Friday is tip day, here at The Lean Times, today’s topic is how to save money with eBay.
1. Many of the items on eBay are new. They may be from stores liquidating or just having overstock.
2. Know your prices in store then check eBay before buying anything. I use eBay for items like audio accessories, beauty products, clothing, shoes, DVDs, actually just about anything that is not perishable.
3. Always check the shipping. Shipping costs are getting more and more expensive so make sure you figure out your total before placing a bid. Also beware of paying import duty when buying items from abroad. It is illegal not to declare the value of the item but often the duty will make the item stupidly expensive therefore making the whole process null and void.
4. Know what size you are – if you are buying shoes or clothing try to try something on of the same brand so you are more likely to get the correct fit.
5. Check your sellers’s feedback record – make sure the person you are doing business with is reputable. In general, I try not to deal with people with a score less than ten but if it is a low cost item, I try to give the seller a break. We all started with zero feedback once.
6. Use the Saved Searches feature – if you like a certain fashion designer you might be able to grab a vintage bargain. I got a Dolce e Gabbana leopard cardigan for £80, when it was originally, gasp, £600. Be specific in your saved searches and remember to tick the Include Description box to get even more options. When you use Saved Searches, you can opt to get emails when an item that matches you request is listed. This is a great tool if you are looking for something specific.
7. When buying furniture – look for items in your local area that needs to be collected, these will usually be cheaper as most people do not want the hassle of arranging a mover.
8. Hunt for you item by looking for possible misspelt titles, these will have a lot less people finding them and you might be able to get a bigger bargain.
9. Don’t be afraid to use a sniper – these a programs that will put you bid in for you with incredible, timely precision and can really aid you in getting your lusted after item. You can program it to put you bid in mere seconds from the end of the auction.
10. Most importantly – do not get carried away with the excitement of the auction. We have all had a moment when the item gets even more desirable when you know there is someone else that wants it too. Know how much you can spend on it then never go over that amount.
I hope you have found this post useful. If you have any topics that you would like to see covered in The Lean Times, please drop me a comment.
Some great advice here! It is also worth signing up to a cashback website. For example cashback.co.uk do give you money back for using eBay.
Also if you have a cashback credit card, use that for more discount.
I did not know about Cashback, it looks brilliant. They do eBay and My Supermarket which is a great favourite of mine.
Thanks for the heads up!
One thing you could think about is signing up to be an affiliate, e.g. see trade doubler and put some links on your site. Then whenever you want to buy something buy via your own link.
Of course best way to save money is not to look at websites etc 🙂