in 2006 we realized that it had turned into a monster! It was literally out of control! I had known this for some time and was even considering leasing office space but decided at that point to make my home work.

As you probably know, four years later I did make the move into commercial office space and boy am I glad I did!

Here is that original article. I know you will learn from this.

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.

Staging Items to be Put on eBay

Writing up merchandise

Photographing area

Storing auction and store items

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!

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

The Photographing station remains the same!

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

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!

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 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

HQ Redo to Regain Top Seller Rating

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:45:29 +0000

TRS (Top Rated Seller) status as an eBay seller is super important. It will become even more important after the eBay final value fee changes take effect on July 6th. To get a back office 20% discount off of your final value fees you MUST be a top Seller.

I have been writing and talking about TRS a lot lately because it is so important.

To achieve TRS status you must have a very small number of 1’s and 2’s given in your DSRs (Detailed Seller Ratings).

Here are the four things you are judged upon and the maxes by both number and percentage for TRS. You are only judged on max count if you do a small number of transactions. eBay is lenient with this and takes the larger number for your limit.

As an example, as of today, I have three for my three month total number in 1’s and 2’s for Item as described. If eBay was going by the max count (2), I wouldn’t be eligible for TRS. However, my percentage (out of total feedback left) is only .34% so I am eligible.

Max Percentage

Max Count

Item as Described

.50%

2

Communication

.50%

2

Shipping Time

.50%

2

Shipping and Handling Charges

.50%

2

Our TRS has been a struggle to obtain and maintain. Griff did mention on eBay radio this past Tuesday some fantastic news about maintaining TRS. He said that in the near future, once you have attained TRS, it will be harder than it is now to have it taken away. Thank Goodness!

Well, the category that really shut me down was shipping and handling time. We got 21 (yes I said twenty one) 1’s and 2’s in March in this ONE category and there are FOUR that we are judged upon. Yikes!

That was really a tough pill to swallow. With our super busy year putting on a huge event in Las Vegas (LOL), moving into HQ and trying to get organized, etc. we had let our quick shipping time erode.

Also, with me not dealing with emails and problems on the weekends (too much travel baseball and yard saling) customers were getting understandably upset. I am the same way when I buy on eBay. I want my questions and concerns answered within hours, not days. How you handle customers from that very first contact is going to highly affect the feedback that they leave you later on.

Also, as Lee Mirabel pointed out on our eBay radio interview on Tuesday, with the business out of my house I MUST schedule time to be at HQ. I can’t walk into the eBay room at any time of the day or night like before to weigh items, look for defects and deal with problems. Brilliant observation Lee!

So, what am I doing to regain TRS with my HQ Redo?

A.   Respond to problems immediately by scheduling time to be there every morning and every afternoon/evening. I try and make it there at least twice a day.

If there is an issue, (i.e. we can’t find something or we mixed up our shipments) we notify the customer immediately.

If you missed my ezine from last month that talks about mix ups and other customer service issues related to TRS you can read it here.

When we can’t find something, now I email immediately and say, “I am very sorry but we have been looking for your item and haven’t been able to locate it. We just moved our business into office space and the logistics of moving 10,000 listed items was difficult. If you would like us to continue looking we will be happy to do that and let you know within two days. If not, we will refund your money immediately. Thanks for understanding.”

I always say thanks for understanding at the end because how can someone not understand when you thank them ahead of time?

Here is an item that sold that we couldn’t find right away. I honestly didn’t think we would ever find it as it had originally been listed in April of 2004. OH MY GOODNESS! I emailed the buyer and said, “Please don’t pay until we can make sure that we have this item.” Well, she went ahead and paid and luckily Mo found an entire set in this pattern.

See this listing here.

And once we (I had better clarify that and say Mo) found the entire set, we (Mo) realized that only three of the items were listed. Mo quickly listed the remaining part of the set and got 22 auctions out of it! Yay.

B.    Email every buyer of not perfect merchandise ASAP.

I learned this from one of my Queen’s Court members Serena and her note was featured in the last ezine. Thank you Serena!

When an item sells that is defective, I immediately email the buyer to make sure that they knew that when they purchased it. This has alleviated sooooooo many problems I can’t even tell you. Serena actually calls them (she requests their contact info through eBay and phones them).

I don’t go to that extent, but since I have started doing this and implementing my other strategies, I am ecstatic to report that for the month of April, I only got 2 (yes that says two) 1 or 2 rating in all FOUR of my DSR categories!!!! Amazing after getting 21 1 or 2 ratings in just ONE category in March!!!!

As an example, a man bought a coffee mug last week. It had a chip. Said CHIP in the description and we included a photo of the chip. I emailed him and said Thank you for your purchase. We appreciate your business and this is a lovely coffee mug and I want to make sure that you saw and read about the chip in the listing when you purchased your item. Thanks again. Lynn

I don’t apologize for the damage and I always say what a great item. He emailed back and said, “I didn’t see that but I will honor my commitment to purchase.”

Check out his feedback. Wow!

“Excellent communication from seller; quick arrival of described china mug”

If I hadn’t contacted him can you imagine the feedback rating I would have gotten for “item as described” even though I did describe it correctly?

Here is the listing for that coffee mug.

A little prevention goes a long way.

C.    End old listings and make sure current listings are correct with the right quantity.

eBay has a fantastic tool in Selling Manager Pro. I love it. You can tell when an item was originally listed. Not when it renews as GUC (good until cancelled) but when it was originally listed.

As I prepare for the new eBay seller changes and need to add international shipping and handling charges, I am first deleting all really old listings that were left on as a mistake or we missed taking off of eBay.

As many of you know, I leave my items on eBay for about two years before marking them down, repurposing them (a great idea! For example, if you had your dinner knives listed in 2’s and they didn’t sell, relist them in 4’s–this has been working fantastically well for us) or donating to charity.

Here is an Adirondack pattern teapot by Mikasa/Studio Nova (heads up, don’t EVER buy this pattern) that was listed in my store for about two years at $39.99. I even marked down all of my Adirondack by 50% using Markdown Manager and it didn’t sell. Before donating it to charity, I put it back up at auction (repurposed it) and started it at $9.99. Yay! It has a bid.

See this listing here.

With my HQ REDO, I am going through those old listings, item by item and checking them by oldest first and deleting them or repurposing them. It has been an awesome start to my housecleaning at HQ. Indy (my daughter) has been helping me and it has been a great way for me to spend time with her and get some free labor. Well, nothing is really free. I just bought her a few clothing items she wanted (actually needed) at Target on Sunday and everyone is happy .

We have pulled the I Sell sheets, found the items on the shelves and then made our decisions.

It has been extremely enlightening to actually touch everything, find it, dust it off and make decisions with the items in front of us. This process is going to make attaining and maintaining TRS status entirely doable and fun!

In fact, by kicking up the dust at HQ, we have sold some of the items that have been left on by mistake since 2004. Amazing! These mistakes happened because we didn’t have our shelf lettering system in place. We didn’t start lettering our shelves and positioning our stock by date listed until about 2 1/2 years ago. Those of you that attend Live Boot Camp at HQ this September will get to see firsthand how beautifully this lettering system works!

In addition to the Caliente flatware I talked about earlier, check out this purse that just sold that was also left on eBay by mistake from 2006–eBay’s or our mistake—we can never be sure!

See this listing here.

This entire process is a lot of work (and honestly a full accounting and inventory check should really be done once every two or three years) but it is going to pay off big time in the end. Especially with multiple items at a fixed price in our stores, a lot of times we sell things and eBay doesn’t adjust the totals correctly. Not all of the mistakes with incorrect quantities and missing items are necessarily our fault. Sometimes the eBay system can be to blame.

Every two years I have been taking a look at my collector plate inventory (now I am doing it for EVERY ITEM) and making sure the quantities are correct. I just did it again this past week for my collector’s plate and amazingly enough, about 50% of the quantities were wrong and 17 items were not even listed. FREE inventory and great Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grondahl items to list. YAY! I love this HQ Redo .

Here is one of the items that I got listed at auction that wasn’t showing up at all on eBay. It may have even sold, the buyer never paid, and it fell through the cracks and was not properly relisted. With eBay’s automatic upi (unpaid item) system in place for auctions and the new shopping cart for store/fixed price listings (where you must pay before an item is yours), these problems will hopefully be a thing of the past!

See this listing here.

I am always a little unnerved by the eBay changes that come out every Spring, but there is always a silver lining and I hope that you all see that.

The eBay changes force us to re-evaluate and make our businesses run more like “real” businesses. When I was a buyer for May Company, your slow moving inventory (6 months or older) better be gone or you wouldn’t get a raise.

It is the same way when selling on eBay. We are our own bosses and that can be both good and bad. These new eBay changes are in a way a better boss and will help all of us Entrepreneurs get a raise this year! If we don’t monitor our inventory, take care of slow moving items and strive for TRS, we are going to drastically lower our profits. It is very motivating–especially for me and I hope for you also!

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 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

Local Buying Trips are FUN

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:44:08 +0000

On Sunday in Hemet, the boys won their first two baseball games. Yay! The second game was a nailbiter that Houston pitched innings 4 through 7. In the top of the 7th we were down 0 to 2. Somehow the boys scored 3 runs and we went into the bottom of the 7th with a 1 run lead and Houston on the mound. The first kid bunted and got to first. Then there was a sacrifice that got him to third. One out and the tying run on 3^rd base. That is when I walk away and hide behind the snack bar . I can never watch.

Houston was pitching to his buddy Ian and Ian caught an incredible game. They intentionally walked the next batter Eric (a great hitter who the boys have played with before on different teams). Now, there are runners on first and third. Houston strikes out the next kid. Two outs.

The final batter hit a dinker and was thrown out at first. YAY! It was incredible. When I saw the boys leave the field running, jumping and yelling I knew it was time for me to head back!

It was lunchtime so I took some of the boys to Carl’s Jr for lunch. It was fun to hear about the final inning from Houston and Ian during the car ride. Ian said it was nerve wracking because he knew that he needed to call pitches with a lot of movement but nothing that could get past him or a run would score. Houston said it got stressful with that tying run on third and the go ahead run at first.

Houston and Ian at Dodger Stadium

I can’t imagine how it was for the boys. I wasn’t even on the field and I was a nervous wreck.

After lunch, I dropped the boys back at the baseball field and with an hour to kill, I headed into downtown Hemet to shop the thrift stores before the championship game.

There is a fantastic site for finding thrift stores when you are out of town, TheThriftshopper.com. I think Victoria from Bakersfield told me about it at a live eBay Boot Camp. Here is what came in when I put in Hemet.

I ended up in the Goodwill for about an hour. I spent $34.00 and got two boxes full of dinnerware, etc. There were two awesome Tabletops Unlimited patterns (once called H20 and one called Barcelona), some Wedgwood and an iced tea set that said “Big K” brewed tea.

Mo got a lot of it listed for me on Monday and Tuesday. She refused to list the “Big K” tea set when we found out it stood for “Kroger.” (Just kidding).

All kidding aside, apparently I will be listing that one myself.

Here is one of the listings for the Barcelona plates.

I also got some Pfaltzgraff Rooster Luncheon plates. I have been having great luck lately with Pfaltzgraff and these were darling and half price. I got four of them for $2.50.

See the listing here.

Remember that buying trip I took to San Diego back in February? The stuff I got on that trip is still selling for top dollar! It is seriously amazing.

I was at a Salvation Army in San Diego in a really bad part of town. I was almost afraid to go inside alone. I am so glad I did! It was 12:30 pm and I overheard someone saying that at 1 pm on Monday (yes it was a Monday) that everything goes for half price. I thought it was insane that people were buying things before 1:00 pm but the registers were humming.

At 1:00 pm exactly, I took my things up to the register. At that point, I noticed a set of dishes marked $45.00 in the showcase. I asked to see one and couldn’t believe it when they were Wedgwood! I said “I will take that set” and to my complete astonishment a lusterware coffee pot, creamer and sugar also came with it. You can see that if I sell everything in my recap below, I will make over $900. Buying trips out of town can be fun and profitable!

Here is a little recap I did for a presentation at LOL.

I have sold almost all of the Wedgwood in just two months! Here is what I have left in the set.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are lucky enough to be in another town and have some time to go out and source.

1.    It doesn’t matter why you are in a different town. You could be there for your “real” job, vacation, an errand or a child’s sporting event. MAKE TIME to CHECK OUT the local Thrift Stores. Keep a Sourcing Mindset (Lisa Suttora!)

2.    Use TheThriftshopper.com or another similar site to find all the thrift stores in your new area.

3.    Once in your first thrift store talk to the regulars and salespeople and ask them which thrift stores are their favorites. This will help get you to the best ones the quickest.

4.    Ask what colored tags or items are on sale. It amazed me how many things I got last Sunday in Hemet that were red tag (1/2 price) that had been just sitting there for months! Don’t forget that you are a new set of eyes in that thrift store.

5.    Take your time and poke around. Look high and low. My grandmother always taught me that if I couldn’t find what I was looking for in her antique store/house to look up and down. Many times things were hidden from my usual line of vision.

I did this just last week here at home in one of my usual thrift stores. There was nothing on the dinnerware shelves, so I bent down and sat on the ground and started pulling out serving pieces. They all looked boring but I thought, why not? The second one I pulled out was the Mexico pattern by Bing & Grondahl. TOTAL SCORE! I got it for $5.99 and I have it priced super high at auction right now. I don’t care if it doesn’t sell. I will raise the price and move it into my eBay store.

See this listing here.

One of the beautiful things about selling on eBay is that we can take our job with us. We can list from anywhere and we can source anywhere. Have fun with it! Like my grandmother always told me, “If you follow your passion, the money will follow.”

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 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

Customer Service is King (or Queen) on your way to Top Rated Seller

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:41:54 +0000

The Top Rated Seller Back Office Discount is Super Important with the new eBay changes

As you may remember, I spoke with a rep at eBay in Salt Lake City several weeks ago about my personal account and ways to bring down my fees. He had great advice for me! Thank you, Doug! He felt that the 20% increase in my final value fees due to shipping being charged, could be offset with the 20% TRS (Top Rated Seller) final value discount.

I haven’t qualified for this in quite some time. I know that I need to spend more time at Headquarters providing fantastic customer service to get the TRS ranking back.

I want to share with you three emails that came in on Monday night when I was working late at HQ and being PROACTIVE instead of REACTIVE to potential problems.

These examples and the way I dealt with them are the kind of fantastic customer service that will get us all TRS and keep us there. I was very pleasantly surprised at how NICE customers are if we just keep them in the loop.

Example #1: Broken Saucer

Dear thequeenofauctions,

Hi,

I received my order today; however, one of the saucers arrived in two pieces. Do you possibly have another?

Thanks,
Joe”

I immediately emailed back.

Hi Joe,

Darn it! I hate it when that happens. I am so sorry. We don’t have another saucer. I will process a partial refund for you for the breakage. How much would make you happy?

Thanks for your business,
Lynn

He wrote back…

Dear thequeenofauctions,

Since it wasn’t anyone’s fault, let’s call it even steven. If you ever come across one, please keep me in mind. Have a great night and an even better tomorrow!!!

Wow! What a super nice customer. I was very quick to email him again and let him know it.

Joe,

You are super nice and I really appreciate it. Thanks! A pleasure doing business with you.

Lynn

PS I wish all of our customers were so awesome ”

Joe’s next email…

You were being fair, so I returned that in good faith. I have been on an eBaying binge lately, so who knows, I may be back to your store soon. Take care.

After that, I decided I needed to ask Joe for his permission to publish these emails to show how reacting quickly, being an honest seller and being nice can really work in our favor!

Here is his reply…

Dear thequeenofauctions,

Lynn,

Any time I can do anything to put manners and goodwill out to the masses, I am in favor. You have my permission and my blessings.

Thanks,
Joe”

NICE LESSON! Customer service is all about manners and goodwill.

Example #2: Items mixed up and sent to two wrong buyers

We have been shipping out a lot of items lately. Our business is up over last year and that means more packages and the potential for more mistakes. Check out this note that came in late on that same Monday evening.

Hello,

I won this plate but was shipped a set of four Pier 1 bowls instead. Please let me know how you want to proceed.

Thanks,
Susan

Yikes was all I could say! How was I going to get this one unraveled? Well, I pulled up Auctane (love it) and saw quite quickly that the Pier 1 bowls and the collector’s plate were processed in our shipping log one right after the other and they were both being sent to ladies named Susan. I think I had solved the mystery and it only took a few minutes. Yay!

To learn more about Auctane you can read my ezine from December 23, 2010 here.

I immediately emailed Susan #1.

Hi Susan,

These bowls definitely go to a different Susan in Massachusetts. We are waiting to see if she received your plate but I am almost certain she will be receiving it as your orders were processed one after the other and both of you have the same first name. So sorry! If you would please ship those bowls to the other Susan and let us know what we owe you for s/h/i and your time I would greatly appreciate it? Thanks for understanding.

Lynn

There was no way the other item had made it to Massachusetts yet so I took a preemptive stance and quickly sent a note to Susan #2.

Dear Susan,

Your Pier one bowls were sent by mistake to a lady named Susan in Kansas. We are hoping that you will be receiving her collector’s plate. If so, could you please ship the plate to Susan and let us know what we owe you for s/h/I and your time? The other Susan is shipping your bowls to you today. I am so sorry about this and thanks for understanding.

Lynn

I received two very nice emails back from both Susans.

Susan #1

The bowls will be on their way to the other Susan tomorrow. I will let you know the cost.

Thanks. Sue

Susan #2

Hi! I got your message. No worries, mistakes happen. Please send me the address of the other “SUSAN” and I will send the plate out to her directly.

Thanks, Sue

I love it when people say “no worries”. It is one of my favorite sayings. Problem averted. Now, on to the next problem on that Monday night .

Example #3: Missing Coffee Mug

(Remember I am NOT perfect like Diva Dawn–we actually lose things–not garage door openers but eBay items )

I got an email from a lady that wanted to buy some Laurie Gates coffee mugs but she wanted to know if we could ship them for cheaper than $10.95 for two. I weighed one (doubled that weight), actually looked up her zip code and it was going to cost $13.40 by UPS. I told her I would ship the two for $12.95 but that I would be losing money on shipping.

She went ahead and bought them both. On that Monday night April 4th, I noticed that there was just one coffee mug on the shipping table and that it had been paid for a full week earlier. She had paid on March 28th. Panic at the disco! Waiting a week to ship is not going to get me five stars.

Here is a photo of the mug we could find.

I immediately went to the other shelf and the other Laurie Gates coffee mug in red she had purchased was not there. Oh boy! I had better be really creative to get myself out of this mess.

I just started walking up and down the aisles at HQ. I ended up finding two similar Laurie Gates mugs and I figured I could offer to substitute one of those. When I went to pull them up on eBay, they were not even listed. I quickly took a photo of the three mugs and wanted to email it to her but figured I had better just bite the bullet, request her contact info and call her and explain.

Here are the three mugs all together.

I went into advanced search and clicked on “Find Contact Information”. I received an email with her phone number and I placed a call. I left a message and kept it very vague. You don’t want to leave too much information on an answering machine. The item could be a secret, maybe a gift.

She hadn’t called me back or emailed me by Tuesday morning. I made an executive decision. That is the fun of running your own business–you can actually make important decisions!

I was just going to send her the three coffee mugs for the same price she had paid for two. When you have a customer that asks a lot of questions before the transaction and you have to do a lot of hand holding, it behooves you to treat them extra especially well. Mo, my mom and I have said for years that the customers that make the most noise before a transaction, will be the ones that make the most noise (not always good) after a transaction. They can also turn out to be your most loyal customers if they are happy with the transaction.

I didn’t hear back from my coffee mug buyer until Thursday. Yikes! Boy was I glad that we had already made the decision to send the three mugs!

Here is the email:

Hi!

I just got an email saying you needed my email address (which I sent) so you could send me a picture of a substitute Laurie Gates mug as the red one was MIA. I never heard back and just got an email that 3 mugs had been shipped….did I miss something? Also, do you have more of these mugs? I could use more of them.

Here is what I sent back:

Hi!

I felt so bad that we couldn’t find the red one and then I found a different red one and a different blue one. The blue one had a small split on the edge so I just went ahead and had the girls ship all three to you (no extra charge). We just want you to be happy.

Thanks for your business.

Lynn

Here is her email back:

Thanks for the update. Sounds good to me. I really appreciate you sending 3 mugs! Thanks! I’ll LYK when they arrive.

Another problem hopefully averted and five stars on their way to me!

My hanging out more at HQ, answering emails early in the morning or late at night and really being on top of things are going to get us Top Rated Seller. We are going to provide stellar customer service and become TRS by July 6th. Then it really will be “Happy Birthday to me.” That is our goal!

And as Norman Vincent Peale says, “Formulate a goal; not a fuzzy, vague goal but one that is sharp, clearly defined, and specific. Hold the image until it sinks into the unconscious. Then give it all you’ve got of thought, effort, imagination, and innovation.”

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 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

eBay’s Spring Announcement and My New Plans

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:40:25 +0000

eBay announced some shocking changes to fees in their latest announcement. The one that will affect us the most is that we will now be paying final value fees (fvf) on our shipping and handling. Luckily we are in the OOAK (One of a kind) business! That is the great news. We do have the larger margins to cover the eBay fee changes.

I ran my numbers for February and my eBay fees will definitely be increasing on July 6th (my birthday). Not what I was asking for . I would have paid approximately 19% more to eBay in overall eBay fees in February with the new fees. It works out to about 50 cents more per item sold on average. At a $49.99 price point with a shipping fee charged, my fees actually start to decrease. Remember this price point, but of course do your own research.

However, keep in mind that eBay is still the best place to sell our items, as eBay gets the most traffic and eBay believes that these changes will drive more buyers to their site and in turn to our items. Let’s hope they are right!

In the last 12 years of selling on eBay I have seen a lot of changes. Some of them hit you hard, but I always sit back, take a good long look at my business model and figure out how I can evolve and still continue to run a profitable business on eBay. We can do it!

One of my favorite quotes that I shared with those of you in attendance at Lynn on Location was, “I have lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” Samuel Clemens.

Keep this in mind as we navigate our way through the newest eBay changes. It is often a lot worse in our minds than what actually comes to be.

Especially if we all work together and brainstorm. That is what the Queen’s Court is all about. I can’t wait for our calls this month. I just know we can figure this all out and make positive changes.

Now let’s look at some key issues.

Heavy Items

Since we are selling heavier items, we can’t and won’t be able to offer free shipping on everything. In the past two weeks, I have been testing a few ways of listing and when I took a $9.99 coffee mug, added in the $9 shipping and would have to list it on eBay starting at $18.99 to offer free shipping, I just had to say NO.

Carmen had a really great point when we were all putting our heads together at Headquarters on Monday. She said, “Lynn, I shop on eBay all the time for items and I am not stupid. I will see an item that is cheaper but has a shipping price, and an item that is inflated with free shipping. I look at the total price charged.” I agree with Carmen, our eBay shoppers are not stupid.

See this listing here.

Just last week, I had a gravy boat on sale in my eBay store. It was marked down to $22.49. A buyer in Australia offered me $25.00 to include shipping. I thought to myself, “Are you serious?” It will cost me $24.52 to ship this 3-pound item to Australia and my eBay listing fees, selling fees and PayPal fees will run about $3.45. Not taking into consideration my time or the cost of the item, I will be paying you $2.97 to take this off of my hands. Wow, what a great deal…for you! I explained this to the buyer and their response was, “I didn’t realize that shipping was so expensive.” Well, it is.

The Marketplace

I have always said that Amazon was a more expensive marketplace to sell on than eBay. This price increase on shipping has put eBay right in their realm.

I do suggest selling on multiple sites. Amazon, Go Antiques and Addoway are some that I have tried or will be trying. Just remember that eBay is still our best site for traffic and sales. I have been on Addoway for about six weeks and have sold five items. I can’t make a living doing that.

Source Better

To make up that 50 cents per item I will be paying in extra final value fees, I am much more conservative with my sourcing. This is something that I should have been doing anyway. Thank you eBay for making me look at my entire business model.

I am asking my garage sale sources for better prices. I used to just purchase a lot of items without asking for a better deal. Last weekend I asked every single garage sale seller, “If I buy all these items will you give me a better price?” I saved $9 at one place, $5 at another and $1 at the last stop. In the past, I wouldn’t have tried to save $1 but now I will.

Here is one of those items that I saved $5 on by not only buying in bulk, but asking very nicely if I could get a better deal for buying so many items.

See this listing here.

I bought 10 miniature perfumes for $10.00 instead of the $15.00 she was asking originally. That question there saved me the extra 50 cent per item that I will need for the new eBay fees.

I am also waiting for thrift store sales. I was going to buy three sets of stainless today at my local thrift store. Instead, I asked the salesman if any of them would be marked down soon. He pointed out the one with the yellow tag and told me it would be going half price on Tuesday. I will wait to buy it until Tuesday.

OK, the ezine was done, written and emailed to my brother. And then…I went to a thrift store tonight. I just had to update you all. I have officially become frugal, cheap, whatever you want to call it. I actually phoned my mother after the event and said, “I am officially a cheapskate”.

Over the years, I would look at my grandmother and my mother with puzzlement. Why don’t you just pay the $50? Why are you asking for a discount? NOW I GET IT. That is why they have been extremely successful. I was a spendthrift. And here is the definition from Wikipedia. “A spendthrift (also called profligate) is someone who spends money prodigiously and who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful. The origin of the word is someone who is able to spend money acquired by the thrift of predecessors or ancestors.”

And my grandma, dad and mom were those ancestors who came before me that were thrifty. I have learned my lesson! It is very exciting. I GET IT.

So here is the life-changing event. I was in one of my thrift stores and found two Vaseline glass vases that each had a price tag of $5.00 on them.

I took them up to the cashier and asked if I could have them for $5.00 for the pair. When I was ready to pay, she said, “Even though they have only been on the sales floor for a few hours, I will make it $5.00 for both.” Yay! I had my first epiphany that frugality works! It never hurts to ask for a discount.

Here is a listing for both of them.

I was going to list them separately like I normally do, when I checked PriceMiner/WorthPoint. (Will, thank you so much for joining us at LOL. (Will is the CEO of those companies)).

Will Seippel and I at LOL

I saw on PriceMiner that the antique Vaseline pieces that sold for the most were a matched pair of vases sold TOGETHER for $330.00. I immediately listed mine at a high sales price with FREE shipping.

I really don’t like change . But I do have to say that even though change is hard, It does help us to take a hard look and become better people, both personally and professionally.

List large items now

I am opening the boxes in the Alps (a huge stack of boxes at Headquarters) and looking for big items. I am listing all lamps, large vases and anything that will cost a lot in shipping before the final value fees include shipping charges on July 6th. I suggest you do the same. We still have more than three months, so list, list and list.

I am also not looking to source huge, oversized items when out buying. I don’t want furniture, large lamps, rugs or vases anymore. There is a beauty to this, as I won’t need as large of a storage area at Headquarters.

here is a large item we listed recently.

Pretty cool! It is a secret hidden bar/bookcase. Even though I said Local Pick up only, I would let the new buyer arrange for shipping themselves.

Test your shipping strategy with Lightweight items

Think about what you can add the free shipping option to before the changes take affect. We all have some lightweight items in our mix, and now is a great time to test how the free shipping option will work.

eBay really believes in “free shipping” and they have statistics to show that it has increased sales in commodity type categories. CSA (Clothing, Shoes and Accessories) is one of eBay’s largest categories and where they highly recommend free shipping. Mel and Steve did a brilliant job of explaining this strategy to those of us at LOL, and now Mel and Steve are perfectly positioned to actually be charged lower fees with the new changes in July.

Here is a clothing item that I listed based on Mel and Steve’s wonderful advice. Yes, It does have “free shipping.”

See this listing here.

Raise your Average Sales Price

You all know that I have been trying to do this. It is on the top of my to-do list this year on eBay. These new Spring changes will force me to make those adjustments faster. Again, I thank eBay for forcing me to take action. Sometimes, it does take these shocking spring changes to help us make our businesses more profitable.

At a $49.99 price point with an additional shipping fee charged, my fees actually start to decrease. Remember this price point, but of course do your own research.

Here is one of those more expensive antiques items that I am sourcing. Notice that during this testing period, I have added free shipping to this listing. I am trying it out on some of the more expensive items as well as on the lightweight items.

See this listing here.

The Top Rated Seller Back Office Discount is Super Important

I spoke with a rep at eBay in Salt Lake City this week about my personal account and ways to bring down my fees. He had great advice for me! Thank you Doug! He felt that the 20% increase in my final value fees due to shipping being charged, could be offset with the 20% TRS seller final value discount.

I haven’t qualified for this in quite some time and he went over the individual 1 and 2 ratings with me. We are really falling behind in turnaround time. Well let’s be real! Not only did we just plan and pull off a huge event in Las Vegas, but we moved our entire business down the road. So it is easy to see how our shipping and handling time has suffered .

We are committed to getting our turnaround time back on track and by offering free shipping on certain categories, I know that we will be Top Rated Sellers sooner rather than later. This will help immensely with the new fee change structure. And in fact, it may even lower our overall fees if we can raise our average selling price at the same time.

I encourage you to call the 1-800-eBay number and ask the account rep to take a look at your personal account and see if they can offer any suggestions going forward so that you can make these same types of positive changes now. Being proactive is much better than being reactive.

Hang in there, it will all work out. And remember that in this tough economy, we are all very fortunate to be running successful eBay businesses that still bring in a lot of cash. My eBay sales this year for Jan and Feb are up 63% over the same months in 2010. Listing more has definitely been working in our favor.

You know we want to hit the $1 million sales mark. We realistically now know that it is going to take a few more years to ramp up to that goal but we are not backing down. Think Big, Dream Big and remember, “The Harder I work the Luckier I get.” Samuel Goldwyn.

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 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

Garage Sales vs. Thrift Stores

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:38:56 +0000

I LOVE sourcing (sourcing=shopping for profit). It is ironic but Lisa Suttora and I talked about this in our teleseminar yesterday and she wanted to know if that was something you could outsource. OF COURSE, you can outsource anything, but why in the world would you want to? This is absolutely my favorite part of the eBay experience and probably why I write about it sooooo often!

So let’s jump into looking at the pros and cons of sourcing from Garage Sales vs. Thrift Stores.

Garage Sales:

Pros:

Fast: There is no doubt about it. Buying at garage sales in high season is a fast and furious way to accumulate a lot of stock quickly. If you plan your route the night before, have plenty of small bills in your pocket and empty boxes in the back of your vehicle, you can be very successful.

Cheap: Garage sales are typically the cheapest way to acquire the most inventory. Most garage salers do not price to gouge the market, but rather price to move items and make more room in their homes.

Check out these clothing pieces that I picked up recently at a Saturday morning garage sale for about 75 cents per piece. There were amazing brands in the pile, Ed Hardy, Ann Taylor, Ralph Lauren, Roxy and the list goes on. This photo shows just half of the clothes and I even got a Trina Turk dress for myself. Now, I just need a tropical vacation to pack it for .

Unfortunately, the majority of the pieces fit Indiana. I am just kidding! I bought most of them with her in mind. Out of the 70 pieces or so I purchased, she kept about 40. Imagine that, I only had to spend $30 to wardrobe my daughter for an entire season or two, when normally it costs just $30 (at least) for one piece of teenage clothing.

Here is Indy in one of her darling outfits, brand new sweater (with tags), great wide leg jeans and a shiny tank top. I think she looks adorable and it cost me an entire $2.25! Another bonus of garage sales is that I find A LOT of items that I can use for my home and family.

Out of that garage sale purchase of clothing, I sold three pieces at auction for over $50.00. You may remember the wrap dress from the introduction–it is one of those pieces. Those three pieces paid for the entire bunch. Garage sales can rock!

Here is another one of clothing pieces that sold at auction.

Cons:

Too early: I know that Mo and Carmen can sympathize with me on this one. Garage sales are just too darn early. Who wants to get up at 5 am on your only day off? Not moi. I went out to some garage sales a few weeks ago and I got to one at 8:20 am (pretty darn good I thought).

After I bought the Midwinter Wedgwood set they had for $6.00, my next question was do you have any flatware? The gal told me, “no, we had a guy here at 5:30 am that bought all seven sets we had”. I was like, Yikes!

I can’t compete with that. Never have and never will. I just hope he didn’t get any sterling flatware. That would put me over the edge.

Here is one of the Midwinter plates that did sell at auction.

Another Con…Can be a total waste of gas: Lately in Palm Desert, I go out to garage sales and there are only a few advertised in the paper or on craigslist and there is nothing there to even consider buying. Seriously, the sales lately have been so bad that my gas costs me more than I even spend.

I can’t figure it out, but my friend Lori’s husband Lou agrees with me. The sales have been a pile of junk on the ground. Nothing even worth picking up. I am hoping this changes soon or I am going to start hitting Orange County and San Diego because I have heard their garage sales still rock!

Thrift Stores:

I really can’t believe that I am expounding upon the virtues of thrift stores but Yes, I am! I love my local thrift stores. I have been having great luck in these lately while the garage sales have been waning away to nothing.

I went out last weekend and found absolutely nothing but one tiny box at garage sales and then I hit my Goodwill and in 10 minutes look at what was loaded in the back of my SUV for only $77.

One of these sets is amazing and the soup bowls will sell for about $25 EACH at auction. The amazing set that I paid $19.99 for is Pfaltzgraff and Mo is already in the process of listing that set.

Here is what else I am finding.

Pros:

Reliable and always open: I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to beat the 5:30 am flatware guy. I love this about thrift stores! They are open during reasonable hours. Say, 9 am (most are 10 am) to 5 pm or even 6 pm. What a goldmine! I can stroll into any of our 50 plus thrift stores whenever I am in the neighborhood. You have got to love that convenience.

Also, the thrift stores that I hit in San Diego during my recent mini-vacation had great items. I got a pile of eight Mary Engelbreit dishes that I paid $3.99 for in San Diego. We got these listed immediately with a starting bid price of $14.99 EACH.

Gotta love those thrift stores that just move the goods in and move the goods out. They don’t care what they price their items for as they are just looking for turnover. Out here in the desert, it seems like the donations are getting fewer and further between so the thrift stores are spending more time researching and pricing. That is detrimental to us!

Here is one of those Mary Engelbreit salad plates

that we have up at auction.

Rotating stock: I just mentioned this above but let’s reiterate this important point. You want to find those thrift stores that care more about the volume than the individual items. The thrift stores that are overwhelmed with donations are the ones you want to hit. They will price it, throw it (not literally) out on the floor and if it doesn’t sell they will mark it down quickly.

From my experience, the thrift stores that have a fleet of trucks at their disposal to pick up from your place of residence are the ones that are overwhelmed with donations. As you drive around your city, take note of the charities that own trucks that they use to pick up donations for free. These are the thrift stores you want to frequent.

I just had amazing luck with this in San Diego. I went to a Salvation Army thrift store that really had nothing that I was interested in buying but I overheard one really nice sales lady say that every Monday at 3 pm the entire store goes 1⁄2 price. What? It was Monday at 2:45 pm. I couldn’t figure out why there were still customers paying for things with only 15 minutes left to go.

I found my few items and was waiting in line to pay when I saw a dinnerware set in the glass case. It was priced at $45.00 and I asked to see a piece. Wedgwood. Score. Done deal. And then she said that three German lusterware pieces also came with it at the new marked down price of $22.50.

The Wedgwood has no bids, but check out what this chipped German Luster Teapot is already bid up to. I Love CERTAIN thrift stores!

See this listing here.

Cons:

Overpriced: Too many of our local thrift stores are overpricing. I was in one of them this morning after the gym and they had finally gotten in a new group of items. Seriously, they are not getting many donations at all. They did have a set of Le Creuset in a display cabinet.

I was really excited until I saw the eBay print out sheets taped on each piece and then the thrift store prices were half of those prices. Give me a break. Those eBay auction item prices were for brand new pieces. Not used and donated thrift store items. I just walked out. NEXT.

Tempted to buy your own items: I am the worst at this. After I donate things, I don’t remember and sometimes almost buy them back . And if that isn’t bad enough, I will often buy what Mo or Carmen has donated.

Recently, I called Mo from a local thrift store and said, “Did you donate Dansk Rondure in yellow?” I knew that she had purchased some about a year ago and I thought for sure the pile was her donation. She said “No, but it doesn’t sell.” I am a sucker for Dansk and bought the set anyway for $39.99 without heeding her advice. It turned out just fine as I sold five of the bowls at auction for $15 each! Yay!

Here is one of those bowls.

Another lesson happened the other night. Indy, Houston and I were in one of our local thrift stores before going out to dinner. Indy was standing and staring at a shelf and said, “Those look like our Jim Beam Bottles.” OMG, she was right. I had donated a HUGE pile recently and they were “in actuality” the Jim Beam bottles that I had my kids help me clean about two years ago (remember the cock roach story from the ezine?). What a great memory! Or maybe I have scarred my amazing kids for life. Just kidding. We will always have the memories…”Memories..like the corner of my mind…”

I just tried to go by and run into the thrift store and take a photo, but they had just closed. Darn it! Oh well, I am sure you can picture it in a corner of your mind.

In any event, I hope this article gives you some ideas for sourcing from garage sales and thrift stores and some tips and tricks to help you navigate these fun and challenging venues. I LOVE the sourcing part of this entire exciting venture.

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 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

Why Did You Buy That?

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:37:27 +0000

So here again is that pile of stuff that got me inspired to write this week’s ezine article.

Let’s talk about each item and discuss the thought process behind the purchase.

When I walked into that overcrowded thrift store on Monday, there was a cute display of hinged boxes by the register. I love hinged boxes! My grandmother collected them. Well, you may be asking, what didn’t she collect? That would be a much easier question to answer .

I quickly turned them all over looking for signatures. Only one was signed. Not a good sign (ha ha)!

The one that was signed had PHB and MCF. Well, I know that signature as well as I know the back of my hand. (I am starting to sound like my grandmother.)

In any event, it is the signature for Porcelain Hinged Boxes by Midwest of Cannon Falls. We carried these in our antique & gift store and they were fantastic sellers! My dad even built a special shelf by the register for them to be displayed.

1.    Porcelain Hinged Boxes Sell Well

As you can see in the photo above of my “2828″ purchases, I bought two porcelain hinged boxes. One was of Hollywood ($5.00 paid) with no signature and the other was a Sugar Daddy signed PHB ($4.00 paid).

Here are the listings so that you can see how well they do.

See this listing here.

See this listing here.

When buying porcelain hinged boxes to sell on eBay, watch for great signatures, great subject matter or really cheap prices.

Many of these boxes came with items inside of them that relate to the outer box. Make sure that you mention this in your listing. The Hollywood one still had the inside trinkets but the Sugar Daddy was missing whatever came inside originally.

Here is a porcelain hinged box with a great signature that was free in the stuff from my friend Gregg and his wife Robin. You won’t believe what it sold for!!!

See this listing here.

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure! Trash to Cash….

2.     Good Brand Names Sell Well

As I was walking through the thrift store on that busy day, I spotted a vase out of the corner of my eye. It just reeked of “quality.” I knew before I turned it over that it would be a good maker’s mark. It certainly was. Villeroy and Boch. Even though it was priced at $5.00, I bought it.

When I got it home and researched it, I thought that the designer’s name was Flora Summerfield. Cool name, right? Well, it turns out that was the pattern name. Ha ha, joke’s on me.

In any event, there were none of these vases listed on my favorite china website. I did find some that had sold on PriceMiner in the $16 range so it wasn’t a huge score, but I figured I would start it high and see what happens.

See this listing here.

When you can find good brand names for a reasonable price, it is usually a smart idea to buy them.

3.    Serving Pieces Sell Well

Even when I don’t see a complete dinner set, I will look around for exceptional serving pieces. I thought that the Villeroy & Boch vase was exceptional and then I saw this fish platter.

See this listing here.

I love fish and sea life items. They typically do very well. I quickly turned it over and saw the Tabletops Gallery signature and a Home Goods price tag. Home Goods is part of the TJ Maxx and Marshalls family. Don’t let a Home Goods price tag confuse you. They still sell very nice items. There was also a matching pitcher and salt and pepper shaker set.

I looked at the pitcher and noticed that it had a chip at the spout. The salt and pepper shaker set was also badly chipped. PASS! Because those pieces were damaged, I very carefully checked the fish platter. My thought process went like this. If someone donated three of the serving pieces from this set and two of them are damaged, there is a high likelihood that the last piece will also be damaged. And, FYI, the thrift store did not have those other two serving pieces priced as damaged.

I was not going to be spending $12 for a platter with any defects! I carried it into the light and carefully went over it with a fine-tooth comb (sounding like my grandma again). No chips. Yippeee! I decided to buy it without even looking up the pattern. I knew I could at least double my money if not make four times my investment.

Many times serving pieces are worth purchasing as standalone pieces and worth paying a little extra for. You don’t always have to buy the entire dinnerware set to make money.

When you are out shopping and you need to make quick decisions, keep in mind the reasons why I bought these four items at my thrift store. I hope that these examples will help you find some scores!

If you want to learn more about selling dinnerware on eBay, my dinnerware eBook is a fantastic tool.

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 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

Kabbage is King….Kash for eBay Sellers

Lynn Dralle — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:36:31 +0000

If you ever have a need for some quick eBay cash to invest in merchandise, hire additional employees or purchase equipment (like computers), Kabbage is the solution for you. It is the coolest company and I was very fortunate to meet Marc Gorlin (co-founder and Chairman) at eBay on Location in Atlanta.

When I was introduced to Marc by Cindy Shebly (who had tested Kabbage in the beta stage), I was extremely interested. Wow, a company that just wants to lend money to eBay sellers. What an amazing concept!

Kabbage just secured $6.7 million from Blue Run Ventures in Silicon Valley, David Bonderman (founder of TPG), Warren Stephens (CEO of Stephens Inc) and the UPS Enterprise Fund to help grow it’s lending services. Warren Stephens (CEO of Stephens inc.) said he invested in Kabbage because he thinks it is extremely important that retailers and merchants have easier access to capital to grow their businesses. How true!

Kabbage will lend as much as $12,000 to individual eBay sellers depending upon a few key factors. Here is the front page screen of the Kabbage.com website. It is super user friendly and a simple yet powerful concept.

Kabbage takes a look at your eBay selling history, buyer feedback ratings, customer traffic and inventory. This first pass is very quick and when I went through the process I couldn’t believe that within two minutes, Kabbage told me that I COULD be eligible for $6,800.

Don’t forget that it is “Could” as the next thing that Kabbage will check is your credit score. They are definitely more lenient with credit scores than the banks and this is great news! Kabbage will ask for your Social Security number and bank routing information.

Once they approve you based on your selling performance and credit score, you can see the KASH in your paypal account within minutes. It is really cool!

I took out a Kabbage loan for $1,500. I am going to use it tomorrow when I go and see my antique dealer friends. I hope to have the loan repaid within 30 days by selling some of the antiques right away. Within the next six months, I should double or triple that initial investment.

Here is a sample of the types of antiques that I have been buying and yes, happily selling.

See this listing here.

Kabbage charges between 6 and 16% on the initial advance amount. So if I pay back my $1,500 within 30 days it will have only cost me $90.00. If I take the entire six months it will cost me $240. Keep in mind that I plan to turn that $1500 into $3000 or maybe even $4500 within six months. $240 will be a small interest expense to pay for a gross profit of $3000.

You will have a six month repayment schedule and can repay early with no penalty.

Just go to Kabbage.com and see if you qualify for cash to help your business grow. What an awesome service that is only being offered to eBay sellers. A company that cares about us small guys! Cheers to Kabbage.

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 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

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