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When I think of online thrift shopping two places automatically come to mind, Craigslist and eBay. These are smart places to shop and to sell your used stuff. Not only is this a more convenient and quick way to find what you are looking for, it's also a great way to earn a buck or two or three. How can you go wrong with that? Another benefit of online shopping are the savings on your precious gas, which we all know is on the rise. Let's take a closer look into these two websites.

First let's take a look at eBay, which is the more well know site of the two. The web page name is http://www.ebay.com/. As a buyer, you can pretty much search anything you can think of. You can find designer bags, maternity clothes, CDs, cars, houses, sporting goods, and pretty much whatever your heart desires. If you have ever watched Jay Leno at night, you will know that they have a segment dedicated to the weird and oddities listed on this site. I one time ran across a trailer park adventure that you could accompany some guy on. And the bidding was running wild. It was actually in the thousands. You won't catch me bidding on that type of an item, but I have scored deals on countless others.

Now as a seller, I have also accrued some nice amounts of cash that I can use to buy the things I want. I look all over my house for all types of items. I have sold broken cameras, movies, clothing, and house wares. I like to find items that are somewhat light and won't cost too much to ship. Nowadays you can click and ship directly from your home. What may be junk to you is a treasure to another man. So this can be a lucrative business for many thousands of stay at home moms and any one else who has a few moments of their time. This is an auction style based site that you can watch bidding wars happen between customers. There can be quite the thrill on both sides of the transaction.

An even easier way to buy online, in my opinion, is using Craigslist. The web page is www.craigslist.org/. This has the same searching options with great results as well. You can also list your home for sell or visit the personal ads. The packaging with the website is not as pretty, but we're thrift shopping here. Also, this is usually a great way to avoid the shipping cost, by meeting the seller yourself and picking up the item. Please be safe and meet in a public place or bring along a friend.

As far as selling items goes this site does not charge you any seller's fee. So you may end up making a bit more money. But if a transaction goes sour they don't back you up like eBay does either. You can make a dispute claim and eBay may go after someone who doesn't pay. There plainly are more risks with selling items here. It's a great way to sell your heavy items to avoid the expensive cost of shipping.

So whether or now you choose to pursue a thrifty purchase online or the good old fashioned way, shop till you drop. I highly recommend that you use your mouse to help in doing so.

Learn more about this author, Amber Lee Martin.
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