[reposted forom the Yard Salers newsletter/web site]
Yard Salers: Late Feb./Early Mar. 2010: Change and Snow
Subscribe at: www.yardsalers.net
Please forward to a friend!
Hello, all!
It has been an interesting holiday season, to say the least. I'm going to start out with some personal stuff in this editorial, so if you want to skip to the main article, feel free.
December was cooking for me with lots of sales, and I recently made silver powerseller. (Sorry; there will be no more "powerseller" designation soon, so I should say "top-rated seller," I guess). But some crises wait for no man, or woman, and a crisis was brewing out in California.
My mom had moved out to California in 1990 to live with her sister, my aunt. My aunt has had cancer for the last several years and took a turn for the worse in December. She passed away the day after Christmas.
This meant two trips to California, to see my aunt for the last time, and another to move my mom back east to be closer to me and my siblings. My mom has her own health issues...she has had Parkinson's disease for several years now and also dementia which has gotten worse in the last two years or so.
Suffice to say there was a lot going on!
For me, the challenge was all the greater because as you know, eBay waits for no man. I left a couple auctions running on my first trip to California because I felt I had enough time to get anything that sold shipped out on my return. But while I was out there I got some messages from a disgruntled buyer who was unhappy with a mixed silver lot he had bought.
I wound up just letting him keep the lot because I could sense that was the only thing that would make him happy, and the amount of the sale was not so much; I could afford to chalk it up as a loss. Of course, we cannot always do this with items; often if the buyer is not satisfied with a partial refund we will need to ask them to send the item back. But in that situation with my time constraints, I really think it was the best way out.
And there was a lot to do while I was there. Have you ever had to pack up a life -- or the parts of a life you have time to pack and ship -- in two days?
That's how it felt to get my mom out of her house in California and back in my house in Virginia. I could only fill two suitcases of hers to take on the plane. And as it was we almost didn't get her on the plane, because although she has a social security and Medicare card, her California driver's license expired a few years ago, and the TSA folks at the airport detained us for a while.
Fortunately I had some recent pieces of her mail with me, and that satisfied them. (To be honest, I didn't mind their added scrutiny, as it shows they are being very careful, as they should be).
I ended up shipping some eight to ten office boxes filled with her papers, files, scrapbooks, and other important documents back east. (The UPS guy wasn't too happy with me the day they were delivered).
Around the same time all this was happening, we had record snowfall in the DC area -- one came as I was leaving on my first trip, the second shortly after we got back east. "Mom, we had a record snowfall here in DC," I told my mom that morning.
"And we had to be here for it," she replied. She hasn't lost her sense of humor.
We have my mom settled back east now. I have been thinking of many of you readers who are in similar situations -- some of you caring for elderly or sick parents, trying to get teenage children ready for college (or through college), or both! My heart goes out to you all. I feel I have gotten to know many of you all and think of you as friends.
In other news, as you no doubt heard, eBay has made some big changes lately, to its Store format and fees. I'll be giving you my take on it in the feature article in this issues. Then we'll get right to the next Flips contest, and save Reader Mail for the next issue so I can finally get this thing out the door!
Thanks for reading!
Now let's get to it.
******
Follow me on Twitter:
juliawww on Twitter
**********************************************
Zero to $2000 a month on Amazon.com. Possible?
Steve Lindhorst has done it..his PayPal account is the proof. His new "Quick and Dirty Guide" tells you how you can get similar results:
http://juliawilk.lindhorst.hop.clickbank.net/?x=3
"Over the past few years, I've found many things that work, and many things that do not. I have finally found a "recipe" that consistently works for me, as you can see from the screenshot. The "recipe" doesn't just apply to books though, it applies to most anything you sell on Amazon. Even so, books and other media products seem to be the favorites - they certainly are for me." **********************************************
Tax Loopholes for eBay Sellers and other great resources at: taxloopholes.com
**********************************************
What Sells on eBay for What: Half Price for Subscribers -- is Out! Click here.
**********************************************
How to Make Money Blogging from Home
Skip McGrath earns about $2000-$7000 per month from his blogs and he only posts 2-3 times a week. His latest ebook tells how. Only $17.00! Skip's latest: click here.
**********************************************
**********************************************
Articles in this Issue:
**********************************************
1) eBay's Latest Changes: Stores and More
2) Jan/Feb Flips Contest
3) Reader Mail: Catching Up
***********************************************
Big Bucks Flips 2.0: The half price version of Big Bucks Flips for Yard Salers subscribers is here: Click here to order.
Yard Salers' Readers best flips, and accompanying tips and rules of thumb, all in one convenient package.
Plus, now you can make money reselling the book! To find out how to resell it for 50% of each sale, go here.
************************************
1) eBay's Latest Changes: Stores and More
************************************
The only thing constant is change. At least, that's sure how it is with eBay.
With this latest round of changes, eBay is essentially getting rid of the Store inventory format. There will only be one fixed-price format now on eBay. The good news is this means all those fixed-price listings will have the regular exposure in eBay search and won't be "buried" anymore.
The bad news it is becoming more expensive to list those items in terms of insertion fees, with the $15.95 Store format...from as low as $.03 to $.20 now.
Right now, with my understanding of how fees are changing, I see the biggest downside as that you can no longer let something sit there until it finds the right buyer for such a low cost. As an example, a 1954 college yearbook (I sell yearbooks regularly) may take months and months (sometimes years) to sell, but with a Store monthly subscription covering my many Store items, it was only between 3 and 10 cents every 30 days.
This low prices enabled me and other sellers to let very specialized inventory sit and sit until the interested party came along.
Now, that same yearbook will cost me 20 cents if I have a Basic Store level subscription as I do now. Presumably the 30-day listing duration will still be an option there for the new global fixed-price listing; otherwise we are talking about an even more expensive proposition.
To offset this, I could list a lot more items than I do now and go with the new Premium Store format, for $49.95 a month, which would bring my insertion fees down to $.05 per item. eBay says this is a good choice for "higher volume sellers" (more than 250 items per month).
Will the additional exposure in search for these items offset the fees? Time will tell.
Also, final value fees are going up, depending on what level of Store subscription you have. (One thing you cannot say about the new fee structure is it is easy to understand; there are a lot of moving parts).
I do think the increased visibility in search should help sales. However, in the old format, Store items would still show up in search if there were less than 30 auction-style or fixed-price items returned in the search results. This means that often, for very specialized items, buyers would see Store results in the search results anyway, because there just weren't that many of them overall on eBay.
In thinking about this more, I wonder if eBay would do better to find some pay-at-sale only format that enabled specialized items to sit there at a very low cost-risk to sellers so a wider variety of inventory could be there for buyers to choose from. I think I would be willing to pay a larger percentage of my sales price if I didn't have to pay anything up front, or had to pay very little, to keep the item sitting on the virtual shelf. [eBay does offer a "No Insertion Fees for Auction-style listings when you list your item with a start price under $1" option, however, that low start price puts a lot of risk on the seller.]
Let's see how all these changes shake out. As always, as long as sellers keep listing enough and buyers keep buying, eBay will remain a viable marketplace. But, I hope these changes don't erode eBay's status as the place to buy the unique, the special, and the hard-to-find.
**************************************
Garage sale and wholesaler expert Pat Bateman has put together a fabulous ebook about making regular income with yard sales, finding wholesale goods to sell, using drop shippers, and more. Right now I'm offering it at a special preview price for $8.95. PayPal me at [email protected] and you will receive the ebook via email, usually within hours.
***************************************
Succeed as an eBay Affiliate:
Click Here!
Build A Niche Store (BANS) is a store / website development platform which enables you to create content-based sites that generate income through the eBay affiliate programs.
**************************************
2) Jan./Feb. Flips Contest:
**************************************
We have more super fun flips in this issue.
Note: if you ever send me a flip but don't see it in the subsequent issue that comes out after you emailed it to me, feel free to email me at [email protected] to check on it. I try to get to all the flip stories I receive between newsletters by the next issue, but every once in a while one falls through the cracks and I have to run it in a later issue. I've gotten to every flip I've received this far, however.
Prizes for next month's Contest::
- Home Run: The 4th 100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay by Lynn Dralle
- Antiques Roadshow Primer by Carol Prisant
- eBay PowerUsers Bible by Greg Holden
- A free copy of the ebook "What Sells on eBay for What"
On to the flips.
~~~
From a loyal, longtime Yard Salers reader who's won the contest before (that's right, we have repeat winners here at Yard Salers) comes this tale of a "small" niche...literally!
Barbie...Shoes?
Hi Julia,
Wow, got your newsletter and as always it was full of tips! And I love the flips! I keep looking but haven't found a really good one in a while.
Was pleasantly surprised to see my email about Priority International shipping included. Thought I'd let you know something else I found out this summer. I had a large amount of Barbie doll shoes that I had collected from some of the garage sales we've done and thought they might sell as a group.
BUT when I got to doing the research on them, I was almost dumbfounded when I found pairs of shoes were selling for up to $15.00 and then even more surprised when I saw SINGLE shoes selling for $3, $4 and even more.
To make a long story short, I listed the pairs and then the singles and have sold almost all of them.
The least they went for was $.99 but most went for quite a bit more. One buyer bought 4 pairs for $3.99 a pair. Not a HUGE flip, but a very surprising one. It seems to make a difference where they are manufactured, i.e., Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, etc, but that probably ties into where the dolls were manufactured. Individual clothes for Barbie sell pretty well, too, IF they have the 'genuine Barbie label' and the black and white ones are the older, more original ones. Just sold a gold evening dress, black and white label, for $5.00 -- it was in a bunch of other clothes I had collected. And if they don't have labels, I sell them as a group and don't have any problem getting rid of them.
[Note from Julia: Below is an image of a recent high-priced Barbie shoe lot on eBay:]
I'll probably never make the 'Top Rated Seller' emblem with eBay, but I am having fun, making a bit and 'recycling' lots of items.
Keep on coming with the newsletter, I do enjoy it!
Havamom
Audrey
~~
Hey there Havamom (aka Audrey - lol)!
Wow...Barbie shoes?? That's too fun. I guess I'm not too surprised..I have seen other doll clothes do pretty well..and I just sold a Penny Brite doll for which the clothes seemed to be most of the draw. Interesting about how where they were made is so important. And about the single shoes selling..lol!
Thx so much for sharing that. :) Stay healthy!
Julia
~~~
Roald Dahl and Western "Mountain Man" Books
And more from Audrey:
Hi Julia,
Just did another pretty good flip, these make up for all the items that 'flop'!
Bought a bunch of books and the ones I thought would sell well, are still sitting here - John Wayne, Elvis Presley - and the one I just took a chance on, sold for $70.00. Go figure!!
It was a 1970 copy of 'Mr Fantastic Fox' by Roald Dahl, picked it up for $.50, and was very pleasantly surprised and pleased to watch it go up daily to the final figure.
Think it helped that the movie is coming out soon. Pays to watch TV a little! The two others may sell in time, but I sure do like the ones that come and go quickly!
The other pretty good flip I had recently was a lot of William Johnstone, Mountain Man series books. There were 10 of them, paid $.50 apiece, but they sold for $37. Western books seem to sell a lot better than any others for me.
Business has been okay, better than a while back, but still looking for a really BIG score! Although I'm somewhat afraid to spend a lot, thinking I might really get burned on something.
Keep up the fun newsletters! I find a lot of the information useful and interesting. Loved the story about the bear in sad condition that sold for so much. Had a gentleman in North Dakota who also had a great newsletter with a LOT of information about what sold, etc. Unfortunately he passed away suddenly and the rest of the family had no interest in carrying on with the selling, newsletter, etc. That was where I heard about the Johnstone books, and this was the first group I had seen since reading about them.
Havamom
Audrey
~~
Hi Audrey,
More great flips! Roald Dahl is a good children's author to look for at sales, esp. at estate sales where you might snag a first edition. Children's book classics are in general a good "sleeper" item at sales because I think a lot of book dealers pass them over for the grown-up books.
I have scored a few valuable Dr. Suesses in this way. On eBay right now, some of the highest-priced recent sales of Roald Dahl books include a 1st edition of "James and the Giant Peach" for $132.50, and a first "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for $102.50 (yep, he wrote that one too).
Another one by him which was also made into a movie? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
By the way, what do you know about Roald Dahl? Did you know he was in the RAF in World War II? Check out his life story on wikipedia sometime if you want to read a really interesting biography.
A brief excerpt:
Roald Dahl, 13 September 1916 - 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Born in north Cardiff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors.
His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.
~~~
Threads Magazine
Hi Julia,
I primarily sell new merchandise so rarely have a great story to share. Also, I live in an isolated small town in Wyoming were there are few garage sales. I do try to get to a few every year, and was especially successful at at sale just down the street from me.
At this particular sale, nestled among the usual clothes, electronics and other stuff was a pile of "Threads" magazines. They were marked $1 and there were about 20 different issues. I knew these sell well on eBay because I had purchased some about a year earlier to fill in my collection when some of my copies were damaged in a move. I snatched up the magazines, went home, and started listing. A week later my $1 investment in the magazines had reaped over $200.00! Not bad for a two minute walk down the street!
Charlene Anderson
Anderson-Shea, Inc.
Web site: http://www.charanderson.com
Web Store: http://www.purveyorofallthingscreative.com
eBay Guides: http://search.reviews.ebay.com/members/purveyorallthingscreative
Blog: http://www.unravelingsblog.com
Twitter: char_anderson
~~~
Hi Charlene,
Sorry for the delay..great to hear from you! Esp. from someone in Wyoming. My family and I went to Jackson Hole a while back and saw the town of Jackson..love Wyoming!
Threads magazine..now there's one I haven't heard of! Wow! You're right..I see some big lots on eBay are going for over $200!
I checked out your blog..very colorful! Love the "10 Ways to Let Go of Your Stuff." LOL. I'd like to include your blog url and other info in w/ your letter if that's OK w/ you.
Thx so much for sharing, and you're entered into the next contest. :)
(I'll probably grab a photo from eBay, unless u have a photo you want to share).
Thx!
~~~
Remember Mark, from a previous issue, who was looking for info on a "mystery bronze ewer"? He's back again, with a great flip, and also talks about his latest technique for getting info on the ewer:
Howard Miller Urban Mantel Clock
Julia,
I'm finding more and more valuable treasures at the local Goodwill thrift stores in Virginia, I e-mailed you previously about my metal Viking ship (from consignment store and not Goodwill). I recently found a large decorated Sterling silver antique platter in Goodwill for $3.99, sold on eBay for near $174.00.
A couple days ago I went to another Goodwill on my lunch hour, found an almost new Howard Miller Urban Mantel Clock for $6.99 -- these are shown on Amazon.com at $276.50 and most other clock websites charge $290-320.00. It works perfectly and is in near mint condition, hate to part with it. Also found an older Kit-Cat clock (looks like Felix the Cat with a white bow tie) for $3.99 and it brought over $60.00 on eBay.
[Note from Julia: below are two recent high-priced Miller clock sales on eBay:]
I posted a youtube video of my mystery bronze bird pitcher, so far only about 14 views, I invited people to leave a comment if they recognize this "weird bird" but so far no one has "chirped in" with a comment.
Mark
~~~
Hey Mark!
I don't know a lot about clocks, but one guy who I would see regularly on the estate sale circuit buys nothing but clocks, so it must be a good niche.
A Youtube video..what a great idea! Have you thought about creating a Twitter account? Or you could do a search on Twitter for people interested in antiques.
Keep me posted. eBay was a bit slow for me in the Fall, too, but w/ the holiday season things have been picking up..fingers crossed. ;)
Have anything w/ silver or gold, even if parts? That's doing well for me now.
Thx again and let me know how it goes!
Julia
~~~
Microscope Parts
Hey, I just found your newsletter and I am already a fan. I have a flip I would like to share. Actually I have 2 but only have pictures for one. The best flip I ever had was a box of microscope parts that I bought from a yard sale for $8.
I didn't know what each part was called, so when I listed them on ebay, I just put "microscope part / attachment" and then put the brand name. Turns out they were from a surgical microscope and when the last part sold, I ended up with just over $1300. One part alone out of that $8 box sold for over $800.
Alright the second one Suzanne Wells has actually posted in her blog. I found a helicopter pilot's helmet at Goodwill for $4. It was in pretty rough shape but I figured I would try it anyway. It sold for $175. Here is the link to the post.:
http://ebaysellingcoach.blogspot.com/search?q=helmet
Thanks again for the great newsletter, blogs and books.
Jasper (ebay id: jpdiscountsolutions)
~~
Hey, Jasper!
Thanks so much! Wow, another one of those "who knew?" niches..microscope parts!
I imagine the good, professional-quality ones are highly coveted, given that the el cheapo ones I've bought at yard sales or even at the store are so flimsy and hard to use. How fun to find one like that.
Love the pilot hat flip, too.
Keep selling, and flipping, :)
Julia
~~~~
Leather Belt and Fishing Rods
Julia:
I'm the person who wrote The Furniture Buying Guide that you helped me with last year and I still appreciate it. Unfortunately, the furniture business is not doing well at this time.
Anyhow, I thought I would write about two flips I've had. The first one is a ladies leather belt I bought at Goodwill. It was 50% off that day so I paid $1 for it. It had silver medallions on it-each about l" by 2". They were carved and very ornate. There were 5 of them on the belt and each was marked sterling silver. The buckle was larger and even more ornately carved. It was also marked sterling silver and had the artist's initials carved in it.
I was a dealer at that time and put it in my case and sold it the first week for $95. I now believe I could have gotten more for it but I was happy to turn it around so quickly.
The second flip was a lot of fishing rods bought at an auction for $5.00. In examining them I found names on two of them but did not recognize them. I listed each one individually on Ebay and sold the one that I thought was prettier or fancier (I obviously didn't know anything about them) for $42.
The one that didn't look as nice had 28 bidders and sold for $294. Afterwards the buyer told me there was a second name on it that I hadn't seen and if that had been included in the description I would have gotten even more. Obviously, I am very happy with what it did sell for.
Hope you find this interesting. I enjoy every newsletter you send.
Rosemary
~~
Hi there Rosemary!
Yes, I remember you and your guide! I am so sorry for the pathetically late reply. Had a difficult holiday season which included visiting my very sick aunt in Ca., who subsequently passed away day after Xmas, and my mom whose dementia has worsened quite a bit. Anyway, still getting caught up.
Those are really fun flips! I esp. love the belt flip...I don't know if u remember but a while back I wrote about some belts I got from one estate sale..several Judith Leiber, which have a big following. To find one w/ carved silver..truly wonderful! And with artist's initials..super. Do u happen to have a pic? If not it's OK..I may use a pic of high-priced belts in general.
The fishing rod is also a niche I have not thought of. Wow. Do u happen to remember the name on it..was it a brand name, the designer's name. etc.?
Anyhow thx again for writing..I agree the furniture biz is not doing well (along w a lot of other bizzes now!) but hopefully will come back around.
Thx again for the great flips, and wishing you a very successful 2010!
Julia
~~~
Pen and Boy's Blazer
Hi again Julia!
Just a couple more flips from recent times.
My husband picked up a Rotring brand ballpoint pen years ago from a free box and held onto it cause he knew it was a good brand. He hardly used it himself, just kept in in a desk drawer. We are job searching now and so listing everything not nailed down to pay some bills. We listed the pen, hoping to get at least $10. It sold for $90!!!
Here's the link..I hope you can see the pictures.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270479517829&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT
Also, I picked up a Talbot's Kids navy blue blazer for $2 and sold it for $46! Here's that link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270487465696&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT
Lastly, I have some questions concerning selling designer bags. I know Ebay is really strict about not selling fakes...I made the mistake with a Ferragamo bag that I couldn't confirm was authentic.
Do you have any tips about this? I have a small Coach bag..not super expensive, but considering where I got it...I'm pretty sure it's authentic. I'm selling it for someone who got it from someone else. We have no documentation..etc..Is there an easy way to authenticate Coach bags? (ex..sending pics to a site, or something) My friend and I could use the money...so I'd love to list it. Or are there ways or wording to use on Ebay to keep from being flagged? Ex..offering a return, etc?
Shannon
~~
Hi again Shannon! How goes? Great to hear from u again.
Wow..super flip! I can see the pictures..thanks! I have never heard of that brand pen. I probably would have passed it up at an estate sale..lol! No more. It's also a good idea to look in the drawers sometimes at estate sales because some people don't..often the estate dealer is happy to sell you any of the contents. (Of course, not if the drawer is taped shut or there's a note to the contrary..lol).
More below, with answers to your q's:
Gorgeous boy's blazer! That's interesting that a Talbot's Kids item did so well..maybe their kids' clothes are the way to go, because in my experience their women's clothes don't do that well, even though they are a nice and well-made brand.
I hear ya re: fakes! You are right, we all have to be super careful out there and even savvy sellers can get taken.
Here are the things I do:
- research online for any authenticity guides and photos..many brands have free guides online.
- in some cases, I buy a book or ebook as a guide..there is a Chanel expert on eBay who sells an excellent Chanel authenticity guide with many photos which has been a godsend to me.
- finally, go to the Clothing discussion board and post photos there. Almost any brand has its fans and experts and the people are super nice and willing to help out.
I hope that helps! It has definitely become "seller beware" these days, but in my experience selling designer items is worth the extra research!
Happy selling, and flipping!
Julia
~~
Hi Julia, I've had a couple good flips recently.
A Rosenthal French bulldog puppy I purchased on ebay for $115, sold for $413 - ebay # 290369717447. It had slight damage to 1 foot. The person I bought it from mentioned the damage, but didn't show it clearly in the photos.
Because it's such a valuable dog, often selling in the $600-800 range, I decided to risk it. I included good photos of the damage in the listing- I've found in the past if you clearly describe & show any damage, people are less afraid of it. Anyway, it worked & sold for a nice profit!
I also sold a Royal Copenhagen pekingese dog I purchased for $218 at an antique store, sold it for $705- ebay # 300366675392.
That was a very good week!
Susie (luvthosedogs)
~~
Hey Susie!
Great to hear from you again!
Wow..I see you are a dog specialist..that is so cool! What a gorgeous dog. I love how you bought it on eBay and then resold it on eBay too! And showing photos of the damage is a great idea. I have learned that too..people mainly do not like surprises!
This is also a good example of how knowledge of your specialty area plays into such a great flip. I do think it pays to specialize.
Love the other dog, and how you found him in an antique shop. Sometimes we don't need yard sales at all! ;)
I am curious how you got interested in dogs and dog figurines. Also, do you have many foreign buyers? I am finding I get more and more sales from overseas.
Thanks so much for the flip!
Julia
~~
Susie writes back:
I've been collecting dog figures since I was a kid & have a pretty large collection. I've always loved dogs & they seem to have invaded all areas of my life! My real job is I own a pet grooming salon & have been grooming dogs (& cats!) for about 27 years. So, yeah, I am a bit of a dog specialist. It does help in finding flip opportunities. Often people don't know the breeds, or proper way to advertise their figures to find those most likely to be interested in them.
I have sold quite a few dogs to foreign buyers-all over the world. Pretty interesting really who all you sell to. Japan seems to be particularly good for dogs, especially Boston terriers & Bonzos. I think our weak dollar lately has been good for foreign sales. I have started requiring shipment by international priority mail so I can get insurance. That puts the cost pretty high, so I'm sure that hurts.
Thanks for your interesting newsletter!
Susie
~~~
OK everyone, it's time to pick the winners and almost-winners! It was very, very close as usual. But this month's grand prize goes to Jasper for his super-lucrative and super-niche microscope parts!
He wins free copies of "eBay Hacks," a "DK Collectibles Price Guide," and "Bitter, Party of One..Your Table is Ready" by Larry Star, aka the eBay Wedding Dress Guy.
Rosemary and Susie get honorable mentions and free copies of whatever of my ebooks they choose, plus they get a free blog entry on my bidbits.net blog about the eBay auction of their choice.
And Audrey, Charlene, Mark and Shannon win free copies of "Big Bucks Flips" and "What Sells on eBay for What" or whichever other ebook of mine they want.
Everyone, please email me if you don't receive your ebook by next Monday night.
Next month's prizes are going to include some of my last eBay Live collectibles and some newly released eBay-related books.
So seize the day and send in those next flips!
Just email your story of something you recently sold for a nice profit to [email protected].
**************************************
What Sells on eBay for What
**************************************
After almost a year of research, collecting data from every eBay category, the latest version of "What Sells on eBay for What," the first and bestselling ebook of eBay prices, is here!
And, you can get it for half price as a Yard Salers subscriber.
Click here
to get your copy!
~~
*********************
What's the PERFECT eBay product? Learn How To Make Money with information products on ebay.
*********************
Julia Recommends: EasyAuctionsTracker
I tried the EasyAuctionsTracker accounting spreadsheet for eBay and loved it. It is an eBay seller's accounting dream! With a few clicks you can be looking at all your eBay sales data, costs and even keep track of your commissions. EasyAuctionsTracker uses an eBay token and imports all of your eBay transaction information into an Excel spreadsheet. There's a free trial that will retrieve June transactions. This can be used through August 31st, which will be the last day to get transactions back to June 1st.
www.EasyAuctionsTracker.com.
*********************
3) Reader Mail
*********************
Some Catchup Reader Mail
Goofy Auctions
Hey! I cam across your blog and it intrigued me enough to email you and see if you might be willing to give my silly eBay site a mention or two on your blog... It's called www.GoofyAuctions.com and has been around since November of 2005. What is GoofyAuctions.com all about? Well think of all those silly and bizarre items you see Jay Leno talking about every Tuesday! From the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich to Britney Spears' Used Belly Button Lint... They have all been featured on my site...The site is 100% free and has been updated every day since its inception with 4 goofy, bizarre and downright hilarious but REAL eBay auctions! The site was even mentioned on ESPN in 2006 when we sold a Cheeto for charity that looked like a sports talk host named Woody Paige! The Cheeto sold for over $1,000 with 100% of the money benefiting kids with diabetes. The site was also mentioned on the Jay Leno show in August of 2007 as a source of where Jay Leno (or crew) found some of the auctions he mentions on the show! Anyways, I saw your blog and decided to write you and see if we could do something fun and be creative in a blog for your site! If you have a moment to look over things and just see the creative put into this really stupid BUT fun and enjoyable site we may just have something to work with! Once again thanks so much for your time!
-Dave the Goofy Professor from GoofyAuctions.com
As I said, I don't worry about it, can't do an awful lot more than what I am - Anonymous
Hey Dave,
Is that you dancing on the site in the t-shirt? LOL. The site looks to be a hoot. I had a whole saga about hunting down the Virgin Mary Grilled cheese at eBay live vegas, but it was on and old blog.
Sure I can give u a shout out. Do you also have a place on your site for links where u can mention my bidbits blog, or a blog elsewhere?
thx, Julia
~~~
That's it for this month, all! See you next time!
Do you like this newsletter? Please forward it (in its entirety) to a friend! Just go to http://www.yardsalers.net and see the "Subscribe" box on top.
**Don't have five minutes to read the newsletter now? Print it out and read later.**
[For more writing and photos throughout the month, check out Julia's bidbits blog at http://www.bidbits.net ]
******************************
"Selling on 'The River': Hedging Your Bets on Amazon"
Selling on "The River"
Between eBay and amazon, you're looking at over 100 million visitors per month. Why not harness the power of both?
At $29.97, I think it's a good value. And you also get:
- "25 Things eBay Sellers Must Know about Selling on Amazon" and
- SPECIAL BONUS - "How to Scout for Top Sellers with Your Cell Phone."
******************************
******************************
The eBay Seller's Guide to Finding Profitable Hidden Bargains at Garage Sales
Find out here.
*******************
Would you like your own fully customisable ebook website pulling in profits day after day, month after month, year after year, complete with video tutorials showing you EXACTLY how to get set up and running? Find out here.
*******************
------------------
Questions about My eBooks Ordering
You can certainly purchase from me directly, as can anyone. Most of my ebooks are now available via the website's bookstore at www.yardsalers.net/bookstore. Any others you have questions about, all you have to do is email me and let me know which ebook(s) you want, if you are a subscriber and thus eligible for the discount, and then PayPal me to my PayPal id at [email protected]. I'll be tweaking and updating the ebooks page on my web site soon.
-----------------------------------------------
Do you have a Flip of the Week? I'd love to hear about it! Email me at [email protected] and let me know.
-----------------------------------------------
Nonfiction Books that Sell for $50 - $250 on eBay:
or
Buy Now
*********************
I am always open to reader articles, so if you want to write about something relating to yard sale-ing and eBaying, just flag me down! I will of course give you credit, using your eBay ID, web site, or any other contact info.
------------------------------------
eBooks by Julia L. Wilkinson:
[All my ebooks are offered at 1/2 price from their regular prices to the subscribers of this newsletter. If interested in any of them, please email me at [email protected].]
- How to Spot Fakes: email me!
*********************
Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs
Check out My amazon.com Author Blog
Those of you who just can't get enough of my writing (are there any of you?) will be happy to know I now have a new blog on amazon.com. Amazon.com has created an "author blog" tool for authors to...well, blog. You'll see it if you bring up either of my books on the amazon site, but for good measure, it's at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593270550. (Scroll down to "amazonConnect").
My TypePad Blog, "Bidbits"
You can also check out my typepad blog, "bidbits": bidbits
********************************
Do you have your copy of Julia's book, eBay Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks?
It's available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. If you do want to order the book, I'd appreciate if you'd support Yard Salers and eBayers by using my affiliate link below.
ebay top 100
********************************
----------------------
Copyright 2009 J.L. Wilkinson LLC
----------------------
Thank you for subscribing to Yard Salers. Yard Salers email newsletter may be freely distributed in its entirety, so please pass it on. You may reprint any of the articles in this newsletter for any purpose as long as no portion of the article is modified without permission, and this tagline is included:
Yard Salers, www.yardsalers.net
Publisher, Julia Wilkinson, author of the award-winning "eBay Price Guide." and "What Sells on eBay for What"
No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Yard Salers makes diligent efforts to obtain accurate and timely information. However, Yard Salers disclaims any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in Yard Salers, whether or not such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.
End 
In October we launched the FBA Revenue Calculator to give you better insight into what it costs for you to use FBA on a per item level. With this tool you can do a side-by-side comparison of fulfilling orders yourself and fulfilling with Amazon:
Recent Comments