03-12-2015, 07:39 PM
(03-12-2015, 07:09 PM)EdK Wrote: You're definitely the master of bargains. What's your secret?
Ed
No secret, really. What I do it use eBay's search function, and I have a couple of "saved searches".
First I select "shop by category" and select the "Business & Industrial" category, then click on Manufacturing and Metalworking". Since I'm shopping for cutting tools and holders, I refine by clicking on "Metalworking Tooling".
Now I go to the upper right side of that page where there's a big blue SEARCH button, but click next to that on the highlighted "advanced" word. There I type in one or more keywords, separated by commas. Just below that I might type in words to "exclude." The default section that gets searched is there by virtue of having gone to that section FIRST. To find the greatest deals, I sometimes leave that as "all categories" to find the stuff listed in the completely wrong section by sellers who have no clue what they're selling.
For example, let's say I need a couple of chucking reamers. In the search line I type in "reamer, reamers, chucking reamer, chucking reamers" and perhaps a few others. In the exclusions I'd put in "taper, adjustable, hand, bridge" and terms like that which would appear for reamers that I don't want to see. I do this for broader searches on brand names I want too, such as Walter, Titex, Prototyp (exclude protoype), Valenite, etc., where I might not want to see milling, drilling, etc.
On the same page I scroll down and select the options for seeing auctions only in the US and especially LOCATED in the US. Shipping from abroad is usually too expensive or takes too long.
Once I've clicked on "search" and it goes, you can change the listing priority by selecting "time ending soonest", "newly listed" (my two favorites) and then look for the green words above the first listing that state "follow this search", or if you already have it will read "save changes to your search". This saves time when you next log in and want to see what's new or cheap...or both. I find a number of dirt cheap "Buy It Now" tools that get "immediate attention!"