Just curious who do you guys use for price guides online? I have a few I follow when I'm buying, but I was curious what everyone else uses.
Price guides, whether in print or online versions, are worthless, worse than worthless. They not only should not be used they just be completely ignored. The only values that have any realistic meaning are those found in realized auction results. And of those, any found on ebay should taken with a large dose of salt !
Price guides are not worth the paper they are printed on. There are to many things to consider so a guide is just that, a guide, not reality. Deal with the facts and only the facts. Mintage, availability, survival rate, your local area, prices realized at auctions, etc.
I always check auction results. I typically go to Heritage and Great Collections. I see many raw coins being sold in EBay auctions for more than better certified examples from those aforementioned auction sites. Go figure!
My experience is that Heritage often provides the "market retail" price, Great Collections is slightly off retail, and in most cases eBay is wholesale. Of course those aren't hard and fast rules. I collect Civil War tokens almost exclusively, and weekly Heritage auctions tend to provide good deals for buyers while the bigger sales tend to bring stronger prices. Great Collections simply hasn't created a strong enough exonumia market yet, prices are all over the place. eBay tends to be the biggest market. The most popular dealers tend to bring the strongest prices - in some cases the premiums are almost ridiculous, so some auction results should be taken with a grain of salt.
For mint states Lincolns eBay is nowhere near wholesale. Time and time again winning bids are higher than better PCGS and NGC certified examples I've compared them to from GC and Heritage past auctions. Many of the eBay examples would have gotten details grades due to questionable color. I won't name the main sellers of these dipped coins but the first thing one should look for in the pictures is luster. Most have a dull appearance; just compare them to pictures of certified examples.
While sometimes easier said than done, know your market. As a few of the gentlemen above have said, the different online venues can differ even on similar material, but this can be taken a step further. Your local market can also be very different from online venues, and is why some can/have supplement their income, or even make their entire income buying locally to resell online (the reverse can also be true).
Raw ones? Those should count for nothing. People get greedy think they can out smart everyone and but a "cheap" inheritance coin and always miss
Yes, I was talking about raw coins. I still like to fill Dansco albums and would rather not crack certified coins (at least NGC or PCGS) out; mainly because it will be easier to sell them at a future date.
I tend to view the PCGS completed auctions and a couple of other sites w/ prior sales/auction data available, such as David Lawrence. It's important for me to be able to compare photos. For coins of relatively lower value, factoring in the auction fees and shipping (you may not see listed) can definitely be worthwhile too. Although I don't refer to it often and speaking generally, I'm always surprised how close NumisMedia's FMV is. I think that would be a good starting point for many.
