Goldstone

Okay...So I am a relatively new collector, I mean i have collected for a few years, but never bought before on ebay. Lately i have kind of just been scanning the ebay coins and snagging some that I think are going for very cheap for example a 1957-D MS66 PCGS wheatie for $18.00, now if you ask me this seems to good to be true!! So...heres a few of my questions

1. What kind of coins do you buy?
2. What are Some good "starter" coins,? I don't want to spend a lot
3. What about there "unsearched" lots of wheats/Indian heads? It seems to good to be true
4. I love how the toned coins look, which ones are good to buy, and how much more than the Coin Books should I pay for them?
5. Who are some good trustworthy sellers, namess...?
6. And Just any great deals or oppertunities you want to share, I DONT KNOW WHAT TO BUY!!

ice

Unsearched is farce I doubt that any of the rolls are truly unsearched. I started by buying some mint sets off ebay. I only buy from people here in the US and never never from China. If you buy raw coins make sure it's from a reputable seller. There are quite a few self slabber/graders on Ebay so stick to reputable grading companies. When you do buy make sure you buy the coin not the plastic look at the pictures grade the coin set a top price and don't go any higher. Tim

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tmoneyeagles

1. I buy NGC MS63+ Morgans and $2.5 Indian Head Gold Pieces... I buy buffalo coins, the commemorative and the nickels.
2. Starter Coins... Mercury Dimes and Franklin Halves, Ike Dollars Too
3. Unsearhced, is 100% crap, never trust it... I know, from experience...
4. Toned coins... I highly recommend these ebay sellers... http://stores.shop.ebay.com/CHAMELEON-COINS__W0QQ_armrsZ1
and
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/toned.coin.buyer_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdo Z
As for pricing, just look at ebay's completed listings, and pay what you think is right, if you think it is too high, than don't pay for it!
5. Trustworthy sellers:
The two I gave you above, along with
dayswork08
jriffe2002
blairra77
stormynurse
mr_met1221
And I'd recommend myself as well... tmoneyeagles

Hope all this helps

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Goldstone

Haha well of course you will write yourself, thanks for being helpful, and let me know whenever you are putting up a great deal!....

wesdavidson

Any thing I like at the moment, that looks good or is cheap, I love buying international, don't mind china, prefer the SE asia area however, less likely to be "new". Never been burned from singapore or canada. Thialand is ok. Indonesia has been ok.

We like old colonials, old britts, britt and french canada, and dutch, old french is nice, but hard to find. Old german silver is nice but pricey. SPANISH COBS get my bids but we seldom win. -goes for most things we bid 10 items, win 1. We joke that nobody bids til we do.

TheNoost

Buy a book on the series that intrest you. I will repeat what others have said-unsearched is a lie. You can buy the enroller to make any roll look bankrolled for $4. Some world coins can be had inexpensively and are beautiful. BTW welcome to cointalk.

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tmoneyeagles

At the moment, all I have is a 1910 S and a 1914 S wheat cents, in extremely fine, right now they are pretty low, maybe put em in your watch list, or bid, who knows, you might get a good deal

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Vess1

[quote=Goldstone;587673]Okay...So I am a relatively new collector, I mean i have collected for a few years, but never bought before on ebay. Lately i have kind of just been scanning the ebay coins and snagging some that I think are going for very cheap for example a 1957-D MS66 PCGS wheatie for $18.00, now if you ask me this seems to good to be true!!

BN, RB, Full RD??? No way of knowing if it was a deal. How exactly did you ascertain that this was a great deal? Did you know there were over a billion 57-D's minted? MS66s probably are not rare for this year. A great deal would have been 9 or 10 bucks. You most likely paid about what it's worth. 18.00 was not too good to be true, but a fair price.

So...heres a few of my questions

1. What kind of coins do you buy?
2. What are Some good "starter" coins,? I don't want to spend a lot
3. What about there "unsearched" lots of wheats/Indian heads? It seems to good to be true

It is.

I love how the toned coins look, which ones are good to buy, and how much more than the Coin Books should I pay for them?

Whatever you're willing to pay. The cheaper toned Morgans go for 100-300 on up. It's a hot market and some people (including myself on occasion) have driven prices up up up. Too high IMO.

1. Who are some good trustworthy sellers, namess...?

Do a search on cointalk

And Just any great deals or oppertunities you want to share, I DONT KNOW WHAT TO BUY!!
Then don't buy anything yet! There's a lot of bad sellers on ebay. New people buy from them, get ripped off, receive a cleaned, misrepresented or otherwise inadequate coin, but the new collector doesn't know the difference. Then gives the seller positive feedback for it. It doesn't help any of us.


What to buy? I suggest this:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ANA-Grading-Guid...2em118Q2el1247

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Goldstone

Oh I assumed it was a great deal by PCGS.COM/Prices which applies to their graded coins which it is valued at $45.00

mark_h

(1) Very few raw coins - mostly graded. For the types - IHC's, large cents, bust half dollars.
(2) Define a lot???? - a 20th century type set(without gold) might not be to high and you could get graded coins. Then you could decide what you liked best and go for a set of those. Then again you might decide to try something older. Also what grade do you like - MS? AU? F? VF? G? I usually recommend type sets for those that want to collect and it provides a variety.
(3)You already said - if it is too good to be true... - well there are no unsearched lots.
(4) Really depends on the coin and how much you like it. I have seen some (in my opinion) ugly toned coins go for twice the going rate.
(5) On ebay - the ones with a good return policy, good pictures and good feedback. The only one I would openly recommend is AJ. Because my experience might not be the same as yours. You have to research sellers - but sticking to graded coins is safer.
(6) To find the best deals you have to look, look and look some more. Sometimes buying from a dealer will get you a good deal. To me this is a hobby that should be for fun - not to get MS70 coins and VF prices. That does happen, but I think a lot less than people think. A nice coin on ebay will attract the serious collectors and the competition will be at a higher level. I am not saying there are not deals to be had - but it takes work to find them.

These are just my opinions. Enjoy and have fun.

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clembo

Figure out what you want to buy, how much you want to pay for it then start doing some digging.

Ebay has changed SO much in the past few years that one really has to be careful. On the rare occasion I bid I ask A LOT of questions to a seller unless it is CLEARLY stated in the auction. If I don't get answers I don't bid. Period.

At times I come off as very anti-ebay and will admit I am to an extent. Too many rip offs but there are still quite a few legit and honest sellers.

As for "unsearched wheats" let me tell you this. I work in a coin shop. Presently we have about 80,000 wheats in stock and all are unsearched - BY ME. I don't have the time is what it boils down to and my boss isn't going to pay me for several days work to sort them.

So technically they have NOT been searched. Now as for the people we buy them from chances are they were searched.
Key date Lincolns are rare for a reason. I"ve found a few "better" ones just by noticing wear patterns and taking a look. Don't get sucked into the game though. "Salted" lots are very common. Helps the feedback and gets more suckers in line.

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Sholom

Q: But, still, how do you know what a good deal is?

A: By reading, reading, and more reading about the coin series that you want to purchase in. Is there an error in the coin? Does it make a difference? Is that year notorious for poor strikes? Or known for good strikes? Is the mintage low but supply plentiful? Or vice versa? There is a lot to know that ought to be known if you want to spend more than trivial money.

Vess1

PCGS price guide is way over inflated. Most say NGC is high as well.

Based on a quick 2 second search on recent completed ebay auctions, here's a NGC 1957-D, MS66 *RD* for 12.99. Unsold.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1957-D-NGC-MS-66...3A1%7C294%3A50

Not trying to be harsh. Just realize if you really want something, especially a higher dollar coin, it's good to check many different sources for pricing. Including but not limited to, possibly red book, grey sheet (for wholesale to know what dealers are paying for them), PCGS or NGC, recent completed Heritage and ebay auctions, up to date magazines...etc.... That way you can see who's prices are high, who is low, what people have recently paid and what seems reasonable to you. Based on an average of all that and a reasonable knowledge of how to grade, the final price guide is what you're willing to pay. That's it. You the buyer, set prices. Most sellers aren't going out of business and giving away coins on ebay for a huge discount. Although it may be much cheaper than a local dealer.

I recently watched an awesome, problem free, 38-D/S Buffalo Nickel in a new NGC edge view slab graded MS-66 get bid up to 150.00 on ebay and sold. The next night I watched another 38-D/S in an NGC slab graded MS-65 get bid up to 150.00 and sold. Whoever got the 65 probably thought they got a great deal! Having no clue what sold the night before.

The best deals I've ever gotten is at local coin shows. Ebay has been hit and miss for me. But I know when I've received something that isn't up to par, compared to what the pictures showed. I imagine some collectors are happy with whatever they recieve in the mail and never question anything.

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mrbrklyn

The first question is, "What is your budget?".

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