Hi everyone, I don't really know a heap about coins but would like to sell some that i found recently. I've put one up for auction on ebay, it's a 1923 Australian halfpenny. The coin is in great condition as far as i know and i've kept as i found it a couple of weeks ago after taking advice not to clean it at all. The problem is it doesn't seem to be attracting the bids i thought it would. It looks alot better than any others of the same type that i've seen for auction or that have sold. Am i doing something wrong? Advice would be much appreciated.
yes you are, assuming that this is your auction. You are selling a raw key date coin on eBay; a coin that is commonly counterfeited, no less. It looks to me like the coin should sell for 2 to 4 times what is is currently selling for. With almost 4 days left though it could still go up in price quite a lot. But being a first time seller I suppose you need to be told that the vast majority of bidding on auctions on eBay happens in the final 3 minutes of the auction. Now, as for what exactly you are doing wrong. First you are very new to eBay (only 1 feedback) and a buyer has every reason to doubt your honesty. Without a feedback history you have nothing to lose by taking the winning bidder's money, closing your account and running. I would never buy a key date coin from a seller with only 1 feedback, it is just too risky. During my resaerch of your auction I found twice as many fakes of this coin as I found coins being claimed to be originals, which means that without seeing the actual coin most buyers would be hesitant to pay realistic prices for a coin that they aren't certain of the authenticity of. Also, the second picture isn't helping you any. It makes th dirt on the King's coat on the Obv. look really ugly as well as making the stuff below the "T" in Australia on the Rev. look like Verdegris. If it is verdegris (copper corrosion) then that will seriously decrease the value of the coin, but if it isn't then your lightened pictures are damaging your ability to sell the coin colse to its true value. The rarity of this coin demands that it be sold in a different format than on eBay. If you were to have the coin professionally conserved (they would remove the dirt and verdegris without damaging the coin) and authenticated (in the US a company called NCS can to that) it would then be able to be sold at a reputable auction house for much closer to its true value. The other option is to conatct an auction house and inquire about their services. I don't know about the options in Australia, but in the US the big ones are ANR (American Numismatic Rarities), Heritage, and Stack's. Any of those would be able to professionally market your coin for you. It's just worth too much to try to get a fair price for it on eBay. Good luck!
What he said... I wouldn't touch that coin unless it was certified and authenticated. The cost of such a service would be minimal compared to the cost of the coin - and it would attract higher bidders, so you would more than make up for your expense.
If it were me - I wouldn't bother with ebay at all. I'd find a reputable dealer who is familiar with these coins and sell it to him.
Big Thanks Hi all Thanks heaps for all the advice guys/girls, special thanks cave troll. I've organised for a coin dealer to give a professional evaluation 2morrow. Hope this one is a lot more honest than the last one who kindly offered me $500 for the coin and about 250 others i found with it. I can't really take the coin off ebay but have a couple of interested people it seems. Hopefully all goes well. I will look through the rest of the coins and sell them through the proper means i think, although i dont think there is any quite as valuable as this one. Thanks again, Alex
Yes you can, just cancel all of the bids and then withdraw the listing. The directions can be found HERE. I strongly recommend ending your listing early, but remember once you get down to 12 hours left in the auction that no longer is an option. Good luck!
