P.T. Barnum was quoted saying something along the lines of, "There's a sucker born every minute." That's how I feel right now. My luck with ebay hasn't been that great. I recently bought a 10 lb. bag of world coins. Granted, I didn't expect much after being burned too many times on ebay to begin with, but THESE coins are all low denomination, recent, heavily circulated, and cherry-picked. I'll probably see my investment returned in value, but just barely. :crying: Sorry. I just had to get that off my chest. Where do all these people on ebay get these lots BEFORE they cherry-pick them?:headbang: I want in!
"There is no free lunch in numismatics." Another quote, by Mishler, Bresset - one of those guys. And it's true.
if you think of a bag of coins as an investment that is your first problem. people sell on e-bay to make money not for "you" to make money.
Unsearched coins sources: Local police departments (parking meters) A. Make an agreement to purchase their coins at 5% to 10% above face value. Full Service Banks A. Circulated rolls of coins B. New coin rolls C. Exchange paper currency for all the coins in bank tellers till Mobile Ice cream vendors A. Make an agreement to purchase all the change brought in daily at 5% to 10% over face value Salvation Army and Goodwill stores A. Purchase all coins daily or weekly at 5% to 10% above face value Offer the same deal to laundramat owners, vending machine owners and local governments collecting tolls (highway, freeway and bridges). That should give you plenty of unsearched coins look through. Clinker
I'm shocked to hear that ebay has individuals that sell junk and garbage. And here I always thought when they said UNSEARCHED, it was true. :whistle:
Here is how you can turn a profit. Go to your local coin store and buy a couple hundred flips. Put your coins in flips and the photograph them. List them on ebay individually or in groups of 2-3 coin lots and include the word "rare" in the title. Offer each one with a starting bid of $.99 and make S&H $2.99. Make up a story about finding these in your grandma's atic or in a old desk drawer that you purchased at auction. It also helps to say that you know nothing about coins but that you know these are rare because you have never seen anything like them before. If you list it, they will come. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
That's what happens when you buy stuff on internet or on the TV. Just don't! If you really want to always read the fine print, or ask them questions!
Well, I'm just going to chalk it down as a lesson learned and find a local dealer who will give a good deal on foreign coins or even do as Clinker suggests. (I've actually thought about approaching our vending machine guy at my job, but I don't think he's a boss. He can point me in the right direction though.)
I bet the vending guy would swap out for face value so he won't have to lug around a HEAVY bag of change! Good luck.
I just sold a bag of world coins, which of course I did examine and price, to a neighbor friend. All low grade, but the current retail value is roughly 35.00. I sold it to them for $6.00. I suggest if your seeking purchases as that, you will probably find better sellers here, or even your local coin dealer. Not EBAY.
in my opinion, this is an example, not to stay away from ebay, but to be careful on ebay and to only stay away from ebay if you don't know the warning signs of a fishy or "too good to be true" deal. In other words, you have to know exactly what you'll be getting before bidding on it, and stay away from the listings with a stock photo that doesn't say anything about the exact coins you'll be getting. But having said this, if you're considering bidding on a roll of Mercury dimes, for example, and all you see is a picture of a roll of dimes, as long as it looks like a real photo and not a stock photo, than it's probably ok to bid as long as the seller has adequately described what you'll be getting. Things to look for in the description would be the average condition of the coins, even if it's a generality such as "average circulated". If the seller doesn't have an adequate description except for the item title, it's still ok to bid as long as the item title is clear and the picture given is an actual picture the seller took and not a stock photo, which it's very easy (most of the time) to tell a stock photo apart from a photo the seller actually took because the stock photo will have more of a professional look to it than a photo actually taken by the seller. If you do bid on a roll of Mercury dimes on ebay, as long as it meets the bare minimum requirements (which is a real photo of the coins you'll actually be getting, even if they're still in the roll when photographed), my rule of thumb for bidding is to never bid more than 10% to 20% over melt value for rolls of mercury dimes or any other silver coinage I happen to want to get on ebay, other than that, I only use ebay for coin collecting supplies such as 2x2s and staples for the stapler I have for the 2x2s. My point in saying all this is that you should be very careful and to make sure you know what you are buying before you buy it, especially on ebay where there are people who want to rip you off. The reason some ebay rip people off like that is to spread their collection thin so they can overcome those expensive selling fees, so they draw people to their lots using words like "unsearched" to create a sense of mystery even if they've obviously been cherry-picked so they can sell more lots of coins for more money. My advice is to stay away from those lots of "unsearched" coins on ebay, and if you want unsearched coins, it'd be better to get rolls from the bank for roll seaching than to get "unsearched" coins on ebay because they really aren't unsearched, that's just a ploy that sellers use to sell their collection to more people and all that does is spread their collection thin.
Get to know your coin dealers. The more you talk to them and circle around the coins, they'll figure you out. You should start noticing the one(s) that are helpful and seem to be giving you good deals. The longer you stay, the more you gain. Heck, I have a dealer not far from my bus stop. When I miss the bus, I buzz over there and hang out. I probably spend $200 a year with him, but he doesn't mind me hanging out - I suppose it even looks good - as if he has customers, etc. He knows what I like and he lets me know when he has something I might be interested in - even on my extremely limited budget. He isn't an idiot - he's just nurturing me for when I win the Lottery!
