Bubblebling

Hi BSShog. No, you do not understand. I must come across as a Dumbo. I'm not nearly as clueless as you think. And I am learning on here. And I do lots of studying and homework every day. No, I am not asking anyone to tell me how how to start and run a business. Where do you come up with this stuff? Not to brag, but I graduated business school with honors. And I have years of business experience. Sorry, BSShog, but you are way out in left field about me. Sorry I come across so clueless. I have Asperger's syndrome. Maybe this is why. And I know that I am different. Outspoken, confident, independent, etc. I'm not suggesting that the way these folks are doing business is wrong. Becoming outdated prob, but not wrong. I study coins every day. Honestly, I don't know where you come up with all this stuff about me. And I wouldn't care the least if you dont want to do business with me. To be honest, I do think that some folks on here, maybe not you, are a little concerned about an upstart like me, AI, etc. They prob been doing business thier way for the last 30 years or so. They can't imagine anyone or anything being more efficient than they are. Esp a dumb computer, that doesn't know anything about coins like they do. Anyways, just wanted to let you know that you got it all wrong. I do make my own rules, tho. I'm even going to make my own price guides. I make my own key dates too. Etc. Heaven forbid! This is numismatic treason! It should give me a competitive edge, tho. I think outside the box. Remember Henry Ford.

Thank you KY. Your advice is well received, I assure you.

Greetings. I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but I def am a newbie. I recently read an article that described a big study that they did on selling coins on eBay. They studied a lot of different variables such as what kind of photos sold best, etc. One of thier findings was that starting a coin auction with a 99 cent minimum sold the best. I don't know about you, but I would be leery of putting a 99 cent minimum on a coin that can easily fetch hundreds. The thinking here is, if the coin really is worth a lot, potential buyers will know this, and bid the price up to fair value. I'm don't feel so keen on this practice of putting a 99 cent minimum on a valuable coin. I think that I would put a minimum somewhere around what I think is fair value for the coin. How do you feel about this?

I will let you all know how I am making out. Fair enough? Let's just call it an experiment. I think you will all agree, there is not much downside risk involved. At least not now. Like you all seem to think there is. You might think we are talking about a 200,000 dollar investment here. Even if I lost all of my $600 investment, which is doubtful, this would not be a huge loss. I don't get it. I guess no one should even think about buying and selling coins unless they have deep pockets, and years of experience and knowledge. Right? Hmmmmm.......

Hi Woods. Thank you for your advice. That sounds like too much work to me. I don't think that I would enjoy that kind of work. Btw, I don't put much faith in "errors". Oh, I know, some error coins are worth big money. Don't get me wrong. But on eBay, everybody has a so called error coin. The vast majority of them get no bids, either. (Rightfully.) So I'm going to just avoid error coins. Just not worth my time. And not much fun to me. Also, most collectors don't want error coins. Error coins are a specialty field. And not an easy one, neither. Esp on eBay. Everyone thinks that they have an error coin to sell. Too much work. Too much risk.

True, evaluating coins is key. I get this much. What about the folks who only buy slabs? I suppose they can be taken advantage of too, but if they have some experience, and know what they are doing, I don't see lots of risk for them, unless they overpay for something. Esp if they only buy from trusted sources. The real risk comes in with buying and selling rare and highly valuable coins. Not much risk in buying 99 cent wooden nickles, unless you are buying them by the rolls and lots.

It is not extremely risky for me. The most I am putting in is $600. And I can pull out at any time. Some will say, $600 is not enough to buy and sell coins. They must be big dealers. Children learning about and collecting pocket change is very risky, too, right? They should not be allowed to engage in this, right?

Hi RWB. Thank you for your enlightenment. I can see that you enjoy numismatics, and that you hope that I do well. Thank you! Lots of members are saying, "Fuhget it". They must of forgotten that they had to start learning about coins once upon a time themselves. Must of been a long time ago. To be honest, I don't enjoy all the trivia type facts about how the coins were made, etc. Right now I am concentrating on calculating how much I should pay for a coin, and how much I can hope to get for it. Regardless of how it was made, etc. I know some of these facts are fun facts to know. At least to some. All I want to know is how much should I pay for a coin, and how much can I get for it. I don't think my customers are really going to care if I am reading The Fun Facts about US Coins book. In this business, it's all about money. Of course I need to know the basics. I am studying and learning every day. With the help of (some) of the members and staff on here. Thank you to all well wishers and tutors. Right now, I am mostly working on pricing. This is the most critical skill that I need to develop right now. I'm never going to suggest that I am a coin "expert" anyways. I will defer all technical questions to you people. Other than learning the coins series, dates, mintages, silver content, collector desirability, rarety, grade, etc, (which is a lot right there), all I really care about is how much will you take for that coin? And how much do I think that I can sell it for. I try to keep it as simple as possible. Which is not easy in the coin biz, as you know. I'm never going to be a full service broker anyways. I don't care about pennies and nickles, for example. We all should have our own niche. It prob would take the greater part of a whole lifetime to know all the US coins, medallions, etc. I'm not planning on having a big business. Pretty much a small time collector/seller. I'm not interested in collecting a certain series, or offering a lot of different coins. I focus on what coins I feel are worth the most, and look the nicest. Quarters only, at this point. That's about it. Having said this, I would love to get one of those big estate sale lots. They look like a lot of fun. Possible profit, too. Of course the sellers say that they have no clue what all they are selling. Sure! We believe that, right? ;-)

Hi Mark. Thank you very much for the info on those proofs.

Don't worry Moxie, I will figure all that out. Keep it up. People like you make me even more resolved to do well. The thing is, you guys are in a much different leauge than I am. If I come back and report that I made $20 last week, guys like you are going to say: Are you kidding? That isn't even worth it. But it would mean a lot to me.

Hi RWB. It should take me less than 5 minutes to answer your questions. Yeah, if NGC doesn't/didn't have computer problems this morning. Which they did. I see you are testing me to see how clueless I am about coins. Don't worry, I can answer your questions off the top of my head. I'm not the professionals that you all are, but I do know something about coins. And you can see that I am learning every day with all your help. Questions one and two are pretty much the same. Modern proofs are made with special dies. The proofs are made (usually, I am finding out now), to higher specs and finishes. And of course, the proofs are limited editions for most series. A reverse proof is a proof where the fields on the coin are reversed. This can result in a beautiful coin. These coins are highly sought after by collectors. The best way to clean a proof? Ha ha. Trick question, right? You don't clean a proof. What is a "proof-like" coin? There is no such grade. This is a marketing gimmick by a seller. A coin is either a proof, or it isn't. So there you go. How did I do? I know I still need to learn a lot, tho. Thanks for the quiz..

Hi JT2. This is just the information I was looking for. Thank you very much. Re that 1913 buffalo, do you think that most of the buffalo proofs from that year look roughly like this? Or do you feel that there should be better examples of this proof? And unless a client asks you for one, would you just skip this proof in general?

Hi Mark. Oh, you are right. I'm going to just stick to doing business on eBay. This is why I am thinking of just going with proofs. To me, a proof, esp if still in original packaging, is sort of already graded. You know that it is a high grade coin. But you are right. Buying ungraded coins sight unseen is a huge trap. If I ever got into buying non proofs, I would have to just buy slabs. Slabs are harder to sell, tho. Folks think that there is a $20 or $30 dollar markup on them.

Greetings. As a newbie company, I'm thinking that just working/collecting proofs would be safer. I should not have to be so concerned about coin grading. But here are a couple of questions for you: When buying proofs, are you all that concerned about the grade? Most proofs are going to be high grade. And without actually having the proof in hand, it will be very difficult to accurately grade a proof on eBay. To make matters worse, many of the proofs are in proof sets. These are set in fancy plastic or cardboard folders, etc. It is highly doubtful that you can accurately appraise the grades of these coins, sight unseen. So my question is, re proof buying, Do you mostly go with "A proof is a proof is a proof"? Or are you very concerned about a proofs (or set of proofs) grade, when buying proofs? For example, let's say you have been looking for a certain proof that doesn't come on the market all that often. But when you finally come across one for sale, would you just try to get it, or do you fuss over the possible grading? What if it is still in original govt packaging? Would you be more apt to just try and get it? Sorry for the dumb questions. Thank you.

I just had a good idea. I could get on here, and say, I'm looking at this quarter on eBay. What should my Max bid be? Or, I could show you what I bought, and how much I paid for it, and you could tell me how I am doing price wise. Just an idea.

Well, One thing you have all impressed me about is the importance of the sellers rating! Yikes! Thank you for this. Other than the Blue and Red books, I prob don't need books. I study the quarters all day. I've got all the different types, dates, proofs, and mintages. Photos also. I am sure that there is a learning curve. As long as I don't go crazy, I should be alright. I'm just going to buy proofs and such. And pay attn to who the seller is. Thank you for all your input. I will let you all how I am making out.

Thanks Kycoincollector. By "graded", I assume you mean slabbed? I'm not too keen on slabbed coins. But I think if I got a brilliant gem proof, this should be good.

Yup. I think LOTS of folks over pay for their coins. Wow! That sounds beautiful! I wouldn't know how to price it at this point, tho. I just got done finishing my Excel data base on US quarters. Now the fun starts Analyzing all this data. Re, values of coins, do you think that I should go with the Blue book for average pricing? I could keep a log of auctions with final price, but as you point out, the prices they are bidding can be unrealistic. Thanks.

Hi Lem. Congratulations. Out of my league, tho. Not your average nickle, huh? ;-) I am sure that some pennies are worth just as much. But these coins are clearly out of my league. I was just referring to the coins in my league. Thank you for the well wishes. Yes, I can see that there is quite a bit of risk involved. Esp how folks don't want to pay hardly anything for nice coins. I noticed this. Thank you for your advice. Well, Maybe I can try a little, and see how it goes? I wouldn't be losing that much money, even if I failed, right? So what is the risk? Seriously? If I just start real slow, I don't really see a lot of risk, to be honest. How much risk are we talking about? Prob not even $100 should I pull out. And I might even end up with a few nice coins (That have good value). So unless you all can show me where all this risk is supposed to be , i don't believe you. I'll let you know how I fare. And if I failed, I will let you know how much I lost. Fair enough?

Hi Lem. Congratulations. Out of my league, tho. Not your average nickle, huh? ;-) I am sure that some pennies are worth just as much. But these coins are clearly out of my league. I was just referring to the coins in my league. Thank you for the well wishes. Yes, I can see that there is quite a bit of risk involved. Esp how folks don't want to pay hardly anything for nice coins. I noticed this.

Hi Moxie. Can you be more specific please? If I have erred, hopefully it is on the side of caution.

Greetings. You prob heard about the $600 stimulus checks being sent out. I got mine. Not much money. Was wondering what I could do with it. I got the bright idea that I could start a new US coin business, buying and selling on eBay. I haven't signed up yet. Haven't had the time. Right now I am doing data entry on US quarter types and mintages. I don't know much about all the US coins. But I have great genetics. My Grandpa Martin on my Dad's side had an awesome collection. Lots of gold. So I decided that since I don't know much about US coins, I should just start learning mostly about one denomination. I chose quarters. Being new, and only starting out with $600, I would be foolish to buy gold or super rare coins. I just ordered the Red and Blue book. A few observations: Perhaps like you, I love looking at the coins being offered up on eBay. I can spend hours (which I don't have), browsing the eBay listings. If I ever get enough money, I would luv to get one of those big lots. I know that you prob will get taken on those, but they look like fun. I've been doing some studying on buying and selling coins, too. I am pretty confident that I will do well buying and selling. I won't be buying any "Buy it nows." Just auctions. One thing that amazes me is how little people offer for really nice pieces. You can have an Indian Head penny, in beautiful condition, well over a hundred years old, and you will be lucky if you can get five dollars for it. This ceases to amaze me! I'm think that I am going to concentrate on proofs, and brilliant gem uncircs. After I run the coin thru my screening, I will ask myself, is this a coin that I would enjoy owning? (In case I get stuck with it. I suspect that lots of folks over pay for their coins). Esp how people will hardly offer anything for really nice, old coins. Forget pennies and nickles. It would cost more in shipping than what most of them are worth. I'm going to stay with silver. I can always subtract out the silver value to find out the desirability factor of a coin. I have identified four factors that contribute to a coins price. I haven't worked out the math equations yet, but I will. Date. Everything else being equal, an older coin should go for more than a new(er) coin. Mintage and "Key" dates. Actually, these terms are interchangable. And while they do affect the price of a coin, it is not totally dependable, again, all other things being equal. Desirability. You can have the same coin, same grade, even the same year, and mint, and some coins, especially finishes, are going to be more desired by collectors in general. Burnished finish on proofs, and colored coins come to mind. They will be less desired by collectors. Even if the mintage is lower. Grading. Obviously the grade of the coin is very important. So we have four factors that influence a coins current value: Date, mintage, Collector desirability, and grade. Each of these factors can be gotten or calculated. So these are a few things that I am working on right now. I'm going to start slow, to just get my feet wet. I have had excellent experience selling other things on eBay. For example, I know that the photo is very important. I'm going to avoid all those "errors", too. They hardly ever sell. And I will be interested in mostly single coins, or very small lots. No rolls of coins or monster boxes for me. Rolls of coins wouldn't look very pretty in my beautiful treasure chest. And of course forget about monster boxes. I hope that I can make some money, get some nice coins, and maybe have a little fun, too. I'm retired, and going crazy with nothing to do. Wish me luck. Any suggestions you have for me of course are welcome.