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The best deals aren't on eBay.com – they are international.
I have been a long time stamp buyer on eBay and have found that bidding is becoming more competitive. There are just too many buyers bidding on the same items.
I recently found a simple solution – look international.
eBay.com displays all items in a category/with a keyword, listed in the United States as well as all items listed from an English speaking country where the seller is willing to ship internationally.
But as the “world’s online marketplace” they have a lot of listings which are not in English. And a lot of listings where the seller hasn’t specified that they sell internationally. And these listings are usually goldmines when it comes to getting great deals.
For example, I collect stamps from France and was always finding heavy competition from other bidders. I found the solution – go to listings from France, mostly on eBay France and I can get better deals on French stamps.
Long story short, here’s what you need to know and do:
The best stamp/coin/banknote deals (outside the US) as from eBay Germany, eBay UK, and eBay France (in that order).
- When you are searching for a keyword on eBay, click on the option at the bottom on the search results page “See all items including those available from non-English speaking countries/regions.” Note: This usually doesn’t work if you are just looking at a category as categories are not the same internationally. The category may not have the above link at the bottom.
- International keywords differ from English keywords – for ex. Finland is spelt Finnland in Germany. Check translations of what you are looking for in German, French, Italian and any other language you think matters. Add your keywords in multiple languages. The way to do this is using the eBay search syntax within brackets as follows:
(finland, finnland, Finlande). You could also use the wildcard fin* but this might fit a lot of unnecessary results. - It is usually easier when you are searching for things like albums – something like lindner and schaubek have the same name (and keyword) universally.
- Searching like this will give you a lot more items, some of which may need to be translated to English. You can use a free internet site to do this.
- Some sellers may not have specified shipping costs to the US (or wherever you are from). If it is not specified, ask the seller.
Note here that some (very few) sellers don’t want to ship outside their own country for some reason or the other. But where it has not been specified, the seller is usually oblivious to international buyers. And quite willing to sell internationally. So ensure you confirm this.
This will give you a lot more search results, many of which are not viewed by the vast majority of buyers.
For example, see the following 2 links: They have the same keywords but one searches international.
But this is not all.
Even searching like this spills out only results where the shipping has been confirmed internationally or not specified at all. But a lot of great items are sold without this.
To find these items, you need to go to the eBay site for that particular country. For example, stamps.eBay.co.uk has many listings where the seller has specified that he will sell only to the UK. Most probably, he is willing to ship outside his country – he needs someone to ask for it.
So for great stamp deals, you need to select Briefmarken on eBay Germany, Stamps on eBay UK and Timbres on eBay France. These three sites are, simply put, the best sources outside eBay.com for great deals on Stamps. Similarly for coins and banknotes, visit coins/muenzen/monnaies on eBay UK/Germany/France
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