Has anyone actually bought a real bargain on ebay?

Homeagain

I was just wondering if anyone had ever bought a true bargain on ebay like a lap top or a phone for 99p? Would be interesting to hear of any success stories.

qazitory

I've got a few bits for 99p.... a full set of alloy wheels for my partner's car, and a full interior for my car spring to mind

porto_bello

It can happen, but such finds are usually few and far between.

My own area of interest is paintings and 95% on eBay at any one time are decorative tat. Of the remaining 5%, 4.9% are recognised by the seller for what they are and are priced accordingly - i.e. expensive.

However, on 0.1% of occasions, you can be lucky. I have picked up a few bargain paintings over the years, usually where the seller has found/acquired/inherited a painting and is happy to get a few quid for it, rather than dump it!

Though it wasn't the cheapest, my best buy, on the basis that it ended up on loan to a museum was a large portrait of a Naval Officer, who after I did some research, I realised was someone significant.

That said, most paintings on eBay are decorative tat and I could never make a living picking up bargains on eBay and selling them on - good luck to those who can!

gayleanne

I bought a necklace, it is 66 inches long, and 18ct gold I recognised straight away what it was, it used to be used years ago, for fur muffs, which you put your hands into, not many people were interested, even the seller didn't know what it was, but I had just read an article about them, it wasn't stamped 18ct just 75, with A CROSS, which confused a lot of people, I paid £11.73 for it, when I received it I took it to the jewelers and the scrap value alone was £1,150.00 that was a bargain, I still have it.

Crowqueen

I have an old perestroika-era poster from the USSR on my corkboard - anything cheap enough for me to buy in that sort of area is a bargain!

Also, a book that is £40 new (all academic books are ridiculously expensive as they are published in such small editions) for £7 delivered.

Too often though the bargain is just a knock-off or on its last legs and I know which categories to avoid .

I_wanna_live_for_free

Yeah, a few years ago - about 9! I bought 30 tee-shirts from a seller, a bulk buy at 4.99 incl postage.

Opened them, saw what I had, dolphin themed (DD and friends dolphin mad!) and sold them for £10 each, some on ebay, some at the school gate!

Result!

janb5

I bought some bed linen this week for just over £10 which included a king sized duvet cover, 2 shams + covers, 4 pillow cases, a valanced sheet and all in perfect condition from M &S. Seller wanted pick up only.. Items needed washing but were otherwise perfect. I couldnt have afforded to buy all of it at full price.

lindseykim13

I find best bargains are collection only as it narrows the bidding pool down a lot. I got a lovely disney princess toy cooker and all the bits for DD 99p pick up only. Just down the road so cost pence in petrol to pick up. They are £50 new.
When she got bored of it i sold it on for £20.

Nan_Dingle

I find best bargains are collection only

+1 I have a number of saved searches for collection-only within 10 miles. Have certainly got some keenly priced items, e.g. 99p Dustbuster and 99p fan heater (both new)

Obviously sniping helps the bargain seeker.

dibuzz

Nothing as good as some of the above but when bought a Zafira a few years ago the dog guards were over £100, I found one on ebay for £13 so was delighted.

zzzLazyDaisy

I got a beautiful hand made coffee table, made from a slice of beautifully grained wood with the bark still on for 99p, collection only. It was almost 200 mile return trip, but as I combined it with a trip to visit family, that didn't matter.

I also once got an airwalker complete with computerised pace counter, for 99p collection only. That was local and has turned out to be a very useful clothes dryer