I am thinking about unloading some of my lower grade silver halves and common date peace dollars that I have doubles of in my collection. What percentage of melt value can I expect a reputable coin dealer to offer me?
That amount is going to vary from dealer to dealer, but from my experience you will arrive at more money by selling it on ebay, even after the fees and shipping expenses.
It doesn't hurt to check around. There is one dealer near here that pays about 95-96% of spot. All the others are well below his prices. Just find a list and start calling. If they won't give you their price over the phone then I wouldn't bother with them anymore. You could also consider craigslist, but that has a bit more hassle and danger than a dealer. Good luck. I am getting ready to sell a lot of mine too.
Absolutely check around. You might get a better price at a coin show where dealers are competing to buy your coins. Some of the buy prices I've received locally from buyers are significantly lower then buy prices quoted at the baltimore Whitman show.
If you are willing to get store credit to upgrade your collection, many, if not most coin shops will give you 100% of melt value. But, if you are just looking to get cash, you should get a minimum of 90% melt value. That is much better than you're going to get from a jeweler or some fly-by-night guy in a hotel for the week.
I've actually sold a roll of low grade Mercury dimes on ebay for $109.06 and after ebay and paypal fees and my shipping costs, I was left with at least $100 for the roll, which would come out to be $27.65 per ounce. when I sold that roll of Mercury Dimes, I think the spot price of silver had just broken out above the $25 per ounce mark and was probably knocking on the door of $26 per ounce, so that's at least a $2 per ounce premium I had gotten on ebay for my roll of Mercury dimes. However, I did achieve that premium by taking the time to list the exact dates that were in that roll, so if you're going to sell them on ebay, I'd suggest laying your coins on a flat surface, side by side, and don't stack them when taking your picture. Stacking coins for a picture makes it look like there's fewer coins than there really is and that will hurt your bottom line. I would also recommend placing in the listing, the exact list of coins that will be in each lot. If you have multiple copies of a certain date that are in the roll, list that date once than put the number of copies of that date that are in the roll in parentheses. An example is if you have five 1954S Franklin halves and your selling a 20 coin roll of Franklin halves, you're listing would be entitled "one roll of Franklin halves" or something to that effect, than in the item description, you would say something like "up for bid is one roll of Franklin halves..." "...The coins in this roll are listed below:". Than in the listing where you list the 1954 S Franklin Halves, you would put "1954-S (5)". For best results, the date should be in bold and the number of coins should not be bold. This helps the people who read the item description to know that the number in parentheses is the number of coins in the roll that have that exact date and mint mark. Including this information will maximize the profits you will realize from the sale of your coins on ebay.
Yes Ben, you did what many people who list on ebay do not take the time to do. A good listing probably increased your top bid by 20%. I know some of these power sellers list hundreds of items daily, and time is a major factor. But, you did well even after all the fees. Congratulations!
"If you are willing to get store credit to upgrade your collection, many, if not most coin shops will give you 100% of melt value. . . " Great idea.
The 3 avenues that work for me selling is 1) ebay 2) coin club auction (at my local club everything usually goes for melt value or close to it, good choice for something quick if you belong to one) 3) PCGS - buy,sell,trade section ( but a reputation is a must, newbies are somewhat frowned on, trust is a big,big thing)
I sold some Roosevelt silver dimes last week when silver was in the $26 area and they were paying a little over 18 times face value. I can't say if that's a good price or not but it was more than I paid for them.
