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And using this factor in mind, the seller also has to realize that the item he posts might be hit for a fee so he often raises his base price or reserve price to compensate for this. Otherwise, he might as well not even sell, especially if he's not a well known seller. He might also have people sitting in the wings watching his bid so that it doesn't sell for below value. There's a whole bunches of factors involved in selling and buying. Just be cautious, patient and watchful. Buy only from buyers you've become familiar with or have 500 transactions which I believe is a purple star.

 

I am getting a kick out of you guys. When ebay first came in, I learned to "snipe" with out 1-2 seconds left. Nowadays, everyone else has learned that philosophy and I have learned to only buy what I know what I will have to pay for what I want. (I pulled a "snipe" on one guy, and I swear if he knew who I was, he would have killed me.) Best of luck, guys.

 

I think it could be eye appeal. People are willing to pay 100% or more to have a coin especially if the adjacent coins are of a similar appearance.

 

I bid at Hunt Auctions from time to time. It's mostly sports memorabilia, but sometimes you get various coin collections or 'silver' in one form or another. Auction house fee is 17.5%. Like the OP, I base my bid on my total 'out of pocket' cost. I've won on occasion, but it's amazing how much people will 'overpay' for the lack of a better term, especially, when you're basing your bids on 'iffy' pictures and statements of 'some or all may have been cleaned' on the coins.

 

Actually I have a few sets that I'm collecting by die marriage (but I only note die state if my resources allow me that option).

-- Capped Bust Quarters/Reduced Diameter (1831-1838) by Browning Number
I've got 34 of the 36 (although one of them is in a DETAILS holder)

-- Capped Bust Half Dimes (1829-1837) by LM Number
I've got something like 69 of 122 (but this has been back burner for a few years; many of them are raw)

-- Classic Head Half Cents (1809-1836) by Cohen Number
This is my currently active set.
I've got 16 of 25, and most importantly I already have both 1811 die varieties (they are the expensive ones)

And then there's my type set based on the NGC Registry Type Set (1793-1964)
I'm missing only three:
-- 1796/1797 Dime
-- 1796 Quarter
-- 1796/1797 Half Dollar (Small Eagle Reverse)

And probably my oddest set: Seated Liberty coins with "Arrows at Date" by Date and Mint Mark.
-- Half Dimes (1853-1855) 6 coins
-- Dimes (1853-1855) 5 coins / (1873-1874) 6 coins
-- Quarters (1853 Arrows and Rays) 3 coins / (1854-1855) 6 coins / (1873-1874) 5 coins
-- Half Dollars (1853 Arrows and Rays) 2 coins / (1854-1855) 6 coins / (1873-1874) 6 coins
A total of 45 coins.
I call it complete but sometimes I find that I've missed something.

 

Reducing your bid to account for fees is folly.

Let's say I was selling a $100 bill. Is it only worth $83 simply because the auction house charges a 20% buyer's fee? No. Of course not. It's still worth $100. You can choose to pay the fees for the privilege of buying it for what it's worth, or not.

Find the FMV for the item. Add or subtract based on any factors like eye appeal, etc. That's your reasonable bid. If you want to deal with a particular auction house, you pay the fees to do so on top of that. It does not affect the value of the coin in any way.

 

But you can't SEE those things. That's going into minutae.

When was the last time you saw die marriage/state listed on a slab or relevant to most premium coins ?

 

Ebay takes 10% of all final sales or just those on coins/currency ?

 

So the other bidders are NOT following YOUR rules on how to bid for coins?
You shouldn't be surprised right ?

If you start only going to coin shows do you add to the "total acquisition" cost of the coin for travel ( quantity of shows x car depreciation, gas, etc) and TIME? Or are you not valuing "administration costs" to the actual cash purchase of that coin?

When I bid, I can go above my bid amount because
(a) in the grade I'm looking at, how many of them show up in the auction houses.
(b) how much time do I want to wait for the next one, and hopefully it would be LOWER than the current one. If not ... then something is wrong with my equation.
(c) how badly do I want it *now*.

With fewer specific coins at the grade I'm looking for at specific auction houses you have to evaluate quantity versus cost versus time (and time may just raise the price) and then accept the additional overhead costs as lost to your desire to own the coin. After all, are you buying it for your collection or to flip it ?

I used to use your logic too. I wasn't winning anything. So I threw it out and based it on how much I wanted it now.

 

All of my slabbed coins that I'm collecting by die marriage have the appropriate die variety/variety number on the label.
Since I'm going to collect them that way, I want them appropriately identified.

 

One problem with the "method" is that it is the same method that has been espoused on online forums for years. For every coin you are interested in there are many others out there interested in it as well, and they all also know about what the coins value is, and they all also subtract the buyers fee and S&H, and are willing to bid THAT amount and the first one to get there gets it. (Because everyone else is bidding the same amount against the first person who also bid that.) Unless someone is willing bid just a little more and then he gets it and everyone who had "figured out" that bidding strategy loses.

 

Well, in my situation, sometimes this is the extent of the info provided. What would you bid here? (it went for $106 +fee/shipping)

 

Older coins, right ?

Not seeing them on the stuff I collect, mostly Saints and MSD's.

 

I've been paying more attention to the Heritage Auctions in recent weeks. There could be others, but I just follow HA and Ebay (I suspect Stacks has an even more exclusive clientele than HA).

Anyway....I'm seeing the hammer price (bid price) usually falling BELOW the lower range of the estimate that is usually given for items. For special items that are the higher-graded of a particular coin or bill, you attract more buyers and are more likely to be at the upper end of the estimate range or even above it.

 

Yep, definitely older coins.
I have very few 20th century coins.
And mostly single coins for my type set after the 1850's.
Exception is my FE/IHC set.

 

Take a look at the auction archives in Heritage.
That's where you'll get a good idea of current values.

 

Yup, it's just time consuming.

I saw similar items (i.e., low SN SC's) going repeatedly for less than or right at the bottom of the range estimates the last few weeks.

I'm sure there are bidding patterns relative to day of the week....time of the auctions...and even the months they take place.

 

Been watching hundreds of auctions on Heritage LIVE the last week or so.....as a general rule, here's my observations:

• The range estimate isn't a bad guestimate for the total cost of an item for probably 90-95% of the listed items.
• For most items, the hammer price ALONE is below the bottom of that price range estimate.
• Add in the Buyers Premium (let alone S&H, sales tax) and you fall in the lower bound of that range estimate.
• For premium items...where the internet bidding already has more than 1 or 2 bidders...you're likely to see that hammer price right in the middle of the price range if not the top end. Add in the other costs, and you are at the top end or maybe above it.
• For maybe 2% of the items (1 out of 40) you get a hammer price ABOVE the top end. Which means people really want it when you add in the BP, sales tax, etc.

I've only been looking daily/weekly at HA the last few weeks/months so some of you vets may have more longer-term observations. Welcome to hear them !

 

I've also learned that this sometimes prevents bidding wars from happening. There's usually 1 or 2 desperate buyers who will pay more than you had in mind.