How to Find Cheap Clearance Food on Ebay

Imagine if everything you bought was half price. How much money you would save, and how much more you would be able to buy. 

Food, toiletries, health and beauty products: These are all common items sold for bargain prices on ebay if you know where to look.

I discovered this by accident. One of my favourite small retailers is Discount Dragon (previously known as Yankee Bundles). 

Discount Dragon sells food close to, or after its best before date, for cheap. However, there is a £20 minimum spend to get free delivery. So I wondered, does anyone on ebay sell similar items without that minimum spend? What I discovered was a big surprise.

With the help of colleague Emmabeckz, we discovered dozens of ebay stores in the UK which sell reduced-to-clear food items (see below for list). Clearance food that is near its best before date, or past it.

Eating non-perishable food close to or just after its best before date is usually fine. And it can save you a lot of money.

Examples of bargain foods you can buy:

• Chocolate
• Crisps
• Snacks
• Cereal
• Porridge
• Coffee
• Tea
• Soft Drinks
• Pet Food
• Supplements*
• Nutrition bars
• Health & Beauty products*

*Warning - Do not buy medication, including supplements such as vitamins and minerals, after their best before dates. Buying anything past best before dates is done at your own risk.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ROdRnJrtoJQ

Special Search Terms to Use to Find Clearance Food

Here is a list of secret keywords to use in your search terms when trying to find bargain foods and other products reduced to clear. 

What you need to do is search ebay for a product you’re interested in, plus these keywords:

• Best Before
• BBE
• BB
• Out of date
• OOD
• Short Date
• Short Dated
• Expired
• Clearance

For example, “Pringles Best Before”, “Cadbury OOD”, or “Crisps Expired”. 

Different sellers use different terms to refer to the same thing. You will find at the end of product titles terms such as “Best Before 10/11/2022”, or “BBE 11/22”, or “Expired 11/22”.

They all mean the same thing: The product’s best before date is 10th November 2022.

Below I have included a list of ebay stores that tend to sell these products. An extra tip is to search within those stores for these keywords. Remember that one store may use the term “Expired” and another “Short Dated”. So you should try searching multiple words to find the bargains. 

When you find a store that tends to have products you like, save the store to your ebay so you can find it again with ease. You can also save search terms so you get alerts when new deals are posted. For example, saving the search “Pringles BBE” will give you alerts every time a new deal is published with reduced to clear Pringles.

List of Clearance ebay stores

Here is a list of ebay stores that sometimes sells reduced to clear items. This may include food, health, and beauty products. These shops tend to offer free delivery on most products which makes it much easier to compare prices for. However, you should know there are many more stores out there! 

• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/gronets - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/csfulfilment - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/zenoxhealth - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/pricelesspat2 - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/supetpets - Free Delivery Pet Food & Healthcare
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/snifferhann - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/jmbargainslimited - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/netmarked - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/charnwoodbargains - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/giftsdirect2ultd - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/gifts4presents - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/rebeccahall2009 - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/minal.ansar - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/walkerscrispsofficialstore - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/groceries2go - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/themarvellousgroup - Delivery Charge
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/spanishmarkettraderuk - Delivery Charge
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/mrjsuppliesltd - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/greatbritishmarket17 - Free Delivery + multibuy DIscounts
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/thebakersdream - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/marspetcareuk - Free Delivery
• https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/crsnacking - Free Delivery

How to Find Bulk Buy Food

These ebay stores are a great way to find bulk buy food. Most of the clearance food items tend to be in large quantities. 

When you compare prices as if you were to buy them individually you realise you can save a lot of money. However, I do urge caution as it can be very tempting to buy 100 chocolate bars for yourself!

One of my favourite things to buy like this is coffee pods. Coffee pods are individually sealed in plastic or aluminium and I can’t taste any difference between coffee pods in-date and coffee that’s a year old. I’ve done blind taste tests and can’t tell the difference. In the supermarket, branded coffee pods such as Starbucks or Nespresso are expensive, you can get them for a quarter of the price in bulk and reduced at these stores. 

I’ve bought cleaning products such as Cif and limescale remover, wipes, salt and pepper, crisps, chocolate, and honey. Everything has been perfectly usable and edible. 

How to Save Even More on Ebay

You can stack these savings with ebay voucher codes. It often has 10-20% off select retailers which may include some of the above. 

Many sellers also offer multi-buy savings. Buy 2 or more of an item and you get an extra % off. Every little helps! 

Try adding an item to your ‘watch list’ and waiting to receive a special offer. Read my full guide on ebay: How to Receive Special Discounts.

How to Compare Prices to Make Sure You’re Getting a Good Deal

Not everything is a good deal. Some are terrible, in fact. 

You want to compare prices to how much you would pay new, and also with others selling it expired. 

You can use the Latest Deals supermarket price comparison tool to find supermarket items, or our price comparison tool on site for online retailers. Plus, other marketplace platforms such as Amazon Warehouse sometimes features sellers selling similar items too. Have a look around!