Re-baying Tips

[Baltimore]

Hey guys, In celebration of our new thread, I'd like to start a post that I think would be useful for people and could start a good discussion. I do a lot of buying on ebay with intent to resell, and there are are several other members here who are big fans of re-baying. If you are interested in trying it for yourself, here are some tips to get you started. I'll start with a few, and hopefully other members will chime in as well.

1) This may seem obvious, but look for lots, "junk drawers", etc. More often than not people will be to lazy to list a bunch of small stuff, and they'll overlook a gem or two in their lot.

2) I recently discovered that if you put the minus sign (-) in front of a word when you search, it removes all listings that have that word. This is super helpful for finding listings where the seller didn't really describe what they have, or they used an uncommon word.

For example, vintage chicago bulls snapback hats are very popular, and can be very valuable. So, I would think of a word that a person might use instead of hat, in this case I'll use "cap". I would type "Chicago Bulls Cap -hat -hats -snapback" into the search bar, and voila, all the listings are ones where people forgot to use the word hat to describe a hat.

Also, if you find a great example of one of these incorrectly described listings, check out the seller's other items. Chances are they do that for most of their listings, and there are usually many bargains to be had. I have a whole collection of random midwestern middle aged ebay sellers with usernames like "wendy101" saved in my favorite sellers who use exclusively three word description lines and start every auction at $4.99, regardless of what it is. They are wonderful.

3) The "newly listed" search sorting option is your friend, use it!


I think that's a good starting point, I would love if other people added their tips as well! Happy hunting!

 

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[insontis]

I support all of the above. As a "re-bayer" myself, I find all of these points extremely helpful.

Here is another very key tip:

SAVE SEARCHES. As Baltimore mentioned, refine your searches to pick out the most likely suitable deals. SAVE THEM AFTER DOING SO! I have countless saved searches that refine in different ways and categories. For example, if I am frequently looking for "gold rings" I will save a search that looks only in fine jewelry (as plated items and simulated diamonds are not to be posted there). Now if I wanted to search also for rings that include simulated stones, but are still solid gold, I'd have a search that looks in both costume and fine jewelry that uses the " - " to remove goldplated, goldfilled, plated, filled, sterling, silver, etc.

Basically, do a simple search and see what repetitively pops up in the results that you DO NOT WANT. Use the " - " to remove it from future searches. Research. Continue doing this a few times and before you know it you will have a fine tuned search that you can check with ease in the future.

 

[dieselram94]

I have rebayed a few times with HUGE success. The best tool you could possibly have is knowledge. Knowing exactly what your looking at is priceless.

Sent from my USCC-C6721 using Tapatalk

 

[Baltimore]

I have rebayed a few times with HUGE success. The best tool you could possibly have is knowledge. Knowing exactly what your looking at is priceless.

Sent from my USCC-C6721 using Tapatalk

Absolutely agreed, rebaying is perfect if you have expertise in a specific field. Knowing more about an item than the person who is selling it does is what gives you the edge.

 

[diggummup]

I just spent the last hour putting items on my watch list. I hope someone misses one or two of them.

 

[Bassmaster96]

Also, check for long handling times and in the wrong category. For example, I just won several fishing lures for dirt cheap because the seller had a 5 day handling time and had them in the wrong category and not specified on the condition. I would like to get into this more, and would love to make decent money at it. The problem is, I normally don't win much, but if I can keep finding deals like the lures, I will do fine. Great thread by the way!

 

[insontis]

I just spent the last hour putting items on my watch list. I hope someone misses one or two of them.

LOL, I do the same thing almost everyday. Apparently, no one ever misses a beat on gold scrap lots.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

You ever watch your auctions and once you have a few watchers suddenly you have 10. If I was trying to do this I wouldn't watch it at all. I would just bookmark it.

 

[jerseyben]

There is almost no risk to buy stuff on ebay now. As long as you think things over and dont fall into an obvious scam/trap, you can take risks without fear of getting stuck with a worthless piece of crap.

If someone writes a bad description and it looks like you could score, I would say use your best judgement and go for it. You will either score or you will file a not as described claim and likely get your money back.

 

[insontis]

There is almost no risk to buy stuff on ebay now. As long as you think things over and dont fall into an obvious scam/trap, you can take risks without fear of getting stuck with a worthless piece of crap.

If someone writes a bad description and it looks like you could score, I would say use your best judgement and go for it. You will either score or you will file a not as described claim and likely get your money back.

I agree 100%. I've purchased a lot of items and have had issues such as item not being genuine or described properly. So far I've had no issues with returns and have taken no losses other than a few return shipping costs.