Selling Coins online

I usually buy and sell coins using eBay. My biggest complaint about eBay are the fees they charge for listing, selling AND shipping. I still don't understand how they can legally charge a fee for shipping, since they are not involved in that process.

Recently I have received some information regarding Great Collections. They auction slabbed coins and their fees are much lower than eBay's. Has anyone on this forum done business with Great Collections? If so, what are your thoughts regarding their service and their prices?

 

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I have no idea what you are talking about when you say they charge a fee for shipping.

 

What fee for shipping are you referring to? Postage? Should you get your postage for free? Should eBay eat that?

eBay does not charge a buyers fee as the others do. Sometimes as much as 18%. Buyers premium, most of the time, causes lower bids and sale prices.

 

He's referring to the fact that eBay's percentage is taken out of the entire amount of the sale, which includes the shipping/postage. Paypal also takes their cut from the entire amount, so you've got to be careful calculating overhead to be sure you make a profit.

 

Does eBay's cut of the shipping portion of the final value equal or exceed the postage discount you get when using eBay's shipping labels?

 

That I don't know because I don't use their shipping labels. It's like putting a sticker on your envelope that says "STEAL ME." But I'm paranoid about such things...

 

If you have a store, the fees per sale go down, but you're paying a monthly membership fee, so you have to sell enough to make it worthwhile. Again, it requires some careful math.

I've found it easiest to offer free shipping and just add the postage/envelope/drive to post office costs to the price of the item. Much easier math that way. If I sell an item for $100, for instance, I know I'll see $86 of it after fees (10% to eBay, almost 4% to paypal). Then I subtract the shipping from the $86. Of course, this all has to be done in reverse, before you list the item, so that you can mark it at a price that realizes a profit.

 

I've used ebay shipping for two years not and not had a problem with things getting stolen. Can you elaborate on your logic here. Is it the fact that eBay is printed on the label and that is more likely to be stolen? Just wondering.

 

Yeah, that's basically it, no logic - paranoia. I've also received plenty of packages from eBay vendors with the labels on them, and never had any problems, so maybe I shouldn't be such a worrywart.

 

You have to make sure you look at it all...big picture. Yea selling fees may be lower, but are there other costs associated that you may not be thinking of. Now I believe GC, you basically ship your stuff to them and they process the listing of that item or items...so that right off the bat would be a plus if all you're selling is slabbed higher cost\priced items.

A few weeks ago I came across another selling platform site that promised lower selling fees when comparing to eBay. After all said and done they were about 2% lower than an eBay store subscription, however, with any selling site there is a lot of time involved in listing process. eBay has automated tools and ways to bulk list things that cut the processing time into a fraction. This other platform didn't have that. Each item was going to require a lengthy time to list as a one by one web form. Couple that with the other accounting tools, stats and other data you can cultivate from eBay with a store subscription and the 2% is totally worth staying with eBay.

JMHO tho...if you do go with GC I'd be interested in hearing how your experience goes.

 

LOL, I don't blame you...I'm sure all it will take is one time with and I'll be sayin' never again! But thanks for letting me in on your thinking process nonetheless.

 

eBay reaches an enormous customer base. More buyers means higher prices. Only the total amount you net from the auction is relevant, not differences in fees. If you can net $86 selling an item on eBay or net $24 selling it on another site, who cares what the fees are?

 

I get what you're saying. Overall eBay doesn't seem to be calculating their fee with shipping charge included to screw the seller. It seems obvious it was changed to prevent sellers from screwing eBay on Final Value Fees. It also makes eBay more buyer friendly since the change makes more sellers go with free shipping. Less buyers will be affected by their forgeting to add shipping charge to their bid price so in the end less unhappy buyers.

With all that said, I get what the OP is asking. Technically eBay isn't the shipping carrier so can they legally charge a fee on the shipping charge? Again, I'm not complaining about it for the reason stated in first paragraph. Just wondering from a legal aspect.

 

Yes I've used GC they are great to buy from and to sell thru.
Check out their web site for information regarding buying and selling.
http://www.greatcollections.com/

 

It's funny cause I think about this from time to time - usually when I'm cutting the shipping label. I always felt like leaving the eBay logo is safer. First, I'm guessing most people (such as postal employees) consider eBay like an online flea market. Therefore they will probably think to themselves there's probably nothing worth stealing inside. Second, eBay is large and their shipping is integrated with USPS. So a postal employee might feel like it would be harder to get away with a package just disappearing. It also suggest there is a buyer and a seller involved so there are two parties involved in a money transaction where both are expecting it to get delivered. As opposed to someone just mailing something to a friend for free where the recipient might not even know something is on the way.

I have no data to support one is in fact safer than the other. Just speculating based on aforementioned reasons.

 

Well there could be some logic in it which might prevent theft of a package - see my previous post. However I don't have any statistical evidence to back it up. I have sent most of my packages with the eBay logo and a few without. None have gone missing. Even if they did it's hard to quantify if logo or no logo would have have had anything to do with it.

 

I really don't think that USPS employees have time to read any of those labels. Point the reader gun, when it beeps, throw the package along, there's another package on the line. Robotic and fast.

 

Now one thing that is bothersome to me are sellers that hint at what the contents might be on their label. This is mostly done on the return address. For example, one large eBay seller is Sirius Sports Auctions. On their label they have "Sirius Sports Auctions" as the sender above the return address. On a couple occassions I've had their packages arrive with tears where it was clear someone was trying to peek inside. One of those wasn't in my box although tracking showed it had been delivered. I had to get the postal inspector involved before it magically appeared in my box with the tears.

It's just so surprising that a big seller like that does not mask their name on the package. It truly baffles me.

 

Not all of them are working on some robotic line. Some of the carriers in between have time to sit and sift through the sack of packages. I also wouldn't put it past someone to steal when they could have kids they have to feed at home. Even people who are not bad people do things they normally wouldn't do out of desperation. Anything I can do to lower the risk of them taking my package I will be doing.

 

I have no issues with having "ebay" on the package, but I have had a dealer have "coins" on the package. Dumb dumb dumb.