What about eBay?

May I versus Can I? (Permission request versus questioned Capability?), often seemingly used interchangeably, as Fair Market Value versus value/worth.

 

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I think that ebay is a good way for a person to sell a small amount of things and make a better profit than going to a coin store. If you take in to account the time and gas you would use to go to a coin store and try to sell a coin, the 20% or whatever ebay charges is really not that much.

On the other hand if you are trying to sell 1000 different items it may be better to go to a coin store even though you may get a better price for them on ebay. It would just take too much time to make all the adds, hope everything sells and then take everything to the post office or UPS.

There are pros and cons to Ebay just like almost everything else.

 

I agree, however I have been told time and again by experts that eBay prices are reflections of TRUE market value. I have been shot down by many on various forums for expressing a different view. In fact most values are set by records of public transactions. So, eBay, Heritage, coin shows, etc can all be used to determine a value. But, as I have been told, my opinion is wrong.

gary

 

no that is not wrong.. you are taking it out of context.. BTW one thing that is seriously missed in those "public auctions" is the shipping that they gouge you for.. I recently bought a coin from teletrade where my shipping was $7 + $15 BP + $25 for the coin. so what is the real price of that coin on TT..

Those public auctions are fine for coins $500 and more. about equal 2-500 under 200 - eBay all day long.

 

eBay is a great resource for values but can also be problematic. Aside from 10 auctions ending between $100 and $200, we also have to trust the grades, if any, of the listed coin. Someone with tiny, blurry pics and pawn off a VF coin advertised as XF. At the same time if you're looking for a VF coin and you're wonder, "why'd this coin sell so much higher than Red Book?" it could be because it's actually in XF condition and buyers were able to determine this through multiple pictures of the coin.

 

The fees on Ebay are ridiculuos.
And then you have to use THEIR paypal so they get more of your money

 

More novice coin people have been swarming eBay with some pretty ridiculous stuff. The .99 cent zinc penny for feedback deal, silver roll find junk for twice the face, or how about the one ounce copper American copper eagle for 5x melt? There's got to be a better way to filter through all the baloney.

 

The fees eBay charges drives the prices up on the lowest priced items to where they are not beneficial to either buy or sell. The exhorbitant Postal rates on which eBay AND PayPal both charge a commission mean that an item can no longer sell for 99c except at a loss, even if the buyer pays the shipping. An example might be a book I recently sold. A hardcover modern mystery with a retail price 0f $27.99 that was read one time ans was "like new". Sales price 99c shipping 3.99 totao 4.98 Shipping cost 3.01 PayPal fees 30c +3% = 45c PayPal fees 50c for a total cost of $3.96. Padded mailer cost at WalMart 5 for $3.55 + 28c sales tax equates to cost of envelope to 77c Figure about 3c for the cost of printing your label for paper and Ink. Now we're up to $ 4.62. So for recycling the book, taking it to the post office there is a 36c profit. Not me, no more. I will throw them away and save myself the trouble. I imagine coin sellers have the same problem. Supplies are costly, mailing is costly and everyone wants to get things for less than they cost to send.

I believe if people abandon eBay, the fee structure might change ? IMHO

 

I wish eBay would lower its fees, too -- and, more critically, shift the balance of power away from its current buyer-centric position. But as long as the price you get after fees on eBay is substantially higher than the price coin dealers offer, people will keep selling.

 

I agree!!!
But there going up!!!!:dead-horse: Like everything
+
July 1st shipping will be also a part of finale value fee,U have to pay eBay

 

History Often Repeats Itself

Having been a long time seller on Yahoo before the auction option was eliminated, having sold thousands of items in that venue, and other more current eBay competitive auction sites, I respectfully must disagree with your optimism.

I recently have, currently offer, items on eBid, this site, and others at appreciably less than C.D.N. "bid". These items would sell in a day on eBay, in an organized fashion without receiving unpaid bids, scam messages, etc..

Yahoo discontinued a service that was expanding, drawing some great return buyers with diverse interests. I enjoyed that the buyers on Yahoo were willing to pay a fair price for a like product.

Low fee sites generally attract "low-lifes", without paying the bills that are required for continued operation.

I constantly must respond to the trash received by craigslist viewers who seemingly don't have a "real" functional life.

I haven't heard many complaints about the free amenities, nor the fees associated with selling in the "premier" auction venues (e.g. Heritage), who like eBay offer a quality service at a price that allows elimination of those who might not totally appreciate the service.

IMHO, generally something received for free is appreciated in proportion to the fee paid. :smile

 

I posted my thoughts on ebay in another thread, I might post them here as well if they are helpful at all. My question in this thread though is what are some actual viable alternatives to eBay?

We have a very large inventory and that is a major barrier when we look at other outlets besides eBay, so as of right now the only other one we use is bidStart because we were able to hook it up to our database easily, outside of complaining about eBay, does anyone else have some viable alternatives?

 

Yeah, that's what's so great about ebay - if you're patient you can buy something one day and reasonably sure of getting most of your money back the next day if you had to sell it - or, if you're skilled at listing, you might get more. In the end, I find that on ebay if you're willing to win some and lose some, you can pretty much come out even most of the time. Now and then I've made 100% profit on items I held for less than a year - and so far this has made up for the small losses I've incurred as I improved and refined the quality of my various collections - that would be impossible using "dealers" - and it wouldn't matter what the object - musical instruments, coins, antiques - unlike ebay, where you can buy and sell to and from everyone, dealers always pay less than they think they can sell for - not true of ebay buyers - more motivational variety.

 

Probably not if you want my business - sorry - it's just not practical to look in too many places, unless you use your own website and offer great information, super discount pricing and customer service.

 

Ebay fees aren't super low, but they certainly aren't ridiculous. Placed an add in a newspaper lately?

 

Maybe I did not word my question properly. We are not going to leave eBay, We are the top coin dealer on there and intend to remain so. We also maintain our own website with lower prices and what I think is great information and customer service, (although we would welcome any suggestions and could always improve). So my question is about alternative outlets, not replacement outlets.

To make it as clear as possible, if we have 8,000 listings on eBay, 10,000 on our website and another 5,000 coins ready to be listed, can anyone suggest a good place to list the last 5,000?

 

Why won't this thread die?

 

You must work for ebay or paypal...They are worst than ever!!

 

Last time I got fed up with ebay I took my items [mostly antiques] to my local auction house.Some of the prices I relized were way more than I could expect on ebay.One example was a bone handled hunting knife.
On ebay I would have listed it at $9.99 and probley never have got a bid.
Auction house price was $85.00 minus there 25% take.
Several other items performed the same way and I was happy.
When buyers can see in person what they are buying they will often pay a lot more than guessing what it is from a few pictures.
As well, at the end of auction they know they are going home with it.
Works for me.

 

This thread won't die because of the frustration level experianced by many ebayers. Although I would agree with much of what is being talked about, such as high fees I would also say that once you become a power seller many of the fees are reduced. A good example is a one day listing fee of 1 cent per item with no limitations in all catagories. If you have the time then this is ideal to spend a day doing so, listing as much as possible. I have done so several times. Ebay is also listening to the complaints egarding being "buyer centric". It is now providing protections for sellers also. If an item goes unpaid you are refunded your insertion fees. However, the added fees for postage are a ridiculous and unneeded annoyance. Especially so when they notified us sellers to simply charge more for an item to make up the difference and to offer free shipping instead. I know of a few people who are so outraged by this that they are considering a class action suit against Ebay. I was lucky to get in around 2002 and have acheieved power seller status even tho I am a small time seller out of my basement. I'm not going to get rich but I pay attention to the market "What's hot, what's not'. and try not to sell items that just refuse to move. It helps that I maintain a rather diverse offering of items also. The extra money also comes in handy to pursue my real hobbies w/o any cost to me and to spluge a little on vacation, things I could not do especially in this rough economy. It's not for everyone but if you pay attention to trends you can make out okay in the long run.