I am an E-bay virgin, but am looking at using it for coin purchases. I have recently started working seriously on a non-American set, Germany Empire through Third Reich. The supply of such coins at my local B&M is spotty and has few coins in decent shape. My question - how have others fared in this area using E-bay? Are there any red flags? Any particularly reliabel sources? TIA for any info.
Buying single coins on e-bay can be an expensive proposition. B&M shops and shows are much cheaper, but if you look long enough, you can find nice pieces on e-bay.
Plenty of them on ebay. Also search ebay.de as some sellers from Europe will ship to US. Beware there are fakes for those as for pretty much every coin.
Cheaper coins are often sold in lots, so you can save money that way. I often see lots of 7-12 German Empire coins for sale for a few dollars. Also try to find sellers with a lot of coins you want who offer affordable combined shipping. It's pretty safe in general. The coins you are looking for are unlikely to be faked and most don't get too high in price. In my experience most German Empire coins go for below book value as well.
One advantage I see with ebay over local dealers is the capability to buy collections and large lots. You have to be careful and diligent of course, but good deals can be had if you're patient.
Also (and I probably shouldn't give away my secret), if you are just starting a collection you can try sites like Webstore. They don't charge fees so sellers can sell cheaper on there. You can find listings for 25-50 cents apiece sometimes.
I agree with large lots on Ebay for more common coins. Also, try going to larger coin shows in your area. Most areas have at least one world coin specialist.
You can also check out www.delcampe.com which is a collectibles auction house in Belgium. The hands-on owner, Sebastian, reads and writes English, and unlike the CEO of eBay, often answers questions and investigates complaints personally. Be careful about POSTAGE, however. Due to their location in Western Europe, they have tons of German coin listings in all price ranges.
I appreciate you all taking the time to advise me. I hadn't even thought about postage. What is a typical postage cost from Europe to the US? Does taking postage into account when deciding how high you want to go put you at a serious disadvantage relative to bidders in Europe who may get lower postage rates?
Yes, postage is huge. If I really want one particular coin, I also try to find other coins from the same seller in order to be able to combine the shipment. Buying one or two common coins on Ebay is probably the most expensive way to collect. The postage will simply eat you alive. If you wish to do this, stick to US sellers mainly, and find some that offer free postage.
Postage depends a lot on how the seller is shipping it. If they just use a normal envelope and stamp, it can be very affordable. If they are using bubble mailers or certified mail, it gets more expensive. I have had sellers using certified mail on $2 coins, which is just silly. bubble mailers shipped to or from overseas can get expensive quickly.
Bubble-mailers are expensive because they travel as parcels, not letters, due to the thickness. As I wrote in another thread here, bubble mailers are worthless anyway; cardboard's better.
