Selling coins for family friend

I recently volunteered to help a friend of my father in law who is trying to sell a bunch of his stuff sell the coins. They were collected by his father, who is now deceased, and he's not a collector himself. In my experience, when someone who isn't really a collector says they have a great coin collection, it usually turns out to be some state quarters and 1950s wheat pennies, so I didn't know what to expect. Well, today I got the first bag of coins from him and was pleasantly surprised to find out they are the real deal.

I don't know where they originally got the coins from, but I checked all the dates and it's almost all common stuff, and most are well circulated. There are a lot of silver Washington and Standing Liberty quarters, silver Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, a few war nickels, a 1937-1947 album of halves only missing the rarest date, about 45 Morgan and peace dollars and probably a few hundred buffalo nickels. There were also two gold coins, which I am attaching pictures of. They are both 1981 from the American Arts series. The Willa Cather is half an ounce, while the Twain is a full ounce.

What I'm leading up to here is that I'm not experienced in dealing with this level of merchandise and I need some advice. Basically the question is do I sell stuff on eBay or to a coin shop? I separated what I consider junk silver into one pile and what I feel are a little better into another. I think the junk silver is a no-brainer to the coin shop to avoid the eBay and Paypal fees. I'll probably list the better silver coins on eBay and see how that does. That's a small minority of the coins, however, since most were worn and common. The dollars are tricky. Many are in nice shape, but they all seem to be common dates - a lot of 1921, 1922, 1923. Do you think I should sell these as junk or go the eBay route?

Next is the gold. I looked at completed auctions and see that the Twain is selling commonly for around $1750, and the Cather $850. Gold is $1660 an ounce right now, so eBay seems to be earning a premium, but then a 10 percent or so fee is serious money with a transaction that big, and I need to make absolutely sure it doesn't get lost in the mail. What would you do with these?

Also, the buffalo nickels all seem to be common dates, mostly 1930s or late 1920s. What can I do with those?

I'm curious to see what people think.

Oh, and it's pretty cool to have these two gold coins in my possession. They're probably worth what my whole coin collection is worth.

 

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I would put some pics of these up in the B/S/T section and have us collectors have a nibble at it first.

 

eBay for EVERYTHING! You'll get closer to full value. If I were you I'd do all the junk in one auction so you don't have to ship out 40 different packages. If you put pictures up I'm sure there's people like myself looking for coins and you might have something. This is just my opinion. I'm sure others will chime in.

 

A lot auction is not the way to go. Things don't get seen and the seller does not get full value.

 

Why not post the stuff right here on Coin Talk? Since you already opened the can of worms give the fishermen here a chance to bite.

 

With junk silver?

Im all for listing the dollars individually but the junk silver, yea. One big lot $xx.xx face value.

 

Junk silver is OK to sell in one lot, as you will get at least full melt value. When I was selling junk, I broke it down into $1 to $2 lots, and always got at least 10% to 20% over current melt. 30X face is not uncommon.

 

Not a bad idea. I collect the First Spouse series and have always wanted some of the American Arts coins. You can probably get what you would get on eBay...but without the fees. (although, the ones pictured seem a bit rough).

 

Yeah, but the fees run higher for small lots like that, you're paying a lot more for shipping, and you're putting a lot more time and effort into it.

My big reservation about selling on eBay, though, is the imbalance between buyer and seller protection; if the buyer claims Not As Described, and returns you a box of clad coins, you may be stuck with them.

From the reports I've seen here, many local coin shops make pretty weak offers for junk silver -- it's not at all certain that you'd do worse on eBay, even after fees. If you can get to a local or regional coin show, competition among dealers seems to result in stronger offers.

On Craigslist you'd be more likely to get full melt, but then you've got the attendant risks there as well.

Since another thread pointed out Provident Metals, I've been thinking I'd turn there as my first resort. They pay very close to full melt for 90% silver, closer even than I can get at a show. Drawbacks there are shipping costs and their $1000 minimum (price, not face value, I believe), but it sounds like you'd be well over that barrier. They also pay well above melt for common silver dollars.

 

Do you really think eBay is a better value when you factor in the fees? I need to check how much my local coin shop is paying for silver, but when I sold there in the past they were pretty fair. Back then they were selling for two times face value more than they bought for, so if a purchase was 25x face they'd sell for 27x face. And with the gold I think I'd rather sell in person at a shop because I'm awfully nervous about something that valuable getting shipped. I wasn't sure about the dollar coins. Do they usually sell for a premium on eBay?

I thought about listing them on the selling area here, but I just feel like the family members involved might not like that idea for reasons I don't really want to go into. It's one thing if it's my coins but another if it's someone else's.

How about the buffalo nickels? Most have dates, so that's good, but most are not rare dates. Probably half are 1936. I think the local shop pays like 15 cents apiece. Would it work to sell them in lots of 20 or 50 or something on eBay? Anyone tried this or have a better idea?

 

I checked some of my completed auctions... most junk silver sold in the 30X to 34X range, and that's for assorted dimes, quarters and halves. Circulated common date Peace or Morgan dollars sell easily at 35X. Even after fees, still well above melt. My LCS (currently) offers approximately 20X for junk, and sells for 27X. Common buffalo nickels are a tough sell, even with full dates. My last sale was $9.50 for twelve buff's (all different dates). I'll sell these at the flea market from now on, they fly off the table at fifty cents each.

 

I think I know what your concern is. FeeBay does offer better protection than you get here on CT, but if you do list them for sale here, you could specify that they are only being offered to well established members who can provide references.

It doesn't hurt to start here. List them for what you think you could get for them on FeeBay, and if you're feeling generous, discount them by half of what you'd pay in fees if you sold them on FeeBay. For example, if you think you could get $100 for some of them, FeeBay would take $10-14 for fees, so list them here for $93-95.

 

The gold coins themselves are very sought after and should bring a very good premium. You shouldn't worry that much about the fees because the coins are gonna pay for that. I would sell everything on ebay but I would tell the owners of the coins that you are gonna take your time, so that you can list them one by one. The SLQ's are gonna bring good money for each one unless they're in terrible condition.

I suggest you look up the value, selling price of the two gold coins in the pics. Then take them to your LCS and see how much he'll give you. I bet you can make alot more on ebay and that's the route I would take.

 

If your local shop has only a 2x differential between buy and sell prices, they're a lot more generous than the others I've heard about, and I'd be happy to do business with them. Based on jloring's experience, you might do better on eBay, but you'd spend a lot more time as well, and take more risk of encountering dishonest buyers.

I agree with your assessment about selling the gold. If you're a new seller on eBay, I wouldn't recommend starting with gold. Shipping isn't especially risky, but I worry about finding a trustworthy buyer.

For buffalo nickels, you'll certainly do better than 15 cents apiece on eBay. I see rolls of dateless ones going for at least $6.50 shipped, and it looks like the average is $10 or better. Selling them in small lots is a good way to build up your feedback and seller ratings, as well.

 

Depends on how quick you want to turn these. If you want to get it over with I'd go with Ebay and pay the fees. Since you won't have a monthly discount I'd charge a reasonable s/h charge...jmo.

 

I think it's a great idea to sell them on this forum but with that said, you can't expect full retail but I don't see the problem. You ask for payment in PayPal gift. You can't lose that way.

 

I'm not a new seller on eBay, but I'm new at selling something this valuable. I buy and sell low value foreign coins all the time, mostly for a few dollars apiece. So I know how eBay works and I have the feedback. It's just that when you're dealing with real money, you need to do some things differently. Like I need to think about tracking, insurance, maybe some more secure types of mail. I've never dealt with that before since I sell low value stuff. I would like to sell the majority of it soon because the person has a lot more and he just gave me some to start with. He also needs money, so it's important that I get the best value for him that I can.

 

There is a show in Tinley Park with 220 tables next weekend. You might want to shop them around there also.

 

Thanks for the advice, everyone. One more question: If I print postage through Paypal, I know it includes tracking. Do I have to give that to someone at the desk at the post office or can I just stick it in the mail drop?

 

Depends if it fits through the mail drop slot, and if it's the right corresponding category of type of mail (I.E. first class flats, priority, etc)