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Hello

Some people have a lot of time and patience. But for my purposes, its not worth that much time and I often end up over paying. It also helps to have the kind of expertise I don't own. And then there is the fraud issue. I tend to stay away from ebay these days. Its a huge time waster.

Amanda

 

Hello

the trouble is that if your shopping for a coin, its not fun to bid 10 times over 3 weeks to still not have gotten the coin at a decent price. So then you just overbid and hope to win and wash your hands of it. Or you find a different route. If your just cruising ebay for buys, that is one thing. But if you actually want something specific, that is a whole other problem.

Amanda

 

I don't believe most of what you say anyway!

 

Yea with so many people bidding on impulse it will always be hard to find something at a decent price anyway if you think that is bad i have 100+ auctions this month won just 2.

 

Hello

That is exactly my point! Going to shows and haggling with deals is much more effective.

Amanda

 

Amanda,

There are excellent reasons to buy coins from a tradition dealer, you have made several good points on that subject. Tradition dealers may be the way to go for you. They certainly have a place in the coin world or they would be gone by now. Other channels may be better for other folks though, since they actually enjoy the " hunt". This discussion however, is not about that. It is about a blanket statement that almost any coin can be bought cheaper from a dealer.

This is just plain not true and can cost folks money.

Just think through you last statement about haggling at coin shows. Why on earth would these dealers, book a plane ticket, rent a hotel room, spend money on eating out, pay for a table at the show, bust their butt, working all weekend long, and then agree to take a LOWER price, then if they had just listed it on EBAY.

It just doesn't add up.

Yes, there are many positives about traditional dealers, price just does not happen to be one of them


Mike

 

Dealers at shows who have no B&M store overhead can offer coins at competitive prices, often equal to what one would pay at auction or even less.

 

Says the guy who doesn't collect coins! Tell me Doug, when is the last time you went to a B&M coin shop? And if you want anecdotal evidence, I have yet to find a registry quality Jefferson Nickel in a B&M coin shop. IMO, B&M should be changed from brick & mortar to bullion & metal.

Furthermore, with gas @ $4 per gallon, the dealer better be local, very local.

 

Getting snipped at the last second shouldn't be a problem. Just enter the maximum amount that you are willing to pay when you bid. If you get outbid then it does not matter when the winning bid is placed. You did not lose the item because of timing, you lost it because someone was willing to pay more.

With a system like Ebay it makes no sense to get upset about not having the opportunity to "rebid" at the last second, because if you were willing to pay more then you should have bid that amount the first time around.

 

Hello

I don't know what to say ?!? My gut feeling tells me we are talking about a lot more than ebay and coin shops here, but I'm not sure what.

I think I'll sit back and see how this unfolds.


Amanda (much entertained).

 

But live auctions don't end at a specific time, they end when everyone but the winning bidder drops out.

To respond to the previous comment by Condor101 on mail bids: when mail bidding, you don't see the other bidder's bids, you are essentially bidding blind.

 

Hello

the advent of computerized buying and selling has been very problematic for the stock exchanges and is now heavily regulated. I'm sure the combination of unlimited time bidding and computerized snipping would make ebay sellers just ecstatic.

Amanda

 

And what guarantee is there that once they find the coin on your want list that it will be priced lower than one you could have purchased on E-Bay while you were waiting for the dealer to locate one? Answer: none.

And besides, just like lots of B&M dealers have websites, they also have E-Bay stores, Lost Dutchman (Matt) comes to mind. The only real validity to your claim is that some dealers will give a price break if you buy off E-Bay because in doing so saves on E-Bay fees.

 

All i know is some coins, if I can find them at a dealer, are about 5 times more than I pay for the same coins on Ebay.

I know I collect some unusual stuff, even for ancient coins, so I won't comment about other series. Plus, I am cheap, so I only buy deals and am willing to pass up 30 examples of a coin over the course of a year to buy one $10 cheaper at times.

That's all I am saying. However, I do strongly believe Ebay is changing and deals that used to be plentiful now are now pretty scarce, and its becoming much higher priced overall.

 

That's not correct.

eBay auctions end at a specific time on the end date the seller placed in their auction. Go search eBay right now for any auctions ending today, and there will be a countdown to the end of the auction. The time will be red and the seconds will be counting down.

 

Mike,

The part I was not clear on was - the coins were listed as auctions starting at .99. Most ended up going more than retail - a couple I could have went to heritage and got better prices in current auctions. I think overall I agree with you. The problem is with what I am collecting and the grades, ebay is not a good alternative. When I compare prices their with dealers - ebay is high. And like you I don't want to play the post auctions too high and the good deals - plus part would be who's opinion of which coin is the better price.

My bottom line point is - always comparison shop for the best coin and best price. I don't think everyone does that because they assume dealers are too expensive and they assume they get a better deal on ebay.

 

Agreed,

I knew we were on the same page

Cheers,
Mike

 

Actually that is not correct. eBay auctions are just the first part of heritage auctions. The second part is the live auction, which cringley stated. The only time that the LIVE auction ends is when a bidder drops out. Otherwise, people can bid all night, even AFTER pre-internet bidding has ended. eBay does not have "live" auctions. They end at a certain time.