Beat out again.

on ebay, what you bid, is what you pay (plus shipping) and most of them combine shipping costs on multiple orders..so, look on the bay...

 

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There is actually at least just as much stuff to collect as coins because anybody can make buttons, tokens and other stuff in what is really an open suppliers’ market. There are far fewer collectors, however, and they spend far less on their hobby than coin collectors do. The “holy grail” of political buttons are the 1920 Cox - Roosevelt pieces which sell for up to $50,000 as opposed to the $10 million for the most expensive coin.

If you go beyond the buttons, the highest priced item I can recall is a George Washington inaugural button which brought something like $225,000 at auction. A coin that sells for that barely makes the auction summary, much less the headlines these days.

That’s why I can’t understand the higher buyers’ fee. They don’t put the money in their catalogs. They are much smaller with often much shorter write-ups. And their auction competition charges buyers’ fees are 15% or less.

 

I've used eBay almost exclusively. I've won some and lost some, but it's pretty much buyer beware.

I've only returned one item and that was a counterfeit fantasy 1928-D Peace Dollar. I was banking on a wrong photo and a genuine Peace Dollar, hopefully a 28 plain (no MM for Philadelphia back then.)

But I've made several poor buys based on poor photos, but was willing to take the risk. I lost a 1796 NC-4 which made me gun-shy spending too much time verifying a find. I now have 3 replacements, so it's not as rare as I believed. But I also just got a 1796 NC-2 so sometimes acting quickly works.

 

The only way I can win an auction on ebay and have a chance is to win is to be there at the last few seconds and put in my best bid. Even then, I might get out bid, but I am not gonna pay a ridiculous amount just to have a coin. There's always another one waiting somewhere.

 

I enjoy bidding at Great Collections as well. Very reputable coin auction site, IMO.

 

After looking at a number of the responses to the question about being out bid. For the most part estimated sell prices tend to be half the final price ends up at. Wholesale pricing is a another form of the estimated sale price. Neither mean very much. It really comes down to the coin being sold. As someone pointed out if a coin only comes on the market a few times over a long period of time there is no estimated price you can go by. Don't even bother with price guides they're worthless also. You need to research that coin and base your bid on what you know about it. A truly rare coin's price will be what ever someone is willing to pay to buy it. Sometimes a rare coin will slide by at a lower than expected price but, there can be a number of factors that can cause this to happen. I've seen this happen when there is an auction with a lot of high end rare coins in it. The people bidding may simply be at the auction for one coin only and if they win it they're done. If they get out bid they may go after another coin. It comes down to available cash. As for the more common coins your better off buying from a LCS or coin show. I'd like to point out one thing about an auction I have seen where you think you were out bid only to see the same coin show up a few month later in another auction by the same auction house. Don't believe it when they say there is no reserve price. There can be situations that there is no reserve price on a lot but, the actual coin owner may bid on his own coins with the hope of driving the price up. Sometimes it works for them and sometimes it doesn't.

 

I avoid Heritage and others alike, I can do better elsewhere and save at the same time.

 

I just set my bid as the max I want to spend and many times i don't get it, though many times I do. People just kind of get caught up in bidding and you have to be diciplined! Good luck!

 

Yes, I have bought both fixed price coins and won some auctions at David Lawrence.

If you see anything on eBay from David Lawrence, go to their website and pay about 10% less.

Regarding their auctions (they have them every Sunday evening starting at 8:00 EST. I have seen their advertisements for selling coins at auction for between 10% and 12% of the final bid price. So if someone bids and wins at $1,000.00, they pay $1,000.00 - no buyers premium. The seller pays 10% to 12% to David Lawrence or $100.00 to $120.00 in this case. I think it depends on whether you set a limit price, and/or if the coin is worth more than $1,000.00.

I feel a lot better about bidding in the actions without a buyer's premium instead of keeping track of the extra 20% in the back of my mind, or on paper in order to avoid bidding too much.

 

except when you bid 5.00 for a coin, and their fee is 21.00 per coin, it is ridiculous... on ebay a 5,00 bid id just that, 5.00, not a fee on top

 

GC has a 5 dollar minimum so 5 would be 10 plus shipping not 21