Friday was Black Friday. Did any of you venture out into the madness?  I didn’t.  I’ve done it a couple of times, and with how rabid the crowds are, I vowed never to do it again – and have kept those vows to date.  I don’t do crowds well, and rabid crowds even less so.

Yesterday I ventured out in support of local businesses since it happened to be Small Business Saturday.  Tomorrow is Cyber Monday (what a busy weekend) so today while I’m doing my usual perusal of the interwebs looking for those hard-to-find and oh-so-unique gifts I like to get for my oh-so-unique friends and family.  One of my main stops will naturally be eBay.

I’ve been on eBay as a buyer and seller since 1998.  Well, the last couple of years more of an avid buyer vs. seller since I haven’t made time to sell the things I need to sell.  I should get busy.

Back in the beginning, there weren’t as many players participating in the selling aspect – so when you found something you really wanted, you were very lucky if you ended up as the high bidder.  Luckily there are way more sellers now which compute to way more chances to find what you’re looking for.

Like the Roboraptor Princess Nagger really wanted to get for her birthday – I lucked out on that one:

Sure, if you read that post you’ll see that that particular seller didn’t do a very good packing job on said Roboraptor, but we were relieved to discover it still worked fine, which made Princess Nagger a very happy Nagger.  And me a very happy mom.  Throughout the years I’ve only had a handful of situations like that, most of them were resolved very quickly since sellers definitely want to keep their feedback scores on the high end.

Over the years I’ve seen tons of improvements with eBay as a whole – from being able to specify different watch lists to keep your wish lists organized, to having a gift guide to make your gift giving so much easier to organize.  Have you checked out their new Gift Guide option?  It’s very handy. 

I like to shop year ’round so I’m not stuck in the middle of the crazy fray when it gets closer to the holidays.  Plus if I have money burning a hole in  my pocket, I need to salvage my pocket right then, don’t I?  The hubby is one of the hardest people to buy for, so I try to go ultra unique with him.  This year I’m at a loss, until I spied Chuck Taylor on eBay’s Gift Guide:

I’m betting he’d be happy with another pair – he bought a different color, so I figured I’d go with basic black.  I might need to get myself a pair while I’m at it.  Could be perfect Santa gift for me under the tree, no?  I’m also thinking I should get him a DeWalt Folding Locking Hex Key Set since he never has one when he really needs it:

My sister is another hard one to buy for – I seem to miss the mark more often than not based on her reaction when she opens her gifts.  Maybe this will be the perfect gift for her (I hope she’s not reading this – Kimn, avert your eyes):

Isn’t that an awesome Juicy Couture Cobalt Glow Blue Soft Velour Hoodie Pant Tracksuit?  OK, I’m totally kidding, this is not what I’m getting her.  She does read my blog occasionally, so I have to be very careful about revealing what’s on my list for her.  But trust me, it’s a good one.  This ‘substitute’ will have to suffice for this post, you’ll have to wait along with her to find out what she’s really getting.

My brother-in-law can be difficult to buy for, too – but it’s like a running gag for me to get him something golf-y since he’s a huge golf fanatic.  But he’s also a big coffee drinker, and they’ve always mentioned how they hate to waste coffee when an entire pot doesn’t get polished off. So I’m thinking they both could use a Keurig Special Edition Coffee Maker:

We keep bringing our own coffee maker with us when we visit – if they had a Keurig it would be so much easier just to bring coffee pods.  A win/win.

My parents are another couple who are totally hard to buy for – what do you get someone who has everything?  Or doesn’t want more stuff that would just be added to the piles’o’stuff they already have?  We could get them a Keurig – they’re not big coffee drinkers but do like to imbibe once in a while, so that would be perfect for them as well.  Or we could go practical, I’m betting my mom could use a pair of Tom’s:

Growing up, we spent many an evening as a family playing board games.  For my dad, who is the hardest person to buy for, I think it would be fun to get him a Monopoly Millionaire Board Game:

My favorite aunt and I have been having a contest over the years to see which one of us can collect the most watches.  Though she wins because I downsized and donated my old watches to a local artist who makes jewelry out of the parts.  If I were rich and famous, I’d totally get her this Michelle Women’s Rose Gold Diamond Mother of Pearl Chrono Watch:

But she’d kill me if I spent that much money on her, so I’ll have to find something similar instead.  But it’s nice to dream, right?  Now my uncle, on the other hand, is a little easier to buy for (mostly).

Although for years I was sending him cool collectible knives, only to find out he wasn’t the one that collected him, it was his son.  Ooops.  But he does love antique books, so when I found out about the knife snafu, the first antique book I found him was an antique book about… wait for it… knives.  Yeah, that’s how I roll.  I’ve got this RARE ANTIQUE Leather Vintage Book GHOSTS Henrik Ibsen Classic Literature 1919-21 on my watch list:

I’ve got several others on my watch list until I decide which ones I want to surprise him with.  I also need to check with my aunt to find out which ones I’m watching will be ones he’ll absolutely love.

Princess Nagger’s ‘big’ gift request this year is of course the NEW FurReal Friends Baby Butterscotch My Little Show Pony:

I’m kicking myself for not getting her the 3-foot version she wanted for Christmas the year they were available (the price tag was a little rich for my blood that year) because now they’re hard to find, and even when you do, they are even more expensive than they were brand new.  So this one will definitely need to be on the list this year.  Definitely.

Little Dude is easy to buy for – anything Cars or Thomas and he’s a happy camper in a big way.  This KidKraft Farm Wooden Train Set 75 Pcs Fit Thomas & Brio would be perfect for him since he does have the Thomas train cars:

The possibilities are endless, thanks to eBay. Not only do they have the Gift Guide, but they also have a handy dandy eBay Mobile App that makes it convenient to shop any time you have a few extra minutes, even when you’re on the go.

Do you shop eBay?

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I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of eBay. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate. All opinions are mine and not influenced by outside sources. See my Disclosure Policy here.

5 Comments

  1. Hi Stacy,

    Great post! For me, I’d be most comfortable if I’ll just do my shopping online. With this, I would not just save money by comparing for the best deals, but I will surely save time and energy.

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