Question for the old timers

My dad intoduced me to collecting back in the late 60's. He was a circulation collector, which was about all you could do living in a small town. He managed to fill alot of the Whitman albums off pocket change. Grading standards were a little different, the ANA Grading Standard had yet to be published, and there were no TPGs. We'd match up what we found with what we had in the album and pick the better coin. It's kind of like the difference between a flea market and a mall. These days if you know what you want, at which grade level, you can pretty much find it. Then it's a matter of price.

 

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Wow!

Sucks being old I guess but here's my angle.

Pre internet you really relied on dealers. Some were beyond bad and as a kid with no one else in my family collecting I got taken.

Then I ran into an honest dealer that taught me a lot. Saw him today actually in the shop that I now work in and he's from a different shop.

He taught me a lot about grading, supply and demand and always answered questions.

He also taught me a lot about coin shop "etiquette". Be patient, don't make offers on what they turn down etc. I see these rules broken all of the time.

A "Brick and Mortar" is still one of the BEST places one can learn. It takes time, patience and a willingness to build a relationship.

Started on ebay in 1998. Got some good deals and some bad. Prices were usually decent. Now we have so many garbage sellers I might bid a few times A YEAR.

As a seller people want the good coins UNDER dealer bid. Well, no dealer likes to sell under bid so many of them drop out of the game. Beter to sell in the shop and build rapport with real customers.

I rarely sell on ebay these days because of this. I don't look for a big markup but sure as hell don't want to lose. I'd much rather sell cheap for the same money and make a few bucks for my time and effort.

Bottom line. Internet has been great but sucks at the same time.

The internet has helped visibility and availability of coins while hurting it at the same time.

Too many "experts" now that have no clue what they are really buying or selling. Difference now is MILLIONS can look at these things.

Kinda miss the old days at times.

clembo

 

I live on the net.

NOTHING beats a good coin show tho, I am up to probably 50% of my *purchases* from shows, and the other 50% is divided up among my site via emails, BST boards, and a very small % on Ebay and other auction sites.

NOTHING beats a good show.

As a seller, on my website I have had hits from :
USA
Canada
United Kingdom
Germany
Poland
Puerto Rico
Turkey
Australia
Colombia
Greece
Israel
Indonesia
Italy
Norway
Argentina
Cayman Islands
Spain
South Korea
Malaysia
France
India
Japan

I have shipped to only 4 of those countrys, but the list is growing. All 50 states from Ebay sales. Could have NEVER done that without the net.

 

AJ U mean U never had a hit from Hawaii?

 

LOL, yep....thats the USA

 

in the 80's and early 90's it was trips to the local shops and then trips to auctions where we actually did quite good. My collection filled out rather quickly with the cheap stuff as a youngster

 

Hawaii is in the USA? Dang . . . I better get back to school!

 

Darn! And I thought that they were called the Sandwich Islands.

 

For me, eBay has been the great equalizer.

All of the sudden, I was no longer held hostage to local dealers. You have all heard the stories.

A raw coin you bought back in the day from a local dealer, was "BU", Gem BU etc. You went to try and resell the exact coin from that exact same dealer when the market got better.

Hmmmm... Dealer says... this is AU, AU50, 53, 58 etc.

Most of us have been there.

eBay has been the GREAT EQUALIZER

We can buy at dealer buy, and sell our prizes at Market prices on eBay

Unfortunatly the "Smallbie" seller era of higher end items on eBay has come to a close.

You can go to the discussion chats on eBay feedback, amongst other disscussion chats to get a clue.

eBay was our great equalizer, but eBay no longer wants us small sellers.

I will not sell on eBay any longer.

I am curious to hear what other smallbie sellers on ebay have to say.....

Perhaps I should have started NEW THREAD?

 

I used to buy at retail, or mailorder and was at their mercy with little or no return policy recourse.... buyer beware and then some back in the day....

 

Hey......that's my line.:mouth: