Pricing Exercise - How would you handle it?

The scenario is as follows: there is a coin which rarely trades (at least among auction records) and you have only two concrete sales records. There are very few of them made (low supply) but the demand is likely low as well. One auction result is around $350 while the other is about $75 (two different venues with a few years in between the sales). You were the winner at the lower price.

Put on your seller hat and let us know how would you go about pricing such a coin. Feel free to share the reasoning behind your price.

 

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Since it is not what many would consider an expensive coin, why don't you just list it on an eBay auction at 99c open, no reserve and let the market determine the value?

 

Necessary details:

- Were the two sales of the same grade?
- Is the coin certified?
- Compare the eye appeal of the two examples
- Which one was first, the lower or higher priced example, and when (dates) did each sell
- What venue did each sale occur at (Stack, Heritage, or some other major auction house? A minor auction house? Ebay?)
- What is the coin (US? Foreign? Token/medal?)
- What is the composition of the coin (copper? silver? gold?)
- is this coin well publicized? It is a known variety? Is there a reference which describes this coin?

I'd evaluate all of these factors to try and establish an idea in my head.

Based on the (limited) details you list, I'd probably split the difference and list it for $175, and accept a decent offer. With further details, there may be a better way to advertise the coin and get a higher value.

 

That could work. However, my experiences with no reserve auctions on eBay is that they tend to not be the best for obscure items as the person who might be after it isn't looking that week. No reserve auctions are best with popular items where demand is strong.

 

I was trying to keep it somewhat general and not break any rules by making it seem like I'm selling on this thread (which I'm not doing).

Some extra info:
~It's the same exact medal in the same top tier TPG holder
~The higher price was first (several years ago) at one of the top auction houses while the lower price is this year via eBay (which helps explain my answer in the post above about the issues of a no reserve eBay auction)
~It's Silver

 

First I'd do my best to determine which of the two auction results was more likely to be a true measure of its value.
A result from a large, reasonably well-known auction house would certainly carry more weight.

For insurance purposes go with the larger value.
You have documentation for that (auction results).

For a selling price split the difference between the two results that you have but lean a bit towards the more recent results.

 

I've collected medals for more than 25 years, and I can honestly say that prices can be all over the place. This doesn't sound like a well-known medal because $350 several years ago was not a lot of money.

I don't think you are breaking any rules.

 

I'm leaning towards your interpretation. The big auction house price could have been inflated, but it was also (presumably) seen by more experts/followers of this type of item (and it was likely available for inspection for longer than the one week the eBay auction provides).

 

I'm fairly certain that it is not well-known. The auction house that sold it several years back mentioned that it was the only one they had seen and called it "rare" (but that could always be used to add to the intrigue and not necessarily mean much).

 

List higher; you can always cut the price later and offer a discount if needed. By starting at too low a price, you may cause the buyer to ask themselves why the price wasn't listed higher.

 

All it takes is just one competing bidder to inflate the price. I had an occasion to lose the bid on a 3-medal set that sold for $152.50. Less than two weeks later, an identical set was listed, so I placed a bid of $250.00 (I didn't want to lose), and when the auction closed, I won it for $48.00.

 

That is a good thing to consider. The right balance is needed to not price too low but also to not have it be so high that everyone just passes by.

 

Exactly. I've seen and occasionally experienced the same.

 

Why don't you give us some photos?

 

Watching this to cherrypick . . . . . .

 

Block him!

 

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On second thought, just shoot him and put him out of his misery.

 

FTFY ^^^^^​

I would welcome that at this point, financially speaking . . . . .

Z