Explain mechanics of buying end of WWII coins on the mint website.

I haven’t bought from the mint in decades but thought I would take a chance on the end of WWII coins … especially the gold. Correct me if I’m wrong. First, I sign in (I have an account). Then, go to the page with the coin just before noon on Nov 5 and keep clicking refresh on my browser. If the mint server doesn’t crash and I’m lucky, the “Remind Me” button on the page will become an “Add to Bag” button, which I immediately click. Again, if I’m lucky and the server is still working, I go to checkout and pay. Have I got it right?

What happens and how to proceed if the server crashes?

Are there any trustworthy sniping websites for the mint? A script can hit its virtual refresh button and respond much more quickly than a person with a mouse. I suspect that a significant number of the coins will go to folks who are able to use a script. And of course, the bombardment of the mint server by script-generated requests increases likelihood of a crash. If I were a dealer with a good website programmer, I would recruit a bunch of individuals to be buyers and have my programmer setup a script to have these folks be quick virtual buyers. This is yet another reason that low mintage offerings should be done by lottery.

BTW, there’s nothing new about manufactured rarities at the U.S. Mint. Many proofs and patterns in the 19th century were just that.

Cal

 

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1. first paragraph is an accurate depiction of how it works.

2. if the sever crashes, you will get error screens and be told to reload the page, I found it was faster to open new windows and get back to where I was, rather than wait for the page to self reload. even then it will error again if it's overloaded, you gotta grin and bear through it and hopefully get one step closer to checkout. close windows later, just keepopening new ones trying to get one more step to completion.

3. not that I am aware of, however I found that starting a purchase of something else that is open for sales, when it's calm and setting up a word or xl document with all the information to fill out all the purchase details and copy/paste to get through it faster helps. also if it crashes while entering a credit card, you'll need to start it over, having it set up to paste in is way faster.

I am sure there's better ways most likely, I'm not crazy knowledgeable on computers, but that's what worked for me with the 2019 S ERP.

If I remember correctly, there was no autofill or saved information to push through on the sale quickly it all needed to be entered, also, I don't think paypal was an purchasing option either.

 

Thanks for the info. I have some follow-up questions. On opening new windows, do you do this by right clicking on some link and choosing open in new window, or by entering a URL in the address box? If the latter, what do you use for a URL?

If I understand correctly, the address, phone number, credit card, etc. that I have in my user profile won't be used, and I'll have to enter the info anew to make the purchase. Right?

Cal

 

I have windows, I should have said "new tab" and not "new window".
I click the "+" at the top to open new tabs then copy paste where I was. like now, I'll highlight and Ctrl C the page address, on the page at the start, if it were to drop out for some reason, I'd hit the "+" for opening a new tab and Ctrl V and be right back where I was before the foul up to give it another shot. just remember to Ctrl C the page before you start or move to the next one.
My opinion is it's too late if the page crashes to open a new window back to where you were, the link at the top will be the reload screen link. best to copy and open new tabs and past in where you were before it goes down or you might find yourself waiting for the auto refresh to happen.

it's how it worked on the 2019 S ERP sale. it all had to be reentered. it's like when they activated the sale, and the website started crashing, it didn't have the ability to autoload or recall the data or something, I know the profile and login works for purchases under "normal" circumstances, but it didn't work on that sale, at least not for me, it should have autofilled the "Ship to" and "bill to" also the "saved card" didn't populate either. "check out with paypal" wasn't an option either.

maybe it's better this time but I'd be prepared for the worst, a lot of people missed the ERP last year waiting on the mint page reloads and not finding a quick work around for it to move on to the next step, by the time they got it done, the sale was unavailable and wouldn't let them complete it to a confirmation number. and they got stuck with one in cart but unable to complete.
yeah, just because it's in the cart doesn't mean it's yours.... that was another complaint of people I saw.

 

You can have cards stored on the website. Why would you need to enter in card information?

 

Just saying when the website was crushed with people all at once when they sold out the 2019 S ERP silver eagle last year in less than 15 minutes, none of that autofill stuff worked and the website kept crashing. What I'm saying is prepare for the worst because time will be short and it will be frustrating and frantic to get the purchase done and a confirmation number. And the last thing you will want to do is go digging for a credit card and plugging out numbers assuming it was gonna populate on its own and all you'll need is to enter the CIV code.

He's looking for a shot at the WWII gold eagle. It's limited to 1945 pieces and every dealer in the country is gonna have headhunters out for it and offering bounties. To even have a shot at it, you really should be prepared to deal with and be ready for whatever may occur or lose valuable time.

I do not think the WWII privy marked silver eagle will be that bad with 75,000 pieces, but they are being sold and opened up for sales at the same time so the website will be crushed.

In fact I'd suggest if you're wanting both of them, place two orders. Get the gold first and don't waste the time putting a silver one in the cart also. Do the silver one with more quantity available 2nd. even if that one goes crazy I expect it to be available for a half hour to an hour.

The gold one is gonna sell out in maybe 5 minutes for sure, if it even takes that long.

 

And if you get it into your bag checkout IMMEDIATELY because just because it's in your bag doesn't mean you will get it. They let more coins be put in bags than are available but it is first through checkout that get them. It may be in your bag but if 1,945 get sold before you check out you will be told you have an invalid item in your bag and that you have to remove it before checking out. That's why John Burgess says if you want both make two orders and go for the gold first. If you try to get both in one order the gold will be gone before you can check out. If the site doesn't crash I expect the gold to last maybe one minute at most. There will probably be thousands of people on the site trying to get them at 12:00:01