This post is a paid partnership by Ebay, but it’s one I’ve been meaning to do for while now. I’ve been a big fan of buying and selling on Ebay for a VERY long time. I joined in 2001. It feeds all my random hobbies, in the past that was bedazzling old Rock T Shirts, Making vintage Levis 501s into skirts, collecting Kiss figures… the list goes on! I even bought my first wedding dress on Ebay. I had two weddings, but that’s a story for another day.
Right now Ebay is my go to place for knitting supplies. When you’re a novice you want to be finding bargains. So far I’ve bought wool, needles, a few pattern books and even a knitting bag to keep it together in! But more on that later. First I will give you my top buying and selling tips.
BUYING ON EBAY
Here are my to 5 tips for buying in Ebay and how to find the best bargains out there, or the exact item you’re after.
- Set up a watch list, you don’t need to be hasty, it’s always best to bide your time and keep an eye on many things before placing your bid.
- Exploit spelling mistakes. When you’re searching for something specific try throwing in a few typos as sometimes you can pick up the ultimate bargain because someone has spelt Stella McCartney wrong! I know as got a brand new pair of jeans that way for £40!
- Don’t get swept up in a bidding war, set your limits.
- Bid late, like really late. Hold your nerve and steam in there when there’s 20 seconds to go.
- Check out ‘sold for’ prices to give you an idea of what the final price is looking like for the item you’re buying. It helps to know so you don’t go over the average price.
SELLING ON EBAY
I have been a bit slack when it comes to selling on Ebay of late, but in the New Year, I intend to have a clearout of the loft area and get it sold. It can be quite time consuming to list it all but well worth it in the end. When I was on maternity leave with both my kids I would go to Jumble sales in rich towns like Windsor and Marlow and buy up loads of clothes, then wash them, steam then, put them on a mannequin and sell on Ebay. My best ever find was a suede Gucci Skirt that I bought for £3 that I sold for £94! (this was in 2005, so that was a LOT back then!). Here’s my top 5 selling tips:
- Only start your bidding price at the LOWEST you would accept for the item. Say you have a pair of Nike Trainers, you’d like to get around £30 for them but you’d be OK if you got £15. set your starting price at £15.. DO NOT start your price at 99p as you could very well end up having to sell at that and it’s just not worth your while.
- Be sure to add as MUCH detail as you can. Measurements, any flaws, what condition it’s in etc. This stops you having to answer a load of questions.
- Add as many keywords in your title as you can. If you’ve got those Nike Trainers, use the style, the size in UK and Euro, the colour etc. This will make your listing show up in more searches.
- Start and end your listings at popular times of the day/week. This will depend on what you’re selling, but for me, when I sold clothes I found Sunday evening was a popular time.
- Use as many photos as you can. Ebay let you publish up to 12, so use them all and make them as good as you can.
I’m sure there are loads more tips you can seek out, but from my experience these are my top ones.
As I mentioned before, Knitting is my new thing so I’ve been buying up the equipment to do more. I find it relaxing of an evening to click those needles. With the Christmas break coming up and less (if any) people to visit this year, I full intend to get into it more. Here’s some of the items I’ve found…
If you feel like cheating on your knitting, why not just buy one that looks handmade instead. Here’s some I found for you.
Also, you know the best time to buy stuff on Ebay is early January when people sell on unwanted gifts! Absolute goldmine!
K x
