Do these ebay coin seller really makes money selling coins online? If so, selling raw coin or selling slabbed coin gives a better return.
There's no way to say which gives a better return - it all depends on what you pay. But yes, there are plenty pf people that make a good bit of money by selling coins on ebay. Personally I would not recommend anyone try to make a living at it unless you know coins very, very well.
Besides the fact that EBay charges you to sell stuff, and charges you to put pictures on there, yes, some people do make money off of it. They usually get a little extra back in the S&H
Take some time to do some research. Search Ebay for the kind of material you want to sell and see how others are doing. Be sure to look at the BIDS, auctions without bids will still cost the seller money. There might be 100 items for sale, but only the ones with actual bids will determine the price. If you think you can make money selling at existing price levels, then go for it. Be sure to take into account the 15-20% fees and stuff from Ebay and Paypal.
As a rule I try to always charge a S&H fee that will cover the bulk of my eBay/PP fees as well as, the actual cost of postage/mailing supplies. I always list the S&H fee in the listing so buyers are aware of my prices in advance. I sell trading cards and I can ship them (while covering my listing/payment/postage expenses) by charging $1.25 for the first auction won and 50¢ for each additional auction paid for at the same time. It seems to work ok for me. Mostly people comply, but I have one bidder who has bid on cards on 3 different occasions and then each time tried to not pay my s&h fees. I don't understand why he continues to fight it as I have yet to fail to convince him to pay the whole fee. oh well.
cdb, I do look at the number of bidding and the final price of the auction for some of the hottest selling coins. But when I try to get the same type of coins from various coin dealers either by going to their shop or by coin website. The prices are mostly higher than what is selling on eBay. I dont know how these eBay sellers can make any money when their final price is always lower than the regular trend price of the coin. they must have acquired the coins at a much much lower price, maybe by wholesale or they produce their coins in the basement -*just kidding*. Selling is easy if you know where to acquire the product at a deep discount price. Connections...Connections..sources.. is the hardest link to be successful.
Sarawakian - Many of them do get their coins at wholesale. A dealer will sell a coin to another dealer for much less than he will sell it to a collector.
Learn to grade coins, to recognize problem coins, and the market. Otherwise, you'll spend a lot of money and get very little in return. One of the things I do is search Yahoo Auctions for coins and bid incredibly low. 90% of the time, I lose, but I win once in a while. Then I sell on Ebay. Unless the coin is too nice, then I keep it. (I'm a lousy coin dealer) Usually, I only sell enough to pay for what I want to keep. Also, attend all the coin shows and coin stores in your area. Get to know the dealers and let them get to know you. Let them know what you're looking for and how much you want to spend. As always, money talks. If you are willing to spend $1000 to $5000 on low to mid price merchandise, you shouldn't have any problem finding a dealer willing to sell to you at a price you can make money on. Be sure to keep your goal in sight, remember what you are looking for and try not to buy 'fluff'.
