The SECOND STEP to WINNING the ITEMS YOU WANT is to both EXPAND and NARROW HOW YOU SEARCH ~  

This is the second in a series of Guides on successful eBay techniques.  Please see my first Guide, HOW to FIND eBay AUCTIONS and HELPFUL TIPS on SEARCHING, for more information. 

I am happy to provide this series of Guides on successful eBay techniques, provided by:

The Winged Phoenix 

Continuing our discussion about how to find "hidden gems" on eBay, I have additional suggestions, based on my years of experience on eBay.  These methods work, and I share them with you so you, too, can increase your odds of finding and winning eBay auctions.  (Please see my prior Guide (HOW to FIND eBay AUCTIONS and HELPFUL TIPS on SEARCHING) for steps 1-5.)

6.  After first using a broad search (for example, "porcelain dolls") for the items you're interested in, then go back in for a new search, but using a more narrow search term (like "porcelain doll").  Why?  Because you will likely find items that a seller has placed in a more narrow category.  Using our previous example of "porcelain dolls" (see the prior Guide), note that your search was for "porcelain dollS"--plural.  In other words, you were searching for "dolls," but the seller may have only used the term "doll"--especially if the seller has only one for sale.   After searching for "dolls," then do a new search for the more narrow term "doll," and see what you get.  Again, you may end up with over 5,000 categories (actually, 7114 were found), but you can then (just like before) narrow your search (following the tips provided in our previous Guide).  The point is:  You'll likely find items other people will miss, because you are using two search terms ("porcelain dolls" and "porcelain doll"), while they are using only one ("porcelain dolls").

7.  Search for items, using mis-spellings of your terms.  Why?  Because not everyone correctly spells their item names (for example, they may know how to spell the item name, but type too quickly and mis-spell; they don't proof-read before submitting a listing; they don't know how to correctly spell a specific name; etc.).  By looking at mis-spellings, you'll likely find hidden gems in those categories.  For example, using the "porcelain dolls" search term, when you type in a mis-spelling like "procelain dolls," you find 19 separate items, and 39 items in eBay stores--all with the word "porcelain" mis-spelled.  Similarly, if you (for example) mis-spell "porcelain" as "porcelin," you find 102 items with that mis-spelling---and, if you mis-spell it as "porcelan," you find 10 separate items, and 17 in eBay stores.  By using these techniques, you will likely find more of those "hidden gems" that will be missed by other buyers.

8.  Have Ebay help you find those hidden gems.  How?  By looking at what we call eBay-provided "helpers."  What are these "helpers?"  They are eBay-provided options to "expand" your search.  For example, when you type-in the mis-spelling of "porcelain dolls" as "porcelin dolls," you'll see that the page tells you (in the middle of the page) how many items were found.  Look just below that number, and you'll see that eBay then asks you a question:  "Did you mean... porcelain dolls?"  See how eBay alerts you to the correct spelling, and even tells you that the "other" ("correct") spelling gives you a larger number of items?  This is not only proof that you can find hidden gems in the mis-spelled items (after all, there were many items shown when the item was mis-spelled), but that eBay will even try to help you correct your own mis-spellings when you search.  Of course, you (being a savvy and smart buyer) already knew that you had purposely mis-spelled the item (to find those hidden gems), but it's still nice knowing that eBay is trying to help.

9.  Expand your search, to help you find those hidden gems.  How?  By searching not only TITLES, but DESCRIPTIONS.  What are these?  The TITLES are what show up on the completed search page, when you see the long list of items that met your search term.  On the other hand, item DESCRIPTIONS are what you see when you actually click on a specific item, to see what the seller says about the item, terms of sale, pictures, etc.  For example, still using the mis-spelled "porcelin dolls" search term, note that this is just a search of the TITLES of items.  Look at the white, 2-3 inch-long rectangular box at the middle, left of the page.  See how it contains your (mis-spelled) search term, "porcelin dolls?"  This is telling you that the eBay search looked only in item TITLES to try to find your search term.  After searching through items titles, why not also search through item DESCRIPTIONS?  You can easily do this by just looking below your search term (in the long white rectangular box)...see the little square box and the words "Search title and description?"  By clicking on that small square box, you'll put a "check mark" in the box.  Then, click the "search button" (to the right of the long white rectangular box and the box that says "All Categories").  See that you have now found 108 items where the term "porcelin dolls" is in BOTH the TITLE AND DESCRIPTION?  This expanded search has given you even more "hits," so you have now expanded your "hidden gem" search to include both titles and descriptions.  Congratulations!

10.  Use "related" searches.  How?  By using the "related" search feature.  For example, still using the "porcelin dolls" mis-spelled search term, go back to your original page where you got the results from your original mis-spelled search (in other words, not the search where you clicked the box to find both titles and descriptions...go back to your original mis-spelled search;  if you have a problem getting there, just re-start your search from the beginning, using the same mis-spelled term).  Now look just below the "Search titles and descriptions" box (the one you previously clicked to get both titles and descriptions).  Don't click that box but, instead, look at the "Related Searches" just below it.  See the 5 different categories there?  Maybe there are some hidden gems inside one or more of them.  See (for example) the one labeled "porcelain baby dolls?"  Sure, that category is correctly spelled, but maybe (just maybe) there is something there that you would have missed if you hadn't included the word "baby" in even a correctly-spelled search.

CONCLUSION:  By first using a broad search term, and then using a narrow search term, you will likely increase your chances of finding "hidden gems" in eBay listings.  Also, by using mis-spellings, and even expanding your searches (correctly spelled or even mis-spelled) to include titles and descriptions and related searches, you will likely find those hidden gems--no matter what you're interested in!

Look for my other Guides by clicking on the link below:

The Winged Phoenix - GUIDES

and thanks for looking!

Copyright 2006 The Winged Phoenix