How To Replace A Broken Coffee Mug on eBay

Mug Emergency! I often receive a question about how to locate a specific mug, especially after a much beloved mug has been broken. 

In June, I received a message from a desperate man. He was in the middle of a just such a mug emergency and he said:

"Help! I've just chipped my fiancée's favourite Whittards mug. She's had it for maybe eight or nine years. It has stars on it, it is blue on the inside... If you could find said mug - I can send a picture - I would be willing to pay... If not, any advice would be gratefully appreciated."

I sell a lot of mugs on eBay and have written about them here on this blog and on social media. In this case, Thomas found my page here on Hubpages about Whittard of Chelsea mugs and wrote to me hopeful that I might actually have a replacement coffee mug to sell to him.

Unfortunately for both Thomas and his fiancée, I do not have any Whittard mugs in my eBay store. Truth be told, I have three in my cupboard including a replacement for the broken one shown here in this image.  Whittard of Chelsea mugs really are so nice that any that I find to sell usually wind-up taking up home in my personal coffee mug collection.

So I told Thomas what I often tell others, and that is to set up a saved search on eBay. Once you have done so, eBay will search every day for the item you are looking for and send you a notification when one becomes available.  For this to be a reasonable option, you have to be able to narrow down your search so that eBay doesn't turn up hundreds of mugs every day.  

Here's what I told Thomas to do. You can do the same, changing the search words to words related to the mug that you are searching for.

HOW TO CREATE A SAVED SEARCH ON EBAY:

1. Start by searching for the mug that you are looking for -- in Thomas' case, I would use "whittard mug blue stars" -- without the quotation marks.  
2. Then you will see a button called "Follow this search." Click on that button and check the little box to have eBay send you an email if one becomes available.  

It really is that simple. The hardest part is manipulating eBay's search to turn up a reasonable (small) number of results.  Try the most important search words first and, if that brings too many eBay results, add another one.  I do not recommend using the word coffee because some sellers sell mugs without actually saying coffee mug.

When I broke my mug, it took me about six months to replace it.  That is because there are not many Whittard mugs available in North America. They are sold in the United Kingdom and few find there way to North America. In the end I paid a bit of a premium for my replacement mug because it was located in England and I live in Canada and because shipping is expensive but it was worth it because I really do love my Whittard of Chelsea coffee mug.  If you have a mug that you love as much as I love mine, you might even consider buying a replacement before you break it, which is what I wish I had done! 

Good luck replacing your broken coffee mug! Of course, this method would work for any coffee mug you have seen and want to add to your collection and for almost any product that you are trying to find. 

Be sure to check out my coffee mug collection in my eBay store by clicking right here.

Brenda

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