Is E-Bay a good place to buy?

I agree with Conder, if your interests are somewhat off the beaten path, ebay can be a treasure trove of items not found in any local shop. But, if you are after items that can be found in essentially every coin shop, ebay may not be the best place. In either case, gain as much knowledge as possible before venturing into the dangerous waters of ebay. Scammers abound, although I find the token categories relatively safe (typically not the big money there to attract the scammers). Do not make any large purchases until you are fairly confident you can spot those auctions looking for a sucker.

 

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Not for coins, but I have shopped e-bay for "stuff" several times. I have made a good deal there, and I have been fleeced there as well.

To be honest, I may be the epitome of the "keep it local" kind of guy. It doesn't matter what you're shopping for, if you can find it locally even at a slightly higher price, it's the place to buy. There is no substitute for being able to look a seller in the eye, freely ask questions, get some friendly advice and to shake a hand knowing where you can find the seller if you need to.

I have heard more bad stories about e-bay than ringers... believe me. I guess shopping there is more of an adventure in the jungle, complete with all the intrigue and lurking dangers. If you score, you feel like the "Great White Hunter" guy. If you get way-layed you learn from it hopefully. I'm just at the age where all the drama and calamity is not worth it unless the item I buy is something I couldn't find elsewhere or is substantially less expensive.

 

Hello. I am an eBay dealer and buy there as well. It's definately tough when you first start out, but look for the reputable sellers and stick to learning about what it is you are going to collect and you should do fine. There are still good dealers out there. Ask questions before you buy and the better dealers will take the time to answer. Learn from forums like this one and check your local bookstore for inexpensive books about parts of the hobby you may enjoy. The more educated you become, the better equipped you will be to make good buys.

Robert

 

In my experience many if not most of the sellers charging excessive shipping are doing it simply to cheat buyers. They send out junk coins which are nothing like the stock photo, seriously overgraded, damaged or even a completely different date. If you complain they offer you a refund, less shipping of course.

So for example you buy a coin which ought to be worth $20 which has a $10 shipping cost, so you adjust your bid to $10. What you invariably get is a coin worth $2 which you now have to pay return shipping, with delivery confirmation of course. You then get a $10 refund on your purchase which by now has cost you $25. Either way the crooked seller wins. Most buyers will simply decide to keep the junk rather than pursue the matter and lose even more money. If they do choose to return the coin the seller has made a couple of bucks on the inflated shipping cost and gets his coin back, rinse and repeat.

Avoid the "unsearched" rolls which by a fluke of gravity always have a decent coin on each end and 48 cents picked out of pocket change in between.

Avoid "grab bags" and lots of "unsearched treasure", you are going to get about 50 cents worth of loose change. You can find better coins down the back of your sofa.

Don't buy from China, India or any country with a lot of "Z"s and "K" in the name and if you buy from Nigeria..... well sorry you are beyond help.

Now, having said all of the above, the vast majority of sellers are decent, honest and will treat you fairly. Save those to your "favorite sellers" list. Over time you will build up an impressive list of good sellers. Ask around amongst other collectors and see if the same names keep appearing, either good or bad.

eBay can be a great place for the savvy buyer, but for the unwary.... well if it wasn't an eBay seller it would be a Nigerian barrister looking to deposit $50,000,000 into your bank account.

 

No longer true. Shipping cost is now added into the fee structure.

 

Uhmm J, you do know this thread is over 6 years old?

 

Nothing like updating every six years or so LOL!

 

It's nice to have newbies come to CT if even just to find value of coins they find, but they really should read the dates threads were started.

 

I agree wholeheartly with this statement. If it's common stuff then you are likely better off going to a dealer and building a relationship.

On the other, if you are collecting in the more obscure area's then ebay is an absolute treasure trove. I collect large cents, and ebay is fantastic. I can go to a local 60 table show and get a chance to see maybe 2-3 dealers with an decent inventory. On the other hand I can look through 1500 large cents a week on ebay. Once you get into rare varieties, or rare die states, good luck even finding a dealer with it. On the other hand, I find 3-4 R6+ die state late date large cents a week on ebay and most of the time the seller does not realize what they have. So I can pick them up much cheaper on ebay when I find them then I could even if I found a dealer with them.

Ebay is totally buyer beware, with a lot of really bad deals. On the other hand, if you specialize and know what to look for it can be an absolute treasure. For instance, in the last 3 months I have found 4 1845 n7 large cents on ebay, an R5 coin which I have not seen in any dealers inventory going to 3 Baltimore shows, and I cherry picked all of them.

 

Yes & No!!!
YES if you take your time and preselected the coin & grade your looking for.Buy or bid on a TPG graded coin. then make sure the # Verification match the coin.
http://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/index.aspx
http://www.pcgs.com/Cert/71095809.html

NO if you just snipe an ungraded coin & SGS is not a TPG! it one coin shop that is a self slabbed coin
This group is Anacs Icg Ngc and Pcgs are TPG:kewl:

 

Anytime I buy anything off of eBay I just add the shipping to the bid. If you see a high shipping price, they are probably just out to make an extra buck off of the unsuspecting.

 

I wonder if Hawkeye is still looking to buy a Franklin Half

 

Buying on ebay..............absolutely not.
I learned the hard way. My gains, with the price increase in the silver coins I bought and received, a few months ago on ebay, will never make up for the coins that never showed up. Unless of course, silver shoots to $100.00 per oz.
Remember your buying on blind faith, from someone you don't know. In most cases, you don't know his name or his location.

 

If your main concern is shipping costs then you have to understand the costs of reasonable ways to ship.

A half dollar thrown into an envelope and mailed first class will run $0.44
Between two sheets of cardboard and in a first class envelope will run $1.71
A first class small padded envelope would run about $1.71
A small Parcel Post box would be about $5.10-5.41
A small Priority Mail box would be about $5.10-5.95
A Flat Rate Priority Mail envelope is $4.95
A Small Flat Rate Priority Mail box is $5.20

USPS Flat Rate boxes are free
Small cardboard boxes cost maybe $0.50-1.00
Regular envelopes are maybe $0.01 each
Padded Envelopes run about $0.75-1.00

A trip to the Post Office (for me) is about a 5 mile round-trip.
At $3.60 per gallon for gas and approximately 20 MPG this works out to $0.90

Personally, everything I ship through ebay sales (non-coin) goes in Flat Rate Boxes with costs rounded up to the next dollar to keep it simple and to cover my gas costs.

Many dealers just raise the expected sale price by $5-10 dollars and give free shipping. Who's kidding whom?

Given all of this information, what do you consider to have been a reasonable cost to securely mail your Half Dollar?

 

Eh, I just bought a coin off ebay. It was from a seller who "specializes" in coins. I thought they would pic better coins, but I found a flaw on mine. I didnt do anything about it because it was a mark from when it was made, or so I assume (Elizabeth has a war score) Its a Britannia coin. I suppose I could have sent it back, but I figured it would be more a hassle. The coin wasn't circulated.

Long story short: If I had looked at it and held it in my hand I wouldn't have bought it.

 

And once again, if you'd taken advantage of the Buyer Protection that's advertised with a big badge on every auction listing, you'd be out no money at all -- eBay would have refunded your money in full, including shipping.

There are a lot of problems with selling on eBay, but for buyers, it offers more protection than most other venues.

 

no matter who i buy from i always use my reference material and 50 years of collecting experience.you still will not always be right,so in coin collecting you will sooner or later get burned.

 

people forget that eBay is proBuyer. Buyer is the king and valued as such by eBay.

Whom to blame when buyer doesn't make due diligence, never requests better picture, doesn't want to participate in hassle etc etc.
So far I had a very good experience selling on eBay ... with all items delivered as described ... with some items I've sold being lost and me kept responsible ... As of buying, I do it as well. Receive mostly good stuff because if I don't like something I do ask additional picture or move to another item.

Oh, almost forgot, eBay world is smaller for me as very few ship overseas.

 

You two know this thread is 7 years old right?

 

so it makes it irrelevant, right?