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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1982084, member: 42773&quot;]Good thread. When I first joined this forum a few years back, I also heard the mantra, &quot;Collect coins for pleasure, not for profit.&quot; I decided to put this to the test. After all, the world is full of dealers that must be making a profit, so would sound business principles applied to the buying and selling of coins yield me a profit?</p><p><br /></p><p>The first principle is &quot;buy low sell high,&quot; so I scoured the internet for fire sales, auctions that weren&#039;t getting much attention, larger lots of better quality coins that could be sold separately, etc. I may have won 1 out of 20 auctions, but over a few months, I collected a handful of quality coins at less than market value.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another principle is good marketing, so I took good pictures of the coins, and took some time to compose write-ups concerning their history and numismatic interest. I&#039;ve discovered that most collectors of moderns would like a few ancients in their collections, but know little about them. Some solid information adds to the appeal of the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>A third principle is DO THE MATH. I carefully calculated all my overhead: eBay fees, Paypal fees, and shipping, then added a small profit margin, ten to fifteen percent. And I was very stubborn about refusing offers that would net a loss.</p><p><br /></p><p>I only sold a few dozen coins but I made a profit on <u>every single one</u>. Thus ended my experiment, since that&#039;s all it was. I already have a profession, and have no need nor desire to be a coin dealer - I much prefer to keep my coins, and was sad to let some of them go. But, as morgandude describes his experience, if you&#039;re patient, careful, and DISCRIMINATING, you don&#039;t have to lose money.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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