how to sell collection safely

I just sorted and cataloged the many coins that I began saving 60 years ago. Many books and tubes, all well marked and counted. It totals about 6000 coins, pennies thru silver dollars. A few silver cert's and a few two dollar bills. Two gold coins. I don't know how to go about selling the works. Has anyone had this experience that can describe the pro's and con's ?

 

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I think if you know what your doing the best places are the cointalk forum "Want to sell" section and eBay, with cointalk in the lead because of no fees.

 

It depends on what you want Jim. Do you want to try to maximize the value, or get it over with? To maximize the value you probably need to break it down to a LOT of smaller lots than different collectors may like. It may maximize the value but will take a lot of your time, and in the end you will probably have a lot of coins you weren't able to sell. The other option is one big lot. Itemize the items, take lots of pics, and when it sells its over. THis is effectively what dealers do for the hobby, take all of the coins in one purchase, whether they want them or not, and let sellers move on with their lives.

 

What you want to do, is send it all to me. I'll go through it and send back what you should try and sell.

 

Or send it to me. We Guarantee face value!

 

First thing he should do, is search for and remove any rare types and silver coins. Those should be sold on their own, individually.

 

Again, depends on what he wants to do. Yes, that is a good "middle of the road" approach, try to sell any truly desirable coins separately, and the rest as a group. Best/worst of both worlds.

 

Depends on the price range of the majority of the coins. Coin Talk is OK, but there's probably not more than a hundred active buyers; I've had good success here with low-end material. On eBay, for low-end items, the up-front 9% plus PayPal's cut plus postage just eat you up.

Also depends whether you're in a big metro area, with a strong CraigsList. You can do CraigsList safely if you know the tricks of the trade; then you may be talking several thousand active buyers. And no fees, and no postage, since you deal face-to-face.

There's also the periodic auctions at your local coin club, if you have one nearby.

Many of us at CT do not suddenly decide to sell out - we are always selling, always upgrading, always offering unwanted items out of large lots we have bought, so we generally do not suddenly have a monumental task in front of us. For all your silver sets in albums, you may wish to pull out the keys (to sell individually) and sell the rest as "junk" silver, the widely-accepted term for common circulated dimes, quarters, and halves.

 

I'm pretty sure nobody with IQ higher than shoe size wants to give away rarer coins at spot or face value.

 

depends on the person....

 

Lucky buyer!

 

What makes you believe that is what happens? I said itemized description and lots of good photos. I have paid thousands for lots with junk but a few good coins in there. Its YOUR assumption that potential buyers ignore good coins in lots, but as a buyer of quite a few lots I can tell you we look at every coin in there, if the seller provides good enough pictures.

 

... and as always, be cautious if you sell high-value items on Craigslist.

(It almost goes without saying... but someone had to say it)

 

If time is not an issue for you, I would sell them yourself in lots on eBay.

 

I have heard many stories and had a couple of experiences where dealers don't have a clue or don't care past face value and silver/gold content. Sometimes you can even find silver coins in their junk bins for 25c each. Are you telling me they all have the patience, caring attitude and knowledge to approach a large lot purchase any other way but spot and face value?

 

Well, I wasn't referring to taking the lot into a dealer. I was thinking about the suggestion of posting it on Ebay or here on CT that xGAJx made in post #2. So, having the lot, with lots of pics, available to hundreds or thousands of collectors is the method I was thinking about. If you walked all of that stuff into a random coin dealer, then yes, I would say there is a distinct risk of getting very little for all of it.

I didn't mind your idea of picking out the most valuable stuff to sell separately honestly. That is how many do it. I was just saying that is a blended approach to the two extremes I laid out previously. Some people like to list each coin separately, others like to pick out the valuable coins and then sell the rest as a lot, while others just want it done and sold as one big group. It really does depend on what the seller wants, and how much he wants to mess with it.

 

In general, the more time and work you are willing to put in upfront then the more money you will receive at the end. That is an enormous unknown.

 

I just factored in Jim39's preparation and age, and honestly, the lots of photos or ebay didn't really fit into the post for me. I am guessing he's ready to go to a dealer or coinshop. I just don't know of many instances where a private individual just buys a lot for thousands of dollars on a forum, while taking the time to be fair.

 

Maybe Ebay then. I have spent over 4 figures on a group lot on Ebay. I will admit an auction format would probably be a better venue for the seller than CT.