I think you all know by now I am new at this hobby and knew very little about the ins and outs of all of this. Here is my new question. WHO establishes value? Today I spoke with several coin dealers who I found on the internet...all had membership associations, etc. I have a large amount of 2004 P Peace nickels to sell...when I spoke to these dealers they all told me that eBay is no way to establish value. I asked why not....if on ebay someone is willing to pay X for an item, isn't that an established value. I see ebay as a real market, yet these dealers all kept telling me that ebay is no barometer for value. Do they want me to believe them so they can low ball me an offer. I do realize that if they purchase something they have to have room to turn it around for a profit....so who do you believe. At this point I am trying to figure out the best way and the best market to sell my supply. Right now I am leaning toward ebay. Where I live there are no dealers or shows. What do you think? Thanks again in advance.
The vast majority of all dealers will tell you the same thing. And to a degree they are right. The reason is because there are too many people on ebay who, all too often, pay too much. Experienced collectors know they pay too much - dealers know they pay too much - everybody knows they pay too much - except the people doing the paying. But if you know what the going rate is for a given coin, you can recognize when somebody pays too much and ignore that sale. You can also recognize when a coin sells for too little - and ignore that sale. Then and only then can you use ebay to establish a value for a given coin. Another thing - say you buy American Silver Eagles or Gold Eagles - slabbed as MS69 by one of the top TPGs. For some of the ASEs you might pay $50 or more each. For the gold, let's say the $5, you might pay a couple hundred for some dates. But if you took those same coins to a dealer to sell, he'd offer the Grey Sheet rate, which would be just over bullion value in most cases. And you'd look at him astonished. But 99 out of a hundred dealers would make the same offer. The story would be much the same with most modern coins, slabbed or not - you'd get an offer that you would consider rediculous. That's because most established dealers consider modern coins, regardless of grade, to be so much pocket change. Many collectors do as well.
In most cases you will be better off selling on eBay. Even with listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, etc., you will get more than what a dealer offers. And in many cases, buyers can get it cheaper on eBay than from a dealer (or, along the same line, some eBay sellers' buy-it-now prices). I think eBay is a fantastic barometer for coin prices (or just about anything). Think of all the auctions (for any type of item, for that matter) that never get bid on when the seller sets too high a starting bid. The seller wastes time and higher listing fees for the higher starting bid. Yet a seller starts the bid at one cent, and the auction generates much more interest, and the market gets to determine the value. Often the winning bid surpasses what would have been another seller's high starting bid. On eBay, under advanced search, enter your search string for an item you want to sell and check the box "completed listings." Note the final bids of past auctions and you can analyze what people are willing to pay for an item.
You might say, when you sell on Ebay you sell at the retail price, but when you sell to a dealer you receive the wholesale price. So you are out the bid/ask spread on the coin. But Ebay is more work, involves fees, is slightly more risky, and is never a sure thing because you commit to selling the coin without knowing what you will receive. Dealers and Ebay are really two different markets selling the same goods
Sell on ebay but never, ever buy there. You don't realy knwo what your buying, who your buying from, etc. But naturaly sell there. There is really no set price on any coin except it's face value. A coin is worth what someone will pay for it. Sort of like a house or car. Note that with a used car, for example, you can get one price for it in one state and a completely different price in another state. If it's a convertible, try selling it in Wisconsin in the Winter. Coins are similar. If people want it the price goes up. And remember that at coin shows, dealers, coin shops the quantity of customers are limited. On ebay you are exposing your sale to possibly millions of people. If a coin has a mintage of say 500,000 and 10,000,000 people are using ebay and looking for that coin, your price may go up substancially.
