The do's and don'ts!

I finished selling the vast portion of my collection today. Every collector (or their heirs) will probably face this some day, so I thought I'd share my experience and ask others to chime in with their thoughts.

The Marketplace Board:

This went quite well and many collectors here on the registry bought various pieces amounting to about 40% of what I had to sell. This was probably the most positive experience, as I've met MANY nice people there during this process. The prices they paid were very fair, all were very professional and you gain some comfort knowing that the coins that you cherished for all these years go directly to another collector who will enjoy them as much as you did. They know good stuff won't be given away and are very reasonable in their pricing. No fees involved.

Ebay:

This was overall the worst experience. The morgan dollar auction was OK, but high end type pieces were a disappointment. I would have been better off going to my local dealer. They would have paid me a little more, with no fees or shipping costs. Ebay now charges 6% on coins (it used to be 9%), and roughly 2.9% for paypal payments. About 30% of my collection was sold through Ebay. I probably won't use them again.

Local dealer:

The other 30% was sold to a local dealer over the past 2 days at the Carson City Coin Show. The transaction was fairly quick and professional, taking only about an hour and a half. He bought everything I had left, at a discount, yes, but for the time, fees and shipping that would have been incurred on Ebay, it was worth it. He bought 2 of my highest end pieces at $600 over what I paid for them through "the major auction house". The "major auction house" (that I bought the coins through), would have only charged me 17.5% of the final price, if I went through them. Looking at the price the dealer paid, I would have been out about 20% on the price the dealer paid me and it would have taken months, had I gone through the auction house.

So there you have it. I'll be paying off the ranch this week with the proceeds. Hawdilly!

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.