​​I Shopped on eBay For “Love Island” Clothes — and This Is What I Found

Inspired by Shaughna Phillips’s entrance outfit in season six, I pulled together a similar look for just £27.

The fuchsia pink blazer dress was preworn but seemed like new from Missguided. Originally costing £45, I bagged it for £10 and loved the fit, the colour, and the girlboss vibes. The shoes were unworn from New Look and cost me £6 even though the £23 price sticker was still attached, meaning I saved an impressive £41 overall on the outfit.

The main thing to watch out for with eBay is the postage costs. The items alone cost £16, with first-class postage for the two items coming to £11. Many sellers add extra fees onto the postage to account for packaging and the time spent taking the item to the post office, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the postage options.

I loved the boldness of this look, and both items were clean, unmarked, and exactly as described on the listing.

While the Love Islanders swimwear won’t be sourced from eBay this season, I wanted to see exactly what swimwear options were on offer on the site and was pleasantly surprised. There’s a huge range of options across a wide range of sizes, including preworn, unworn, and brand-new pieces from both individual sellers and retailers – yes, you can also shop new clothing direct from retailers on eBay, too.

Inspired by Liberty Poole’s final date outfit from season seven – a white swimsuit and white lace trousers totalling £80 from I Saw It First – I set out to recreate it, saving £58 in the process. And now I have a great poolside look.

Opting for a preworn one-shouldered swimsuit from Shein costing £8 and unworn white lace trousers from Missguided costing £5, I was again stung with a high postage bill. But this is where the beauty of the eBay community came in. The trousers seller actually posted the item out with next-day delivery, at a much higher cost, and didn’t charge me any extra at all.

Inspired by season seven winner Millie Court’s yellow cut-out dress, I went on the hunt for the bright hue but found when looking for something quite specific, in this case ‘size 8 tight yellow dress’, the options were limited. But, with perseverance, I did manage to find one in the end.

I got into a bidding war on this one and ended up with a 20 per cent discount off the original listing price. Even better! This dress was listed as marked and had images to prove it on the site, but I was still surprised to see just how large the mark was on the front of the dress – forever an optimist. Reading the descriptions and studying the images is definitely important when buying preloved items.

Costing £6, the dress was preworn from Boohoo, and I paired it with Kurt Geiger snake-print wedges costing £10. This look felt peak “Love Island”, I just needed a white-wine glass to accessorize!

When it comes to “Love Island” clothes, the options on eBay were endless. Sadly, I didn’t quite manage to keep to the budget of £50, largely due to the annoyingly high postage costs. Yet spending £74 for all three outfits, and knowing that I have saved them heading to landfill, is still a better – and cheaper – option than buying brand new from the retailers.

And there are ways to keep the costs down. Firstly, opt for second-class postage. It’s cheaper, although it will take longer to arrive, and if you like a few items from the same seller, you can always ask them to post multiple items together. In my experience, you will usually receive a discount or, at least, cheaper shipping costs.

Secondly, you can either choose to ‘buy now’, securing the item immediately at, often, a higher price, or you can get into a bidding war and try to score yourself a discount with the auction option, which I did successfully with the yellow dress.

It is important to stress that, with a strict budget, the items I secured were still from typical fast-fashion retailers, which are not deemed sustainable businesses. But, if you are on a budget and are after these brands, then buying them preloved, even if they are still unworn, is a more eco-friendly option.

I love the looks that I secured and hope that this “Love Island” and eBay partnership is a turning point for fast-fashion fans and that we all consider pre-loved clothes as a stylish option for our own summer wardrobes.