Has anyone used this site? It is supposed to be mostly police auctions and has a pretty nice coin catagory. Also accepts paypal, just not sure if it worth the risk as they have a very very limited return policy. http://www.propertyroom.com/c/coins
Any type of Police seizure auctions has its risks. There's a real small percentage that actually make out in this type of transaction. But then again, I've seen a couple home runs in these auctions.
http://www.propertyroom.com/l/1969d-kennedy-400-silver-half-dollars-4-coins/8766119 This listing alone, I just don't understand why people are going to pay $26 (so far) on 4 40% halves with shipping of $9.95. It already has 11 bids.
BTW, it has evolved from a police seizure and abandoned property auction site to a site like ebay. Anyone can sell there. Very little police seizure product, if any, there now.
Therein lies the problem with propertyroom.com The items up for auction are not "exclusively" property seized or recovered by the police. From the About Us: "The long story? Founded in 1999 by former police, Property Room originally provided online auction services solely to law enforcement agencies. By statute, such agencies must sell seized, recovered, found, and unclaimed personal property at public auction. If you've ever wondered about our funny name, the cops safeguard all the goodies in the Property & Evidence Room. Over time, other municipal agencies wanted a piece of the action, which led us into auctioning surplus assets for fire departments, airports, fleets, and parks departments. On behalf of all these clients, we manage the entire internet auction process, beginning with the pick-up of items for auction and ending with delivery to online shoppers. Several years into the journey, our growth attracted liquidators and wholesale merchants. Motivated by the fact that we could bring more deals to our one million plus customer base we allowed a select few, hand picked Trusted Merchants to sell on our site. This brought more quality goods derived from store close-outs, canceled orders, and over-stock product directly to you. You would not believe the amount of quality merchandise getting liquidated. The fun never ends." The site bidders fail to read this stuff and actually believe that they are bidding on seized or recovered items and are gonna get the deal of their lives! The reality is that, with such "bidders" most stuff goes way over actual value and coins appears to be the "rule" and not the exception. Like ANY online auction house, your only hope is that nobody else see's or knows about what YOU are bidding on.
Ive used this site in the past to pick up items, no coins or anything, but some neat stuff none the less. This site still seems 'scammy' to me. They always have expensive paintings from famous artists and the coin lots always appear similar. Not saying there is anything particularly wrong with this site, like i said ive used it before, but I dont go overboard with them either. My most recent purchase was a 2006 or 2007 cant remember which now, Final Four game basketball with all the UNC Tarheels signatures including Tyler Hansbrough and Coach Williams. I paid $75 total for it after all the fees, bidding, and shipping. I was quite happy with that price as when i checked signed basketballs from UNC were going for about $150 with only one or 2 names on them. So you can find good deals from time to time up there ETA: I guess it would help if I actually linked to the site I was referring to, huh? http://www.seizedpropertyauctions.com/Home/Index
You can't. They still restrict who is allowed to sell on the site. I think the only non-municipal sellers are basically the same as "power sellers" on eBay.
