Hey group. Done something I never thought i would do, I opened an Ebay account. In a way I feel like I will be feeding myself to the lions. I know many of you have dealt with Ebay and would appreciate any recommendations on some sites that you are comfortable with. From what i have read in here, one can not go by this reader feed back rating. Does pay pal work fairly well? l am mainly looking at certified coins, a few of them Probably NGC or PCGS. Silver eagles mainly. any comments would be appreciated. thanks.
Bama Guy, opening an account in eBay is a good idea, IMHO, even if you don´t see anything right now you want to buy. It gives you the capacity to watch potential buys and monitor their sale prices. I use it like a reference most of the time. I haven´t bought a great deal there, but Pay Pal has always worked for me, its bloody convenient. I change my password from time to time, you do expose yourself to some risk any time you link your bank account to what is essentially an internet debit card. If a seller doesn´t accept PP, it could be because he/she is fed up with the fees. Or it could mean something else.
Paypal works very fast if you have money in the account. if you don't you will have to wait about 4 days for the transaction is complete, unless you pay the seller by credit card through paypal. some basic rules i use are. If the seller hides the buyer's id it could be an attempt to prevent the seller form allowing someone from messaging him warning that it may be a fake. Foreign, colonial coins are counterfeited allot more than us coins although they are defiantly not immune. Lower dollar us coins are more likely to be real than higher dollar coins. See if the seller has a return policy. Most reputable sellers will have something like a 10 day return policy. For US coins i would avoid dealing with sellers outside the us especially China.
Three general rules I use when looking at coins on eBay not already posted above: 1) Both the obverse and reverse must be VERY clear in the photo. If I have to squint or its dark/washed out, I won´t bid. 2) IGNORE the seller's estimated grade for raw coins. Many claim to not know much about grading, but assign one anyway that is often too high. 3) Read all the description posted by the seller, even if it carries on ad nauseum. Sometimes they hide disclaimers in the small print you won´t notice otherwise.
I've had pretty good luck with E-Bay... A few slow shippers (waiting on 3 items now), but I've done OK in the past...
Number 2 is really good !. You can get caught up in reading the description and forget to judge it for yourself.
If you notice a seller tends to have a lot of coins you like, try them out by buying an inexpensive coin or two from them. If you get good service and a nice coin, you now can now bid on some of the seller's more expensive coins with some confidence.
-If you are buying a rarish coin, confirm on the listing or with the seller, that you are getting the item in the picture. -Be prepared to get frustrated at times by snipers (people who outbid you at the last second- sometimes they pay ridiculous prices... but be patient!) -Some international sellers charge extra for paypal (+5%), so watch out for that... Its illegal on ebay.com, but fine on international eBay sites... I mention this because I have actually bought some ASEs from Europe as they sell cheaper there at times than here (once got 3 1996 Unc for $25 each)
I stay away from listings that have: 1) Poor pictures 2) Multiple fonts and colors and assorted other distractions 3) Excess exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and hype (Rare!!!!!!!!! Super Rare!!!!!!!!!! Buy now!!!!) 4) Lengthy terms and conditions 5) Out of proportion shipping, especially if it is "flat rate standard shipping" -- that could mean you're paying $$$ for getting the coin in an envelope with a 39 cent stamp on it. (I don't much care to hear about having to pay for your gas for the car for the trip to the post office either, see #4.) 6) Reserve prices. Don't make me guess. 7) Justifiable negative feedback. I also skip if a high volume seller is below 99.5%. That's a lot of unhappy people regardless of the rating. 8) Hype, as in "This would be $10 million in MS-65!" when the actual item being sold is NG-0. I don't necessarily exclude new sellers because sometimes there can be some nice coins. BTW, I am one of those people who are fed up with PayPal because of the fees, not the other reasons. I gave up selling there over a year ago (wasn't selling coins).
Bama Guy, You probably already know this, but I think one of the most important items is the feedback rating. Also, be sure to know what the sellers payment terms are before bidding. Some only accept certain payment terms.
I've had an account with Ebay for four years and have never had a problem with any coins I've bought there. I look very closely at the pictures of the coins they are selling make sure the picture is of the actual coin they are selling and look very carefully at the coin, if its got a dull shine then most likely its been cleaned. Ive found alot of Indian Head Cents on Ebay that are cleaned, but that particular seller doesnt tell you that, but you can certainly tell. I read over feedback and sellers payment instructions very carefully. If you make a mistake and place a bid with a seller that only takes Paypal and you want to pay with a different method, they'll usually work with you if you contact them. I once bid $990.00 on a common SLQ in VG-8 by mistake. Coins are a very tricky thing to buy on Ebay so be careful!!!
