It can be difficult!
My advice goes against the grain- be very specific and use all the filters! Most people type in generic terms and then have to sift through gazillions of results that aren't even close to what they are after.
I clearly specify a $ range- both a min and max amount, so I exclude the rubbish at the very low end like paper clips ha ha, and I don't waste time looking at things outside my budget at the higher end.
Then Handmade or Vintage.
I also specify the country I want to shop from. Obviously shopping locally, you'd save on shipping but many international sellers also offer free shipping, so I tend to choose the country based on what I want to purchase.
For instance, I know that Argentina has a lot of products made of recycled rubber (I should post one of my bags relating to this, actually), so I'd look there for products made of recycled tyres.
If I wanted printed silk scarves, I'd shop from Greece as it's commonly found there. Snakeskin from Indonesia, and so on.
Another example about specificity: Say you wanted genuine gemstones like Opals. I know that opals are found all over the place- India, Mexico, Australia, the US. If I were opting for cheap, I'd choose to shop from stores in India, and my search terms wouldn't simply be 'genuine opals', but would specify the grade (AA grade, for instance), from India, in the handmade category, between $50-110.
Getting that precise means I often only get back 4 pages to look through in my results vs. 250 pages you could otherwise get.
And if I like a product that came up in my search, I'll look at the recommendations that accompany it (usually at the top of that page) as they tend to be similar in style and can lead me to items that would suit my taste.
Hope that helps you some. I'd love to get advice from others on here, as I'm sure there are better ways to navigate it.
