Actual flowers from Michael Jackson's coffin

This may be the single oddest auction we have ever done: actual flowers from the coffin of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

These come to us from celebrity client that had special access to the coffin and was encouraged to take the flowers as she passed by for the viewing.

The auction shot up to $255 in the first 15 minutes. How high can it possibly go?

Here's the link if you want to follow the auction on eBay: http://bit.ly/1Unb0

-sr
http://www.shopitla.com/

SHOPitLA Loves Terapeak

There are some things that eBay drop-off stores can't live without:

1. Our loyal buyers and sellers


2. High-quality items worth more than $100.00


3. High-speed internet


4. and Terapeak

Terapeak has proven to be a vital resource for us here at SHOPitLA.

We offer free appraisals for our customers and they're always impressed at how fast we can give them information about their items. It also helps us break the news that their treasurers aren't worth as much as they thought.

Terapeak is better than your standard eBay "completed items" search.

Terapeak let's us easily search for something, like, Manolo Blahnik slingback heels or a Niles SI-1230 amplifier and we can quickly get detailed information on average selling price, start price, bid history, sell through rate, trend reports, and more.

It searches a longer time frame than eBay completed search and, most importantly, everything is organized very nicely. That makes it easier for us to do our job.

The people over at Terapeak also do a good job at customer service. Emails are always answered promptly and we've even gotten help from their twitter account, @terapeak

-JL

http://www.shopitla.com/

SHOPitLA is featured eBay seller!

We are pleased to announce that eBay has chosen SHOPitLA to feature in the June edition of their "Power Up" newsletter that goes out to eBay sellers worldwide.

We've long believed that helping others succeed on eBay (even our competitors) brings us all up and makes for a better marketplace that we can all benifit from.

You can read the full article here: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/sellerprofiles/SHOPitLA.html

Flat Out Savings with Flat Rate Boxes

Here at SHOPitLA Sell It On eBay, we have a healthy obsession with USPS Priority Mail flat rate boxes because they keep our shipping costs low.

Of course, eBay buyers love low shipping costs. These US Postal Service flat rate boxes help us do that.

We take all these heavy items, pack 'em up, and put 'em into a flat rate box, pay one low rate. Done. This is low hassle shipping, folks.

Remember our cairns? Those heavy rocks are going into flat rate boxes and our customers appreciate the savings they get on shipping costs.

You'd be surprised at how heavy a few pairs of jeans can get and how much they'll cost to ship. Grab that flat rate box.

Mailing to Alaska, Hawaii or Guam? Let those flat rate boxes bail you out.

These boxes make listing items a lot easier too because we don't have to worry about weighing stuff and accidentally over-charging or under-charging on our shipping costs.

Every eBay drop off store needs to have an arsenal of flat rate boxes.

Oh, and remember how these flat rate boxes are absolutely FREE? Fall in love with the Flat Rate box all over again.

USPS Flat Rate Prices:

• Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box (FRB) (8" x 5" x 1"): $4.95
• Priority Mail Medium FRB (11" x 8.5" x 5.5" or 13" x 11" x 3"): $10.35
• Priority Mail Large FRB (12" x 12" x 6"): $13.95 (domestic) / $11.95 (APO/FPO)

-JL

www.shopitla.com

Cost Plus Keeps SHOPitLA Fueled Up!

Right across the street from SHOPitLA is a Cost Plus World Market. If you're not lucky enough to have a Cost Plus near you, then Jealousy can now commence.

Cost Plus has just about everything for amazingly low prices and a wide selection that will make your head explode. And the snacks at Cost Plus are what fuels your friendly folks here at SHOPitLA Sell It On eBay.

There's nothing like getting an arm full of all-natural sea salt and cracked pepper chips, orange-passion-mango and pomegranate sodas from Italy, crackers, pretzels, chocolates, nuts-- well, you get the idea.

Next blog post: In-store workout tips to shed the SHOPitLA Fifteen.

-JL

Cost Plus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/worldmarket

SHOPitLA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/home

Meeting Of The eBay Minds: PowerSellingMom and SHOPitLA on the radio!

SHOPitLA - the largest eBay drop-off store in Southern California - recently had our fearless leader, Amy Weintraub, on Dana Crawford's popular radio show.

Click here and give it a listen.

Dana (better known as PowerSellingMom) is absolutely amazing and she has been navigating the eBay waters for a very long time so she knows a ton about eBay, online marketing and social networking.

Amy has been steering the SHOPitLA ship for over 5 years and SHOPitLA has emerged as one of the most successful eBay drop-off stores in the nation.

This is truly a meeting of great eBay business minds.

Click the link below to head directly to the episode:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dannacrawford/2009/06/27/Shop-It-Hollywood-Beverly-Hills-and-LA-eBay-Drop-Off-Store-Live-Online

Oh, and eBay also featured Amy in their eBay newsletter. And Amy was also a featured speaker at the IMHAPPENING internet marketing conference.

We've been getting a lot of great publicity recently so we thought it'd be okay to pat ourselves on the back a bit. :)

See you here at SHOPitLA soon.

-JL
http://www.shopitla.com/

Go Green With ShopItLA: Eco-Friendly 100% Cotton Garment Bags For Your Dry Cleaning!

It’s hip to be a Reusenik!

With the Clothesnik by Reusenik, having all those plastic bags from the dry cleaner will be a thing of the past.

The Clothesnik is made of 100% cotton, its super-soft, has a zipper-front and a drawstring on the bottom. You can use the bag like a sack and bring clothes in and use it to carry your clothes out. And then reuse the bag!

These bags have made a big impression on large corporations who have purchased them in bulk for their employees. Even fashion designers and top fashion boutiques love these bags. And, of course, individuals love these bags too!

Be sure to check out SHOPitLA to pick up some of these fantastic eco-friendly bags!

“Go Green With SHOPitLA” is a semi-regular series on ways to be more eco-friendly!


-JL

Be sure to foloow us on Twitter! @shopitla

How Much Would You Pay For This Sculpture?

As the old saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

"The Totem" by Ida Kohlmeyer
is very, well, interesting and it's far from trash but it is certainly another man's treasure to me.

Would I pay $20.00 for this? Sure. What about $30.00? Okay. Probably. How about $40.00? That's really pushing it. And $50.00 would be my max.

But is this 10-inch tall, wooden sculpture a treasure worth over $1,500.00?

Well, to some people, it is!

We recently sold one signed by the artist for $1,525.00

We started this sculpture off at $19.99 and 7 days and 12 bids later it skyrocketed to $1,525.

Not too shabby at all, eh?

-JL

http://www.shopitla.com

Last reminder for the IMHAPPENING.com 2009 Conference

We're all set to give our presentation on how to market yourself on eBay without selling a thing.

We're also looking forward to hearing from some other smart entrepreneurs and internet marketing experts.

Should be fun and informative. Admission gets you into all the lectures and a nice lunch.

-sr
www.shopitla.com

Can we just eBay the California debt away?

Did you hear that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman wants to run for California state governor? She's even got the endorsement of a former presidential candidate:

Former eBay chief Ms. Whitman was endorsed for the Republican nomination by Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona (she was an aide for his 2008 presidential run).

Whitman has wowed smaller crowds across the state, and her business background is seen as a plus. “She’s accomplished plenty already and this [candidacy] seems to be borne of her desire to give back,” says Marilyn Gutsche, a 25-year Santa Barbara resident who attended a Whitman luncheon recently. “I’m a registered independent and would vote for her on any ticket. I’m smitten.”
[The Christian Science Monitor]

Hmm. Maybe we can just eBay parts of California to settle our debts!

How much do you think Yosemite can go for on eBay?

-JL

eBay versus Fashion

eBay scored a little victory over L'Oreal recently:

PARIS — A French court on Wednesday rejected a claim from the cosmetics company L’Oréal that the online auctioneer eBay was profiting from sales of counterfeit perfumes. The court said that eBay was making a reasonable effort to keep fake goods off its site.
[NY Times]

Back in July, eBay also won a similar case over Tiffany but lost cases to Louis Vuitton and Hermes.

What does this mean for us sellers? It's tough to say. Selling these items are notoriously difficult. You just have to do your best to get a lot of documentation and paperwork together to prove that the designer item you're selling is authentic.

There are some encouraging signs, though:

The judge did, however, order the companies to work together to try to improve eBay’s counterfeit filters. A court-appointed mediator will oversee the efforts.

“Preventing counterfeits will only be effective through a close collaboration between rights holders and eBay,” the judge said.
[NY Times]

Who knows, maybe this will mean that other major companies will work with eBay and make it a bit easier for us to sell on eBay? And give buyers confidence that the things they find on eBay are 100% authentic?

Let's hope so.

-JL

http://www.shopitla.com/

What Sells Best?

One of the most common questions we get here at SHOPItLA is: So, what sells best on eBay?

Here's a web site that can help answer that question: WhatSellsBest.com

It's a great little web site that collects information from eBay and shows off some of the best selling items on eBay. Who knows, there could be thousands of dollars just sitting around your house!

WhatSellsBest also breaks things down into categories so it makes doing some research really easy.

Check it what sells best and then come sell it with us!

-JL

http://www.shopitla.com/