Any eBay success stories out there??

I have been reading several of the eBay threads on CT and as usual, they offer a ton of excellent information. And I don't want to duplicate a thread, but I think I have a different kind of question.

MY specific question is, is it possible to get a good deal on ebay and has it happened to you? Can one get lucky (or be persistant), bid on a coin, and buy it at a "good price" (by good price I mean buying it on eBay and selling it soon after on eBAy or anywhere else for a profit)

OR is it the case that there are just so many collectors and dealers watching EVERY single coin, and the eBAy market is so efficient, that it is impossible to find a "good deal"?

Any success stories out there?? THANKS!!

 

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I work nights, so I search for coins early in the morning while most others are working. One day I spotted a guy selling 5 rolls of taped up tubes of 1943 steels. His description said he could see some rust spots on some of the coins. I threw a bid of $10 bucks for all and won at $8. When I got the rolls, they were all unc., with just a few coins in one roll with light rusting on the edges. 2 rolls P, 2 rolls S and 1 roll of D's. Could've made a nice profit easily, but I still have them. Sometimes nobodys looking.

 

I bought a NGC First Day of Issue Cover George Washington Graded P=MS66 & D=65.
Well I won both covers for $55.00 each. The seller had crappy pictures and the auction ended at a wierd time. I sold one of the covers the next week for $250 and sold the last one for $158 a few weeks later.

I have more but these were the best.

 

Yes I consider almost all my buys on ebay good otherwise I wouldn't keep going back. It's fair for me to say that the most I ever spent on a coin was $259 for a gold Liberty and I very seldom spend more than $100 dollars. There has been a couple of buys that weren't that good and a couple more which were my fault for not sticking to my high bid in the first place.

The two that were the sellers fault were these. One was for a token and I got my money back and the other was a coin that was cleaned. Alot of cleaned coins you can tell right off even from a pic but some of them you need to hold in your hand. Especially true when bidding on an older foreign coin. I got a cleaned peso but I decided to keep it. I wrote in the small comments that the coin was cleaned. This may happen alot I would think. If you choose to go on ebay you just need to be very careful and never, never buy on impulse. If you do your homework on the coin, and you name your price as high as you will go, then stay there and don't go up that should increase your results. If you get anything that is different from what was said then its up to you what you do about it. as always, start out small and work your way up.

Oh my first choice would always be to buy in person and not even go on ebay, but that's just not always possible. good luck if you roam on the bay

 

I'm a bit of a half cent junkie. In 2006 I saw an 1833 listed in "good" condition. The picture was almost black, but I could make out some faint detail on the reverse that showed some >good detail in the leaves. I bought the coin for $33.

I knew I was taking a chance so I fully expected to get screwed. What I received was an MS-64 brown 1833 half cent, die state 7..."extremely rare" according to Breen. The clash marks are so heavy that the "CA" is clearly visible above the head (no magnification required). This is one of my favorite coins.

In 2007, I bought an AU-50 1804 "Spiked Chin" Cohen-5 (R-4), Die State #6 (I call it the "Frankenstein" half cent). Someone didn't know what they had and I got it for $157...what a deal!

Unfortunately, one must endure the "slings and arrows of outragous fortune" to brag about some lucky finds. The thrill of the hunt is what makes eBay so much fun.

 

definately. thats why I use it. I bought a 1946 rossy PCGS Full bands today for like $5 dollars. And 18 presidential dollars for $5 dollars. $13 under face value. And a silver proof PR69 dime for $3.00. I think I did well today.

 

I just bought a 1939-s Walking Liberty Half MS67 NGC - CAC for $910 (shipping incl). Looks beautiful. We'll see for sure when I get it.
Maybe you CAN get at least a reasonable deal on eBay.

Can't get a hit without swingin'

 

EWWW ohhh. nice coin

 

I didn't buy these on ebay, but I got 23 mercs for 23$, sold them the next day on ebay for 36, and they were all pretty worn and common dates

 

I can say yes. I was trying to help a fellow CT member get a good bid on a 1922 no "D". I actually got it cheap. Thanks Sean. It still has a good home:smile:smile

 

well I bought 13 mint sets that I could most likely get alot more then the $101 that I paid... I think that's a good deal in the way your talking about. You gotta be on the lookout and never be solid on exactly what you are bidding on. Too many people are like that when it comes to fee-bay and end up overpaying. and you can't profit if you over pay for something...

 

I have several good buys from eBay. How about a 1931-D MS65 RED by NGC), but badly corroded. I payed $192 for it. I sent it into NGC and eventually settled for $450 cash plus a 1931-D nearly all red MS 65 RB.

 

I have won quite a few itmes on eBay that were great deals and some others that weren't. Some of the notable ones was a 1909-P VDB Cent in MS-62BN (heavily toned) for $0.75 before shipping and another was a 1911 Matte Proof Lincoln Cent in AU-55/58BN for (if I remember correctly) $20.75 before shipping. I guess my best purchase was a like new Custom Shop Leupold 6.5-20x50mm Long Range Target Scope with the adjustable Target knobs and Mil Dot reticle. The scope probably cost $1,400 + when purchased brand new or when purchased brand new and the conversions made! However, I got it for a mere $350.


Frank

 

Are there good deals to be had on ebay?
Sure, I guess that's what ebay is all about.
I just bought some early bronze coins from the Roman Republic.
Comparing to the prices on Vcoins, I got them for less than half the price, and in slightly better condition.
As there is always an amount of risk involved with an ebay transaction, I never pay catalog value on ebay purchases, but have at least 20% margin compared to buying at a coinshop. I believe most collectors follow guidelines like this, so I guess that means that in most cases, I wouldn't be able to flip the coins on ebay again for a profit in the near term. But I'm there for collecting purposes, so who cares?

 

I bought 23 error Lincolns for $4.00(shipping included!) I showed some of them in another thread. Broke them into 3 lots and sold the next week for $166.00. My highest profit % ever!!!!!!!!

 

Over the years I've bought many coins on eBay, at prices from <$1 to >$5,000. My very few bad experiences all involved transactions under $20.

Of course I only buy from sellers with clear photos, decent return policies, no ridiculous hype, not on my personal "bad seller list", and Toolhaus records that may not be perfect, but are acceptable after careful analysis.

I have lists of sellers I won't consider dealing with, and sellers I've had good experiences with, both of which I try to maintain as information comes my way.

Probably my best deal overall is the one a few months ago, where I obtained a Meiji 6 (1873) bronze 2 sen in F/XF condition from Singapore to complete my 2 sen collection. I paid quite a bit under the Krause and JNDA catalog values, possibly in part due to other bidders' fear of the source.

The pictures were excellent, and clear enough to carefully compare with coins in my collection already known to be genuine. Right now it's on its way back from NGC, with its genuineness confirmed.

 

it Happens

While bidding on some "my old man's dumping pre '64 stuff"

had bid up to bullion, took a look at "other items from seller",

and although I don't know/collect paper $ on purpose, placed 99 cent bid on a listed crisp $2 note.

shipping was included on added items.

Won the lot. Got the shipment. Coins were pristine!!!!

I felt guilty.

But...it might have been like the case where a guy got a 3 yr old Porsche 911 for $50.

The buyer actually went to look at the car thinking there must have been a misprint~or something. Wifey took the guy out to look at the car. It was MINT! Asked her what she wanted for it, really.

She said "$50 & it's yours."

Turns out the rest of the story involved her hubby had requested she sell the car and send him the proceeds from the car sale..... to Mexico, where he had just run off to with his secretary.:thumb:


it Happens

 

I've generally done pretty well with ancients, though I haven't sold any part of my collection. My best deal was from a guy who was obviously very new to eBay and didn't really know what he was doing. He had no feedback, and he was trying to sell a double sestertius of Postumus that he described as a "Christian artifact" (the coin was from 3rd century AD France and had no relationship whatsoever with Christianity that I could think of), and he only provided this one zoomed out picture of the thing. I checked with a forgery board, and they didn't see anything obviously fake, but it was very hard to tell from the picture. I figured that I'd risk maybe $10 on it, since if it were real, it would be worth over $100. I asked him for a picture of the reverse, and he sent me the high res version of the front as well. Turns out that he didn't know how to crop a photo and eBay just sized it down automatically. The coin was definitely very real looking. I upped my bid a bit, and I ended up getting it for $10.50 with free shipping. The coin is real, and the seller ended up telling me how he was disappointed, since he got it for $90, which itself was a decent deal. I felt a bit bad for the guy, but the coin is now one of the gems of my collection.

 

Don't ask/Don't sell?

The Newest profession vs the Oldest profession

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=330349982747

Up for auction is a penny. It Was Granny's penny.

She left it to me.
now You can own it and the shipping is free.

FeeBay's an auction. They draw their fee.

Now sort out it's worth
and send it to me.

(an example of why Budweiser is perhaps not the best breakfast 8^)

 

I spend most of my time on the bay in the wee hours of the morning. I have picked up a 1974 & 1976 proof set each for $.99 and I built most of my 50 year proof & mint sets off of ebay. I recently got a 1999 clad proof set for $14.00 & $2.50 shipping. sold it to the local pawn dealer the day I got it for $24.00.:kewl: