How To Buy Your Cheap Wedding Dress On Ebay

Buying a cheap wedding dress on Ebay can be daunting, you log on and see thousands of dresses for less than the train ticket to your wedding reception and like any sane person wonder if it's too good to be true.

In most cases a very low price will be too good to be true, but there are ways to ensure you manage to get a bargain.

Type in wedding dress into the Ebay search engine and you will be shown thousands of dresses, sort by size and start window shopping. When you have found a few that you like it is time to do your research.

Research is key to buying anything, search for what the dress is worth and for other retailers selling the same product. Look at the seller's feedback if there are any negative comments you will want to email the seller and ask about them. There are ways for sellers to increase their positive feedback scores by selling a number of low value items, to find out if this is the case look at all of the feedback and then click on the item numbers listed. This will take you to that item's listing and the winning bid.

Monitoring winning bids is a great way to do your market research, you don't want to be paying over the odds for your cheap wedding dress.

To get an understanding of the quality of workmanship on both new and once worn dresses ask for lots of extra photos to be emailed. I have had buyers ask for the item to be photographed with a piece of paper with a particular phrase that they have come up with to ensure that the item does exist. Don't worry about feeling pushy the seller wants a sale and if they are hesitant then move on.

If you are buying a once worn dress then ask for photos of the hem and close up of the dress front, you are looking for grass stains and wine stains, both are almost impossible to get out, so ask lots of questions. Ideally you will want the dress dry cleaned before you buy - I would ask for copies of receipts to be emailed.

A key factor in bumping up the price of your cheap wedding dress on ebay is the delivery, packaging, insurance and the possibility of import tax and duty if you are having the item shipped from abroad. When I first started using Ebay I often would think I had a bargain until I added up the real cost and realise that I was paying the going rate.

Another extra cost is the big possibility that you may need the dress altered, if you are buying a previously worn dress then the chance that it has already been altered is high. Make sure you have all the details. In the end it is better to buy a dress too big that can be altered rather than one that you are trying to squeeze into. If you are going to have a dress altered get costings from local dress makers and add this into your total cost, also ask them the type of style that would be easiest, the less work for them the less this will cost you.

As with all online purchases there is no definitive way to ensure you get what you have paid for, what you can do is be aware of the pitfalls and question accordingly. Check with your credit card company if they cover and insure purchases via ebay to cover yourself further.

Armed with all this new knowledge on how to find your cheap wedding dress on ebay, go get a bargain and happy shopping!