do you guys think this auction is a good deal? if the collection is unsearched, how do they know they are 5 1909S VDB'S in the entire collection?
I dont think I'd try it either Coinlover. I read over the auction description and I dont get a good feeling about it.
I'd stay away.....these are usually scams where you get some wheat cents and a few junk pieces of silve.
Seeign as how almost all of their auctions are wheaty hoards and sold by weight, it is a good deal if you want to sort. Other than that, a $300 bag of misc coins is a little risky. Half roll of steels? Unless they are blue and uncirc, they dont mean much to me.....I spend my circ steel cents. Question is, is it worth it to you?
No way, no how. They have perfected ESP, or they are lying about the "unsearched" or they are lying about the 5 VDBs. If you don't believe in ESP, the only choices left are that they are liars! I really don't care which statement is the lie
I think they are basing that statement based on what previous buyers have found buying their lots of wheat cents. If they're applying that to this collection, at best it's an estimation based on past results. (They may have also intentionally salted the collection with 5 1909S VDB's randomly... they'd still come out on top if you average the cost of 5 of them amongst 1000 lots selling for $300 each. It would only cost them an average of about $7.50 average for each lot, that they're selling for $300... so it could very well be an honest claim and they'd still make a profit. I'm guessing they probably added this coins on top of the lot of unsearched wheat cents.) This may or may not be worth what they're selling the lots for, depending on what you get. Personally I wouldn't pay that much unless I know for sure what I'm getting is worth at least what I'm paying... but if you like to gamble, go for it... Wouldn't call it a "scam" per se... if you like sorting through big lots of coins, this isn't too bad a deal, but whether it's worth it or not is a matter of luck. Edit: Upon reading the auction closely, they are apparently doing exactly what I thought, each bag gets a key or semi-key wheat cent randomly added it to it, amongst the 1000 bags, 5 of them get a 1909S VDB added to it. That's how they know, the unsearxhed claim applies to the rest of the wheat cents the bags already have before they add the extras.
Salting lots with a few keys or semi-keys is a standard practice for large bulk ot sellers (large sellers of bulk lots, not sellers of large bulk lots.)
in todays market, i seriously doubt there are any wheat cents out there that have NEVER been searched ... so anyone to make the claim they are unsearched is just 'ignant'
I personally think in instances like this, they intentionally throw in a key date here and there, so they get feedback stating such, and it generates interest.
That kind of false advertising is not limited to EBay, or even to on-line sellers in general. In the Business section of today's Los Angeles Times an outfit called First Federal Coin Corp. is advertising a "half troy pound" (6 troy ounces = 60 wheat cents) at the fantastically low price of $19.95 plus an unspecified S/H ammount! There is one brief, small-type, mention of troy weight, but "half-pound" is in large letters twice, and there is even a mention of a "Giant 2-Pound 'Collector'" bag. The ad is obviously calculated to make people think they would get an 8 av. ounce half pound (~66 wheaties) or multiple. But six troy ounces contain only 60 wheaties - maybe 61-62 if there are some steelies included. Cents: I'll bet that thousands of gullible folks will jump at this chance to buy wheaties for only 33.25¢ each (plus S/H) before they disappear from the face of the earth. BTW - to find out the S/H charge you have to either register on their website, or go through the whole telephone order process - so I don't know how much it is, but at only $4.95 it would add another 8-1/4¢ for a total of 41-1/2¢ each!
This ebay seller "estates-by-weights" has been running these kind of auctions for the last few years. In my opinion, No different than the coin sharks you see on late night TV.
