How To Buy Coins At A Fair Price?

Hey all, I have been trying to start my collection and have been looking on sites like Offer Up and Letgo to buy coins...However people have told me NOT to use the redbook when pricing and buying...Can someone share a resource with me on how to Price coins so I can buy them at a fair price for both me and seller. Thankyou all..

 

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Although many people might poo-poo it, e-bay gives a fair idea. Check some of the sold listings.

 

Thankyou kentucky...why do people poopoo it

 

There are many OVERPRICED coins on e-bay (many call it fee-bay) and an inexperienced person can be led astray. There are also many fakes there. Use the "sold listings" and look at a bunch of them to get an idea. There really is no fixed price for coins or bills. I would suggest that if you are about to buy something pricey, you can put a pic and a post here. Just be ready for some of our jackass (sometimes me also...sigh) answers. It's all in good fun and we will not knowingly mislead you. Happy collecting and welcome to CT...BTW wehat kind of coins are we talking about?

 

+1. the only way to really know what the fair market price is, is to watch auctions and see what coins are actually selling for.

 

Frankly, Ebay is the only realistic place to see what non-slabbed coins sell for. You have to develop a bit of a filter because of those who are so uninformed they pay far too much, and those who are so lucky that they pay far too little, but in most cases there's a sample large enough for you to get a feel for mean and mode, which are about the number you'll want to be spending and should be pretty close to each other.

 

Thankyou boss i appreciate the help really do....I am a fair person who wants to do deals where everyone gets a good deal and I know alot of people are scammers and what not and being inexperienced you are right its easy to be led astray....anywho the coins ive been interested in buying are old ones like merc dimes, standing liberty quarters, franklin halves and prior, buffalo nickels, wheat pennys. All of those and older ones are what gets my heart pumping...Im not in it for the silver content although thats a plus and will buy and keep those.

 

Welcome Jake. Sounds like you're getting your feet wet........welcome to the forum.

 

Working for Coin World, I attended an ANA Official Auction and one of the dealers there had five price guides spread out: Red Sheet, Blue Sheet, CoinAge, CoinStrike, CoinStroke, Coin Trends, Coin Guesses...

For Red Book, okay, figure 60% below... But, you know what? For some US Gold Half Eagles Red Book has always been below wholesale bid... Go figure...

 

So are you saying the redbook prices things 60% lower than what they should be? And where can i find these coin shows i would like to go i live in rhode island...thanks for commenting

 

I call "Baloney" on this. When someone asks "What is wheat selling for?" instead of pointing to the Chicago Board, you say "Get a Random Number Generator." Worse: because on eBay, sellers depend on suckers.

My reply: Go to your nearest ANA member dealers. Find
https://www.money.org/ANADealers

ANA Member Dealers subscribe to an enforced Code of Ethics. No one is Santa Claus, but no one can sell a fake coin and claim ignorance. For an ANA member dealer, ignorance is no excuse for the lifetime of the transaction. Get that from eBay if you can.

 

You need an education in numismatics that is beyond a simple chatroom. The ANA holds two conventions a year, seldom near Rhode Island. But you do have the New England Numismatic Association NENA http://www.nenacoin.org/

Before you throw away your hard-earned money, invest in education.

Red Book prices are full retail: what a dealer would charge an unwitting member of the general public. Insiders pay less. Join a coin club.

 

For the record, Jake, many of the people kaparthy is telling you to believe over real-world sales results are also Ebay sellers. You decide. Believe what someone tells you it's worth, or find out what it actually sells for in the real world?

He doesn't believe you're smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. I do.

 

Like riding a bicycle, don't read about it, get in the saddle. If you start to make a big purchase, ask here...out advice is worth more than you pay for it.

 

Ebay and Heritage Auctions have searchable databases. I also look at Greysheet, Redbook, COINS magazine... lots of resources offer good info.

But don't think of them as price lists. At best, they're a good starting point for pricing a particular coin.

And they can't help you with pricing raw (ungraded) coins until you know how to grade.

Or, let's say you only buy coins already graded & slabbed by a reputable third-party-grader (NGC, PCGS, ANACS, maybe others). Even then, price can go beyond the grade.

Coins with great eye appeal can be worth more than their grade might suggest. Sometimes much more.

OTOH, some highly-graded coins are downright ugly -- and I price them accordingly.

And coins that are damaged can be seriously de-valued.

Also, some coins bring more-than-expected money at auction because they are of special importance to certain people.

For example, I like Civil War era half dollars and will pay more for a nice one. I'm also willing to spend a bit more for a well-struck MS65 NGC 1943-S half dollar because it's the last coin I need to complete my 20-coin MS65 Walker short set.

Bottom Line: With research & experience, you'll learn how much a particular coin is worth to YOU.

 

Indeed!

To imply that almighty eBay is the "only" realistic indicator of real world raw values is simply foolish. Don't allow individual leanings or biases to influence logic or common sense. Ebay is a tool and as with any tool, is only as valuable as the individual using it. Take it as absolute law, especially when dealing in person, and you are doing yourself a disservice.

I too think you're smart enough to separate wheat from the chaff, and because of this I respectfully suggest you think about the very simple and obvious fact that coins do not magically appear for sale in online venues. Do understand that a huge percentage of coins offered on eBay are not from professional dealers, but average Joes, and where do you think these guys, even in part, manage to acquire their inventory? Think about it.... if so many non-dealers can sell coins on the side, pay eBay and PayPal fees, and gain enough profit to make it worthwhile, does the idea that completed sales from one venue represent all real world values really make sense? Of course not, and is because eBay is just one market of many. A big one, yes, but far from the only one. What completed eBay listings are best for isn't valuing coins, but in gauging their everyman potential, and there's a very good reason why some make a decent living simply from buying in person to resell online.

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple fix or answer to your question other than, and as suggested in one of your other threads, you need to LEARN FIRST. Learn about whatever coins interest you, and then learn your market and what it will support.

The "real world" is a lot bigger than some seem to think, and apparently, someone doesn't think you're smart enough to understand this, so please allow me to apologize for him.

 

I don't think anyone's said it yet, but a pretty good gauge of market value for certified coins can be found by looking at old auction prices on http://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/ .

I've used this site quite a few times.

 

QFT.

There's a reason they're called price guides, and that's because they should be used as a guide. EBay, Heritage, PCGS auctions, Redbook, Greysheet, etc. all have their place (and you should use as many of them as is practical when making important buying decisions), but the bottom line is: how much do I want to pay for the coin that's in front of me? And none of those resources will tell you that. They only tell you what other people have paid for somewhat similar coins in the recent to not so recent past. (Edit: Or, sometimes, what dealers would like people to pay for somewhat similar coins.)

I've been known to pay decent premiums for coins I wanted due to exceptional eye appeal or otherwise high quality. Likewise, I've turned down a lot of perfectly nice and fairly priced coins simply because they didn't really speak to me. No price guide can tell you that. In fact, you should be looking for coins where the price guide doesn't apply, because, by definition, price guides are based on aggregate prices (which tend to reflect prices for 'average' coins), and above average coins are the ones that will hold value the best, and, at least for me, are the ones that tend to be coins I still love months and years after I purchase them.

I'll leave you with this thought... one of my favorite sayings is that I'd rather buy a great coin for a fair price than a fair coin for a great price. Given a fixed budget, you'll end up with fewer coins, sure, but you'll probably like the ones you end up with a lot more.

 

You are getting some great advice here. So I will say Welcome to CT and move along.

 

The Red Book shouldnt be ignored because it's used by a lot of sellers on ebay and elsewhere. As some have mentioned, it is just a guide like others ones as well. Id also read the Blue Book, entire books that introduce you to coin collecting, and other books and online material (forums, articles, etc). "Buy the book before the coin" is over said but true. Otherwise, you're going to make a lot more errors than need be at this beginning point in your hobby