ebay Tips for Buying Fashion

Know the comparable cost! One of the first tips is to make sure you know the retail cost of the item you’re searching. You want to have a comparable price so that you know the item is worth buying on ebay. One very important tip to remember is to add the shipping costs onto the cost of the item before comparing to the price you pay for retail. Make sure you include that with the auction cost. So your final price is the AUCTION COST + SHIPPING!

Did you know that you can buy your favorite designer jeans on ebay for much less than what you pay at a Department Store? For instance, my favorite jeans are True Religion. I visit Macy’s Department Store, try the jeans on, write down the brand, size, style, measurements and price. Next, I go home and log into ebay to search for the same jeans I just tried on at Macy’s. When searching use the information that you collected at the Department Store; brand, size, style, measurements and price. This way you’ll know you’re comparing the exact same item. Just a word of caution, there are copies (fakes) on ebay and these tend to fit differently. A size 28 authentic jean might not be the same size as a 28 fake. If you’re not sure what you’re buying is authentic this is where your measurements come in handy.

To optimize your results, search in a number of different ways. For example, I’ll use my True Religion jeans again.

The first way I would search for these jeans is through the search window. This is found under the “All Items” tab. I enter “True Religion Joey Jeans 28”. Notice I entered brand, style, and size. This narrows the amount of auctions that pull in dramatically. If I would have just put “True Religion Jeans”, the search results would have produced not only Joey (style) jeans but it would have brought up a many more True Religion jeans in all styles and sizes as well.The other way to search is through the categories area.

For these jeans I would go to the category: "clothing, shoes and accessories." Then a page pops up with categories within that category. I find "women’s clothing" and click on "jeans." Then in the search window under the category jeans I enter "True Religion Joey 28."

I would also try entering it without the style (Joey) because some sellers may not have included it.

Do cost comparables. This is one of the best ebay tips I follow!

Once you’re satisfied with your search results, a good thing to do is to check the item you’re buying with the same item that has already sold on ebay (remember to add in the shipping). To do so, look for “Search Options” on the left hand side of your screen as you scroll down. Under “Show only” place a check mark next to Completed Listings and click “Show Items”. Other search options are “Items listed with PayPal”, “Buying Options”, “Items priced”, and more! Below is what the left hand side next to your auctions look like. Once you do the above options and have a list of auctions for your exact item you can see what your item previously sold for by checking the box next to completed listings.

Show only Items listed with PayPal Buying Options

More Buying Options

Free Shipping

Completed listings

Listings

Items priced