My Three Most Used Saved Searches on eBay
How I casually stay in the loop on the secondhand site every day
There is no better joy after a hectic week than cozying up in freshly washed sheets after a hot shower on a Friday evening to begin an eBay sleuthing session. I say Friday because it’s consistently been the only weekday where I can properly bed rot on the computer without suddenly realizing that I have something more pressing to do for the next day. Thinking of all the times I’ve lost an auction because I was stuck in a meeting or distracted by a project, I still feel genuine disappointment. But, as we all know, the eBay girlies don’t stop, even during work hours. Utilizing the saved search function is nothing revelatory, but it does take time to figure out the best selection of keywords in order to set up a treasure-filled results page. When I don’t have hours to spend on the site, saved searches have been a way for me to casually browse and keep tabs on items that catch my eye during the week.
Here are three of my most used saved searches, with current selections that you can add to watchlist now.
Italian Mohair
I’m not sure how I came up with inputting these keywords — I think I just saw ‘Italian mohair’ on a tag in the thrift store one day and decided to see if eBay had anything to offer. I’ve had this search saved since 2018, and found one of my most worn mossy green cardigans from it.
Since finding Nikki Chasin’s alpaca knits, I’ve kept a tab open on my computer of the powder blue cardigan, periodically refreshing to see if they would open up pre-orders or restock my size. But today’s new items notification under my saved search brought up this vintage 60s piece that has a very similar cut and buttons to the Nikki Chasin one.
Further scrolling lead me to a few other vintage pieces, that would be great styled with my new cuffed jeans from Banana Republic, or high wasted white canvas pants — plus, Sezane for under $30.
80s Vintage Belt
If you want to source some pieces that look like they could be references for Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s design team, 80s vintage belt is the keyword for you. This one leans a little more vague, but once you pick through a few listings, you can tailor your search to add specifiers like “avant-garde,” or “big gold buckle.” Through this saved search, I found one of my favorite vintage Coach made-in-the-USA leather belts with a brass arrow-shaped buckle.
Gold Modernist Earrings
I love earrings from Lié Studio and Jenny Bird, but a secret trick I’ve been using lately has been to plug in the word “modernist” into my keyword searches. The results page of this saved search is filled with a few listings of extravagant 80s runway-inspired earrings, but for the most part, it’s usually spherical and geometric gold and silver dangle earrings—jackpot! Monet and Napier are common brand names within the listings, so I would suggest searching those up on their own to reveal even more kidney bean-shaped goodies.
Outside of fashion, I’ve been reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. I’ve been enjoying taking walks now that spring is in full swing. The end of the semester is starting to creep up too, so I’m trying to get in all the fun that I can before I become a hermit inside the library. I’m off today to go get a spritz somewhere and pick up a bottle of saline spray for looming pollen allergies that I know will get me sooner or later.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one <3
I love this peek into your search process! My saved searches evolve over time and I get a kick out of looking back to see what I used to be looking for.
Love seeing saved search terms! So personal
I don’t have any (somehow??) but I should look back through my watchlist .. you can always tell what I was searching for during a certain time period