Spotter OtterSpotter Otter is in testing. Photo search and AI review are coming back soon. Until then, Spotters match the exact keywords you enter.
Why thrift on eBay
A thrift store has whatever came in this week. eBay has what came in this week at thousands of them, because a lot of secondhand sellers source from thrift stores, estate sales and their own closets and list everything online. The finds are there; the hard part is that they’re scattered across millions of listings, written by people who all describe things differently.
Online, you also can’t feel the fabric or try anything on. You thrift with words and measurements instead. Get the words right and the right listings come to you.
Start from the piece, or from a sentence
You don’t have to work out the search words yourself. Spotter Otter is built to start from what a thrifter actually has: the piece in your hand, or the look in your head.
- Snap the piece or its tag. On a phone, Take a photo opens the camera, or you can upload a photo or screenshot. Spotter Otter reads the brand name, labels and any style code, uses eBay’s image search for clues, and writes a description for you to check before the Spotter starts. The photo isn’t stored; it’s sent to OpenAI and eBay to identify the item. The guide to shopping by photo has tips for a photo that gets identified.
- Describe the look in your own words. 1970s Pendleton wool board shirt, plaid, men’s large, no holes. Luna, Spotter Otter’s AI, turns that into an eBay search and a list of must-haves, which you confirm. A maximum price is required.
- Sizes checked like a person would. Your size is matched with the wordings sellers use: Large is also L, LG or Lrg, and 30x32 is waist 30, inseam 32, whether the seller writes 30x32 or W30 L32. A listing that states a different size is left out. One that doesn’t say comes to you as a Maybe match, so you can check the measurements yourself.
Knowing the words below still pays off. They’re how you check what Luna wrote, and how you set up or tighten a Spotter by hand.
Search like a thrifter: brand, era and material
A good thrift search has three parts: the brand or maker, the item type, and one detail that sets it apart, like an era, a material or where it was made. Keep the item keywords short, because every word you put there has to appear in a listing. Put the extra details in “Must include”, and the junk in “Exclude”.
| What you’re hunting | Item keywords | Must include | Exclude |
|---|---|---|---|
| A vintage Pendleton wool shirt | Pendleton wool shirt | vintage | kids, boys |
| American-made Levi’s 501s | Levis 501 | made in usa | shorts, kids |
| A single-stitch band tee | band t shirt | single stitch | reprint, repro, reproduction |
| Jadeite kitchen glass | Fire King jadeite mug | repro, reproduction | |
| A Le Creuset Dutch oven | Le Creuset dutch oven | lid only |
A few things about how the words are matched:
- Capitals, apostrophes and hyphens don’t matter. Levi’s matches Levis, and Fire-King matches Fire King.
- Words match whole. Exclude “repro” doesn’t remove “reproduction”, so list both.
- Synonyms don’t match each other. “Tee” and “t shirt” are different words, so a search for one misses listings that only use the other. Make a Spotter for each.
- Exclude words aren’t limited to the title. They can match the item specifics and the seller’s description too, so excluding “small” can also drop a size large whose seller mentions a “small hole near hem.” Exclude words that only junk listings use.
Vintage words sellers use
| Term | What sellers mean |
|---|---|
| Vintage | On most resale sites, at least 20 years old. Some sellers use it loosely, so check tags and photos. |
| Deadstock, NOS | Old but never sold or used (“new old stock”) |
| NWT, NWOT | New with tags, new without tags |
| EUC, VGUC, GUC | Excellent, very good, good used condition |
| Single stitch | One row of stitching on a T-shirt’s sleeve and hem, typical of tees made before the mid-1990s |
| Selvedge, selvage | Denim woven with a finished edge, visible on the outseam when cuffed; sellers spell it both ways |
| Union made, union label | A label from a garment workers’ union, common on older American-made clothing |
| MCM | Mid-century modern, for furniture, lamps and housewares |
| Pit to pit, P2P | Chest measurement, armpit to armpit, laid flat |
| Vintage style, inspired, repro | New, made to look old. Good Exclude words. |
Eras get written several ways too: 70s, 1970s, seventies. Pick the one sellers in your niche use most, or make a Spotter for each.
Sizing words sellers use
Size is where online thrifting goes wrong most often, so it pays to be deliberate:
- The same size is written many ways. Large, L and Lg; 30x32, W30 L32 and 30/32. A “Must include” word matches only the way you typed it, so “30x32” won’t catch “W30 L32.” Make a Spotter for each common format, leave the size out and check it in each alert, or describe the item in your own words so the size becomes a must-have matched with sellers’ wordings.
- Tags and fit disagree. Sellers write “tagged M, fits like S” or “measures 30x30” on jeans tagged 32x32. Older clothing usually runs smaller than today’s sizes, and jeans shrink and get hemmed.
- Know your measurements. Lay a piece that fits you flat and measure pit to pit, length from the back of the collar, the waist straight across (double it) and the inseam. Then compare with each listing, and ask the seller if measurements are missing.
Found a piece you love in the wrong size? Snap its tag and see how to find it in your size.
Set up a thrift Spotter by hand
If you’d rather choose the words yourself, or want to tighten a Spotter, these are the fields that matter:
- Item keywords: brand and item type, nothing extra. Pendleton wool shirt, not vintage 70s Pendleton wool plaid board shirt large.
- Price: set a maximum you’d happily pay, before shipping. A minimum price helps too: it filters out the cheap things that share a name, like patches, pins and stickers.
- Condition: choose Used for secondhand. If you’d also take deadstock or new with tags, choose Any.
- Must include and Exclude: one or two details in Must include; the reproductions, kids’ sizes and parts in Exclude. Separate words or phrases with commas.
- Shipping and pickup: tick free shipping only if you want it, or limit a Spotter for furniture or heavy housewares to local pickup within 10, 25, 50 or 100 miles of your ZIP code.
- Start it. The Spotter alerts you only to listings posted after it starts, by email and on your Alerts page, with browser notifications while Spotter Otter is open in a tab. You can also get a daily report email.
Thrifter habits that carry over
- One Spotter per thing you’d hate to miss. “Vintage jacket” is a whole rack. “Pendleton wool shirt” with a size is a find. If a Spotter matches more than 100 new listings in a day it pauses, so narrow it and start it again.
- Search the misspellings. Sellers write Pendelton, Levi without the s, and Le Cruset. A Spotter for a common misspelling finds listings fewer buyers see.
- Price-check before you set a limit. Search the item on eBay and turn on the Sold items filter to see what it has actually sold for. eBay price alerts covers this in more detail.
- Read the listing like you’d inspect the rack. Look for photos of the tags, the flaws and the measurements, and ask about smoke or pet smells. The eBay Money Back Guarantee covers items that don’t match their description.
Hunting clothing from a particular decade? Vintage clothing alerts goes deeper on eras and labels.