@gsimonel and @Victor_Clark are both excellent sellers on eBay, I’ve bought from both. Actually I would have bought more but I’m usually not around when auctions end so I usually come back to auctions having lost by $.05 or something ridiculous. I would also recommend Savoca and Holding History highly. Another is Civitas Galleries. They seem to post sporadically on eBay but they have a stand-alone website which is where you should buy from. Josh Moran is the owner and if you include your screen name from the forums (here and CU), he will add in a discount to your order. Mind you, an order on the website will have you several dollars versus the ebay version of the same coin when it comes to Civitas. I saw a denarius on eBay listed for $102. I bought the coin from the site for $85 before any applicable discounts. In general, I would check ebay and if you find something you like, cross check to see if the seller also sells on VCoins. If they do, I wouldn’t worry any further about their reputation or the coins they sell. As a second step see if the seller has a company website and if the same coin is listed there for less money.
...now let's try some specific dealers/sites emiliyan_pavlov varina_museum lucernae gd-gallery coins-rare zurqieh_dubai ancientground All of these charge healthy mailing fees. I have made offers on coins that were BIN and had my offers accepted or counter offered.
Regardless of the types of coins you're interested in, check the seller info on the right side of the page - thousands of sales with a 99+% positive feedback is a good indicator of seller trustworthiness and customer satisfaction - the location of the seller can usually be found in the middle of the page below the shipping details. I've done business with dwest61506 and have been quite satisfied - he offers free shipping and returns on all purchases.
I never thought I would buy something from him , but I had a pleasant surprise , he proposed me two coins (that I watched for years) for a fair price. That was his math for one coin : the original list price was 350$ , this was reduced on ebay at 60% = 140$. He proposed me the coin for the half of the reduced price , 70$. Very well packed , excellent communication , a pleasure to do business finally with him. If you really like a coin and the price is right , why not !
Why not? Because it's 99.9% certain that the "original list price" was entirely fictional, and, therefore, there was never a true price reduction. And because he almost certainly knew perfectly well that even the supposed reduced price actually listed on ebay was unrealistically high, designed . Almost the definition of a deceptive practice, and actually illegal in some places.
If you really love the coin and the final price is excellent(compared to similar coins/others sellers) , tell me , you would not buy from him ?
my strong recommendation is - STAY AWAY FROM EBAY IF YOU ARE NEW TO ANCIENTS !!!!!!!! VCOINS OR CNG Auctions all the way ,
No, because there are always other coins available from other sellers who don't engage in such practices. Buying from him just encourages him to continue.
For those adamantly declaring that new collectors(of which I am one) avoid eBay entirely... Here's another (starting @ 99c auction) eBay unattributed group lot that I bid on and won a few months back. Could someone give my a rough estimated total value of the coins in it if they were to purchase it through VCoins et. al., or a coin auction house?
It's an As minted in Lugdunum(modern Lyon, FR). In your opinion, you think the Nero coin is worth $120?
