Have you ever bought or sold coins/currency for less than face value?

I'm curious to know if anyone has ever bought or sold currency/coins (that are still legal tender) for less than face value (not counting shipping or fees).

The reason I ponder this question, is because I listed a sheet of 4 $20 star notes. Its a no reserve auction and bidding is up to a whopping $1.04, with over a day remaining. I know most of the bidding occurs at the last minute, and the listing will end at a reasonable hour. But there are still no watchers. And I'm growing worried.

It ought to sell for at least $120. The notes are 2004A Boston stars, with a mere 384,000 printed. I'd be pretty pissed if it sold for less than $80. Has that ever happened to any of you?

 

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Not really what you asked or the same thing, but I've won a couple auctions for trade tokens for less then the value the token was good for. Like "Good for $.50" but I won it at $0.01, not counting shipping.

 

That is the risk you have to take on CheapBay if you don't establish a minimum opening bid.

Chris

 

I once bought some 60s and 70s mint sets with the half dollars cut out (41 cents face) for 40 cents apiece and made a whopping 6 cents profit. But hey, money for nothing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

post the link for the auction (if you are allowed too)
not only will it get more attention, I guarantee a bid of $1.24!!!

 

"Less than face value (not including shipping or fees)"? I've bought for less than FV before, given those terms. I'll bid what a lot is worth, and if it's worth only a little bit more than face value, that's what I'll bid. What the seller "loses" due to fees and shipping is not my business.

I posted here about a lot of Ikes that I bought on eBay -- 57 Ikes for $55, plus $5 for shipping. So I didn't pay less than FV, but the seller certainly got less than FV. (I still came out ahead, as one turned out to be silver.)

I doubt you'll end up getting less than $80, even after fees, but I have no idea how close you'll get to the $120 you want. It looks like one such sheet recently went for $146, but another went for less than $115, both with free shipping.

I don't think it's legal to post your auctions in a non-For Sale thread, but you should probably go ahead and post it in For Sale. I'm not a currency collector, but I'd certainly bid at least face value.

 

I have bought foreign coins for less than face value. I didn't use them for purchases, but yeah things like $120 worth of canadian coins for $75, (when it was close to USD parity), large groups of thai coins, etc. With foreign currency it happens, but I would be surprised if it happened in the same currency the transaction is denominated in.

 

Don't sweat it too much. You may have an unfortunate accident before the item ships and have to refund the $1.04 to the buyer taking a bite from the listing fees... (jk) Honestly, I think you will make a fair sale for nearer what you think it's worth and remember that many sniping tools don't require "watchers" on eBay. They just plug the item number in the snipe tool and the bids are fired in at the last moments.

Let us know how it turns out.

Per the question, I don't think I've ever bought or sold below face, but I often send a "free" coin to buyers, such as dateless Buffaloes, common wheats or unc current year cent's, for example.

 

True. I almost never watch an auction I have set up a snipe for. Why would I? I would be tipping my hand on a lot that is of interest. A watch count really has nothing to due with potential interest. Most of us who are "real buyers" on Ebay don't use the watch function, but just copy/paste the item number into sniping programs. Like most auctions, the last 5 seconds will set your price, and there really isn't any way to know what it will be before hand.

 

Apparently, I am not a "real buyer" on Ebay.

Back to the OP. I once bought a half a $100.00 for $12.00 on Ebay. My bank gave me a new one for it.

 

I bought a modern $1 gold coin for 50 cents shipped once I believe. I just spent it like normal, since it was nothing special.

 

I picked up a red seal $5 a few weeks ago for $2.75. Shipping brought it to $5 even.

 

I thought -- in fact, I thought it was common knowledge -- that you could redeem torn or damaged currency for new, but that you had to present more than half of a note. (Otherwise, there's an obvious double-your-money attack available.)

So I can't imagine why someone would sell a redeemable damaged note for so much less than face. Then again, I see unimaginable things fairly regularly on eBay.

Edit: Here's the BEP's take on it:

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html

Note the last paragraph:

 

No offense meant. I wasn't trying to denigrate anyone, or say I am any better, its just most people who buy a lot of collectibles on Ebay have long ago recognized the value of sniping to minimize their costs and maximize their odds of winning.

Try this, find groups of 5-10 similar auctions. Bid as you normally would on half, and snipe the other half. Look at the different results.

 

I suspect the seller already redeemed the other half.

 

Your insult (and I do not know how anyone could take it any other way) was directed at people who use the Ebay watch function and had nothing to do with sniping programs. You can use both the watch function and a sniping program.

There is one very good reason to use the watch function. There are sellers who will pull an auction and accept an offer (on Ebay or off) because the watch count is low and they do not think it will reach the offered price based on a lack of interest.

I will often put in the minimum bid on a lot (and set a snipe bid) to also alert the seller that there is interest in the item.

 

What's the best free sniping tool? I've never tired those

 

Sniping only works because many bidders do not actually enter their true maximum bid. Rather, they bid in small increments, perhaps hoping to get a deal. This proves costly at the end of the auction when a sniping tool can submit a bid faster than a human. But if you actually enter your true maximum, the sniping tool doesn't have any advantage. As far as whether either practice affects the closing price can be argued.

I've also seen buyers bid, then increase their max many times by a few dollars or cents each time. Because eBay counts each increase, they are artificially inflating the bid count. I guess their thinking is other potential buyers will not bother to bid, if they think there's a lot of competition already for that item.

If I was browsing through listings and saw an item at $95.00 with 2 bids, I might be more inclined to also bid. When that same item is at $95.00 with 42 bids, I might pass, thinking I probably won't get a good deal if I manage to win it.

 

I am a buyer/seller. I bid on many auctions everyday. I always put my max price, and if I win, great. I see many times where I've been outbid in the end by only a couple bucks. If sniping helps put my bid in last second, theres a chance the other bidder might not bid up as high and outbid me. I'm open to trying a free sniping tool if it helps me win a few more auctions.

 

Here's how I view sniping as an advantage.

Suppose I'm willing to pay $100 for an item. Someone else is willing to bid $95. If I put my max bid in early, then the person bidding $95 will see that they're out-bid right away. They have time to think about it, and come back and "nudge" their bid up $1 at a time until they find my limit. Ultimately I get outbid and lose the item because I made my intentions known to far ahead... tipped my hand, so to speak.

Now suppose I put in a minimal bid of $20, or even skip bidding altogether. The other person comes in and bids $95 and sees that they have the high bid. There's nothing for them to push up against as in the earlier case. My "snipe" comes in at the last minute for $100 and I win the item for $96 (or whatever the next bid increment is).

I've bid on items plenty of times and seen the competing bidders keep poking and poking at my bid until they finally beat it. (If if were the buying doing that to drive the price up it's called "shill" bidding and it's not allowed per eBay rules, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.)

If eBay would extend auctions beyond the expiration time if there was active bidding going on (like a live auction) then sniping would not work. There was an auction site at one time (was it buy.com?) that did just that.