What about eBay?

Roy makes some good points. Another option is to consign them to someone who will list them on ebay and take a portion of the proceeds. If you have only a small number of less valuable coins, it may ,make the most sense to have a dealer buy them at wholesale. Higher value coins may do better on eBay or one the the auction sites.
Don

Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t4640/#ixzz138Wye0yK​

 

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I am sorry, but there are coins that eBay doesn't deserve... Those coins that are only dreamed of by 99.9999% of collectors including myself, those that are passed on from father to son as prized possessions...

 

When I started collecting coins as a kid, the best way to get your hands onto something you wanted was to trade. In Europe we had numismatic clubs that met every week-end and you would bring your unwanted coins with you and trade with other enthusiasts. Instead of eBay why not start creating real Numismatic clubs where we live...

 

E-bay or as some people like to call it "sleezbay" is very difficult when working with slim
Margins as mentioned above, there are just to many fee,s to make a profit and then
People think you are ripping them off by charging to much...go figure!!

 

have you ever looked at fees + cost? I am at 1.3 on 4.2 for 1.4 1/2 the margin goes to fees! that sucks...

 

Apology accepted, but do you see how flawed that is?. fair market price is determined by the largest markets not niche markets! I contend that eBay coin sales far surpass any other venue, therefore is the largest market. Remember, a lot of B&M's if not most also sell on eBay. yes/no? those that don't have a presence on eBay are in the minority. I don't have any facts to back that up. I am just guessing.

 

I just bought a Jefferson on eBay to upgrade a cicrulated one that was filling a hole in a set. I paid 99c with free shipping and used PayPal for the transaction.

PayPal fees = 33c
Shipping = 43c
eBay fees = 08c
packing = 15c
nickel = 05c

Total = 104c

Now, even if the shipping supplies are bought in bulk, they still cost something. But to consider value, the coins is worth 5c according to the government. Worth 99c to me ? Obviously, since I paid that much, however I did make an allowance for shipping, because there is no other way for me to obtain it. Transaction fees, not so much, but I didn't see an alternative.

My point is that when considering the value of anything, all the costs and fees as well as applicable taxes figure into it. a Quarter used for a transaction in Mississippi has the same value as it would have when spent in Nevada. But if a collector were to buy it in Montana for any price over face with zero sales tax, it would be a different value than if pirchased in Tennessee with 7% sales taxes. I also believe that a dealer in Tennessee must charge more for an item than a dealer in Montana simply because his cost of living is increased by sales taxes.

This is simplistic of course, but value is affected by sales venue, dealers' business costs & motivation as well as buyer's demand. Real value can only be determined between the two people involved in each transaction, all esle is only an estimate or approximation. IMHO

gary

 

Well-written, I agree 100%. I've had many arguments with potential sellers of coins who would ask for astronomical amounts for their coins just because they were able to find 1 ebay auction where a single bidder paid a ridiculous amount, while 99.9% of the time the same coin would sell for a fraction of that.

 

There is an assumption...................

in your post regarding this topic that is messing me or your opinion up.


With that said, otherwise I get and totally understand what you are saying. Although the only way I can apply it to my opinion is that I must be a knowledgeable buyer/seller. Which, while I am learning, consider myself on about a 3rd grade level.

BTW I didn't mean to revive this year old thread.. I just noticed! ooooops!

Anyways..........

Doug, maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. Please re-read the portion in my post that I quoted from you. I changed the words to reflect the home business to show how this........

........doesn't work, because Builders, do not discount homes to half price, ever!

Values are determined by averages paid for similar or comparable items within a given time period. IMO




Look - regardless of the basis for your reasoning - my basis is purely established by the ease of access & volume of eBay buys/sales. I contend that since anyone can and does access coins for sale and since there are often dozens of examples of the same coin if not hundreds - then it stands to reason that the average closing price of the same item - is the true market for masses, ie. majority of coin buyers and sellers the same.

I have under my belt thousands of purchases For the last 4 months I also branched over to the other venues , auctions, private sales, shows, not so much . All I can say is that those branches are the niche markets - not realistic to establish values because they are not immediately accessible to the masses.

I think there is room for both markets and both values to be established.

Gonna send a PM I didn't expect a reply, since that was a bit of a troll type of post.

Rob

 

BUT WAIT DOUG!.. what did the next coin of same grade sell at in? and the next?

Out of the 10- 00 buyers willing to pay $387 if the next 10 coins sell closer to $500 by 10 uneducated buyers what is that coin now worth?

My point is there are also 500 buyers willing to pay $200 and 1000 willing to pay $100 for that same coin.


For anyone following trends. Please list your OBW memorial rolls. prices have been and continue to go higher and higher. I need more supply! lol I'm a knowledgeable buyer and $10 per roll is just way toooo much!

 

The reverse holds true too. I have just missed several times on items that I would have paid more than the selling price. The problem with eBay auctions, is that not everyone onterested in the item might see it before the auction expires. Yet, people take eBay sales as "proof" of value all the time.

gary

 

Come to think of it, for all the years I have purchased on eBay, not once have I ever even thought of it as a source for pricing.

 

Relying upon EBAY as a means to establish FMV for anything is unreliable at best. There is far to much impulse buying for one . Secondly, I think most bidders don't have the qualified background of the items they are bidding on. The knowledgeable know when not to hit that bid button, and thats what truly matters.

 

The value to a seller is the amount they sold an item for.
The value to a buyer is probably that same amount, until they try to sell it.

I think the value of items is what they sell for, even if it doesn't fit some preconceptions.
ebay's completed auctions have been a great source of knowledge,
but the length of time auctions are archived and available has been reduced by four months.
The change occurred a couple of years ago.

I believe that when an item sells on ebay, it brings more money than anybody else is willing to pay for that item.
When I buy coins, I consider that I will be paying more than anybody else would.
Bargain hunting usually produces bargain results: cleaned coins, impaired surfaces, detritis, etc..

I'll not buy coins without a return policy, from anybody, coin shops included.
I'll not pay exorbitant shipping costs.
I want feedback records of 99.9% or 100% only.
I look at a seller's other listings to see the general drift of his business --
whether he cleans coins, retouches photos, charges exorbitant amounts,
I look to see if the item I am interested in might be a 'loss leader' for his other listings.

In dealers' shops, I expect that coins will bring about half of what folks paid for them.
After 50-60 years of experience, that's a good rule of thumb, and a lousy price. ; )

ebay will produce better results for most coin sales than selling to dealers.
In my mind, it is simply the difference between retail and wholesale.
If you ever get 80% of what you paid the dealer for the same item, you will be LUCKY.

"Sleaze-bay" is a new term to me.
Usually folks refer to the venue as feebay or fleabay. ; )

One last note... a couple of years back, ebay began offering five free listings per month,
with the catch being that the Final Value Fees were drastically increased above normal,
for those items listed free. I haven't sold there for years but still shop and socialize there some,
so I am not current on their fees, etc.

 

FMV cannot be determined via ebay sales as FMV is subject to two conditions;

Both seller and buyer are reasonably knowledgeable about the asset in question (no real way to determine this in most ebay sales)

AND

A reasonable time period is given to complete the transaction.

The 2nd condition is debatable but the first isn't (and I'm assuming their is no pressure to complete said transaction etc.). It has nothing to do with averages or the previous sale or the next sale unless that next sale happens between people whom meet the above requirement and the sale meets the time requirement.

The biggest issue here is that FMV and value (or fair value) seem to have been used interchangeably when they are not interchangeable terms. The value of educational notes to a collector of said notes are going to be much higher than the value of said notes to someone who collects Royal Doulton figurines for example, value in it's self is what someone is willing to sell for and another is willing to pay, it is individual. FMV is the amount a knowledgeable seller and buyer are willing accept for said item.

As for 2 coins being sold at vastly different prices and asking what they are worth. Worth is simply value. It is worth something different to different people much like a North Face winter jacket is worth more to me in Canada than to someone in California.

People always want to quantify everything when in reality the human factor does not allow for an accurate method for doing so.

 

papermoney makes an excellent point about Fair Market Value verses value. We interchange words very casually when we make statements. My pet peeve is when people interchange the words "will and can". I think we do this subconsciously, but give this to a sharp lawyer and you will receive a quick education. Fair Market Value and value are just as far apart. The first is a consensus, the second is established between individuals.

 

Thanks for the link

 

I got into coins one year ago. Thought I would just collect. However the fun of buying and selling on ebay is great. Ebay is a wide open market. It is possible to buy on ebay and sell the item right back a few weeks later and make a profit. I keep a very small inventory of coins some 30-50 coins/obsolete paper money etc on my ebay store CoinsIncorporated. I try to make 10% net profit after fees etc I want to flip a coin quickly. However for more valuable issues I price using grey sheet as a guide.

My 10% net formula requires marking up the item 25-30% over cost and starting the auction at that price. 25-30% covers ebays commission, pay pal, listing fee AND SHIPPING COSTS right down to the envelope.

10% may not sound like much but any business would love to have a 10% net on the bottom line.Granted I only do this for fun. Some weeks I sell $300-$400 others nothing. It all depends on who is selling what. SIlver prices have made buting Morgan Dollars cheap all but impossible except for really expensive ones where the spread might be $100-$200 on a $1,000 coin.

Ebay may have raise their fees but where else can you have a 24/7 selling platform for as little as $15 a month and overhead of 12-15%?