Ode to Ebay

For me, ebay is the ultimate thrift store, and can yield some amazing bargains. In this entry I’m going to share my top 3 favourite scores from shopping on ebay as well as some tips on how to nab some plus size (well, any size!) bargains.

Monsoon Dress
Bought for £25 (I believe it’s original price was somewhere around £80)
(Notice my dog Chaz being a lump in the background). Monsoon is one of my favourite places to buy dresses, but prices are high, and if you wear one of their top sizes, pickings can be slim on both their website and in their stores. And that’s why typing “monsoon dress” followed by your dress size is one of the best things you can do for your wardrobe. What you’ll get is a lovely long list of beautiful dresses just your size, and often at a much more affordable price.

I find Monsoon dresses last for a long time; I bought this Orianne dress 3 years ago, and I’m still hauling it out on special occasions. I already owned the same dress in green (as seen in this old entry) so I had a very good idea that it would work for me. Being familiar with the brand of clothing you’re buying is a good way to avoid disappointments when it comes to actually wearing your bargain.



New Look Inspire Dress
Bought for £5 (I’d guess around £25 originally)
I got this dress just after Christmas when I needed an outfit for my friends’ "Old Hollywood" themed New Year party. I was kinda broke so I knew ebay was my only hope to find a suitable outfit. I knew that this cocktail dress was one of New Look’s party dresses from christmas 2008 because I remembered trying it on but putting it back as I didn’t really need it. So when I ordered it I knew it was going to fit and it was going to work. An easy solution to my outfit dilemma, all I needed to do was type “inspire dress”. It may have been so last season, but it was perfect for the party’s theme and I got a lot of compliments for it.



Floral prom dress
Bought for £16 (not much clue of original price)
You’re really getting a sneak preview with this one; this is the dress I’ve bought for my second wedding reception, so I haven’t worn it anywhere yet (I’m marrying a Canadian and we sort of have to have a big party on both sides of the atlantic to keep everyone happy). This dress was more of a leap of faith when it came to buying; the listing didn’t say what store it was from, just the bust, waist and hip measurements. Really though, the measurements should be enough to go on: the seller isn’t going to lie to you for fear of getting poor feedback. If you're curious, I'm pretty sure this dress came from matalan originally - so I probably paid almost as much for it as the seller did, but I'd have never found it otherwise so it's worth it. That outfit is actually a double-whammy of ebay triumph, since the white shrug is also an ebay find.


So in closing, these are my top ebay tips on finding bargains that work for you on ebay:
1. Search the name of a store you like along with your size and you have a personalized list of things that will fit you.
2. An item you already own in a different colour or pattern is a clear winner, since you know the fit and shape already work well.
3. Items from stores you regularly visit are a pretty safe bet, since you’ll already have a good idea of the fit, but…
4. Know your own measurements and you can’t really go wrong.

Here's a secret that might shock you: I even bought my wedding dress from ebay! But I’ll share that with you another time…