Collectors should sell a few coins just to learn the process.

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This is what I was going to say. Buying is easy. You really learn if you sell or attempt to sell. Selling forces you to be a better buyer because you get to see both sides. Selling is work though. Buying is just clicking a few buttons.

 

More thoughts.
I'm sure there are many here using Dansco or other albums. It's tough to sell sets in albums and get a nice price. Sometimes it's best to bust up the set.
Now you have to take one coin at a time, dust it off, pick the proper holder and label it. It's actually a lot of fun if you have the time to play.
Next is deciding if any of the coins are worth the fees to have graded.
Now you wonder how in the world am I going to sell all these raw coins.

 

I decided a couple of months ago to unload three raw, mid-grade Indian Cents that I had picked up when I first started collecting and that are decidedly not worth grading. So, I experimented with putting them in my Local Coin Club auction which we hold at every meeting, twice a month. I decided to put only one coin at a time in each auction understanding that there would be a limited market with only the collectors at the meeting, between 40 and 50 people typically and some if not most uninterested in this material. It also would give our Young Numismatist members a shot at better dates at prices they can afford.

The first one up was a decent, original VF 1862. Net to me $36. The next meeting I put up a nice, original XF 1879 which netted me $46. A little less than Greysheet for each one but OK considering that my marketing costs were zero. I started each bidding at $1 and got spirited bidding each time.

Next week I'll put up a decent VG 1908-S if there are enough people at the meeting to make me think that there might be sufficient interest. Again, I'll start bidding at $1.

Another piece of my strategy is to try to get a bidding spot that is close to the start of the auction but not at the start. Spot #4 is where I've had my items both auctions and seems about right. That's enough time to get people's juices flowing but not so far into the auction that people have spent their money already or have gotten bored. Also Spot #4 on the auction grid tablecloth is right up front so that makes it easy to grab people's attention when they're browsing the offerings.

Why start at $1? At every auction I see items, particularly bullion items, with a starting price at or slightly above or below spot. There's very little interest in these items and I think it is partly or maybe completely psychological. There's just little to no opportunity to get a "deal" when the bidding is starting at the intrinsic value. But bullion items that start well below spot get a lot of bidding. You'd think owners would notice and adjust their marketing but, no, they just can't seem to overcome the fear of a loss.

There's also a potential danger in starting at $1 and it is also psychological. Bidders may ask themselves: "What's wrong with this coin if the owner puts such a low value on it?" But I think this danger is small.

Well, that's my story so far on unloading raw coins. Could I find a means and a venue that might get me more gross compensation? Maybe but I'd also have trouble and operations costs - shipping, insurance, EBay fees, & etc.- that would reduce net compensation.

I have a few raw MS Indian cents and some better value slabbed coins (1909-S VF IHC, 1839 AU-50 half dime and the like) that are excess to my collecting interests but are probably unsuitable for the LCC auction. I think I may get a table at our Local Coin Club monthly coin show to market this material. I just haven't decided if I've got enough material to make it worth while. I may also consider consigning with a local dealer at this show to market my coins and maybe even sharing his table for a price.

And this is why I don't buy raw coins anymore unless it's really something special and genuinely rare. If it's a pain for me to market common raw coins at a reasonable price, what will it be like for my heirs?

 

I just can't help myself, I love raw coins, I love to get a feel for their history. I bought an ancient the other day just to crack it out of the slab and feel what it was like to get them back in the day. The Table is a good idea IMO. And the way I would approach the selling of my small hoard. Then they should sell like hotcakes. I have always been conscious about spending too much on a coin, why should I expect someone else to pay up.

I like your approach of selling to the collector and not the dealer.

 

Omg, you just described my business model.

 

Yes. A thousand times yes. Experiencing and learning the selling process is the true key to this hobby. Doing so will save much heartache and confusion down the road.

This same advice has appeared on this forum numerous times in the past decade and it's advice worth repeating over and over again. I agree completely that no one really knows the true (monetary) worth of their coins until the time to sell arrives. Selling, for many, will probably be a very humbling and eye opening experience. It certainly was, and remains so, for me. Some coins that seemed fantastic, beautiful, and brimming with value turned out unsellable, except at a loss or at a pathetically small profit. Others acquired merely to fill a hole, or purely by chance, end up making money, but usually not very much.

Once in a while, what looks like "a profit" appears, but the time value of money or other factors (shipping, etc.) reduce the profits to specks. Many of the "gains" I've seen from selling coins ended up mostly reducible to time value of money (a concept that everyone should know). Roughly, a coin I bought for $20 in 2010 and sold for $30 in 2024 has really only kept up with inflation. Its value hasn't really increased, or it at least increased at an insignificant rate. Selling coins for less than what you paid for them, especially when unloading them a decade or more later, can be a truly heartbreaking experience.

Many people simply love coins - I do - but the expectation of increased value likely undergirds the ambition of many who enter the hobby. Why else does the coin press generally emphasize great rarities, high and record-breaking auction prices, someone who happened to find a rare piece in pocket change, etc. The lure of riches probably lures many people into this hobby, whether they enjoy coins as coins or not. It's good that many people over the years have openly said on this forum that "coins are a terrible investment," because they really are. More than likely, money spent on coins, especially coins not considered "investment grade," is outright wasted money. One has to enjoy the things enough to sustain what could add up to great losses. Given that, if you're not already financially stable, do not look to coins to make money. A very small number of people have hit the jackpot in the past, but with odds not much better than playing the lottery.

The coins that make big money, or "investment grade" coins, can cost thousands of dollars, often have intense rarity or desirability, and get bought and sold by people who have that kind of money to throw around. That kind of buying and selling takes place at a level of the hobby way beyond the vast majority of the discussions on this forum. For example, I remember a coin video blog some years ago featuring a dealer saying that a certain coin priced at $32,000 was "an absolute steal." Yes, that particular coin would very likely increase in value over time, because it had true, organic rarity. But the barriers to entry for that piece were obviously astronomical and far beyond the vast majority of collectors.

The experience of selling coins led me to buy fewer coins overall. It taught me that, if I'm going to buy something, I had better absolutely love it or it had better have some kind of obvious value of some sort to add it to my pile. It also taught me that loving coins too much could simply lead me to wasting my money. I love coins, but I don't want them to bankrupt me or put me in dangerous financial straits. They're not that great. Also, it seems to have forever removed the coin hoarder instinct in me. It made me into, I believe, a much more savvy and cautious collector. I'm pretty sure that most of the coins I buy will still lose money in the long run, but I buy far fewer and am much pickier, so I tend to buy coins that I still enjoy five or more years later. I've wasted a lot of money on this hobby. I don't intend to waste any more.

 

Yes collectors should get some experience on the other side of the ball - selling.

it’s easier to buy coins than sell them (getting positive investment return).

 

Reading this thread reminds me of some great advice coin dealer Dick Osburn gave me many years ago. He said this, "Try to look at the coin through the eyes of the "Next" buyer.
If you see problems, weaknesses or flaws so will the next buyer. Even if you vow that you will NEVER be a seller, learn to do this and you will build a far better collection." Words I still live by. James

 

I think @ewomack was the only commenter here who mentioned "inflation," but it occurs to me: if a person only buys coins and never sells, they are always on the wrong side when inflation occurs. (The "bad" inflation when general prices rise, as well as the "good" inflation when our coins and homes gain value). When I sell a coin for X today, that cost me less to buy a few years ago, I'm less offended by rising prices!

The moral of the story is: invent a time machine, then go back and buy a bunch of coins. Ahem.

 

More thoughts.
Auction services. Be ready to learn what is best for you and what you are selling. Each service has different terms and it's important to understand all the cost/fees before going with that service.

When you start selling, be ready for the good and the bad.

 

If my carrying retired-policeman/attorney and I can't sell here with closing at a bank, it wont be sold: edited

 

I'm about to ship some coins to Great Collections. It's my first consignment and it will go Registered. But I don't have private insurance. Would you mind sharing who you are insuring with?

 

I use Ship and Insure (shipandinsure.com). The rate for registered mail is only $0.11 per $100 of value. Their current rates for various shipping modes is below. However, to use Ship and Insure you must belong to NACA (North American Collectibles Association) which is $135 per year. And to join NACA, you may have to belong to ANA … I’m not sure and would belong to ANA in any event. If you join NACA, you can get discounted shipping rates on FedEx.

I have an ongoing issue with USPS concerning a registered parcel that is delayed or lost, and the Ship and Insure folks have been great so far.

Another route you could go is insure your collection through Hugh Woods. Most (all?) of their policies include some shipping insurance.

Private insurance coverage requires specific packaging beyond what carriers require. Pay close attention to that. Have good documentation of the coins including pictures. There have been recent posts on packaging for registered mail, and they are worth a review. I always take a picture of the parcel just before I submit it regardless of the carrier.

Cal

 

Thank you @calcol for that very useful response. You put a lot of effort into that and it's appreciated.

 

You make your money at purchase.

 

I once bought 9 1976 Olympics Canada silver coin sets for about $40 dollars each (when they were worth about $100 in silver).

Drove them 2 miles to another dealer and sold 8 sets for ~70% profit.

 

I was looking for private insurance but gave up and paid the USPS price. On a large submission it averages $1 to $2 per coin.