Artificial Toning: E-Bay Selling Experiment

I was browsing E-Bay the other day and I found an artificially toned 1964-D Washington Quarter that looked like it was going to sell for near melt value. The photos were really quite bad and I thought to myself, I could make that coin look much better than that.

WASHINGTON quarter 1964 90% SILVER Rainbow Toned - Item #SQ12




So I decided to place a bid and I won the coin for a total price of $4.50 including S&H. I took my photos of the coin and they are quite a bit different.



Now here is the experiment. If I list this coin on E-Bay, what price do you think it will realize? More? Less? Who Cares? Why?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Yes, I will include the words "artificial toning" in the listing title. I will not hide the words artistically toned in the item description like the original seller

 

I say more because your pics look better. Some people like those AT coins.

 

$25 because they're fools

 

I would say that you will get at least triple for it, even with the words ARTIFICIALLY TONED in 48 point type or H1. However, it is such an obvious shake-and-bake coin, it will be amazing if people actually belly up and buy it. My guess is $20.

 

id rather keep it, i find the coin attractive

 

I say more. Good buy!

 

I think you'll get more. Aside from the AT, your photos clearly show that the coin is in decent shape.

 

so how did you do?

 

You should get more. I have seen coins that are so obviously ATed, but they still get bid up on. I guess some people either don't care or don't know what AT is.

 

I think you could get more, but I don't know if I'd sell it, for fear a bidiot would buy it and then leave me a neg when he figures out what AT means.

 

No pain no gain!

 

Would you be afraid that your eBay I.D. may become synonymous with AT coins? That could impact your customer base. Just a thought.

 

I have sold AT coins before. The key is to treat the coin like a red headed step child in your item description and make sure that you include "Artificially Toned" in the title. Trust me, nobody is going to see this listing and think that I am trying to pull a fast one. And my customer base consists mostly of people looking for slabbed coins. They won't even look at this thing. I am really not worried about this little experiment hurting my E-Bay reputation or ending up with negative feedback.

 

more

 

your pictures make it look really nice, definitely more

 

I voted "more".

Here is the original seller's photo after correction with Microsoft Picture Manager. It may have sold for "more" with the corrected photo.

 

AT noted ebay rules I am sure Lee knowledge is very good plus a A+ seller.
I am glad Lee posted this AT toning . We all need to remember or learn toning on any coin.

It's one thing to do with buying on bay Learn what real toning before bid or buying on ebay

 

The coin sold for $6.51.

After S&H costs, I broke even. But the winner hasn't paid yet, LOL!