You can find virtually anything on eBay if you search properly. We give you five top tips to help you find the item you want.
Search on eBay: Use the search function correctly
There are numerous offers on eBay, so you can quickly lose track. First, start a comprehensive search to get an overview.
- Next to the “Find” button under “Advanced Search”, you can activate the “Title and Description” checkbox under “Consider in search” to really find all offers that contain your search term.
- First, look for general terms that make sense and if you find too many hits, get a little more specific.
- Use the search commands that eBay offers. For example, with “Wood*” you will find all articles in which a word begins with “Wood”. If you separate several words with a comma, only one of them needs to appear in the article title or description.
- Start by searching all categories. For a provider, each extra category costs money, which is why private individuals often only advertise in one category.
Use the special search on eBay
After you have gained an overview and added the first items from eBay's wide selection to your “Watching” list, you should go deeper with your search.
- Use the minus symbol to exclude unwanted words from your search.
- If you want several words to appear in the search results, simply separate them with a space.
- If the order of the words is important, put them in quotation marks.
- Ebay often suggests the appropriate category when you enter it. If there are more than one, start another search in each appropriate category.
- Do not enter special properties – e.g. size, color or brand of a piece of clothing – in the search field, but rather select them in the properties bar on the left edge of the screen. This means the filter criteria are more precise.
Find last-minute bargains for 1 euro
If you want to create a little flea market feeling on eBay, look for cheap bargains that are available immediately. Our insider tip: With the last minute search you will come across cheap offers that would otherwise never have changed owners.
- Click “Advanced Search” next to the input field.
- Select a category in which you would like to search for bargains.
- Under “Price” check the box “Show item from” and enter 0 for the lowest price and 1 euro for the highest price.
- Under “View results” check “Offer ends within 1 hour”.
- Be amazed at what you can get for one euro. You can find countless bargains, especially when it comes to second-hand clothing and children's toys.