The search function on Ebay is nothing to go “Lego” over (Get it? Like “Loco”? Nobody? Alright...), but it is something that a buyer can utilize to their advantage to quickly find sets they are interested in and to be more aware of everything listed on Ebay so they don't miss out on that great deal.
If you are searching for a single specific item you want, searching is pretty straight forward. Just type in what you want and then select categories or sorting mechanisms to simplify your search and find what you want.
But what if you are an investor and you are looking for 40 different sets at the same time? It can be very tough to look though each individual item, look at all auctions, all Buy it Now, all Best Offers and then keeping track of when you last checked, checking for new items consistently, and remembering what you had already seen.
So what does Ebay offer and how can you use it to quickly find what you want and monitor for deals you can snag or snipe quickly to make Ebay a worthwhile investment vehicle?
1. Option to use Boolean logic to search multiple words or phrases at the same time
If there are people who aren't familiar with Boolean logic, it is a very simple process to bring in more than one variable in a search and perform an operation between them (among other real world things). There are three major functions: AND, OR, and NOT.
If you have an AND operation between two items in a search function, this means the listing must include both words. The AND operation is by default in every Ebay search and is invisible to a searcher. Basically, if you have more than one word in the search bar, all of them must be in the listing.
This can be a dis-advantage in certain cases. If you search for “Helm's Deep 9474”, and a listing doesn't have the item number in it, the search doesn't return it. This is when the OR function becomes a big help.
An OR function between two or more words means to search listings that include just one of the words. This is denoted in Ebay searches by parenthesis in the following manner:
(Helm's, Deep, 9474) <-- Ebay = Boolean --> Helm's OR deep OR 9474
This is really good to use as you can search for several different items at the same time. This cuts down on how many different searches an investor might do.
The NOT function is a way to denote you want to search for something without the word in the listing. Ebay denotes this with a “-” in front of a word as shown below which means the listing doesn't include the word “minifigures”:
-minifigures
On top of these functions, you can search for a specific phrase by putting quotes around it. To search for the exact words in the exact order “Helm's deep”, simply put in “Helm's deep”.
Practice using Boolean as you can make some really great searches from this – but it takes work to get good at it. Put several together to make sure you find every item there is and maximize your searches potential. An example is below:
(Helm's,deep,9474) -”no minfigs”
My above search says to search for listings that include “Helm's”, “deep”, “9474” and does not include “no minifigs”.
2. Limit your search in the search query bar, not the categories.
The search categories function in Ebay is helpful in its own way, but can actually cause you problems in some cases. If you are searching for a certain Lego set, its great to be able to cut out all the listings from the “automobiles” categories. However, non-obvious categories can keep you from seeing every listing.
It amazes me still, but despite how easy it is to list on Ebay now, people are still really lazy with their listings. Commonly, people will list their item in the wrong category, or even the wrong section. This is bad for the seller because less people will see their listing. However, you will benefit from this if you do see it. Less people will be bidding against you. I love finding these as they are diamonds in the rough and they are ALL OVER Ebay. I find one of these every few days.
The same goes for subcategories. I never just click “Sets” when looking for a set because people could accidentally post it in any subcategory there.
A good example of this was a seller who posted a used 10225 R2D2 on Ebay. He listed it in the Lego category, but put it in “other” instead of “Star Wars”. On top of this, his listing didn't include the item number and it was in “Bulk bricks/lots”. I was the only one who bid on this used, but complete set. I got it for his opening bid of $95 which is close to $50 off the BP used price!
3. Make sure you limit your search using the other quick refinements.
You are welcome to look through 1000 listings if you want, but I prefer to view about 4-5 different sets at a time with any listings that don't apply to me weeded out. This is why I do use some of the other limiting functions Ebay provides outside of the category and the search bar options. I have about 50 searches I run in Ebay, 5 or 6 times a day. The quicker I can browse through them, the better.
Buy it Now or Auction:
This is the easiest way to cut down half the listings immediately. You might be interested in viewing both, but in my experience it is much easier to view them in separate searches as a lot of times you may want to order them differently. Buy it Now usually gets ordered by “lowest price” first, where as you may want to view auctions ordered by “ending soonest”. Also, I am in a different buying mindset based on which I am looking at.
Price:
The benefit here is obvious in that you can choose listings within your price range. However, there is a hidden benefit here that applies to Legos specifically. Minifigs are commonly sold from sets separately. When sellers list these, they list keywords from the original sets these figures were in. While this helps the seller, it is really annoying to people who want to view actual complete sets only. However, most of the time these Minifigures are priced considerably lower than the set. If you set a price minimum that is lower than the set would ever cost, but higher than the minifigures would be, you will filter out a lot of these listings and speed your browsing up.
New/Used/Not specified:
“New” and “Used” have obvious implications. However, I absolutely love “Not Specified”. These are usually items that are incomplete, something is wrong with the box, missing the instructions, etc. These can annoy you when looking for new, flawless sets, but there are a lot of people who filter by “new” and “used” only. Because of this, Not Specified gets viewed much less and considered much less. This means you could score a great set with a small side flaw for really cheap.
An example of this: I recently found some items in “Not Specified” that a seller had found in a storage bin he bought at auction (he explained this later to me in a message). He had never bought Lego sets before, so he didn't feel he could sell them as new because they were previously owned, but didn't want to list them as used because they hadn't been opened.
Result? Helm's Deep for $90, Jabba's Palace for $60. Epic Dragon battle for $90. All the sets were mint.
Best Offer:
In a previous article I discuss how great Best Offer is. If you are using Best Offer to try and get a good deal, I suggest using it in a separate search and refine it to only that. This makes it easier to look through them.
The other refinements Ebay offers are not very helpful and can even cause you to filter out items that you do want to look at. Specifically “Character Family” and “Age Level”, etc.
4. Ebay Saved Search Function
Ebay's saved search function is not the most robust feature, but it can be very helpful. After you have set up a search perfectly to your liking, you can click the star below the search bar to save it. Ebay saves it to your “My Ebay” and you can then go back to it later.
Besides the obvious benefits:
- Every day Ebay will send you an email detailing new items in your search.
- When viewing your search list, you can tell which searches have gained new items since it was last viewed.
- You have an easy way to clicking search through and see new items from one link.
I plan to do a future article on what the best searches are and how to maximize the benefit.
Give several of these a try and post your best searches in the comments!
Note: All of the information here are my own opinions and are pulled from my experiences. You may or may not have success with these methods.
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