If you have an ancient coin to sell, how would you price it? One eBay seller has often been mentioned on CT as listing coins for ten times their value, marking them down a lot (say, 60%) and then accepting offers. When a coin is attractive 60% off sounds pretty good already. However, offering less would make the deal even better. Anyone who tenders an offer of, say, 50% of the marked-down price will rapidly find the offer accepted. Why? Even with the two discounts he is still overpaying by a factor of two. (For example, consider a $50 coin said to be worth $500 and then marked down 60% to $200. That might look like a good deal. Offer half and you will still be paying $100 for a $50 coin.) Today a coin popped up on eBay for $220 (from a different seller) with the "Make offer" option: http://www.ebay.com/itm/172600399970?ul_noapp=true If you like it, would you pay half, thinking that was a good deal? Look here on vcoins: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...ing_5th4th_cent_bc_scarce/841208/Default.aspx That same coin is offered at $80 (marked down from $100). That coin, not just a similar coin. Beware of this eBay pricing strategy when you make offers.
Romae Aeternae are notorious for overpricing their coins, no matter the venue. But yes, absolutely - beware of the strategy.
Agreed. It started on eBay as far as I can tell but I've noticed that some items of his on my Vcoins watchlist have doubled or more in price over the past year or so. A shame really because he has a few RR bronzes that are nice enough examples but I am not willing to play pricing games with him and if I have to offer 30% of asking price for a coin to feel like I'm getting a fair price I will just wait for another example.
When we have to play games to buy a coin at a fair (for both) value, I usually don't even bother. When I have tried, I usually end up declining counter offers half way through.
To paraphrase the question we might ask whether your goal is to sell that one coin for the most you can or to conduct your business in such a way your customers will return over and over again to be treated the same way they were before. It is the buyer's job to watch out for problems in the marketplace. If a seller wants to be long term, he might want to conduct himself in such a way that buyers don't feel he needs to be watched.
The practice of overpricing an item then immediately discounting it, is illegal in (at least) the U.K. and Australia. If the item was never actually available at the original price for a reasonable period of time, it's a consumer fraud. This is why I never buy anything from the guy who calls himself a "world renowned numismatist" aka "highrating low price" aka Ilya Zlobin. He has a contemptible attitude towards customers. Stop buying from him, he needs to learn not to treat people like cr@p. I don't mind as much the practice of simply overpricing a coin - IF the seller makes no claims that it was previously available for a more expensive price. Some onus is on the buyer to do some research and work out what a reasonable price is. We all do this when bidding in auctions. If you don't like the price, make an offer (but keep the offer reasonable - sellers don't like being treated like cr@p either).
Well, I agree with everything above and don't try to defend anyone here, but it is up to consumer/buyer to educate himself and if they don't find time or desire to do so, then they are rightfully taken advantage of....
I think we can grant some latitude to a new-comer to the hobby, who is easily impressed by Ilya's YouTube lectures on numismatics (and by that I mean "ineptly reading content straight from Wikipedia"). It's hard to know who is reliable at first and where to get good information. Likewise, i'm not going to blame a naive person who is fooled by a Nigerian scammer. There is a real victim here, albeit one who is easily fooled. Btw I do think massive over-pricing is a sign of unprofessionalism, and I don't see such a business being profitable in the long term.
Agreed, but Ilya, (I once felt a victim of his trap and purchased my first coin from him , $10 coin, for $50) but this guy is "still Killing it", crazy high ratings for crazy HIGH prices and people are still buying from him, how is it possible?
I haven't seen his tax returns so I don't know if he's really making much money. Mostly he sells low grade junk which he probably bought in bulk at auctions, and a few gems - also from auctions - which he's marked up by an order (or two) of magnitude. What's probably keeping him in business is (1) the easily fooled newcomer and (2) experienced collectors who don't care about his morals and use the "make an offer" option to bring prices down to reasonable levels. I don't expect such a business model will make him fabulously wealthy, but it may provide enough cash to just get by. If he wants to be truly successful he should focus more on the customer and less on himself.
There are a number of ebay sellers who way overprice items. Some of those same sellers I see on Amazon, Vcoins, ect... As already suggested, buyers need to be better educated not to get burned. Yeah, I've been burned, and it made me get proper knowledge of what it is I'm searching for before purchase. Obviously if its a trusted seller sometimes I buy then have fun researching the coin.
ole Ilya... lol, i've bought several coins from him and, like all i think i overpaid. but he gave a lifetime guarantee back when not a lot did and he's good on his word. i haven't bought any in years, but emailed him awhile back on one i couldn't remember the history on and he's was more than willing to help and answer any questions i had. that's worth something.
Lol he's never answered any question I've sent him. But that's probably because we he can detect a snide and sarcastic tone. I don't think he has enough expertise in numismatics to be of any help to anyone. He's a salesman not a numismatist. Is his lifetime guarantee worth anything? Under what circumstances will he admit a coin is not authentic and refund your money? Used car salesmen offer guarantees too - often these exclude almost everything that could go wrong.
The one and only coin I bought from Ilya was about 20ish% of his "asking" price and less than half of his "sale" price and was pretty average retail in my opinion. I don't know how many people actually pay anywhere near his "sale" prices but I doubt it is too many.
I am so very glad I didn't find HighOnSomething when I first began buying ancient coins online. (I have a feeling his junk coins wouldn't have impressed newbie me anyways...)
In the OP I wrote This morning sent me their "new listings" in my areas and, low and behold, that coin was listed and when I clicked on the link it was "Buy it now" at $330, up from $220. The remarkably high price was raised!
This is now what we call proper business practice. The days of the honest shopkeeper seem numbered. It is not just coins. Lets talk about books. A recent thread here recommended a book. I went on Amazon and found it new for $27.87 and used starting at $9.98 and going from $51 to $202. Several associated sellers listed by Amazon offered new copies for $23 to $33. I ordered the $9.98 one. A few days later I received a note that my order was cancelled because the book had suffered water damage and was moldy. They did not charge my card (at least not yet). Today that used seller still lists the book at $9.98 but I'm not reordering it. I may order one in the future when their state of the art software reprices the $202 one at one cent or I come up with enough books I want to get free shipping. I'm certain the business minded among you understand how it is worth their while to pay software wizards to write software to autosell used books and make me yearn for the days when it was the little old man in the used book shop that was moldy rather than his books.
"I will not intentionally misrepresent the value of any item, and I will not take unfair advantage of non-professional customers, be they buyers or sellers." https://www.vcoins.com/en/CodeOfEthics.aspx
