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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1474739, member: 112&quot;]Ya know, the subject of this thread always kind of gets to me, for several reasons. One of them is that many if not most collectors have what I call false expectations. In other words, when the time comes to sell they expect to be able realize full retail, or even more than what they paid. But there&#039;s a couple of problems with that line of thinking.</p><p><br /></p><p>Foremost among those problems is that odds are the collector over-paid when he bought the coin. Now many don&#039;t want to believe this, many more refuse to even believe it&#039;s true. But in most cases it is true. And that makes it very difficult if not impossible to achieve their desired result.</p><p><br /></p><p>Recognize this, understand it, and accept it - with most coins there is approximately a 40% buy/sell spread. That is just a cold hard fact. And it is a big nut to crack for the collector to just break even when he sells his coins. And if you over-paid, that nut just got bigger.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another issue is that most collectors tend to look at things with a very narrow focus when it comes to selling their coins. What I mean by that is that they always think of the realized prices they see on ebay and only focus on that realized number as being what defines whether they make money, lose money, or break on a sale. But that realized number is not what defines it. For from that realized number you have to deduct the ebay fees, currently 15% unless I am mistaken. And then you have to add in all of your time and effort to accomplish an ebay sale. And that is for just 1 sale. Now multiply that by a hundred, or several hundred, or a thousand - depending on how large your collection is. Selling a collection on ebay will take months, and could take years. Remember how long it took you to put that collection together ? Well, it&#039;s little different time wise when it comes to selling it.</p><p><br /></p><p>But back to the numbers, say you go the ebay route. That 15% automatically gives you a loss, if you manage to sell your coin for the same amount you paid for it. And most times you won&#039;t be able to do that. I know you think you will, but you won&#039;t. And every percentage point below what you paid for the coin reduces your realization from 85% on downwards. And if you over-paid by even 10%, which most of us do, at least, then you are automatically down to 75% - without even doing anything. And that is assuming that you have already over-come the 40% buy sell/spread.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, once you look at those numbers and realize what they mean. That offer of 50-80% from a dealer, without all the time and effort it would take you to sell all of your coins individually, that offer starts to look a whole lot better. And not only that, it looks like a fair price. Do you know why ? Because it is a fair price. But because we are human, we don&#039;t want to acknowledge that. Because to acknowledge it would mean that we weren&#039;t nearly as smart as we thought we were.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve said this a thousand times over the years if I&#039;ve said it once. As a collector, sell some of your coins every now and then. That one simple act will teach you more about coin collecting than anything else you can ever do !</p><p><br /></p><p>Now most people who read these comments will do one of several things. Some will ignore it, some will refuse to believe it, some will just claim outright that I am wrong. But eventually, even if it takes until after you die with your collection intact, it will be proven that I am right.</p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t be afraid to open your mind, look at and accept reality, regardless of how much you dislike it. In the end there is no escaping it. For eventually reality will just walk up and slap you in the face.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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