Is eBay a hot mess when it comes to buying coins?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Amberalaska, Feb 13, 2019.

  1. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    I feel, I depend on eBay often to help guide me on an items value. With coins, it seems very bizarre and almost like a sham. Many coins I see don't even match the description provided. I find myself looking a ty things like the photos I Provided.
    1- Look at the eBay prices
    2- look at the feedback I received from coin talk community on pricing my coins
    3- Help me understand why the price seems so high but my feedback assured me my collection was absolutely priceless!? I'm so confused how to price my coins if I do decide to sell
     

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  3. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    These are my coins. My feedback from coin talk was that my end was worthless up to a few dollars and change. Why does it appear to be a good priced collection when comparing online?
     

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  4. Paddy54

    Paddy54 Well-Known Member

    There's always an asking price...as well as a price point received for an item.....
    What many feel like their item is worth is actually what another is willing to pay.
    You'll always see items on e bay over priced and sometimes under priced.
    What you need to do is research what simular items have sold for as well as condition.
    There is where you find the price point nearest to the true value or worth.
    Plus you'll always find that a sellers asking price is so difference than their buying price.
     
  5. alurid

    alurid Well-Known Member

  6. sonlarson

    sonlarson World Silver Collector

    Condition,mintage,demand,supply. You are comparing a 1948G(mintage 45,604,000) in MS62 condition which is easily worth $69, with mostly 1950 (mint mark unknown)(mintage varies from 515,673,000-898,277,000 depending on mint mark) in circulated condition with uncirculated values in the $2-$3 range. In circulated condition they are only worth .20 cents - $2 each.

    1948-1949 are Bronze Clad Steel while the 1950 and up are Copper Plated Steel.
     
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  7. spenser

    spenser Active Member

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  8. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

  9. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    Thank you
     
  10. bsting

    bsting Never enough coins.lol

    eBay is unorganized chaos! Lol. If I am looking at coins I tend to look at the ones people are bidding on. Or if I know the type of coin I am looking for I will just randomly pick auctions and see if it’s what I am looking for.
     
    SmokinJoe likes this.
  11. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Simple answer - yes. But understanding why the answer is yes is in fact quite complicated.

    Part of it is explained in the post made by sonlarson - you can only compare apples to apples, you cannot compare apples to oranges. Another part is that many of those, and at times I would even say the majority, people who buy coins on ebay grossly over-pay for the coins they buy. Which means that if you use the realized prices found on ebay as a guideline for values you are doing yourself a great disservice.

    And that only scratches the surface, there's a lot more involved as well.
     
  12. Maxfli

    Maxfli Well-Known Member

    Buy It Now can occasionally pay off for those who are willing to be patient, particularly for slower moving world coins that have a smaller market (meaning generally coins not from Mexico, Canada or Great Britain).

    If I find a BIN coin I like and the price isn't too far off from what I think would be a good value, I watchlist it, and continue to re-watch it for as long as the seller continues to re-list. This can, and often does, go on for months. Sometimes the seller eventually gets impatient and starts lowering the price.

    Admittedly, most of the time this tactic doesn't work, but it's worked often enough to keep me watching, which takes very little effort.

    Yeah, Ebay is a hot mess, but buyers who don't have the knowledge, or the patience, or the fortitude to walk away when bidding gets crazy, are the ones who most often get burned.
     
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  13. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    There are a lot of sellers for whom it's only worth their time to list a coin for sale if they can realize a certain minimum price for it, so they'll list it that high even if it's actually worth far less and hope that a buyer comes along who just has to have it and doesn't want to wait around for a better deal. That's why you'll see so many common world coins listed at several dollars or more. It's frustrating when you're trying to find a common coin to fill a hole and the prices are completely unreasonable, but maybe you get impatient and buy anyway, and then it pays off for these people.
     
  14. Maxfli

    Maxfli Well-Known Member

    Exactly. Too many buyers "want it now" and it makes them make bad decisions. You have to be able to either A) walk away, B) wait and hope the seller gets impatient and lowers the price or C) keep looking.

    I've never regretted walking away from an overpriced coin.
     
  15. Santinidollar

    Santinidollar Supporter! Supporter

    If you believe a coin is overpriced, walk away from it. There will usually be another that comes along. Patience is virtue in coin collecting.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2019
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  16. Prez2

    Prez2 Well-Known Member

    EBAY is a mess if you're a buyer, not so bad if you're a seller.
     
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  17. ToppCatt

    ToppCatt ToppCatt

    You might try checking the "Sold" entries in the choices in the left column on the listing page. It shows the dates and what previous sales brought.
     
  18. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    Thank you so much. Personally, I do not care for eBay. I had one bad experience and now I feel, scammed lol! But there are a lot of people that tell me to look at eBay to assess the value in an item and it’s price range seems so out of wack. Almost con artistry. Anyways, ty:)
    I’m new to this. I like it. And every day I learn something new
     
  19. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    Thank you
     
  20. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    Best advice I’ve gotten. Thank you
     
  21. Amberalaska

    Amberalaska Member

    Thank you
     
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