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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ddddd, post: 3524167, member: 22377&quot;]Yes it’s a click bait title, but it might have made you look.</p><p><br /></p><p>By “new frontier” I am referring to my experiences on Instagram. I’ve been on that platform for close to two years now and wanted to offer some thoughts to anyone who might be curious about the coin atmosphere over there. Without further ado, I present…</p><p><br /></p><p><u>The Good</u></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; What really sets Instagram apart from the forums and selling venues is the ability to post videos quickly. We often remark that pictures don’t tell the full story, especially for something like a toned coin. With Instagram, one can better display the luster and colorful hues. Take a video with your smartphone, open the app, select the option to add content, and pick your video. The whole process usually takes a few minutes (capturing the coin via video is probably the longest part, but that can be quickly learned…for me it’s become easier than taking a photograph; one tip-just like with photos-is to find the ideal spot and lighting to use for all your videos). And you don’t need the most up-to-date phone either to produce quality videos; my circa 2015 model does a more than adequate job.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Another positive is the mix of people. In general, it’s a good community of coin folks. There are some familiar faces from CoinTalk (as well as the PCGS forum), but there are also plenty of those that haven’t been on these forums. Quite a few younger collectors participate. You also see representatives from the big players: NGC, PCGS, ModernCoinMart, etc all have accounts and are quite active (they post cool coins, they run contests, and they even reply to private messages-sometimes quicker/more efficiently than through other venues).</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Buying and selling; we all do it and this is another option. While eBay, the big auction sites, and the forums already exist for coin transactions, it never hurts to have one more platform. eBay has been experiencing many changes (and not always for the best); plus the fees and limit of free listings can really damper sales. Big auction sites are great for the bigger coins, but again fees will really eat into your returns for anything under a certain dollar amount (and that is if the auction house even wants to deal with that material). Forum for sale sections seem to not draw a ton of interest (particularly on CoinTalk-more people come here for information, conversations, and pictures). On Instagram there are plenty of people with all sorts of interests. There are people looking for cheaper coins (could be beginning collectors, people on a budget, or just folks who like something that is attractive but not expensive) and those that specialize in higher end items (I’ve seen a few people offering gem classic coins and other rarities). There are stackers looking for bullion (including those that like the premium/”semi-numismatic” coins and bars). And of course there is plenty of love for toners. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>The Bad</u></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Just like on the forums, you’ll see the occasional heated debate. Some of these can be intellectually stimulating, but many are just people being hot headed. It’s just the nature of the internet and it’s something one can often just ignore.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; With buying and selling comes the typical set of issues. You’ll run into low-ballers as well as overpriced sellers. Then you have the people that are unresponsive (<i>as a buyer:</i> you’ll ask for a price and then hear nothing even though they are still posting content; <i>as a seller:</i> you’ll give a price or even agree to sell something and the buyer disappears/stops communicating). This can be annoying, but you’ll quickly learn who these characters are (and can decide if it’s best to just not deal with them in the future).</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; There is no search feature. If you want to find a specific coin, there is (usually) nothing you can enter to find it. Everyone has a feed and what you see is the photos and videos of people that you follow (in an order usually determined by Instagram based on content you’ve shown an interest in/date of post/previous interactions with those that are posting). To increase the chances of finding what you want, it is best to follow people with content that you like (and click on their pages every so often to see what they have posted-in case it didn’t make your feed), build relationships (so that those people can tag you or directly message you when they post something new), and sometimes just get lucky and see something on your feed. You can also follow certain hashtags to see recent postings. Many people include them on posts so that others can find them. For example, #tonertuesday is a popular one for toned coins (and makes for good alliteration). Plenty also use #NGC and #PCGS to tag coins graded by each TPG. Some have even “invented” hashtags specific to their collections/postings. Since all of this won’t guarantee that enough people will see your post, reposting is something that is done (including by me). You can easily hide (archive) an old post (or leave it up, if you prefer) and repost it (I try to not repost too soon and only for certain items; reposting too quickly or too often can make your content grow stale).</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Some accounts focus on raffles. These are easy to identify. If that is something you like, feel free to follow them (I won’t advocate for any or dissuade anyone; nor am I commenting on the legality of running or partaking in raffles).</p><p><br /></p><p><u>The Ugly </u></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; It’s not common, but there are some scammers and unpleasant characters. After learning the ropes, one will discover who to avoid. If you’re not confident about someone, always ask for references. And use PayPal Goods &amp; Services (preferably funded with a credit card) for purchases in order to minimize your risk. Even if you have to pay an extra 3%-4%, it can often be worth the peace of mind, especially with people you aren’t fully sure about. Remember the golden rule, if it seems too good to be true, then it’s not worth it (no coin-no matter how nice-is worth risking more than you can afford to lose). It’s also easy to block/ignore people just like on the forums (I haven’t had to do that often…mostly for a few bots/obvious fake accounts that are pretty evident from their conversational style/content).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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