How to Bid on (and Win) Cheap Cricut Cartridges on EBay

I'm a fairly new Cricut owner and for a while, was content with the one cartridge that came with my Cricut Expression machine. Of course, after going online to the Cricut website, checking out the cartridges in the craft stores and seeing the cool things that some of my friends made with other Cricut cartridges, I wanted...no, needed more. The price tag of Cricut cartridges blew me away--$89.99 for one cartridge? No thank you!

I turned to eBay and found myself getting outbid for cheap Cricut cartridges. After looking at completed auctions, I grew frustrated. I saw that some of these cartridges were going for $10 or less! I wanted in on that-and I'm sure you do too. So, here are my secrets of winning cheap Cricut cartridges on eBay.

Research:

Decide which Cricut cartridge(s) you want and do a completed item search. Change the filter to show lowest priced items first. Here you'll see the lowest price the cartridge went for within the last few weeks. Then, you can set a realistic budget. I'm budget-conscious, so, for example, if I see that someone got "Sweethearts" for $9.50, then I know I don't want to pay more than $10.50 for the cartridge. It's up to you on how much you want to pay.

Timing:

Are you a night owl? If you are, you can score excellent deals on eBay by bidding on Cricut cartridge auctions that end in the middle of the night. This is typically how I win my cheap cartridges-by bidding on auctions ending at 4AM. Don't want to stay up that late? Place bids on auctions ending in the middle of the night and when you wake up, you might've won! Beware-some people use auction sniping software or are physically at their computer and will outbid you by 50 cents. Almost every day, there are hundreds of Cricut cartridge auctions ending during the middle of the night.

Patience:

If you want to win cheap Cricut cartridges on eBay, you're going to need to be patient. You're going to get outbid A LOT-but you will win some, trust me.

Know what cartridges sell cheap:

Newly released Cricut cartridges always sell for more, especially when they first come out. For example, in January 2011, Cricut released Nate's ABCs, Groovy Times and a few others. These cartridges are typically selling for $22-$35. Give it a few months, and the price will come down.

But certain cartridges just aren't popular. Here are some that you can get for under $15 with a little patience.

Preserves

Pagoda

Paisley

Sweethearts

Hannah Montana

Going Places

Jubilee

Mini Monsters

Speaking of Fall

Speaking of Winter

Speaking of School

An Ocean of Words

My Community

My World

Elegant Cakes

Birthday Cakes

Holiday Cakes

Once Upon a Princess

Superman

Pooh and Friends

Pooh Font

In other words, don't get in a bidding war for these cartridges!

Beware of the Solutions cartridges!

Cricut Solutions cartridges are cartridges with fewer images on them. Typically these are seasonal cartridges. Just don't pay too much for them. I believe they retail for $30. You can often get them for under $10 on eBay.

Rare cartridges:

There are some Cricut cartridges you just won't be able to get for cheap. As of Jan. 2011, these cartridges are considered rare and sell for over $40 on eBay:

Tags, Bags, Boxes and More

Snow Friends

Cricut Lite Playtime

Pink Journey

Shall We Dance

French Manor