Are eBay sellers having problems recently?

I buy 5 or 10 coins a month on eBay and the good buys are really hard to find.
Most are overpriced BIN. I watch 75-100 coins but many I would not buy, just want to see if anyone else wants them at those high prices.
Plus I would like to see the seller lower the BIN price at the new listing, this rarely happens. But I am very happy with what I get, sometimes I pay too much.

 

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I buy some items on eBay with favored sellers, but I no longer spend any significant amount of money on any one coin. I have found more reliable sources. I can only assume there are many more like me out there and that has to effect the coin business on eBay.

 

I wonder how much gc has cost eBay?

 

LOL, Yes, The executives at ebay are pulling all nighters trying to figure what to do about GC hurting their 18 Billion a year in revenue

 

They could probably save millions just by getting rid of two or three execs.

 

Personally, I would never buy a coin for a significant amount of money based upon a picture. I will admit to having purchased a coin from AAN for $198 (Silver Eagle) in an ICG holder. It is a part of some phony "Memphis Hoard". That taught me a valuable lesson about mixing beer and coin purchases. I could have sent it back but I bought it in good faith so I kept it. I will buy an E-Bay coin up to about $150 so that my chances of getting a bogus or doctored coin is minimal.

 

I have been running a bunch of no reserve auctions lately starting at $.99 and they have been going very well. From $5 low end coins to $20 gold pieces... Not too many disappointments lately.

 

leg 'er down a smack 'em yak 'em!

 

Like Bkozak posted, at this time, they're probably not all that worried. But large companies have always gotten themselves in trouble when they were slow to recognize a changing market. Remember Kodak? History has proven that no company is ever too big to fail. I just think the plethora of fake coins (and slabs) on eBay and their lack of policing will lead to a slow migration of buyers from the site.

I still browse eBay, but I find the nicer coins to be high priced Bins. I've bought the majority of my $500 + coins from auction houses. Before I started purchasing from them, I did buy some $1K + (FMV) coins on eBay. It's not the first place I look for coins in that price range anymore.

 

I think sellers are just getting smarter on there. For instance, I used to do what ebay suggests and start bids at .99 cents, 3 or 1 day auctions. Well, I lost a lot of money that way. For instance, I sold an MS65 booker t Washington commem for around 20 bucks. I thought I'd get at least 40. I think sellers are now starting the bidding closer to retail, and they just keep running auctions until things sell.

 

I think the key to getting full retail is posting great pictures along with a return policy and having at least a week long auction. The longer the auction is the more time you have for legitimate collectors to key in on it. If you post a 1 day auction, your just shark bait for the low ball final price. Basically the few dealers or snipers that manage to see it just play a game of low ball chicken and try to win it for cheap. Meanwhile if you actually get a collector or two in the mix you might spark a bidding war which gets you to retail. It also helps to post coins to end when people are actually on eBay. I've won a few coins at low prices because the seller just assumed 4am EST would be a good time for the auction to end. This is just my two cent piece though.

 

I feel like this is being made to look much more complicated than it really is.

Have good feedback.

Have good photos.

Start at 99 cents with free shipping.

Ship to most foreign countries.

No problems with final bid $.

 

But how does this get around getting ripped a new one? I don't want a reserve or my coin to sell too cheap. That's the problem: getting a buyer at the right price for you

 

Some coins will sell cheap, some will do better than you expect. It's about the average. If you sell in low volume then this is not the right format to use.

 

Yeah I agree. I've made good and bad sales, so the average is probably not too bad. As they always say in books, it's good to sell from time to time in order to really see how hard it is to get back your money. It can be hard indeed

 

I never list anything for less than I'm willing to sell it. The higher volume sellers have a lot of people who follow their auctions and are always willing to drive up the prices. If you're not a big player you can't count on that. Silver will probably sell for at least spot, but you might end up giving away $15 bronze coins for 99 cents if you aren't careful.