Buying on eBay like a pro- Tips and Tricks

Let me start by saying I love a bargain, deal, discount, steal- whatever word you want to say- I love the thrill of savings. But I also love luxury and those two things seem at odds with each other. But really they aren’t if you know where to shop, how to find the deals and how to be smart about it. Below are the tips and tricks I use to deal hunting on eBay– including my favorite sellers.

1- Many searches but just one item.

One eBay every seller gets to create their own listing title so that often means that the piece you might be looking for might be listed under a variety of things. For example when I was looking for my Lady Dior Medium Lambskin bag in black with gold hardware I had the following saved searches:

Lady dior
Dior lady Dior
Dior canage bag
Dior lambskin bag

The key is to try to capture keywords in your searches that might bring up the bag. I normally start with a basic search like ” lady Dior” and see what other words are used in the title on the listing that come up. Also I always create saved searches so that I get email updates every day. (You can also get text message updated but I prefer the emails.)

2- Check out the seller.

One of the best things to do when looking at an item is check the sellers rating and how many items they have sold. With luxury goods you have sellers of all sizes so rating is important to me. I also see if the positive reviews are for buying or selling. In general I normally prefer to buy from the bigger sellers but I have also bought luxury pieces from individual sellers as well.

3- Ask questions.

If you have any questions about an item your looking at ask! Sellers all have various response times but I have found that most sellers are friendly and happy to answer your question. If they are not then probably not the item for you. Some questions I have asked before are

Does the item come with the dustbag, box, care card, and/ or some other accessory? I know a lot of people ask about receipts but that is not as much of a worry to me since I like to use eBay verified authentic sellers and I always authenticate my bags through Real Authenticate who has a partnership with eBay.
Where did you purchase the item?
When did you purchase the item?
Could you send me a better picture of x? The picture question I ask a lot as sellers are limited on the number of pictures they can post. I normally am asking for detail shots to see wear.
Are you open to offers? Sometimes people are and why not save a few dollars?

4- Sometimes it’s all about the long game.

A lot of times I have to wait for my perfect bag in the condition and price range I want to come along. To me this is just part of the hunt for a deal and to enable myself to get the best deal I make sure to great saves searches that allow me to stay up to date on what new pieces are coming in.

5- Pay attentions to promotions and coupons- especially eBay bucks!

This is one of my favorite ways to save a little money on my luxury pieces. You can save up to $150 on a luxury piece with their 5-20% off coupons. You can also get money off by earning eBay bucks during a quarter. Once you register for eBay bucks almost every purchase you make qualifies you for a certain percentage back in eBay bucks. As part of eBays’ promotions they do days where you can get 8-10% back in eBay bucks (up to $100). So you can easily earn yourself a couple $100 to spend off of your next luxury purchase just by buying other goods on eBay!