Has Ebay actually changed much over the years?

I sell sporadically on eBay. The fees are terrible, but I can almost always sell coins there within a week. I generally only sell graded coins. It's usually my go to selling things because I'm used to the listing process. Occasionally, you have to deal with a non-payer, but I haven't had that problem but a couple times. eBay is very much on the side of buyers in almost every dispute.

As a buyer, I have found several great deals, it just takes time, patience and a bit of luck. The biggest benefit is I can often search the username online and find a business website or the seller includes a little card with my purchase with their personal website on it. I can usually go to that off eBay site and buy items for a discount because they aren't having to pay the eBay fees. I have at least two sellers I do this with often. I'll see it's their listing on eBay and head directly to their business website.

eBay has LOTS of crap. I don't recommend it for newbies, unless they are buying certified. Always look at recent feedback plus the item location.

 

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I have bought a handful of coins on EBay. I knew what I was looking at and don’t have any complaints. I would never encourage a new collector to shop for coins on EBay. Way too many crooks and dishonest coin listings….. I have amassed a huge collection over the years and often wondered if I may try to sell the mountain of common stuff on EBay when retirement comes around. Unless they can clean house in the interim, I doubt that I’ll do it.

 

Everyone is different but I've been selling my common mass to my LCS.I even asked them and they don't mind since the more affordable stuff sells in mass anyway,quickly also.

 

It's honestly a shame that this is the description of one of the first things you see when you type in searches such as a Silver Eagle or a Morgan/Peace dollar. Here's a tip: if it's from China and under spot, never buy it - and I mean never!

Another thing is that Ebay is the exact place to sell any coins you have such as gold-plated, hologram, "100 mil .999 silver", .24 pure gold coins from the Cook Islands along with their commemorative coins, gold tribute proofs, and American Mint pieces like Liberian gold. Someone can clearly state in an auction that it is only 24% gold, and people still pay 1/10 oz prices for it as though it was 9s. My local coin shop gets them in and sells them for $64.95!

I haven't been on Ebay that long, but I have gotten some good deals. I once got an 1856 large cent that would grade AU-58 BN (I used brown because some AU-58's can have almost full red mint luster) for about $75 after shipping, and the Greysheet bid for AU-50 was $110. I also have gotten 2 ICG-graded wheat cents (1930-D, MS65 BN and 1950-D, MS66 RD) with a combined Greysheet of $58 and a CPG of $71, for $35.35 after shipping.

So, yeah, I have mixed reviews at times, but all you need to do is get yourself a Greysheet, possibly a CPG, and find reputable sellers, and on occasion, you will score big.

 

This forum is focused on coins and buying coins online will always be a minefield. I buy a few but I'm experienced enough to know what I'm looking at before I bid.

But eBay is still my go-to for a lot of other stuff:

• Belts for my 20-year-old lawn tractor
• Center cap for a vintage mag wheel
• Lights and knobs for a 1970's Marantz stereo receiver
• A cheap set of Torx-head sockets, etc, etc.

I don't buy a ton, and I rarely sell anything (fees and postage eat up any profit on my piddly stuff these days) but eBay still has value for me.

 

That's where I'm at. I retired about a year ago. I always planed for the day when I had the time to start selling most of my collection.
Nice coins in slabs are easy to sell using Great collections. I'm doing really well with that.

The raw coins are my problem at this point. I'm not seeing Ebay as a good option. I'm taking apart about 50 albums and that is just adding to the problem. In the old days I would put about 100 coins in one ebay listing and get rid of them. I sold about a 1000 coins and actually made a few dollars over my cost. Today I worry that won't work on Ebay. Returns would be tough to deal with.

I think I'm down to putting groups of coins together and going to dealers that have a market in that coin type. That was never my plan but now seems to be my best option.

 

To the actual question of has eBay changed, what sticks out to me is when I first started buying and selling in the early 2000s it was really focused on auctions and on selling things like collectibles and used items and it gradually shifted to encouraging buy it now and selling more retail style items. eBay might not directly come out and say it but their policy changes all are pushing sellers in this direction. eBay clearly wants to be another Amazon.com and focus on new items with bar codes that are easily classified and promoted. Also when I first started buyers could pay by check, money order, cash, Paypal, credit card, and now it's only electronic payments. Everything is expected to include tracking, even if the item costs 50 cents. As for what's for sale, there's more coins available than ever. When I sell I usually do a price comparison with current listings of the same item, and very rarely do I not find at least a few, whereas ten years ago when I was buying more on eBay I'd often search for a coin and not find any available for sale.

As usual when discussing eBay on this forum I find myself in opposition to most opinions. I use it to sell world coins and it's great for this. There is real value in foreign coins but most dealers in the U.S. don't have the knowledge or interest. The only way you're going to get the true value of them is to sell them on eBay. Yes, the prices have increased a lot in recent years, but that's the free market, not some inherent feature of eBay. If buyers are showing that they will pay a little more to get the item that they want shipped to their door then sellers are going to charge that much. Any of you would do the same thing if your business was buying and selling things. If no one is buying at those prices then someone will come along and sell it for less. When I sell I do a comparison search for my coin, sort by "lowest price to highest," and list mine around the same price of the lowest comparable item because I don't want my coins sitting around for a year. The people who make it sound like everything for sale on there is fake items sold by Chinese bandits are exaggerating. I can't speak for the U.S. coin market but most of what I see for sale in foreign is legit. There are fake items, usually from outside the U.S., so you do need to be educated but that's the case no matter where you buy.

 

Look into selling through an auction house. There's tons of them out there, with varying levels of "effort" they'll put into them. They get their 'fee' out of the premium charged above and beyond what the coin goes for, they handle the "pick ups" and/or deal with the shipping, etc. My wife and I have amassed a ton of stuff over the years, and while we have no use for a lot of it, you don't want want to be "giving it away" and haggling and dealing with people with a garage sale. After buying (winning) coins through auctions the last 5 years or so and talking to the auction operators, and seeing the prices items go for, it think it's really the way to go. You get internet "breadth" of reaching people (possible buyers) without having to personally deal with it. To not 'flood' the market, you could even do 100 lot auctions every other week if you desired.

 

I've been selling and maintaining an eBay store for over 15 years. Over the last few years, the buyer interest in my coins has dropped significantly. Most of my sales are now in Facebook groups. I have found it much easier to dispose of low value raw coins on Facebook than on eBay, though the eBay standard envelope has also made selling low value (under $20) raw coins and option since you don't have to pay $4 for shipping.

I buy completed Jefferson Nickel albums and then break them up and sell the coins individually, or in small groups and usually make a decent profit. It takes time, but if you are retired, it will keep you busy.

 

Lake, that’s where many are today! eBay isn’t what it once was!

 

I sold a few things on eBay when I was dealer 20 years ago. It was lot more work than selling something at a show. You had to take the pictures and post them to the item on the site. If you sold the item, you had to package it and take to the post office for shipping. I had one guy hang me up for a week or so because he couldn't decide if he wanted to return an item. EBay charged a lot less for their services back then.

Today eBay is a lot more expensive. They take more for the listing and take more for the sale.

They are more on the side of the seller. Dealers have told me horror stories of where customers returned a box a rocks instead of the items they claimed to be returning.

As a bidder, I hate eBay. I hate the snipping, and for that reason I will not bid there ever. I don't care about any "bargains" I might miss because life is too short to get PO'd with a snipper who takes you out for a couple of cents.

 

Not a coin but a vintage Redding reloading beam scale.
I tested it and it zeroed.
Boxed it up and delivered to the buyer.
That was a week ago, tonight I get an email the buyer isn't happy says the scale won't balance...it's heavy on the cup side.
Buyer wants a refund.
Because I tested it and it zeroed for me, I'm to assume the buyer doesn't know how to use a balance scale??
The buyer is stating heavy on the cup end. That end has a hanger with a platform and a cup.
I'm sure the hanger could be lightened up 2x the weight he thinks it is off.
I usually don't get complaints because I don't sell junk.
Will have to see how this one plays out, I personally prefer a digital scale for reloading powder... I'm wondering if someone talked the buyer into trying to return it?

 

I've been an active member on ebay since 2003. I remember when you could put a remark on an auction. I loved it because I could correct those who were trying to sell something that it wasn't. I did this primarily with cloned classic cars. Some yahoos out there clone a car and then try and sell it for the real deal. So I would, in a very nice respectable way, inform them that what they were selling was a clone, pointing out just one or two of the many red flags to them. If they deleted the comment, I'd know they were scamming. For some odd reason, you can't put remarks on auctions anymore.

 

I don't remember that, but I do remember when if you asked a seller a question, they had the option to post the question and their answer on the listing. It was always under the seller's control, though.

 

You may be thinking of the same thing. When asking questions, you had the ability to post it to the auction at the bottom. The seller could then delete if if they so wanted to.

I see car videos on youtube made by various classic car sellers. When I watch their videos and I see them trying to sell a clone as the real deal, I post a "friendly reminder" about why it's a clone and not the real deal. They delete in most cases, so you know these are the used car guys you want to stay away from. A few bad apples will always ruin the bunch.

 

HELP!! I've tried unsuccessfully to find the method for new post generation, and this was my final attempt.

Ebay will not allow access for myself or the seller to obtain a refund of funds immediately acquired when they improperly placed an unrelated ~$700 item on my search list, for which I requested a refund within minutes of sale closure. They just lock your system, demanding acceptance of ~$52 monthly payment.

Any ideas how to facilitate a refund?

I know: DON'T USE EBAY!!

 

FYI:
PER EBAY: Ebay will not allow access for myself or the seller to obtain a refund of funds immediately acquired when they improperly placed an unrelated ~$700 item on my search list, for which I requested a refund within minutes of sale closure. They just lock your system, demanding acceptance of ~$52 monthly payment.

Any ideas how to facilitate a refund?

I know: DON'T USE EBAY!!