What's your best eBay.

There isn't a free lunch when it comes to buying coins on eBay, but sometimes people are asleep.Or someone lists a buy-it-now for a really low price.


What is your best eBay win?

 

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I bought a PCGS PR-64 OGH 1881 three cent nickle for $200. Sent it to NCS and got back a PR-67. I don't have the coin anymore, but it was the best purchase that I ever had off of ebay.

 

I bought a whack of ancients on Christmas Eve a few years ago. No other bidders so I got most for the initial start price. I saved about 90%.

 

A week ago I got a 2005 BU silver eagle for $30, free shipping. And when I say BU, I mean BU - three miniscule little marks on the field of the obverse, but otherwise no toning, no spotting, no nothing. I checked it and yes, it's genuine. It's my lucky ASE now - I swapped it out with my old 2005 ASE, which was also BU but with significantly more dings from being in a roll. The old one is going to be a present for my little sister.

 

I ended up buying many ancient coins that ended up going cheap over the normal asking price many net dealers ask for, some even bargains like an NGC octavian denarius, julia paula denarius, many many more.

I missed out on a athens owl graded by NGC in great shape for $275, I bought other coins before I saw it. Needless to say someone saw the deal and bought it and relisted it days later for $900.

I still get good deals. Only a half dozen or so ended up being overpaying but I wanted them that bad.

 

I take advantage of people that take crappy pictures of raw coins (mostly IHC's) and offer a return policy.

1864 L IHC paid $26, came back MS63BN. Sold for $600.
1864 L IHC paid $284, came back MS63RB
1871 IHC, paid about $500, came back MS64BN (gorgeous coin too!, look at the avatar!)

I have had some other successes, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

 

My best ebay win since I became an ebay member occurred in late December 2011 when I bought a gold-plated 1-oz .999 silver art bar for "only" $41.94 (spot silver was $27.77/oz when I bought this). The silver art bar was a gold-plated version of a 1979 Green Country Mint "Dogs Playing Pool". These are very rare with mintages between 10 to 150 for each of those type of bars minted in the late '70's. This ebay win was a BIN auction that was priced too low relative to the true collector value of the bar. The reason that this was my best ebay win because those Green Country Mint art bars usually get ebay winning bids that range from $85 to $140 whenever they show up for auction which is not very often. Relatively speaking, the $14.17 over spot silver premium that I paid for mine was a great deal for that particular type of rare silver art bar. I suspect that the ebay seller did not know what he had and priced the BIN too low and I saw it just in time to buy it.

 

I got a lot of PL64/65 Canada half dollars certified by ICCS for less than melt on a BIN.

 

1858 Seated half for $20. G-4; I know its not that great but the 2012 red book says its worth $35.

 

Mine was for selling. I sold a very common, very worn Mercury dime a year or so ago for $13. During the same time however, I sold a Morgan silver dollar for $8.

 

I got two dandy nickels that come quickly to mind in the past 3 years.
First was a 1883 With Cents Liberty Nickel that was priced at No Cents Levels in the condition it is in. Title said "With Cents" and it was a Buy it Now late night 6 days and 23 hours to go listing when I found it.
Item name: 1883 WITH CENTS XF-AU DETAILS LIBERTY NICKEL
Sale price: $22.50
Estimated delivery: 3-6 business days
Shipping & Handling: US Postal Service First Class Mail $3.00

I think it is every bit AU55, the pictures are terrible.

The other is even better and a gem in my proof set.
I bought a 1942 P Silver War nickel that had a pretty bad picture
but I thought I could see something better than the images provided.
People stayed away because the shipping was $7.65.
Item name: 1942-P Jefferson Nickel UNC Raised Ridge No Reserve
Sale price: $13.01
Someday I'll get these graded.

I think I have a Ty 2 Proof here, 99.9 % sure, if not, the 6 steps and condition of it would make it worth a bunch anyways.

 

I search out OLD first generation PCGS key date morgan slabs MS 64-65, crack em send to NGC and most come back 65-67

 

My best ebay purchase was for a national banknote for our local bank. (Chico Ca). I paid money for it and could probably sell it for money as well. The key isn't if I got a great deal, just that it is the purchase I am the happiest with.

 

I grabbed a lot of Silver Washington Quarters for melt. The set came from the 1948-64 Whitman Album. The 56 was a type B. Felt good about that one. lol

 

Can't recall most but the one that stands out the most would be a 1938-D Walking Liberty in VG condition for around $45.00

 

I have never gotten too great of a deal on eBay. I find better deals at coin shows and dealers.

 

I got 4 or 5 barber dimes for about 3.50 shipped a couple years ago late night sniping for the win

 

The best deals that I have seen on Ebay are for the people that buy my coins!!

 

Best by percentage? Probably the seven "unknown metal" rounds I got for $51 (from our good friends at THR), which turned out to be .999 silver. Not a bad deal for 7 troy ounces.

Best by straight dollar discount is probably the 1 oz AGE I got for $835 shipped, when gold was around $1350.

I've had quite a few other goodies, though, some through pure luck -- like the 1964 proof set I snagged because it was listed with a BIN below melt, and it turned out to be Accented Hair. A pile of mostly-unimpaired silver proof sets and loose dimes for about half of melt. A roll of 2002-S silver halves for $100 when melt was over $220 (the description didn't mention that they were silver).

The key for me is lurking in the new BIN listings, and catching lots that are missing key terms from their descriptions. Of course, it's hard to find those lots other than by stumbling on them -- if there were a reliable way to find them, people would be finding them, and bidding them up.