A lawyer turned eBay entrepreneur has revealed her secrets to using the website to make thousands of pounds.
Jade Oliver, 34, from Bristol, started her company buying, refurbishing and selling old furniture on eBay.co.uk in 2012 in a bid to pay off a £10,000 professional course loan.
She'd bid on cheap items in need of a little attention - and transform them into new, fresh designs, inspired by interior trends and inspiration from celebrities and the television. Jade would then sell these on to make a small fortune.
At the time, Jade was working as a corporate lawyer, however in 2016, she quit her day job to give her upcycling company, Heavenly Homes & Gardens, her full attention.
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The company now specialises in selling faux flowers and home accessories in addition to furniture. Jade’s customers include fashion designers, theatres and film production sets including HBO’s Games of Thrones and Netflix’s The Crown.
Today, it has a turnover of £100,00 a year.
Jade's 5 top buying tips
But what are her secrets? Talking to Mirror Money, Jade has now revealed her top tips on buying cheap on eBay - and making sure your bid ALWAYS wins.
1. Search terms
For the greatest chance of finding a bargain or that special item, start your search as broad as possible using similar keywords.
Try undertaking several searches for the different ways an item could be described.
For example, if you are searching for a ‘lamp’, you could search for both ‘light’ and ‘lamp’.
This will involve looking through more results, but the chances of finding what you are looking for will be greater.
Searching for items with misspelt titles, for example ‘chest of draws’ is another great way to find a bargain.
2. Create a search alert
If you can’t find what you are looking for, create a search alert.
When a matching item is listed, you will get a notification from eBay with details of the listing. You can set parameters such as price and location as part of your search terms.
3. Consider timing
Most people will be bidding for items on a weekend or after work, meaning the final sale price on items ending at those times can be higher than for similar listings ending during working hours or during the night.
If an item ends at night, consider using an auction snipe app to bid for you whilst you sleep.
4. Best offer
If you have found your dream item but it is outside your budget, it is always worth contacting the seller to see whether they would be open to an offer.
Even if the listing doesn’t say that a seller will consider best offers, eBay has introduced a feature whereby sellers can respond to messages from buyers with offer prices.
It’s surprising how many sellers are open to a cheeky bid!
5. When to bid
Hold your nerve and only bid at the last minute so as not to push the price up too early.
Set an alarm or download an app that will bid for you. I bid in the last 10 seconds.
Input the maximum amount you would be prepared to pay.
If you are the highest bidder, eBay will set your bid at just above the highest bid of the bidder below you, not at your maximum amount.
