 G'day guys, how are you going? My name is Tech and welcome to my channel Bootlossophy. I work and live on Wajik Country in Western Australia, and I recognise the traditional custodians of this land that we share. I've bought a lot of boots on eBay, and I've reviewed some of them, and people have been asking me to roll out my eBay due diligence process, so here we go. I've reviewed quite a lot of boots on my channel which were eBay purchases, and loads of people have asked me to share what I look for when I shop on eBay to make sure I get a reasonably unworn or lightly worn boot and how to get a bargain on the price. Let's start first with a dizzying number and an array of boots that I have bought on eBay, and I'll quote the Australian dollars I paid for them, not including shipping, because that varies by crazy factors from international seller locations. So far I have bought 24 pairs of boots on eBay, and most have been lightly worn boots, and at pretty good price in my opinion at least. I have had a couple of poor choices and I'll talk about them as I go, so that's just to let you know that despite my process, I still make mistakes. Since this is not a boot review, I'm just going to rattle past the list of 24 and tell you how much I've bought them for in Australian dollars, and what they cost at least price in Australian dollars. I know you can get them discounted from time to time, but I'll quote the official listed prices converted to Australian dollars, or as sold in Australian retail shops, bearing in mind not all of these boots are available in physical stores in Australia, and you have to mail order some of them from overseas. I'm going to rattle through them quickly. The Timberland Earthkeeper, bought for $50, lists at around $300, maybe a bit under if they're on discount. It's so cheap because they have a tear in the uppers. Not a great buy, but it was cheap. Red Wing 9011 Beckman's, $200, no longer made in this format. This was a bad buy and I'll talk to you about that later. Red Wing Iron Ranges, $81.11, $350, listed at $560. Again, not another great buy and I'll explain later. Old and 403 Indies, $399 and lists at $900. Not bad, hardly anywhere. Red Wing 875 Mock Toes, $350, lists at $550. This was a great buy and practically unworn with the wage sold in perfect condition. Red Wing 3343 Blacksmiths in Copper Ruffin Tough, cost me $202 and lists at $500 with zero wear. Great buy. And the Wolverine Thousand Miles, $199, lists at $600. Pretty good value and very lightly worn. The Allen Edmonds Landon Boot, cost me $260, lists at $700, although Allen Edmonds have regular and deeply discounted sales. The R& Williams Riccabee Boot, lace-ups, bought for $250, lists at $650, totally unused pair. Redback Chelsea's, picked up at $45, lists at around $130, practically unused. Thursday Diplomats, $160, lists at $290 to $300. This was used, but very, very lightly. The Grandson Fred, $185, listed at $570. Another bargain, despite the grubby soul. The Grant Stone Edward, cost me $237, lists at over $500, lightly worn with some wear showing in the uppers. The Allen Edmonds Higgins Mill, load and suede at $258, while listing at $688, worn but really good nick. Truman Smoke Ramblers, bought for $470, lists at about $670, best pickup, totally unused. Parkhurst Nighthawk Kudu Allen Boot, $305, listed at $510 when it was available, it's no longer available. Very lightly used, great buy. White's MP in Natural Chrome XL, costs $579, but you can buy them here in Melbourne for over $900, so in my opinion it's a fantastic buy, hardly worn. White's MP again, this time in Cinnamon Wax Flesh, $609, and again over $900 in Australia, hardly used. Another White's MP in British Tan Chrome XL this time, $576, and it's before over $900 in Melbourne. Taylor Stitch Ranch Boots, bought for $100, and on their website lists at $506, hardly worn, so yeah, great buy. Another Truman in Black Rambler at $471, and would have cost me $670 new, $670 Aussie. This one is a little bit more worn, but a good pick up because it's a 360 degree storm well, which is very rare for Truman. And another Truman, this one in their classic Java Wax Flesh, bought for $471 Aussie, would have cost me about $700 new. The Wax Flesh is untouched, I put these scuffs on, and this is in the old Stitch Down construction too, which means that at least two years old, but really in excellent condition. Alan Edmonds Higgins Mill in Brown Chrome XL, you can tell by the stitch on the side there. Really good condition, I got these for $380 on their website, and certainly in Australia, they're listed for $650 Aussie. Red Wing Work Chuckets, practically unused, you can tell the tread pattern's not being touched. Very tough leather, I bought these for $200, listed on their website, and you can get them here in Australia at between $450 and $480 Aussie. Okay, that was quick. I just wanted to show you that you can get a large selection at great savings. Now, let me talk about my due diligence process. Step one is to get your mindset right. You need to approach the boot unemotionally. Yes, you are attracted to the boot, of course, you're excited even, and perhaps you're actually looking for that particular boot when you see it listed, but you should still see it as one possibility, not the boot. You need to be patient. There will be others, even if it takes a year before they pop up again. Cultivate a win-some-lose-some mindset, not a must-have mindset. Believe me, you will not die if you miss a grail boot. And on the other hand, you might also avoid an expensive mistake. I bought this pair of Red Wing Beckmans in Cherry Black Featherstone Leather because I did not keep that lose-some mindset. I got scared of losing out on a rare and discontinued model and ignored some of the things that I'll speak about later, so that this became probably one of my two biggest mistakes on eBay. I bought them for $200, and if new, they're no longer available, would have been about $500 Aussie Plus. The uppers were in beautiful condition, as you can see, really well cared for. The heels had some wear, but I was prepared to and I got my cobbler to put on new top-list for about $20. The Rochia Half-Sole, oh yeah, somewhere, but not worn thin by any means. But what I didn't check in my haste was the insoles. And when I got them, I found the insoles had been totally compressed into the shape of the previous owner's feet. I can wear them, but a little awkward rather than uncomfortable. I had to put a removable foam insoles inside to help flatten that compression for comfort. The truth is, if you stay patient, another one will come up. Be picky and put together a short list using eBay's Watch function. Keep your watch list short and focused or you forget the be patient part if you're overwhelmed. I once had nearly 10 boots on my short list and I was losing on some auctions and offers were getting knocked back. So I started getting overwhelmed and into a must-buy-something mindset. So I made an offer on these Timberland Earthkeepers. They were on an auction with a starting price of $50 that I didn't want them, but $50. Damn it! I won. Thank goodness it was only $50, but still, impulse by the century. Once you're watching two or three of what you're really interested in, note the time that you have left before the end of the listing so that you know what you have to play with. Okay, so targeting mode is now on and now you can spend some time on step two and do some preliminary checking. Check the obvious things like the style, the way it's described, any labels shown. You want to make sure that what you're looking at is the genuine thing. Now, there are not that many counterfeits of heritage boots, but still, if you're supposed Red Wing Iron Ranger labels don't look original, treat it with some suspicion. If it's described as shell cordovan but the photos look dull, mark it for a question. So, you know, just look for red flags that might pop up that you can check out one way or other. Put together a list of questions you have for the seller or maybe to the bootmaker. Now, having gotten an overall idea of the boots in your shortlist, it's time to visually check the wear and condition. So here I'm doing this after my initial look, not the very first thing. I do this in this order so that I engage my logical brain first before I use my emotional brain. This way you get a cool look before you move in for the kill. There's four things I look at closely. First, look at the condition of the uppers and stitching. Second, check out the soles and the heels. Third, check out the sole edges and the welting and stitches. And finally, check out the hardware. Let's take them one at a time. First, take a close look at the uppers in the photos. Look to see if they look dry or if they're particularly wrinkled or creased and if there are any cracks or water damage. See they look well conditioned and the right colour. My second biggest mistake was probably this pair of red-winged iron ranges. All my other checks that I'm about to tell you about all checked out. Except that I wasn't too happy about the look of the leather in the photos. For amber harness it looked wet and dark. I ignored my concerns because the price of a pair of otherwise lightly worn iron ranges was great. But when I got them I realised that they'd been totally over conditioned. They'd been used as a demo pair for a manufacturer of boot oils and leather balms and so were pulled out at every trade show and enthusiastically conditioned over and over again. The next part to focus on are the heels and the out soles. Check the photos and if there aren't any underneath the boot make a note to ask the seller for more photos of that particular area. Take a look to see whether the wear on the heel is reasonable or if you're going to have to replace the heel top lift or worse as soon as you get them. Look at the wear on the sole. How well worn are they? What's the condition of the stitching? Are there any cracks or chunks fallen out? Is the wear even? Third, make sure you look closely at the sole edging and the condition of the welt and stitching to see what kind of damage they might be. Basically what you're looking for is are you going to have to spend any money on them when you get them? Finally take a look at the hardware to check condition. Check for loss of alignment of the speed hooks any corrosion and so on. Look this sounds a lot but it's just a minute checking really a minute and again the idea is to really see what you might get not fall in love with the example on offer straight away. By now you may have found everything you need to know but you might also have a list of questions to ask the seller. It's perfectly fine to ask the seller questions. However as you might be putting in a low buyers offer later it's always good to start by making sure that you're respectful. You want to develop a rapport not a him kind of sentiment. Also as part of being respectful while you're in a hurry to seal the deal don't forget any time differences that they might be because they might be busy at work or even asleep when you're out there shopping so don't follow up with abusive messages if they haven't replied promptly. I would ask all your questions or requests in one message don't string them along one after another so that they feel you're just stringing them along. Ask short sharp direct questions don't ramble or ask for opinions. Don't be shy about asking for more or better photos. Do ask them why they're selling and if the answer is that it just doesn't fit ask what size the other boots are and how long they try to make it work. That'll give you an idea about what where to expect as they were trying to make it work. I find that you can tell from the answers how honest they are and don't forget that eBay has the opportunity for buyers to provide negative feedback about bad sellers they know this too. Once you receive your answers you can then make a decision about making an offer or a bid. Two simple things before you do number one do some research to check comfortable prices then decide on the top price you want to pay not forgetting the cost of postage and any other unfortunately crazy eBay charges. Check the listing to see if they'll send overseas if that's applicable and if they don't then add that to your queries and also your cost estimates. On the listings that provide a buy now price or a listed price not auctions you can make an offer. For items that are listed as auctions you can try to contact the seller and make an offer before the first bid is placed and see they'll accept that offer and end the auction early. If a first offer has been placed or a first bid you can only enter the bidding yourself up to your top price. Auctions are difficult to manage. Smart bidders set a level early in the auction and eBay system will inch the range upwards as other bidders come in until it reaches your top limit. eBay will then tell you and suggest you make another bid. You might think that maybe I'll put my top limit as the first bid I'll find this a little too tempting for me to then bid more at the end because I'm just being overbid a little bit. My own tactic is to put in an early bid up to say 75-80% of what I want to spend and then if I'm overbid I wait. I stalk the auction when there's maybe 20-30 minutes to the end and sometimes if the bidding goes quiet I'll swoop in with my top bid at the very last minute. If it's a listing with a listed price and they accept buyer's offers what I would do when you make your offer, particularly if it is well below the asking price is to be open, honest and rational about why you're making that offer. Tell them about the where in the heal that worries you or tell them about the level of where you see compared to others that you have seen at the prices that you've seen a man. The worst they can do is reject your offer the best that could happen is they understand your concerns and maybe they'll accept your offer. Be open to but don't invite a counter offer. Don't say for example oh if you don't like that just tell me what's the lowest that you'll accept leave the door open by saying something like hey if you don't agree with my reasons please explain so that I can have a think about and reconsider. What can happen is that they reject your offer but they make a counter offer. At that point you can decide to accept or make another offer and try to come to somewhere in between. At that point it's all about your perception of value or level of desire and if you've built a rapport you can discuss that. Remember that top price you set at the start do not go over it be okay with the one that got away it's part of the fun if you do this right you can get some of the best bargains. I've shown you some of my bad buys so let's look at some of my great buys I've got these three great pairs of whites and pea boots that are all three hardly worn the uppers are in great shape the heels and soles unnoticeably worn the hardware solid and all at around half price. Look at these Truman smoke ramblers from Truman. The soles and heels were literally untouched the solid leather midsole not yet broken in even no marks anywhere and at a 30% discount because someone might have worn them indoors a couple of times and they didn't fit. These are other two Truman's the Java Wex Flash and the black rambler were from a bootlossify watcher shout out to Typo 777 these are older models but so lightly worn I can just see some wear at the heels so there are sellers out there like Typo 777 who actively pick up bargains, renovate and clean them and resell them at a higher price. This Java Wex Flash is a now rare stitch down model in really good nick so you can get some really good bargains keep your head and be diligent at time of recording I have 70 pairs of boots 24 of them from eBay at prices averaging about half of what they would have cost new that means discounting any new ones I bought on sale my collection cost me 10% of what it would have cost if all of them were new to me that works if you're only buying 2 or 3 boots from eBay to add to your collection of 5-10 pairs it makes sense to take a look at eBay I'll put a link below to a search of boots on eBay go take a look and there you have it my buying from eBay 101 look at the end of the day boot collecting and boot wearing is about having fun so go into it with that attitude have fun don't forget to click on the like and the subscribe buttons below it'll help me out and allow me to bring you more boot videos as my channel grows until then guys take care and I'll see you soon