1) Don't spend more than £20 for an item of clothing when the seller is sending from overseas.
This tip mainly applies to clothing etc, personally if your buying brand new clothes from eBay 9x out of 10 the seller is from overseas like china etc. The reason behind limiting yourself is if the item doesn't fit or if you are disappointed you haven't spent lots of money. Usually the price to return is your responsibility and it might be too expensive to return & time consuming. So keep the costs low and if your not happy you can sell it on.
2) Don't get carried away with bidding.
If you have the time & patience to bid, then do it you could find a great bargain. Make sure you have set yourself a maximum in mind you are willing to bid too, there is an option on eBay for this which will automatically bid for you until your maximum. (treat this like a real life auction). It can be great fun & so fulfilling knowing you have snatched a bargain. Download the app HERE for bidding on the go and you will never miss an outbid
3) Do your research on an item.
If you have found something you like on eBay i.e a pair of shoes. Make sure you keep looking for the cheapest prices. You'll be amazed at what an extra 10 minutes browsing will do, you could of found the exact same shoes half the price.
4) When buying clothes always up one size bigger.
Unless your familiar with the eBay seller then the best advice i can give is check the description of the item and the size chart if they have one. If not then to make sure I always go one size bigger, this way it's more likely to fit than be too small and not wearable.
5) If your buying cheaply don't be disappointed
I'm sure you have all seen costume jewelry & sunglasses etc on eBay going for a £1 at buy it now from a seller overseas usually china. I'm sure a lot of us have brought stuff like this, I know I have especially sunglasses (I am a sucker for the £1 deals) All I can say is keep in mind pictures are deceiving, They could be copyrighted from another website and can also be edited quite easily. So remember you will usual get the quality you pay for - as it's only a £1, if it's a pile of s**t or breaks after a week then don't be too disappointed.
6) If it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
Let's face it you can look all you want on eBay but your never going to find a legit Louis Vuitton bag on eBay for £50. No one is stupid enough to sell a legitimate bag at that price & we as buyers shouldn't be stupid enough to fall into that trap - You've been warned.
7) Weigh up the risks.
You've seen an amazing bag in Zara, chances are you could probably find something similar and half the price on eBay. Keep in mind the location the bag is getting shipped from, is it too good to be true & bare in mind the quality. Would you be disappointed if you brought a bag off eBay for £15 & the quality was poor?, if your answer is yes then I probably wouldn't take the risk. (Don't get me wrong i have had my fair share of good quality items and some not so great ones like my coat HERE.. it's a risk you take not being able to feel or look at the product before you purchase it)
8) Never buy makeup from eBay
I will send you over to Sarah from Pretty in pinks blog post about it, worth the read and how bad it can be to buy 'dodgy' makeup - You can read the article HERE It's a real eye opener & plus you get to see some embarrassing photos of bloggers including myself!!
9) Contact the seller if you have an issue
If you have received your item & you are not 100% satisfied then contact your seller before you leave a bad review. The seller doesn't want to receive a bad review as this effects there score so contact them to see if they can help. Everyone I have contacted about a product has been more than helpful to sort the issue out.
10) Always use PayPal where possible
I can not stress this enough to use a safe way to pay for your item. You wouldn't hand over cash to a stranger over the counter without knowledge of what your paying for or a receipt, So why does it slip our mind on the internet? This doesn't just apply to eBay, it's for most online purchases. Obviously if it's a trusted site i.e Apple then you can trust not paying through PayPal. If your unsure about the website and it doesn't give you the option to pay via PayPal then I wouldn't bother. Most legitimate websites will give you this option. PayPal is free to sign up to for use of personal shopping & it covers you for payers protection just in case you are subject to fraud etc.. Most refunds and bank transfers can also be done via PayPal so if you don't have an account yet then I suggest you do so HERE
I hope you enjoyed reading my Tips for when using eBay - Do you have any more advice? Leigh xo TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN
