Turning on your ‘sale radar’

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You never know when you’ll find great deals. This fact was never clearer to me than last week when we attended the Certified Provider Fair in Utah. The event brings eBay third-party service providers together with eBay employees, who get to learn about our latest features. Among the service providers present were Auctiva, Vendio, inkFrog, Monsoon and Lynn Dralle, the Queen of Auctions—an eBay educator, Auctiva EDU contributor and a big-time seller.

While Lynn was there to tell eBay employees about her services, just like we were, she was nevertheless a seller in a city full of sourcing opportunities. And we became a part of the adventure.

Lynn had heard about a huge bra sale at Macy’s, and as luck would have it, we just happened to be a few blocks from one of these department stores. During a pre-fair dinner, she told us about the sale and insisted we head over there afterward so she could stock up. Bras that were normally priced at $40-plus were marked down to as little as $6.99. She couldn’t let that sale pass her by.

We were all shocked that she knew about this sale. None of us had heard about it. But it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. After all, Lynn’s “sale radar” is always on. I’ve seen it before with our own Product Analyst Rebecca Miller, an eBay seller of more than 10 years. She always seems to know about every sale, and I think that’s probably true of any serious eBay seller.

It makes sense. Knowing about sales and promotions can help sellers cut costs and increase their bottom lines. So, I talked to Rebecca to find out what sites she visits to stay up to date on sales.

Not surprisingly, Rebecca frequents a lot of department store sites; she subscribes to plenty of store newsletters and she checks out coupon sites. She gets the Toys “R” Us, Kohl’s, Big Lots and a few other newsletters, which not only contain money-saving coupons, they also let her know when hot items will hit the store shelves. However, two of her favorite places to look for discounts and sales are buxr.com and dealnews.com.

“The sites are updated daily with all the sales and great deals, so I save a lot of time just by checking those for a few minutes every day,” she says. “I scored a free 8-by-10-inch photo collage from Walgreens last week for free. It would normally cost $3.99. They said if you entered a code at checkout it’d be free, and I’ll be darned if it wasn’t.”

A 10-percent-off coupon here, a buy-one-get-one-free coupon there; it can all add up and help sellers save big.

Lynn used plenty of coupons as the Macy’s clerk rang up her purchase. And she kept saying “Wacoal, I want more Wacoal!” She had recently learned that Wacoal brand bras are in high demand. And she knew she could get at least $40 for these plus-size bras if she resold them on eBay.

I’m not sure where Lynn heard about this sale, but I imagine Lynn is a lot like Rebecca. What sites do you check out? How do you ensure your “sale radar” stays on target?