I found this place and there was a bunch of nice common coins going for around $30-40 last min bids...i tried to jump in and bid bid bid bid bid...ect but I had to confirm email for my account and it took a hr for them to send confirmation. I missed out on a ton of coins...but I got back in therr and boom boom boom...a ton of other coins...woooo hoooo....i mean I can get my collection going. One thing....it said on a bunch of coins that were sitting at $2-28 when I would bid say $29, it would say bid too low and coin wont be auctioned till the reserve is met. But it still shows my bid?? Why dont they start bid at reserve? And other than just keep bidding till the reserve is met, I mean that looks like what I have to do? I did see set bid deal which was like max bid so on one I know I dont have (well there is 40760 I don't have) I set max bid to $45 and it accepted bid but just shows my bid at $45??? I guess I am going to have to have a few days to figure it out.
I suggest taking a step back and maybe watch the auctions for a bit and when you understand the full process and are confident then place a bid. There is no hurry.. coins are always for sale. Deals come, deals go....and another is around the corner. Here is a link to a site that lists recommended dealers and auction sites: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/dealers.html Best of luck!
My understanding is it's a strategy used to drive interest (people who bid once are more likely to bid again)
It worked...I bid on 35 coins. Prob wont win at $3-25 bids but I will bid higher on a few when it gets closer to end date.
This site uses hidden reserves, and displays a bandwith for the estimate of a coin. Sometimes the bidding starts at a certain point, which I find confusing. The more interesting coins are offered by sellers who also hold shop somewhere else. I think the estimates of these are a bit exagerated. Overall, its is a good site to go for coins in the more affordable range. Be sure to check out the fake coins databases before buying, and know what you're doing. Not waterproof, but it's at least one threshold to prevent a fake entering your collection.
I generally don't waste my time on auctions sites that have hidden reserves. Reserves are reasonable, and I have no problem with sites that have stated reserves. But keeping reserves secret is disingenuous and stupid. It's important information that I need when deciding whether or not to bid. You might as well keep the mint date or the type of metal secret, as far as I'm concerned.
I agree with @gsimonel . So they know what would be the minimum price they'd let the go, but "I know something I won't tell". I often see this kind of "sales" from private sellers on Facebook groups "please post your offers and if I'm ok with it I'll accept". Well, let me think about it, no.
When new and bidding on so many, I'd recommend being aware of the additional "juice" (9% is pretty low) as well as the shipping charges. In this auction, there are multiple sellers each needing separate shipping charges (looks like $12-15 each dealer so far) for their specific coins. Other auctions when under 1 auction house, there is a lone shipping charge from the auction house to yours.
Auctions can be fun, but you have to be a aware of buyer's fees, shipping, bank fees and export licenses. It is easy for a "good price" of 50 € on a coin to turn into something ugly. Here's a not unreasonable example: 50 € + 20% Buyer's fees = 60 € 60 € + 20 € Shipping fees = 80 € 80 € + 65 € Export license fees = 145€ 145 € with slightly marked up currency Exchange rates ($1.19/euro) = $172 $172 + bank transfer costs of $15 or 4% markup for PayPal = $178-87 hmmm - let me look at that coin again - not sure I like it as much as I thought. Even without the export license you still get quickly to $100 and buyers fees can go higher than 20%. Read the fine print is good advice, before bidding.
The auction house I like the most has 18% buyer's fees. The transport costs 15 EUR + 1% from the total cost of the coins (insurance). There are no paypal taxes (no idea how). So this is good looking at the bigger picture! I live in Europe and they are also in Europe, so there are no import/export charges. But I've seen cases when shipping is more expensive and there is also the paypal markup. If you buy a lot of cheap coins, when you pay you might realize they are not as cheap as one might think.
Thanks for the info. I never realized all the fees...i got out bid on everything I had, so probably a good thing.
