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[umtrr-author]

The amount of overhead required to run a brick and mortar shop is orders of magnitude larger than running an eBay business out of one's house. (For one thing, the "paperwork" requirement, i.e. sales tax filings, income declaration, can be avoided, but that's another story.) So you'd expect that a dealer would take the difference between the buy and sell price as a margin large enough to make a decent living.

I can understand looking askance at a dealer who really lowballs a seller, i.e. the "Ignorant Widow" syndrome-- "Gee, this 1804 dollar isn't really worth all that much, I'll give you a break and pay you $5 for it"-- but so far I have not run into anyone even close to that dishonest in this field. (Though I have in other hobbies, for sure. A word to the wise that I don't like to think about: make sure that someone you can trust understands the true value of your collection before it's too late.)

What's missing from the equation is, of course, what the typical eBay professional dealer (as opposed to the casual seller) paid for the coins that he or she is selling. That could be pretty low as well, and of course it's not likely that we will know. No specific examples or accusations here; just an observation.

Speaking further of that Internet Auction Community: I had an example of a potential bargain on watch the other day: a common date Liberty (V) nickel that was described as Uncirculated went for just $28. (I already deleted the listing so I forget the date, maybe 1911 or 1912, definitely a 19xx without mintmark.) That's a reasonable price for an AU, for example, according to the price lists I have. Problem was that only the obverse of the coin was pictured, making the reverse an unknown. I think that made the transaction risky; I might have taken a chance at that price point (had I actually remembered to bid-- oops) but it would have been taking a chance for sure.

This is just one of many examples of why the eBay marketplace can be a minefield. Poor photos, bad descriptions, ridiculous terms, arrogant verbiage, outrageous shipping... they can all contribute to a lower than "expected" sale price. On the other hand, it only takes two, ah, let's say "Highly motivated buyers"?... to push a final price well above what most of us would consider to be "normal range." As I've noted before, I am very comfortable buying model trains on eBay; and was selling before the nickel and diming got to be too much for me as a casual seller. But for coins, it's been mostly "window shopping" there, followed by a trip to my local dealer with the question, "Do you have this?"