I have a large container and no idea of the monetary value of the pre-1983 Lincolns. It weighs 60 lbs. Has anyone successfully sold any by the pound, or only by dollar amount ("$2 for $1 face", etc.)?
Place an ad and see what happens. This whole idea of buying/selling copper cents based on grade A prices is sheer foolishness, but obviously there are people doing it; whatever floats their boat. As for selling in small lots, especially on craigslist (per your example), this seems like an awful lot of trouble for what at best would be a very modest reward, so if you value your time or sanity, perhaps offering as a single lot would be your best bet.
For the average buyer, you will have to prove how many coins are there, and that they are pre-1983. This is a TON of labor-intensive work for (as pointed out) a small reward. What's your time worth? Take 'em down to a CoinStar machine, pay your 8% fee, kiss 'em goodbye, and stop saving rubbish. You might, although this is far-fetched, be able to swap 50 of the buyer's choice, for a silver dime - not sure what the proper quantity should be. Just let customers keep cherry-picking the lot until they're gone. One warning, this can't be done at McDonald's, where a hell of a lot of CraigsList coin deals take place. Probably more trouble than it's worth, but still a possibility. Y O U R T I M E is precious. This whole thread reminds me of the folks who waste countless hours and go blind looking for teeny-weeny virtually invisible "errors" in rolls. However, I believe everyone should "collect" what they like. There are no Coin Police. Yet.
There are approx. 145 pennies in a pound. Assuming you're not counting the weight of the container, you have about 8700 pennies, or $87. When sold in bulk on FeeBay, they sometimes fetch up to 2x face value. After fees and shipping, you'll come out a little ahead, but not much. I have never sold pennies on CL. It's worth a try I suppose.
Yes, A lot of effort for not much reward. I would dump them in the coin star machine and be done with it.
I started accumulating cents starting in 2007, have several hundred thousand. Now I want to free up room in my train room so they are gradually getting dumped into coin machines and penny collection drives.
Does anyone actually do this? I have used Coinstar before, but only to get the full value of my coins in the form of gift cards, and only to avoid taking coins that I had searched back to my bank.
In this case, the amount of Coinstar fee is so small it doesn't matter. Yes, there's better alternatives for larger amounts. What is your time worth? By the way, my credit union charges 7% -- but with free checking and SD boxes at around 40% of what my bank charges, I don't mind giving them a little lick off the top. But then, I don't "save" copper pennies or anything else in bulk.
