I have lost money on every coin i have ever purchased.

not to mention egomaniacs we dont want to get into what they do

 

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I think this was mentioned before: every 12-Step program teaches that doing the same thing over and over again is what again?

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
- Albert Einstein

For profit, try something OTHER than coin-flipping from now on.

 

Or unless you enjoy it...not mutually exclusive.

 

"I lose money on every coin I sell, but I'm trying to make it up in volume!"

 

Usually this happens, with coins dealers in my experience. I'll give one example. In 1999 we bought a house & I decided to sell some of my US coins. There was a full run of US gold, both Indian types & liberties, ranging from gold $1 to $20, except for my $10 pieces which I decided to keep. The Indian half eagle was a hand-picked ms-62 but all the rest were 63 & 64 grade slabs with one of the $20's being said to be actually an ms-65 & in need of reslabbing. In addition there was a collection of Bust, Seated, and Barber halves with the minimum grade being slabbed 63 and some of the pieces being much nicer & better dates. I brought them to a major coin dealer & was offered $2,000 for everything!

I ended up consigning them to auction, some of the $20's & gold dollars & seated halves did NOT sell and were returned to me. Of those coins that did sell, after auction commissions were deducted I got around $10,000 which was a fair price at the time.

 

i guess that the reason that i can't make a profit from selling coins is just determinism in a deterministic world.

 

If you don't like coins, why are you here? If you want to make a profit, do so with something you have the passion and knowledge for.

My husband doesn't make money off his coins because he is a collector. Sometimes he does buy a coin that he will pay to much for because he doesn't have it. But he does his homework on the value and condition on the coin so if (ha) he decides to sell it, he knows what to expect in price. Whether or not he gets what he wants for it, well that's another story.

I equate this to me collecting stamps. The only one I'm familiar with is the "Forever" stamp. And I always lose money on that!

 

As the "Forever" stamps gradually fall under the sway of higher and higher inflation, it seems impossible to lose money on them.

Some wag at the WSJ computed that the annualized rate of return from buying and holding Forever stamps was in the range of +2.2%, except that there's no way to "sell" them at the current "market" price, especially without incurring significant selling costs, so it's only an imputed gain. And an illusory gain as well.

If you can repeatedly buy ordinary discount postage at 70% of face, and resell it to churches and local small businesses at 80% to 85%, you will make some small amount of money, unless mousetrapping the Church makes you nervous.

 

See, I learned something and I don't collect stamps. Just using that as an example. And you made my point that unless you (general you) do your "due diligence" on what the market is, then don't expect to make a huge profit (if any).

So I guess I don't lose money on that. I buy a stamp, slap it on an envelope and it's outta of here. I got the service I paid for. And I think the Church has enough problems without me trying to rip them off.

 

well, i have done my homework on coins for 5 years (and nobody on this website seems to read my comments about that) and as a matter of fact i have also done my homework on u.s. stamps for about 5 years also. oh, and i almost forgot, i have bought and sold and done my homework on vintage baseball cards and football cards also. i bet ya didn't know that. lots of comments about me on this site but not many are correct. i have already stated that i fail at everything, but please stop saying that i have not tried and put a lot of work into trying, because i have put a lot of work into these things.

 

and why do so many people on this site seem to think that a person must like something in order to make money at it? that is just plain silly.

 

Shoot for SUCCESS, chief. http://www.squidoo.com/top-50-classic-success-books

 

My new favorite quote! LOL :biggrin:

 

It's quality of research over quantity. I could study 18th century medical texts for 20 years, know them inside and out, and would still make a horrible doctor. We don't doubt you have put in a lot of time/effort/work, what we doubt is that you studied quality reference material. Earlier I posted a couple coins which went for a lot of money, ever figure out why? That's the type of research you need to do.

 

If you truly believe that you have worked very hard at this for five years, and still cannot get the hang of it, then maybe buying and selling coins for a profit just isn't for you.

 

Maybe we should focus on your original post (seemingly) long ago.

What was your point? What did you want to find out? What kind of comments would have helped you??

 

i thought that maybe i could find some better online places to buy coins at lower prices and to find some better places to sell coins for better prices. i never thought that this thread would get so much attention, negative or otherwise. i am not really sure why it has received this much attention.

 

I came late to this convo. And I don't want to add too much salt to the wound but there is a lot of 20 draped bust cull cents that is about to end or just ended for more than $50

Edit - the lot was for the braided hair large cents. Sorry

i don't know why there is so much negativity toward eBay (feebay etc). Truth of the matter is that eBay is a great outlet to reach millions of potential customers. 10-11% to me is a great deal. Some of te larger auction houses charge more in fees and do not nearly have the viewership of eBay. It is always nice to sell locally to a final user for no fee but not everyone can be that lucky. For me eBay is the way to go.

 

Any collectable-items shop has to make a profit. The only way of making money buying and selling such items, is paying the lowest possible price and charging the highest possible later. In my own experience, at least in Argentina, you can feel lucky if you get paid the 50% of the market value. So, like someone else said before: you will never make any money buying and selling to shops/dealers.

If you get to the coin collecting hobby. You have to decide whether you want to collect coins or make money. If you are up to the first, then you will spend money for building a collection. If you are smart, you will loose little to nothing. Because you will have coins which are worth what you have paid. Of course, even the smartest will loose some money in the process. Besides, you are going to spend money in cataloging and packaging too. That will be the price of your hobby.

If you want to earn money, you can't be a collector, you have to be a dealer. You have to buy low and sell high. And you have to buy and sell what is worth to the business instead of what is worth for a specific collection.

I have 550 coins in my collection, I have just paid for less than ten of them. The rest are gifts, mostly. Coins I have found somewhere. Of course, my collection hasn't any real valuable items. I have not gold nor plate coins. I haven't bought many coins yet. Because I want to pay a reasonable price, and that takes a lot of learning.

 

You seem wise beyond your years.