Yeah I think auctions are great for the GSC's of the world who have a huge following. They can confidently know anything they list will get plenty of attention and they have the consistent cash flow they need to keep buying and listing the insane volumes. For the smaller stores or just collectors getting rid of doubles/triples like myself I don't NEED to sell to make payroll so I just list BIN and wait it out. As a buyer I've definitely got the best deals at auction. With smart phones these day it's easy to add to watch list and get a notification when it's about to end so you get both the satisfaction of knowing you won and opportunity for a nice deal at the same time. I never bid until last 10 seconds anyways.
I have a store on eBay where I mainly sell non-coin/currency items like other types of collectibles and video games. Three things I would like to add are: 1) When the OP of this thread says research, look under SOLD and COMPLETED listings at comparable items to get a good idea of going rates. 2) I rarely use the auto-decline option as its gives the buyer too much info and they may try to offer just above that price. If the auto-decline is too low, you may get hassled with too many low offers. If it is too high, it could scare buyers away from other similar items you are selling that you have more wiggle room with. 3) On high-end items, ALWAYS insure for the full value and signature requirement is a MUST to cover you in case of a lost/damaged item. Been burnt enough times to learn this the hard way. Great thread.
When a listing has a BO option I always feel like a chump paying full asking price. I'll usually initially offer less than I'm willing to pay and hope for a counter offer. Once made an offer of $150 on a Merc listed for $190. Seller got big time pissed and replied with "this isn't a fire sale!". So much for negotiating....
I recently did a BO on an item that I considered WAY overpriced. My offer went through but wasn't accepted. I got a counteroffer instead which I still considered overpriced. I declined it. I looked at the coin again and decided the seller had graded it too high which is why his price was so high. I wasn't going to get into a discussion with him about the grade. I just figured we were never going to come to an agreement.
That's true there are some auction deals especially on things that are available a lot in BIN listings. I also would never sell anything with a no research auction on there. I think a lot of it depends on what you are looking for for how good the auctions can be buying. I generally go for Seated stuff so if it's in auction that I am looking at it it is probably because it is the only listing I can find at the moment really limiting the chance for a deal. Cases like that I'd rather just buy it right away and not have to wait and do the bidding war
Auctions can be hard to predict. If it's a cherrypick, I will put in a nuclear snipe bid. If it's just a nice coin that I don't want to over pay to get, then I draw my limits typically below market and hope for the best. I've been out bid several times, sometimes by a lot other times by just the next bid increment over my top bid. Then there's been times where I was the winning bidder just barely. Just recently I won an item that came within $0.38 of my max bid. You just never know.
True and its doesn't have to be just price or grade. last night I went through a list of my collectible Lincoln varieties, specifcally DDO, and more than 50% advertised were not. All the way from 1917 DDO to 1995. I see now why so many buyers probably come to here and DO NOT believe us when we say , sorry, not it, if they just paid a 100-10000 times it's real value. All except one bad one was uncertified except a few from self slabbers. Of course many had such bad photos I didn't/couldn't see what it was beside date and Lincoln
