Thrifty Thursday: Shop on eBay.com

Yes, I'm a bad, bad blogger for neglecting my site for weeks at a time. But let's just gloss right over that for now, shall we?

The amount of money that you can save by looking for things that you want on eBay can really vary, depending on what you are buying. So, ymmv, as they say.

Everybody's heard of eBay, but I think that its awesomeness is grossly underestimated by most people. If you are an eBay-underestimator, I strongly encourage you to give it a chance. You can buy literally anything that is legal to buy on eBay (and probably some things that aren't legal, if you know how and where to look, but I'm Not That Kind Of Girl). From coupons to golf clubs to accordions to RVs. It is insane!

My incredible savings today was on slipcovers. I told Chris months ago that for my birthday present this year I wanted slipcovers for our living room sofa and loveseat, and I had already picked out the ones that I wanted and was planning on ordering them from Walmart a week or two before my birthday. Being uber-excited about our upcoming move (we move next Friday! We got the house we wanted! God is SOOO good!), I was looking at the pretty pretty pictures on Walmart's website, when it occured to me that maybe I could find them cheaper somewhere else. The main reasons that I was going through Walmart in the first place were a) they had the pattern I wanted, and b) free shipping with the Ship-to-Store option. Before taxes, the cost of both slipcovers from Walmart would have come to $149.92, which I think is a pretty reasonable amount to pay for something that will completely change the look of my living room. But! Then I remembered eBay!

Chris always remembers to look on eBay for things; I never remember to look on eBay for things. But today, when I happened to look for my slipcovers on eBay, I found the exact ones that I wanted, brand spankin' new, with 4 hours left on the bidding and not one single bid had been submitted yet. The starting bids were $19.99 and $14.99, so I bid $20.00 and $15.00, and when the auction expired I was still the only bidder. So for a grand total of $35.00 plus shipping (which may be as much as $10.00), both of the desired slipcovers are mine! That's less than one-third of what I would have paid at Walmart. $100.00 less than I would have paid at Walmart! Muwahahahaha!

Ahem.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, remember to look for things on eBay. Sometimes you will lose auctions, and that's disappointing, but sometimes you can find exactly what you're looking for at a substantially reduced price. If you know what you want and are willing to be patient, it will pay off in the end.