In the last few years, we have cut our budget in half and a large part of that was due to Ebay.
I’ve been a seller for 8 years and that certainly has helped but when I decided to get even more aggressive about using ALL the resources on Ebay (chat, Live Help, Blogs, Guides), I was amazed at the thousands of dollars that we saved!

Doing this was NOT rocket science. If I can do it, so can you.

Here’s what I did:
1. I learned to be very focused about comparison shopping and I knew what the normal retail prices for items we needed or planned to buy were.

2. I did my Christmas shopping early. That step alone helped cut our Christmas costs to 25% of what they’d normally been. I found brand new, in style shirts, toys , electronics and more on Ebay, all at well below even sale prices in the stores. Everyone was delighted and no one knew I’d saved that much.

3. As soon as my children outgrew their clothes or stopped playing with an item, it went on Ebay. We kept a chart so they could see the cause and effect of getting rid of unused items. They got to keep a part of the profits and they loved to see how much they could make from items they no longer needed. They were thrilled to read positive feedback from people who were happy to get my children’s unused or outgrown clothes and other items.

4. I networked with the people on the Chat boards, especially ones specializing in items I sell. By doing so, I picked up valuable tips about how to use HTML and other features of Ebay effectively so that the chances of a sale would be greater.

5. We bought batches of coupons selectively on Ebay, maximizing double and triple coupon days at our store. I searched only for the items we normally used (chicken, milk, etc) and steered clear of the coupons that aren’t real bargains. It was a thrill to buy gallons of milk for as little as 25 cents each, because some of the time the items would already be on sale in the store, maximizing the returns on those coupons.

6. I kept track of each and every bit of savings. For us, it has been quite a lot, enough to add the maximums to our retirement plans (and what a good feeling that was!).

7. I watched in amazement as our budget had a LOT more “give” each month.

8. I continued to sell on Ebay as I have already done.

9. I didn’t get over my head by overbidding. I set a bidding limit and stuck to it, knowing what our budget was.

10 . I set sales and savings goals and worked hard to achieve them. Havings our goals in mind really helped quite a bit.

11. We used the Watch List to make sure that we didn’t forget to bid on the items that we really thought were good deals.

12. I called Live Chat if I had any questions and got seveal valuable answers about how to add features to my listings.

13. I started searching the Blogs and Guides for more info about listing, selling and buying. Again, saved time and maximized savings.

14. We purchased nearly ALL our back to school items on Ebay

15. I bought my shipping boxes on Ebay, since I already knew the retail and sales prices.

16. I kept track of all major recurring expenses and what we had left to spend on other items.

17. I encouraged my family, friends and kids to develop their holiday and birthday “wish lists” early.