Jade Oliver, 34, from Bristol, gave up her corporate law job to set up a company buying and selling old furniture from the internet marketplace.

Starting in 2012, her company Heavenly Homes & Gardens has steadily built up its customer base and now makes more than £100,000 in revenue every year.

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Jade Oliver used Ebay to buy old furniture items and ‘upcycle’ them for resale through her own website that uses interior design trends to market the products

She has used the funds to pay off a £10,000 loan on a professional law course.

At first she would bid on cheaper Ebay items with potential that were in need of a mend or a polish.

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Her company Heavenly Homes & Gardens now makes over £100,000 in revenue

Then using her own online platform she would market them to appeal to current interior design trends, using inspiration from bloggers and celebrities.

The plan worked and made Jade a small fortune, and so she eventually  quite her corporate law role in 2016. 

Speaking to the Mirror, Jade revealed her top five tips for success in the ‘upcycling’ business:

Searching for items  

To have the best chance of finding a bargain or that special item, your search needs to start ‘as broadly as possible’ and use keywords, Jade suggests.

‘Try undertaking several searches for the different ways an item could be described.

‘For example, if you are searching for a “lamp”, you could search for both ‘light’ and “lamp”.’

This can mean involve looking through a lot more results, but the chances of finding the right item will be greater.

By searching for items with misspelt titles such as a ‘chest of draws’ is a good way to find a bargain because everyone who spells it correctly is less likely to see it.

Using a search alert

Creating a search alerts basically informs you every time an item you are looking becomes available, which is especially helpful if there are not many of the item. 

You can set parameters on the searches such as price and location to avoid being sent unhelpful listings.

Consider your timing

It is believed that most people bid for items on the weekend or after work, and so items that finish at these times can be higher than those ending in the middle of the day or overnight. 

If an item ends at night, consider using an auction snipe app to bid for you whilst you sleep.

 Making a best offer 

Even if when you find your ideal item it is outside your budget don’t be put off straight away.

Try contacting the seller to see whether they would be open to an offer (it is a buy it now item or auction with no bids). 

Ebay has introduced a feature whereby sellers can respond to messages from buyers with offer prices.

When you should bid

Jade recommended that you ‘hold your nerve’ and only bid right at the last minute otherwise you could push the price up too early.

Setting an alarm or downloading an app that bids for you automatically can also be very helpful. Jade personally bids in the last 10 seconds.

Because of the short amount of time you probably won’t have a second chance to bid, input the maximum bid you would be prepared to pay.

Ebay will set your bid at just above the next highest bid rather than at your maximum amount.

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And dressed in a suitably regal black and white gown Olivia Colman, was named best actress for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite, which swept the board with seven prizes.

But she veered away from royal demeanour in her emotional acceptance speech at the Royal Albert Hall as she promised ‘to get so p*****’ with a few celebratory drinks.

Overjoyed! Olivia Colman was delighted as she took home the gong for her sensational display in the critically acclaimed film at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday evening

The film about the eccentric 18th century British monarch, which now seems bound for Oscars glory, was beaten to the best film prize by Mexican drama Roma.

But it won other BAFTAs for outstanding British film, original screenplay, costume design, production design and hair and make-up, while Miss Colman’s British co-star Rachel Weisz was best supporting actress

The film’s Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos said: ‘We made a very British film, the story is very British. I don’t know what else to say about Olivia, she’s just an amazing human being, actor and she’s a joy to work with.

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If she wins an Academy Award next month she can expect demand for her services (not to mention her fee) to go through the roof.

It’s all a far cry from the days when she was so broke she lived in a friend’s attic and had to rummage under the sofa cushions in search of coins to buy a single potato for dinner.

From her job as a cleaner and struggles with debt to the ‘gorgeous’ husband she gives half her pay cheques to — as Alison Boshoff discovered, there is far more to this down-to-earth actress than meets the eye. 

A cleaner and cheery but hopeless secretary 

Like most aspiring actors, Olivia struggled for work. She took jobs as a secretary — ‘not a very good one, although I was cheery’ and as a cleaner. ‘There were years of no work. It was a hard time. I actually really loved my cleaning jobs. I loved the job satisfaction. I’d really go to town. I’d wipe skirting boards, the top of lights. I never looked in drawers.’

She never wanted to do anything but act, though. ‘Being able to put ‘Actor’ on my passport was all I wanted in the world.’ 

Finding pennies down sofa to buy a potato 

Speaking of her early days with now husband Ed Sinclair, she said: ‘We had what we call our Angela’s Ashes day when we first moved to London from Bristol (in 1998). I had £1 left in my overdraft and cash machines don’t dispense pounds.

‘Ed didn’t have any money either, so we managed to find enough pennies from the sofa to buy one potato to share.’ They lived in the attic of friends who had a place in Epping, Essex, for two months.

In 1999 they bought a two-bedroom flat in London’s East Dulwich, using a £30,000 inheritance from Ed to help them meet the £90,000 asking price. They sold it two years later for £150,000.

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