eBay, my way

Following on from my post about swishing (or clothes swapping), here's my round-up of the best eBay techniques for bagging a bargain.

These are the tried and true techniques that work for me, but this post is written from a personal perspective. Not everything will work for everyone but here's what works for me. If you're completely new to eBay, you can find the basics here.

Why I love eBay

• It's cheap - a 1p jacket, lots of £1 pairs of shoes, cheap and unusual skirts, you can find it all and more.
• It's ethical - better than buying new, this is recycling at its best.
• It allows you to filter - want a purple skirt in size 10? No problem. eBay is so good for this that I get rather annoyed by having to seek out items in high street stores. 
• It allows you to find usual and quirky items - even if what you want is fairly specific, there's probably one (or more) on eBay.

So here's my guide to how I shop on eBay.

What do you want?
Think about what you are looking for. The more specific your search, the easier it is to find what you want and not get distracted (and eBay is seriously distracting).

Set your price first
eBay allows you to set the price range. I tend to consider eBay shopping like gambling - there is no guarantee that the item will fit, suit you or even turn up, so don't bid more than you are willing to risk on an item. So, if you set the price upfront, you don't get tempted by the stuff you can't afford. If you haven't seen it, you can't want it.

Are you always the same?

I am very lucky as I am always the same size in shoes. This means that most of my shoes are bought from eBay and fit me perfectly (they also cost about £1, which is a major bonus). You might not be a consistent shoe size but you might always be the same size in a different item.

Buy brands where you know your size

If you're not always the same size, search for items from shops where you know your size - it's much less risky.

Start with the easy items
Bags, jewellery and belts are some of the easiest items to buy when you start out because they don't need to fit (or fit perfectly). Bidding on these will get you into the swing of things.


Filter by material, colour
As well as more obvious filters like size and price, eBay also allows you to filter items by colour, material, number of bids, etc. Make the most of this to find items that match your needs.

How many are available?
If you have set a price and keep getting outbid, be patient. After seeing a bag with a map print on another blogger's website, I really wanted one. I was outbid on four different items - they all went for over £10. I finally won a bag very similar to the others - for £1.20. Whatever you're looking for, there is normally more than one available, so just keep trying.

Experimentation - risks or hedging your bets
If you're branching out into a new area for you (duffle coats, harem pants, citrus yellow), try it in a shop first to see if you like it and if it suits you. Having said that, eBay is a great way to try something new. If you do venture into unchartered territory, don't pay too much in case it doesn't suit you.

Postage - keep your eyes peeled
I always set eBay to search by "Price and P+P: lowest first" which enables me sift out the people who have items for 99p and £20 p+p. Watch out for these (and for people shipping by freight). If P+P isn't specified, skip the item. It's not worth the risk.

Worse case scenarios
So what happens when you win an item and the worst happens - you don't like it or it doesn't fit? Firstly, don't dismiss it - think about if there is a way you can make it work. For example, the yellow paisley skirt I won (see below) was too big but it's OK with a belt to create a paperbag waist. Have a fresh look at the item to see if you can turn it up, wear it backwards, etc

If it really doesn't work for you, simply take it to your next swish.

What can you get?
Here are some of my most beloved eBay items:

See more eBay items on the blog.

Have fun shopping. Please note, I will not be responsible for any huge levels of success you have which means you end up with too many clothes so you have to enforce a four month shopping ban - or maybe that only happens with me.