If you love to save money then you’ll already know that buying second hand items on eBay and other online marketplaces can save you a fortune.
Especially on designer goods or popular brands.
And, it’s more environmentally friendly so you’re saving your purse and the planet.
But, how can you bag the best bargains on eBay and make sure you win the auctions you go for?
Whether it's optimising your search terms or angling for a discount there are tips and tricks which could save you money
Members of money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk suggested some of their best tips.
Try them out and see if they work:
Strike last minute
Ken Brett said: “Load up your bid and wait until the timer is down to 5 seconds – then bid.”
While Charlotte Robinson noted: “I only ever watch items, and then if I’m interested I bid on them with about seven seconds to go.”
But, Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk warned: “Make sure you are logged in to eBay before you do a last-second bid.
“This is because after you press "Place Bid", you’ll then need to login, confirm your bid, and press a third confirm button. All of this takes time!”
Look for misspellings
Siaron Jones commented: “Use a site called Fatfingers.com.
“You enter what you are looking for and it brings up all spellings of that word.
“Years ago I bought a beautiful oak dining table and chairs for just over £100 because the seller had listed it as a ‘dinning table’ so it wasn't coming up when people searched ‘dining table’.”
Genius!
Buy it Now discounts
Apparently, if you pop a Buy it Now listing on your watch list and keep an eye out the seller may offer a discount for you to buy the item within a week.
Lyndsey Creevy said: “It happens with me and I usually get about 5% off.”
Save your search
Hannah Smith explained: “If there's something specific you're after but you’re not in a hurry, then I save a search for the item and check back every few days.
“It may take a while but often you can get what you're after at a bargain price as people list things with cheap Buy It Now prices and having the saved search makes it easy to find.”
Make search terms generic
Hannah added: “Often it's good to be quite generic with your search terms as this helps to catch more items where people have put poor descriptions eg.
“If you want a 'blue women's size 10 next dress' search for 'blue next dress' or 'next dress 10' and just look for the ones that match your criteria manually – it does take longer, but helps to find the items with less detailed descriptions.
“Often these are the sellers with less idea on pricing too.”
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Tom Church, Co-Founder of money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk wrote: “In the fight between eBay and Facebook Marketplace, eBay is still king when it comes to finding the best bargains.
“I bought a pair of new Levi jeans for just 99p when looking for last-minute items without bids.
“It’s the Wild West of deals, where the winners are patient bargain hunters who strike when no one else is looking.”
Bid to the penny
Lindy Armstrong commented: “Always bid using the pennies e.g. £15.69.
“If you have the extra pennies on you’ll win the bid – at least, it’s worked for me a few times.
“Set your highest bid, then add 53p or an obscure figure that’s over 50p.”
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