Loading ...The eBay clothing and accessory section is dominated by a limitless supply of low-quality t-shirts. Perhaps Pierre Omidyar (the founder of eBay) may not appreciate this brutal honesty, however with his newly publicised penchant for promoting “openess and transparency” I think I am off the hook.
The over-abundance of ugly t-shirts means finding that special shirt on eBay can be a tough task. To find the roses amongst the thorns, and they certainly do exist, you’ve got to know how to filter out the multitude of nasties.
Buried amongst the preloved polyesters and dubious ‘designer’ t-shirts is the occasional ripper of a t-shirt. These gems are often produced in limited print runs, or even as one-offs, so you can rest easy knowing that you are buying a (relatively) unique t-shirt. And just as importantly, eBay’s best tees are available at reasonable prices, in comparison to the inflated prices you will find in conventional clothing stores. The question is, how do you find the roses amongst the many many thorns?
In this article I will share a few lesser known eBay searching techniques with you. Use them wisely, and you’ll be placing your bids on eBay’s coolest t-shirts in no time!
Q. How do you search through the eBay trash to find the t-shirt treasure?
A. You Use eBay’s Search Facility
In comparison to the complete disarray of your average garage sale, searching for specific items on eBay should be a walk in the park. And it is if you know how to use the tools correctly.
However, in a our modern age of immense haste and impatience, virtually all eBay users are entirely unaware of the Search tools and techniques available for a standard eBay search. These tools allow the user to refine their searches, save time and effort, and increase the relevance of their search results.
Don’t get it? Let’s say you’re after a mens t-shirt as an example. Follow these steps…
1. Go to the ebay.com.au home page
2. Type “mens t-shirt” into the Search box, and press the “Search” button
3. Look at the results. Scream, and run to the hills.
Look how many results you got! And how many of them would you actually wear? A lot of them are a damn sight uglier than that old rag you use to polish your car. We need to use the eBay search facility to our advantage, to display the most appealing t-shirts available immediately.
So let’s try again, shall we…
Q. How do you search through the eBay trash to find the t-shirt treasure?
A. Use eBay’s Search Facility – to your advantage!!
How to use the eBay search facility to your advantage
The trick with using the eBay search facility, is knowing:
a) the capabilities of eBay’s search function; and
b) what you are looking for, and what you are NOT looking for.
Did you know that an eBay search allows you to look for items that don’t contain a certain words or phrases? It’s a mighty handy way of filtering out undesired listings to refine your search, and its very simple to do. The instructions for these great search techniques, and others, are outlined below.
I do urge you to try these techniques out, not only for t-shirts, but any item that tickles your fancy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised! So here it goes…
Lesson 1: Say you’re looking for items where two or more keywords are all present.
Command: Just enter the keywords with a space between them.
Example search: mens billabong tshirt medium
Ebay will return: All items with all three words in the title (in any order)
Lesson 2: To refine your search, let’s look for items that don’t contain a certain word. eBay is inundated with ‘genuine’ brand name shirts, such as Armani, which may not be be your cup of tea, so we’ll use these as examples.
Command: Place a minus sign immediately before the word to be excluded (no space).
Example search: mens tshirt -armani
Returns: Items with titles containing the words ‘mens’ and ‘tshirt’ but not containing the word armani
Lesson 3: You’re looking for items that don’t contain several words (so you can avoid all the dodgy brand name t-shirts).
Command: Place a minus sign before the list of words separated by commas (with no spaces) and put in parentheses.
Example search: mens tshirt -(armani,quiksilver,billabong)
Returns: Items with titles containing the word t-shirt but not containing Armani, Quiksilver or Billabong
So my advice for searching for the coolest t-shirts on eBay is very simple in principle.
1. Firstly, perform a very broad search, such as “mens tshirt”.
2. Skim through the results quickly, and take note of the keywords used to describe those t-shirts that you like, and those that you don’t.
3. Now simply return to the search page, and refine your search to include and exclude these keywords using the search techniques outlined above.
Voila!
So there you have it. A few lesser known search techniques to make your eBay searches more fruitful. And remember kiddies, more fruit means better health. Go pick some!
A few notes of interest
- The eBay search function is not case sensitive
- The order of search terms (if you enter more than one) is not important
For a comprehensive list of eBay search techniques, you may want to check out the official list of eBay search commands.
If you want to buy something from eBay, like most sites these days, you have to sign up for the privelege. Thankfully, it’s as free as the air we breathe. Click on ebay.com.au to get started. If you’re not currently a member, it’s probably time you took the plunge – the eBay way is here to stay.
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