Created by Julie Goucher – Feb 2020 Using Wordclouds.com

Following my article in Family Tree Magazine, where I mentioned setting up an eBay alert for a surname, I received a few questions on how to set it up. I thought I would also answer that here, in a step by step format, in case others had the same question.

1. Log in to your eBay account
2. In the search box at the top of the page insert what you want to search for, making any selection as to the category Just before the search results, there are three headers – All listings, Auction, Buy it now and just below that, is a heart symbol and the words Save this search
3. Click on Save this search and each day you should receive an email alerting you to what is available on eBay relevant to your search request.

Be mindful that some surnames and place names might yield a lot of search results. You can filter them to be more specific, but the risk is you might not see something that is relevant.

Certainly with my two studies, for BUTCHER and ORLANDO they are a troublesome search, I have selected the categories of collectables, meaning that I exclude items for sale that relate to Butcher shops, Butcher blocks etc, though I do still see post cards of Butcher shops, and personally I would prefer to see them and discount them rather than not see them at all.

You can see what searches you have set up once you have logged into your eBay account https://www.ebay.co.uk/myb/SavedSearches?MyeBay&CurrentPage=MyeBayFavoriteSearches

There is opportunity to exclude specific words associated with a surname or place, which would look like Butcher -block – shop or Orlando – Florida.

The eBay approach varies hugely between members, depending on the name being studied. Members of the Guild can access the presentation given by Guild member, Alan Moorhouse about using eBay in his Farmery One-Name Study, at the Name of the Game seminar in 2017 (members’ need to be logged in to view).

This is the purchase I made recently, which is shown in the latest Family Tree Magazine article (March 2020 issue) for the surname of DWERRYHOUSE.

There are other sites which might yield results, such as Invaluable, although I have not had much success, personally, with this site.