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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;WingedLiberty, post: 1032264, member: 26030&quot;]Sorry to hear that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, that&#039;s the frustration of ebay ... I find if you REALLY want a particular coin you have to bid over the list price</p><p>(dont do that too often tho as overpaying on the buy is how you end up losing $)</p><p><br /></p><p>However if it&#039;s for a one-of-a-kind coin you covet and dont plan on selling (anytime soon), </p><p>bidding over is the only way to ensure your win.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is the PCGS guide for prices of coins that they grade (only)</p><p>This is the free guide which is missing a lot of grades ...</p><p><br /></p><p>You have to pay to get access to the PCGS guide for all the grades</p><p>However this free shortlist is a good general guide.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that this list is ONLY for PCGS graded and encapsulated coins.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.pcgs.com/PRICES/PriceGuideDetail.aspx?MS=1&amp;PR=1&amp;SP=1&amp;c=732&amp;title=Barber+Half+Dollar" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.pcgs.com/PRICES/PriceGuideDetail.aspx?MS=1&amp;PR=1&amp;SP=1&amp;c=732&amp;title=Barber+Half+Dollar" rel="nofollow">http://www.pcgs.com/PRICES/PriceGuideDetail.aspx?MS=1&amp;PR=1&amp;SP=1&amp;c=732&amp;title=Barber+Half+Dollar</a></p><p><br /></p><p>It lists a 1893 Barber Half in EF40 for $220 and a MS60 for $515</p><p><br /></p><p>What I do (because I am too cheap to pay for the PCGS guide with all the prices) </p><p>is put my grade into the set of numbers (although this is not always a good idea) </p><p>and use a linear fit (price grade jumps are actually rarely linear, but it&#039;s a good rough estimate for my purposes)</p><p><br /></p><p>The wacky way I would calculate this is a coin graded 55 is 3/4 of the way between a 40 and a 60;</p><p>so my estimated price of a 55 would be 3/4 of the way between the price of the 40 and the 60</p><p><br /></p><p>(Note this is actually not how most coins are graded, so use this &quot;cheap man&#039;s&quot; equation at your own risk)</p><p><br /></p><p>This risk is lower on cheaper coins (say below $600) ... but I would not recommending doing this on </p><p>coins over $600 as you could end up grossly overpaying</p><p><br /></p><p>So my estimated price of a 55 would be 220 + 0.75 x (515-220) = $441.25</p><p><br /></p><p>So if I REALLY WANTED the coin ... i would probably actually bid about 5% (sometimes a little more) </p><p>over my calcualted priice ... so I would bid around $460.00</p><p>and hope that i ended up getting the coin for less.</p><p><br /></p><p>To me even if I overpay by $40 or $60, it&#039;s not a big deal on a $500 coin that I love.</p><p>Others might not agree with this technique or philosophy for sure!</p><p><br /></p><p>So in this case since the high winning bid was $432 ... I would have won the coin for $442 (with my $460 bid)</p><p>(assuming bidding was in $10 jumps and assuming the guy bidding $432 didnt have a higher max price </p><p>in the system)</p><p><br /></p><p>And remember .. only do this on a few one-of-a kind coins you covet that are under $600 or so ... </p><p>this reduces your price risk to probably less than $100 a coin (which to me is no big deal)</p><p><br /></p><p>And do not do this on common coins that you will have the opportunity to buy tomorrow for less</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway just thought I would share this (somewhat crazy) way I would bid on a one-of-a kind </p><p>coin I absolutely covet</p><p><br /></p><p>One last note, If a coin says &quot;No Returns&quot; ... ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pass ... </p><p>as I end up returning over 50% of the coins I buy on ebay because the photo</p><p>didnt look like the coin in hand ... there are plenty of ways to enhance photos</p><p><br /></p><p>So in any case try not to get too carried away ... and if you miss on a coin ... don&#039;t fret ... just keep looking ... </p><p>there will always be another coin you like offered for sale in the future ... and maybe </p><p>you&#039;ll be able to get it for less</p><p><br /></p><p>By the way, I think nice looking Barber Halfs in very high grades that are under $500 are hard to find.</p><p>I have no idea why.&nbsp; It&#039;s easier to find a nice looking Capped Bust Half for some reason.</p><p><br /></p><p>Good Hunting![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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