I’ve never bought yarn off of E-Bay before so I thought I’d ask for any recomendations, things to watch out for, things to avoid, etc.
I’ve found some absolutely beautiful yarn but I’m still hesitant. Anything you can share from past experiences would definitely be helpful!
:cheering:
have you bought off ebay at all before? the only thing knitting related i have bought off there so far is my Boye’s Interchangeables (woo hoo!) but i am pretty careful about checking over those auctions no matter what i buy and checking the feedback of the seller (including making sure all that wonderful positive feedback isn’t just from their own buying…) as of yet, i have been pretty lucky and haven’t lost any money on Ebay but i think it is because i only buy from well established sellers…no matter how much i want an item (and there are well established ones i won’t buy from if their info is contradictory even if it appears to be an oversite…just don’t wanna lose good yarn buyin’ money ya know! 
)
as far as anything specific to yarn that i don’t know and would love to hear it. I see some beautiful stuff on there too but i can’t help but feel like i am missing the touch and feel experience that i get from going to my LYS…but that hand spun/painted stuff calls to me in my sleep i tell ya…lol
I’ve bought some yarn on eBay and it was a great experience. The seller I’ve bought from a few times is Yarnbow. http://stores.ebay.com/Yarnbow She had some great deals, was very friendly and super quick with the shipping. And the yarn was packaged inside a ziploc bag so it wouldn’t get wet if anything happened to the box.
I’d make sure the yarn was all in the same dyelot (obvious, but I forgot to look the first time!) And make sure you can’t get it cheaper anywhere else. If it’s the same price per skein as the store, you’ll wind up paying more with shipping.
I’ve bought a ton of yarn on e-bay. It helps to know the prices at your lys. If you can get it cheaper then e-bay makes no sense, of course. But I’ve gotten some fairly good deals. You should determine how much you want to bid with the addition of the shipping which can be kinda costly if you’re buying a lot. I particularly liked oregontrailyarn. That’s a member name and apparently a real shop. Very prompt and nice to deal with.
I have had my heart set on something only to see it bid out from me.
I’m not really big on walking malls/shops so any on-line experience is a boon.
You should be careful to read the descriptions to make sure you’re getting full skeins/unused goods. I’ve noticed some private sellers bury the fact that the yarn was frogged in the descriptions. Frequently if I see something I like I go to the yarn company’s website and look at the info on the yarn. Usually the stores put in the basic info like weight, yardage, fiber content, but private sellers sometimes overlook that. Also, it seems that people get yarn from estate/garage sales and then turn around and sell it. I’d be kinda careful with them. The yarn might be old (rotted) or discolored with age.
I’ve gotten some very good deals on yarn. At least I was pleased and ultimately, I guess that is all that really counts.
There’s one seller that you’ll see come up all the time. I think it must be a manufacturer and they sell on bolts/cones. I haven’t bought anything from them, but the yarn looks kind of interesting.
Unless you don’t mind your yarn smelling like smoke, look for “smoke free home” in the description - ask the seller if you can’t find the information.
Good luck!
Another great seller is threeolivemartini. She’s got some amazing blends, and her eye for color is outstanding. I love her hand-dyed yarns. I’m waiting on some yarn from her now… She’s quick to ship if you use paypal. Be careful though, her stuff goes almost as quick as she lists it!! Oh yeah, her prices are very reasonable.
I looked on ebay for threeolivemartini. She must not have anything listed at the moment. You make it sound so wonderful----I will keep checking.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Make sure the seller has at least a 98 percent positive feedback. use paypal or Moneyorder and insure your package so you’ll be absolutely covered.
Ebay is usually a great place. I,ve only been burnt once but have had over 300 ebay transactions.
Happy bidding!!!
Kelly
If they state that the yarn is not new, or has been obtained from an estate sale, I’d e-mail the seller and ask them to verify that it doesn’t have moth damage. I recently purchased some skeins of wool yarn off eBay. They seller did say the yarn was not new. The skeins were complete, but the labels were a little worn looking. When I got it, I looked it over and it appeared fine. A few weeks later, I started to knit something with it, and discovered moth damage. I carefully checked the other skeins and found the same thing, though it wasn’t really obvious just by picking up the skeins and looking at them.
I was most fortunate that the seller immediately refunded me all my money, but now I make a point of asking the seller to check them if they are not new skeins. 
Whenever I’m shopping for yarn on eBay, I have two internet windows open. If I see something I like on eBay, I calculate the cost of the yarn (based on the maximum I’m willing to bid) plus the shipping, then divide that amount per skein, to see what I’m actually going to be paying for each skein. I’ll then go to a couple of yarn websites in my other browser window, and check the cost of that yarn per skein (including shipping). I then determine if purchasing it through eBay is going to save me enough to make it worth my while.
You can check her blog as well. I know she has featured yarns of the week listed there.
I just searched ebay for any items from her and they can be found here.
Thanks so much for all of your help! My husband has purchased items off of E-Bay before and has had good experiences. I saw some “recycled” yarn from a seller with a ton of good ratings. It looks like she takes apart sweaters and balls up the yarn. Anyone ever buy anything like that? It looks beautiful.
I will definitely check the sellers that y’all suggested. Now I just need to convince my DH to let me bid on yarn and build my stash!
:cheering:
I saw some “recycled” yarn from a seller with a ton of good ratings. It looks like she takes apart sweaters and balls up the yarn. Anyone ever buy anything like that? It looks beautiful.
I’ve done a few with sweaters I picked up at Goodwill. Here’s an excellent tutorial for recycling sweaters if you ever want to try it.
Hi! I’ve got the most incredible yarns from ebay. I have one more package that just arrived today, a lovely silk/merino blend and… I can’t believe how little you can pay for luxurious yarn.
I myself wouldn’t want to buy a frogged sweater, I mean you could do that yourself and know exactly what the condition of the sweater was before purchasing.
The only 2 bad expereinces I had was when I bought some ‘vintage’ yarn from Switzerland, some mohair that was kind of stinky and old (but it knitted up nicely combined with other yarns anyhow)
and a tiny little skein by a first time spinner that was a joke (I forgot to check the amount of yarn which is VERY IMPORTANT.)
I’ve found the best yarns to buy are from the people who are spinning and dying it regularly, there are some really wonderful sellers out there. If you want I’ll check my ‘wins’ and see who they are.
I (can’t help raving here) actually got huge skeins of soft wonderful yarn for like $4 or 5 that I paid $20 or more for in yarn stores or at wool festivals. It pays to watch who wants to get rid of stuff.
cheers,
ugh…i just went to HelloYarn.com to see what she put out…i was there earlier today and there was nothing new but i just remembered to look. i LOVE her yarns and heaven knows what i missed before i went to look. I had to stop myself because i am still walking around with all the yarn i bought yesterday in my bag…i swear…what a bad habit this is becoming…lol
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that I recently had to put up a ton of yarn on ebay. All the auctions are ending wednesday eveing. I own a hand painted yarn company, and we just switched stock for the upcoming fall season, so we have to clear everything out right now of our old stock. If you’re interested my seller id is nono_kitty. I hope this isn’t against board rules, and if it is please pull this post.
Some of us are very legit company’s who just really need to unload our stuff, and we’re willing to lose money just to make room for all the new stock.
-Danielle
I just happily bought a set of 3 jumbo pairs of knitting needles from eBay, but I usually find myself avoiding it. The vast majority of the sellers are in the US (or even farther away, like the UK) and I always get seduced by the inexpensive yarn, only to be slapped in the face with exorbitant shipping rates. I know that every time I browse stuff there, it can only lead to heartbreak of one sort or another. :crying:
It’s fine… but you might want to pimp yourself over on the buy/sell/swap fourm! The more exposure the better! 
Beautiful items!!
Ha, just consider it a GOOD HABIT Brendajos… I’ve got a TON of yarn and I still buy more esp on ebay. Usually on ebay.
Danielle… your yarns are really gorgeous. Wish I wasn’t broke just now!
What about fleece? My MIL said she’d teach me how to spin but it has to be fleece that’s already cleaned, the longer the hairs the better. Is this something you can get on ebay or are there better places online to shop?
Thanks again!
Thank you ladies! The stock redux went well, but I found some more that I’m swaping on my blog along with some of my stash. I’ve been going on a cleaning spree this week. I can finally see all the surfaces and the floors! :shock:
suziehomemaker
What about fleece? My MIL said she’d teach me how to spin but it has to be fleece that’s already cleaned, the longer the hairs the better. Is this something you can get on ebay or are there better places online to shop?Thanks again!
You can buy fleeces on Ebay. If you don’t want to do all the cleaning of it though, make sure it says the item is washed. Try to avoid ‘grease fleece’ if you can, that means that’s just been sheared off the animal, not cleaned in any way. A grease fleece is packed with lanolin and when you wash it the fleece will lose quite a bit of it’s overall weight. I am not associated with this company in any way, I just think they have some great products: The Coopermoose. They don’t usually have fleeces but they have a wide variety of rovings. You can also find them on Ebay, but it you’re going to test out several different fibers shipping is cheaper through their site.
I hope that helps.
-Danielle