Great Southern Coin

Recently completed a planned 12 coin purchase to have coins graded and to determine if it was possible to make money re-selling after grading with PCGS or ICG. I bought cheaper to expensive coins and all denominations with even one gold coin. They were great on the returns but the problem was I had to return 11 of the coins. I did make $30 on one coin. Their coins were 2 to 6 grades lower from the grading companies and there were certain issues with cleaning on some coins. Two exact proof coins were purchased by another buyer and myself in different auctions. I paid a little over 50% of what the other person paid and my grade was still so far off I had to return the coin. It took me months to buy, grade and return all the coins with appropriate costs each step. I talked with them and they had no recommendations on arriving at better results. Obviously, I would caution anyone bidding on their coins to be cautious believing their grades.

 

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You're preaching to the choir.

 

Absolutely... this company has been discussed numerous times on CT... and never in a positive note. Here's a typical thread, one of many:

http://www.cointalk.com/threads/great-southern-coins.217879/

If there was a tutorial on how to "juice" coin photos, I'm sure reference would be made to GSC's pics.

 

I got my walker from them - out getting graded now. Coin looked pretty good in hand, not worried about cleaning, but I'm curious to see if it pops in the MS range as advertised.

 

Did you buy through ebay?

 

They accepted all 11 returned coins without blocking you from bidding? Good for them. Then again I am not surprised you had to return 11 coins. I would say if you want to try this - don't buy from pictures on ebay. Go to shows were you can see coins in hand. Or use a trusted online dealer where you can buy raw coins and get them graded. You won't make much and may lose in some cases.

 

i bought a few coins from their mail order catalog back in 2009, before i owned a computer. every coin was several grades lower than advertised and had been harshly cleaned. i sent the coins back to them for a refund.

 

I don't like them.

 

But apparently a LOT of people do... in the past month over 2,800 positive feedbacks vs just 3 negatives (for overgrading). Just goes to show you that there are many more casual collectors (with little grading knowledge) than there are serious collectors.

 

FWIW, I long ago figured their raw coins were over-graded in their description and they were getting absurd moneys for them. However, I have bought a couple certified coins from them. No problems with their service and I have managed to sell them for a profit.

 

yes, you are right. from the time that i first bought a computer and searched ebay, i realized quickly that the feedback scores of most ebay sellers means almost nothing. most all of them have 100 percent positive feedback or similar. then there is the top rated sellers, those sellers are often times the worst. and yet, most ebay buyers will buy everything in site and leave good feedback for the sellers.

 

If they leave positive feedback, most likely they had a positive experience.

 

There photos are more airbrushed than Pamela Anderson.

 

GSC is another one of eBay's "buddies" that gets away from screwing people over using dishonest practices.

 

no, it means that they just (think) that they had a positive experience.

 

Bingo.

 

I just got the results on my walker from PCGS - it came back cleaned. Still a pretty coin, none the less. I emailed GSC to see what they can do, but if nothing, I guess I'm just off with a lesson in eBay coin buying. I've been fairly fortunate thus far and I only paid $36 for the coin, so no harm no foul.

 

There ya go jester... that's what I'm talking about. In post #4 you stated:

"Coin looked pretty good in hand, not worried about cleaning, but I'm curious to see if it pops in the MS range as advertised."

So what happens,... most buyers don't send their coins in to be graded... and post glowing feedback. GSC knows this, and it inflates their volume of false positives. Or maybe a buyer waits too long to submit (to a TPG), and can no longer post an honest assessment (or return the coin). When a company sells as many high dollar coins as GSC that are not graded... well, there's a good reason for that. We all know what it is, but the casual buyer/collector doesn't.

 

I'd say at least GSC takes care of their customers. As far as returns, I have yet to hear a bad story. We have to give them credit for that. However, their ebay stuff uses tricky, juiced pictures and inaccurate descriptions. Just search the forum, it's been discussed for years.

Sorry to say, I think you learned a hard lesson. At the prices most of their coins go for (retail +) the chances of you getting a good enough deal to make profit on a resale minus grading expense.....it's a losing deal.

If you're trying to just sell coins to make money, you're FAR better off going to local shops and coin shows. I see dealers under/mis-grade coins all the time. You can sometimes haggle to get a great price on a killer coin. Trying to play the game of looking at pictures and aiming to get a coin at 50% of what it may be worth is a losing proposition 90% of the time.

Not aimed at the OP, but the new retail price for coins is generally what you pay on the internet. All of the price guides consider the "online sales price". In contrary to how the web usually works for getting stuff cheap, more often it plays to the opposite hand with coins.

 

May I ask exactly how you have been "fairly fortunate"? As for "no harm, no foul", unless no claims to the coin's condition were made, I strongly disagree.

When a collector buys based even in part on the seller's description, you are putting your faith in both their knowledge and honesty, so when something like this happens (and it happens a lot), an absolute foul has been committed. This is not directed towards you, but I've long believed what more, especially novice, collectors need to understand is that it can be much easier to profit in this business using deceit than it is being honest and upfront with buyers, particularly with a venue like ebay. Until or unless one truly knows what they are doing, the best thing they could do is to just find a good dealer who is willing to assist with their collecting goals. Avoid so-called “ebay deals” and don’t even bother with the old and often tried idea of buying raw to submit with the hopes of making money.