I could use some help with my eBay search!

[Dunlop]

I am looking for a few tweed jackets and waistcoats on Ebay. As this is my first time buy a jacket to wear with my kilt, I am a bit nervous about buying the right thing. Its a bit overwhelming for this newbie.

90% of the time I will be wearing it during formal nights on cruise ships. My wife and I both work as Sign Language interpreters on the ships. While most of the other gentlemen on the ship that are kilted will probably be wearing a Prince Charlie, I won't be able to pull that off. My job requires the jacket to be rather plain, so the flair that usually comes with the PC won't work.

So, my question is, what search terms should I be using when looking on Ebay? I don't want to buy a jacket that needs to be altered to a wear with the kilt. Thanks for helping me out in my Ebay search!

[Jock Scot]

Wow what a wonderful job!.So to help us help you what exactly is wrong, from your job point of view, with a PC? What do you need ? What don't you need on a jacket to do your job? Also, I think that you will have considerable leeway given to you on the finer points of dress attire when they understand your requirements.

[Dunlop]

Wow what a wonderful job!.So to help us help you what exactly is wrong, from your job point of view, with a PC? What do you need ? What don't you need on a jacket to do your job? Also, I think that you will have considerable leeway given to you on the finer points of dress attire when they understand your requirements.

Most of the PC jackets I have seen have the silver buttons. Which would be distracting when my arms are waving around But if I could switch them out for black buttons, that would probably work.

It IS a wonderful job my wife and I have each spent 20 years interpreting in the medical and legal field. It's finally time to make the transition to interpreting in a less stressful environment.

Thanks for all the help so far! I'll continue my search!

[Jock Scot]

Most of the PC jackets I have seen have the silver buttons. Which would be distracting when my arms are waving around But if I could switch them out for black buttons, that would probably work.

It IS a wonderful job my wife and I have each spent 20 years interpreting in the medical and legal field. It's finally time to make the transition to interpreting in a less stressful environment.

Thanks for all the help so far! I'll continue my search!

Black buttons would be a perfectly sound option and without, I hope, being impertinent, perhaps sending the bill for the outfit to your employers assuming that you are not self employed, might be a thought? Nothing like having one's specialists properly dressed and all that?

As an aside , avoid tweed as a long term formal option, it might do as a get-by, but as a regular outfit at formal events then barathea is the usual option and a tad cooler than tweed.

[Dunlop]

Sorry for the double post.

This is from a recent cruise we worked. I really like the look this guy had. This is from one of the formal nights.

[Tarheel]

Jock, as usual, is the voice of reason. This jacket is a business expense for sure.

Depending on the climate of the cruise, the barathea is best in warmer latitudes and a tweed best in colder (unless you have a chatty, long winded client).

[California Highlander]

Why not go with a nice black argyll? More subtle than a PC, but won't stand out like the tweed would on a cruise.

[bowser]

Why not go with a nice black argyll? More subtle than a PC, but won't stand out like the tweed would on a cruise.

Other option is to fine either with black buttons, has the same style but less bling much more subtle.
Or look for a crail jacket,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scottish-G...RTGr83zSswSBmQ

[Todd Bradshaw]

I have a black barathea wool crail jacket that I switched from square chrome buttons to black staghorn-style. It's pretty classy - not because it has a lot of bling, but because it doesn't. Something similar would probably be a good choice.

[OC Richard]

I search Ebay regularly for things like that. Due to my size (50) things come up very rarely, so it's a huge amount of searching and very little finding.

Anyhow here's the current search using 'tweed kilt jacket'.

A couple notes:

- I use "all listings" rather than a category, because a number of sellers, selling similar items, might list them in a number of different categories. You don't want to limit your search due to sellers not knowing what category to list their thing in.

Also I'm seeing both "new" and "used". It's very common for sellers to sell old/vintage/used things as "new", I don't know why. It's also very common for sellers to sell new things as "vintage". So you want to see both "new" and "used" in your search.

Also I'm seeing both "auction" and "buy it now".

-I use "worldwide" so I see things on the various other Ebay sites such as in the UK and Europe.

Now about how to sort, that depends on what you want to see first. On many items I use "highest price + shipping first" because I'm looking for high-end things rather than Pakistani tat. But be aware that items that don't have shipping specified are ranked at the bottom no matter what their price is. So something listed as $1000 will be ranked lower than something listed as $1, if the $1 has shipping specified and the $1000 doesn't.

Or you might want to sort by "lowest price first" because often very nice vintage things are listed with very low starting bids.

Anyhow here's "tweed kilt jacket" ranked by "ending soonest"

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...efLoc=2&_sop=1

The experienced eye will know that most of those jackets are made in Pakistan or India. Rarely do people selling such tell you where they were made. Quite the opposite, the sellers often use tricky wording to get around the facts.