Being the lone bidder

Have you ever won a really nice coin at an online auction and wondered why you were the only bidder? Just happened to me. First you wonder if the price was too high. Then you wonder if people simply missed it or aren't looking. Or maybe the market is depressed and there aren't as many people available to buy this stuff? I think psychologically it makes you feel better to fight it out with people to establish the price it takes to win something.

I tend to think, well, if I'm the only bidder, then if I decide to re-sell this coin at this price, maybe nobody will buy it? And then you will lose the ebay fees on top of it if somebody does. This is the point at which you say "I'm a collector, not an investor" and you buy the coin because you like it. To h*** with the numbers.

 

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I don't care either way, as long as I get my coin. I mean not to say I want to throw whatever $ at it, but more that I just want the thing in my hand. Depressed market, unknown flaws, current trending be darned. I just want my coin.

 

If you've done your research (grading and pricing) and get the coin for a good price and the coin you receive is the one that was up for sale, then you've lucked out.

I bought a pile of ancients for next to nothing about a year ago. It was Christmas eve when the auctions were ending and everything I bought went for my opening bid. I saved about 85% off on the coins. The coins were far better than the seller's pics showed.

 

I had that situation on a Heritage auction. It ended on Thanksgiving night.
I was the only bidder and got my coin at half of the guides price.
Sometimes timing is everything.

 

I agree with all of you.

Yeah, it can be offputting to be the only bidder. However, it can be offputting to win any auction. Think about it, for evry auction you have ever won, no one else was willing to spend as much for that coin as you. Not to be depressing or anything, but if you can live with that, then you can live with being the only bidder.

In the end its a hobby, and if you bought something you like for a price you like, you did fine.

Chris

 

You mean those are other people trying to take my coins from me?

Doesn't bother me if there are other bidders or not, I always get what I want! :devil:

 

Being the lone bidder is not as uncommon as some might think. I've seen it happen that a nearly identical coin sold a few weeks before where multiple bidders drove the price fairly high. Then another seller decides to cash in on the "gravy train" by listing one of the same only to find that the others who lost out on the previous auction either found another or lost interest resulting in no bids for the latest listing.

Chris

 

Well Im not about to complain. I got a toned MS-64 GSA CC Morgan that is a beauty. My first CC coin. Everybody must have been pre-occupied watching The Bachelor finale.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

That's an important part of the equation.

 

I won a number of Goldberg lots recently, and on several of them, there was only me and one """floor bidder""" who bid me up *just once*. I would much rather have been the only bidder than have someone bidding just to increase my price like that.

 

That is good but these days you get sellers schill bidding just to increase price. If you see auction where the bidders have low feedback and there is lack of activity, it is not always sign of a bargain there is reason why other bidders are staying out of it...

 

Sometimes its because the seller has it ending at an odd time. And sometimes people missed the auction. I've had several auctions slip away because something else came up, and since I don't use a sniping program I lose out.

 

Happens at our coin club a lot.

 

Happened to me once. I was looking on eBay for any lincoln cent-related auctions that were ending soon, and saw a lot of a CHBU 1909, (what looked to be) XF 1909 VDB, and AU 1943, with 0 bids at $12.00. The pictures weren't that great, and the seller had a "No Return" policy, but since the 1909 seemed to have a ridiculous amount of luster, I ended up (manually) sniping it and ending up being the only bidder.

Turns out the pictures didn't do the coins justice -- the VDB was actually a high grade AU...which I sold for $21. The 1909 is simply stunning as well. I think some people just don't see all the auctions that go down -- but hey, all the better for me! :yes:

 

I had it happen a few weeks ago, that part doesn't bother me a bit. Not to change the subject but another thing that puzzles me is when a seller has duplicate items up at the same time and one sells for $45 and the other sells for $68. I picked up a PCGS 1938 D Buffalo in MS66 for $45 the seller listed two of them same grade same date and the second went for $68. I couldn't tell any difference by looking at the sellers pictures.

 

I won a $225 dollar coin on ebay last year for the opening bid of $5 bucks,,,,I guess because the pic he posted was a scan and not a photo which made it look rather dull and showed no luster on the coin,,,,,,I sent it to ngc and it came back as a MS-63 and sold it for over $200 on ebay,,,,I love when people don't bid on coins i'm bidding on. There lose is my gain.

 

I think most people don't take the time to do any scouting for what they're buying. Either that or they don't know how. It's the luck of the draw with who you're competing against. If it isn't something "rare" and the bidding gets out of control you just have to wait for the next auction.

 

Being the lone bidder beats the heck out of the alternative.

I think in general I feel better when I am the lone bidder.

 

I think you're right. There's no point in over analyzing it. There's no point in wanting to pay more for the exact same product. I was very happy actually. Clean, white examples are relatively common but I haven't seen many with a nice full golden tone in a GSA holder. Price was fair. Not a steal but towards the lower end for a 64.

Again it's luck of the draw. A week from now, the same coin could have had 20 bids. It all depends on who's looking during a short window of opportunity. Every week is a new game and prices can fluctuate dramatically.

I think some of the larger dealers with ebay stores have probably got it right. (If you're selling.) You list a coin on the high side for a 30 day auction with make an offer. It covers an entire month of prospective buyers. Maybe somebody comes along and uses buy it now. If not, it's a lot of coverage for receiving a wide array of offers. If it doesn't sell, they re-list and it gets another month of coverage. Somebody will come along and pay top dollar eventually if it's nice.

 

Here's the topic of this thread. It just showed up. I'm the only one on ebay that wanted this. It's in a GSA holder, NGC graded MS-64. Came with original box and paperwork. In hand it looks exactly like the pics. I love the gold toning.