Earlier in the week I wrote a guide to making money on eBay. In this post, I’m going to show you how to spend it!

Just like selling, buying on eBay quickly becomes addictive. You’ll soon start to question the price of everything you buy – from that Topshop tea dress to an adaptor for your electric toothbrush – and wonder if you can get it cheaper on eBay. And the answer is almost always yes – as long as you’re clever about it. That’s where the Little Bird Guide to Buying Stuff on eBay comes in.

Buying stuff on eBay

What do you want?

Unless you have an entire week of total nothingness stretching in front of you, or you’re stuck on a desert island with someone interminably dull (and a 3G connection), eBay is not the place for idle browsing. You’ll just end up with RSI, a crick neck and 20 billion items on your watch list. It’s best to identify what you want before you start searching, and the best way to do that is find it elsewhere first.

Do your research – if you’re looking for, say, a dress for a wedding, think about brand, style, colour, fit and size, and include these parameters in your search. No results? Widen it a little. Fiddle about with your keywords (take a look at the buzzwords mentioned in my guide to selling) and use category filters ’til you have a manageable number of results. Then you can browse without quitting your job and becoming a hermit.

Okay, now I’ve said all that, I have a confession. The longer you spend trawling through listings, the bigger bargain you’ll get. That search for ‘black dress’ may return 567 pages of results, and ‘the one’ is probably on page 566. Persistance is key when it comes to successful eBay shopping.

How much do you want to pay?


eBay money is real money. Seriously. It took me a few years and more than one call from HSBC asking about ‘suspicious transactions’ to realise it, but it’s true. There’s something about the process of bidding that makes everything seem pretend, like playing Monopoly or ‘borrowing’ a tenner from your mum.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement and competition of an eBay purchase, but each bid is contractual and you should always be prepared to pay. So give yourself a maximum bid based on what you think the item is worth and (this is the hard part) stick to it.

How low can you go?

There are a few things you can do to ensure you get the very best price on eBay, but the main one is this – do not bid until the auction is very nearly over. If you bid any early than the dying seconds, you’re just pushing the price higher as other people bid over you. It takes nerves of steel to wait until the last 30 seconds before showing any kind of interest in an auction, so you need your game face on. Sit on your hands if you must. Just keep away from that ‘place bid’ button.

Can’t control yourself? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us, especially when you stumble across something so undeniably perfect you just can’t stop. That’s where Goofbay comes in. Use the sniper tool to set your maximum bid for the auction and it’ll do all the nail-biting bits for you. Then you can sit back and laugh manically as your fellow bidders marvel at your eBay prowess.

Goofbay should be part of any eBayer’s weapons arsenal – other useful features include a misspelt keywords search and seller history check. It’s also great for those annoying auctions that finish at 3.27am or clash with your best friend’s birthday, because you don’t have to be at your computer to place your bid. Although if you’re a hardened eBay addict (like me), you might want to download the eBay for iPhone app to get your fix wherever you are (probably best to close it when she’s blowing out the candles, though).

You won! … Or not

Bagging a bargain on eBay is quite an achievement these days – almost everyone knows its money-making potential, and many sellers play dirty to preserve their profits. Shill bidding can be a problem and prices are pushed up as more people turn to the site as an alternative to the ever-expensive high street. But with savvy searching, it is possible to get what you want for less. Here are my favourite bargains:

• Topshop chunky cardigan – RRP £48, bought for £24

• Vintage leather pencil skirt – RRP approx. £70, bought for £13
• Vintage Levi’s 501 jeans – RRP £50, bought for £1.72
• Indian handpainted wooden Christmas decorations – RRP priceless, bought for £12

What are your tips for buying things on eBay? What’s been your best bargain?

I’m a prolific eBayer and often get asked for advice on buying and selling through the auction site. I recently helped an eBay virgin set up and get selling, so thought I’d put finger to key and share my (limited and a bit amateur, I should point out) knowledge on the subject.

I’ve split this guide into two parts – selling and buying. Up first is the bit that might make you some extra dollar – selling.

Selling your stuff on eBay

Source

Stock
Every six months, I have a big wardrobe clear out. Anything I haven’t worn for a while, that no longer fits or that I know I’ll never wear again (hello, poncho) is sorted into piles. One of my piles is for eBay.

High street brands like Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Office and Zara sell really well on eBay, as does anything that can legitimately described as ‘vintage’ (from the 80s or before). Check everything for holes, stains, pulls or tears and make a note of any damage. Wash and iron everything.

Taking photos
Taking decent photos is an important part of selling on eBay. Clear, well-lit, detailed photos make it easy for buyers to see the style and quality of the item you’re selling. Shoot the front and back, detail (like buttons and pleats) and damage for each item. You can use the macro setting on your camera (usually a flower symbol) for extreme closeups. If you’re selling clothing, a dressmakers dummy is great for showing how things fit, but if not, hanging pieces against a plain background will give a clear image.

Listing
eBay scans titles and descriptions for keywords that match those used by searchers, so the first rule of listing is – identify your keywords. Try to be as specific as possible when writing a title for your listing. For example, a search for ‘black dress’ brings up 198,733 results, but a search for ‘peter pan collar black dress’ gives 122 results and even better, ‘peter pan collar topshop black dress’ gives just 10. People use these (warning – douchebaggy marketing term coming up) ‘long-tail’ keyword phrases to cut down the number of results they have to sift through, so the more specific you are, the easier your listing is to find.

Do a bit of research before you choose your final keywords – a quick search for a similar item will show you the words other eBayers use and give you a good idea of the ‘buzzwords’ buyers use in their searches. One of the most used and abused words is ‘vintage’. On eBay, everything from a 1960s shift dress to a pair of two-year-old Primark flip flops is ‘vintage’. If you’re selling something that is legitimately vintage, use the word. If it’s something styled to look vintage, use ‘vintage style’. If it’s neither, don’t do it.

I always list for seven days ending on a Sunday evening, which seems to be the busiest time for bidders. Remember that the weather affects bidding – try sell a faux fur coat on a hot April day and someone will get a real bargain. But list it after heavy snow and minus temperatures and, cha-ching!

Monitoring and posting
When your auctions are live, make sure you keep a close eye on them. Potential buyers will message you with questions and you need to answer them quickly and efficiently – communication is one of the things you’re judged on when it comes to feedback.

When your auction has finished and your buyer has paid, get yourself to the post office to send out your (or now, their) item. Postage is a tricky one – lots of buyers now expect very low or even free P&P, and overcharging (even if only by accident) is judged harshly. I keep my postage to £1 for small, light items and between £2.50-£3.50 for heavy things like coats and shoes. I often pay more for postage than I’ve charged, but low postage rates are attractive to buyers and attract more bids, so it’s worth it.

And finally, feedback
In the early eBay days, feedback was toted as the be-all and end-all of selling. One negative and you were out. These days, buyers are much more savvy and know that a less-than-perfect percentage doesn’t necessarily equal a bad seller. Even so, it’s nice to keep your feedback scores high, especially when you’re first starting out.

Leaving feedback for your buyers will encourage them to do the same for you. Remember, sellers can’t leave negative feedback for buyers, so if there’s a problem with a transaction make sure you raise a dispute through eBay. The ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing at all’ rule applies here – if things haven’t gone smoothly, don’t leave feedback at all.

You are now a fully fledged eBay seller
Welcome aboard! Careful, it’s addictive… you’ll soon find yourself sitting in the empty shell which was once your home, all your worldly possessions being ‘watched’ by other people. Like I said, addictive. Here are my best-ever sales:

• Vintage faux fur coat – bought for £7.99, sold for £54
• H&M tea dress – bought for 50p, sold for £25.99
• Ted Baker wool coat – bought for £2.50, sold for £45.73
• Vintage Doc Martens – bought for 50p, sold for £21
• Nine West leather handbag – bought for £5, sold for £32

You can find my eBay shop here.

Have you ever sold anything on eBay? What are your tips for a successful sale?