Christmas shopping starts in August as thrifty Brits plan ahead

We’ve still got 192 shopping days until Christmas , but it seems savvy Brits are spreading the cost of Christmas this year by stocking up on 2009’s festive essentials five months early.

Despite the rocketing temperatures outside, it seems we are keen to grab festive bargains by shopping out of season and getting the best prices for our Christmas must have items like cards, trees and decorations this summer.

eBay.co.uk has seen searches and sales of all things Christmassy rise in the last month, and with starting prices for cards and trees as low as 99p on the site, it seems we’re anticipating a tight Christmas this year and planning in advance to make savings wherever possible:

- Tinsel sales are up 240%, and 27 bundles of tinsel are sold every day on the site.

- Christmas card sales are up 191%, and currently 5 packs of festive cards are selling every hour on the site.

- Artificial Christmas tree sales are up 144%, with one sold every 3 minutes on eBay.co.uk.

- Christmas decoration sales are up 100%, with 16 being sold on eBay.co.uk each day.

- Christmas stocking sales are up 129%, with 4 being sold every hour on the site.

There are many bargains to be had by buying out of season on eBay.co.uk, with the average price of an artificial Christmas tree just £4.94, multipacks of brand new Christmas cards selling for an average of £2.79 and prices for advent calendars and Christmas stockings starting at a pocket-friendly 99p.

eBay spokesperson, Julia Hutton-Potts, adds: “We’ve been surprised to see so much Christmas shopping happening on the site so early in the year. The Summer is still in full swing and already we’re looking forward to Christmas. eBay is a great barometer of shopping trends and has shown us that this year we’re planning ahead for Christmas and snapping up some fantastic out-of-season bargains."