Doing Your Holiday Shopping On Ebay.

 by: Kirsten Hawkins

Most people do far more shopping in the holiday season than they do for the rest of the year – and now you know how to use eBay, why not do it there? If you know what kind of thing your friends and family like then eBay’s categories are ideal places to get ideas. Plus, you won’t have to fight your way through the holiday rush when you’re getting everything posted to you at home!

Buying Presents for People.

Here’s how I do it: think of the last thing the person you’re buying a present for bought for themselves. Type it into eBay’s search engine. Now take a look at which category it’s in, and click the link to look at everything in the category. Straight away, you have a huge list of things that they’re probably be happy to receive – and if you know them well, you should have no trouble picking through to find something really special.

Look at Their eBay Histories.

If the people you’re buying presents for use eBay, and you know their eBay usernames, then you can take a look at what they’ve been buying to see what they might want. To look at a user’s history, just click ‘Advanced Search’ on the main page, then Find a Member on the left-hand menu. Type in their username and you should reach their user page, complete with all the item numbers of things they have bought. Just paste any item number into the eBay search box to see what the item was. That should give you a few ideas!

Shop in Advance.

It’s a bad idea to use eBay for your holiday shopping at the very last minute – prices will be high, and items might not turn up in time. Every year there’s a present that children want so much that all the shops sell out, and it starts appearing on eBay at a premium. Parents then pay hundreds of dollars and still don’t get one in time for the big day. Don’t fall into this trap.

Remember You’re in Silly Season.

The holiday season is peak time at eBay – loads of people are there, and they’re often inexperienced, bidding things up far higher than they should. Try not to end up paying far too much for an item just because it’s the last one that would turn up in time, or because everyone else is bidding too high. You should always know when to cut your losses, stop bidding and just go get something from the shop instead.

Have Fun!

Don’t take eBay too seriously – treat it like a game, and don’t be too disappointed if you lose. It can sometimes feel like gambling, but when you get that really rare and special thing in the post, it’s all worth it.

That’s it for our series of emails about buying on eBay: I hope you learned something, and good luck in your eBay future. By now, though, you might have started to think it would be interesting to try selling a few things on eBay yourself. Well, you’re not alone. Go ahead and sign up now for our emails about selling things on eBay. See you there!