As a huge marketplace, eBay has just about anything you could want to buy. While eBay is largely known as the place for great deals, you still need to know how to use the site to your advantage to find the things you want at affordable prices. Whether you’re a buyer looking for a bargain or a seller looking for cheap items to flip, check out these simple tips and tricks on how to find the cheapest stuff to buy on eBay.
Use The Best Search Terms
Using the search box instead of shopping by category can benefit you in different ways. The more specific you are, the more you increase the likelihood of finding exactly what you want. Alternatively, using vague terms could get you the item at a cheaper price, because a lack of specificity implies that the seller might not be fully aware of the value of their listing.
It’s true that using general terms means you’ll have to search through more listings, but it’ll be worth it. Another way to use the search tool is to search for features and brands instead of product type. This gives you the advantage of more choice.
Haggle
There is nothing wrong with reaching out to the seller to haggle the price down. You’d be surprised how many sellers are interested in selling quickly over waiting out for more money. If a seller has the “best offer” or “make offer” listing, it’s already a sign they’re willing to negotiate.
But a listing doesn’t have to display the “best offer” or “make offer” before you approach a seller. Simply click the “ask a question” option and inquire if the seller will accept a cheaper offer than listed. Remember to be polite. A blunt one-sentence offer won’t get you any favors.
Follow Sellers Who Have A Good Record
When you have a pleasant experience with a seller, and they have good prices for their listed products, follow or save them.
This will have them appear on your home feed, so you can monitor items you like to buy. Chances are they’ll also have great prices for future transactions.
You can go a step further and check out the seller’s reviews at the “seller information” section. A seller with a very high percentage of positive reviews it’s one you should follow because you don’t get positive reviews from selling expensive items on eBay.
Use a Flipping Tool
This comes in particularly handy if you’re a seller. Flipping tools are online services where you can do things like search through eBay listings to find the average new and used price for all kinds of items. It’s very useful for saving time because you no longer have to manually go through listings to gauge the average selling price for your products. Instead, you can save time and focus on successfully flipping or reselling them for profit.
Take Advantage Of Human Error
You can profit from human error on eBay by:
- Searching for items listed in the wrong categories because some sellers accidentally place things in the wrong places. For example, a dress could be listed in the “women’s shoes” category. This is great for you because it means way fewer buyers and thus a lower auction price.
- Searching for items by misspelling them. As with items listed in the wrong categories, misspelled items mean fewer buyers. This trick works best if you’re searching for a specific brand. A lot more people than you’d expect to spell “Alexander Wang ” as “Alexander Wand”. As correctly spelled searches won’t show these results, there’ll be no bidding war, which means you get to dictate the price.
Use The Deals Tab
It seems obvious, but it’s easy to overlook the Deals tab feature on eBay. While the homepage doesn’t always feature the cheapest listings, all the products on the Deals page have free shipping and feature some of the best bargains.
You’ll find everything from kitchen appliances to clothing and accessories here. Simply sift through your options and find the best bargains.
Enable Notifications For New Listings
If you’re looking to buy a specific thing, there’s an easier way than spending hours manually combing through the site for new cheaper listings.
Rather, search the item and click on the “save this search” or “follow this search” option. eBay will notify you via emails when any new listings that fit your search terms pop up.
Buying things at affordable prices is how to stay within your budget. Plus spending less money on one thing means you get to spend the extra on another thing!
