What is the best venue to sell $400 to $1,200 coins?

[shirohniichan]

It appears to me that eBay is a great place to sell $200 or less coins. Shows are also a good place for retail material up to about $300 or $400. Big shows will attract retail buyers with more money, but I don't know what their usual spending limit is.

 

I have some trade dollars, a seated dollar, and a gold dollar (all slabbed by PCGS or NGC) to sell, I want the money fairly soon, and I'm looking for options. I guess I could sell a couple right away and wait a few months for payment on others.

 

When do Heritage of Bowers & Merena auctions become a good choice? When is it best to fall back on eBay?

[CarlWohlforth]

Mercury dimes do well on eBay in that price range. I've also had good luck with nice proof type coins at the upper end of that range. Small gold coins don't seem to do as well for me on eBay, though $20 gold does OK. The Morgans I've tried did OK, IMHO. I never have tried trade or seated dollars.

 

You could try eBay with a reserve. At worst you would be out $5 and a week. Just don't say you found them in a trunk in the attic

[paigow_johnny]

Heritage seems to bring in strong bids, based on the auctions I can't seem to win. Don't know all the particulars or what the timeline is, though...

[Gunsmoke]

List them here in the marketplace to start.

[keithdagen]

Shiroh,

 

Heritage is OK, but from experience, it takes about 4 to 6 weeks to receive your money. For these kinds of coins, I recommend E-Bay, with a modest reserve to protect your investment.

[Gunsmoke]

Yeah, but you get the added bonus of Heritage bidding on the coins too

[keithdagen]

GS,

 

I'm thinking about posting that on this board. I don't consider myself an insufficiently_thoughtful_person, and think nothing's wrong with that, but maybe some people with IQ's could enlighten me.

[Gunsmoke]

First, let me say you definitely are not an insufficiently_thoughtful_person and I can see your point. I can also see the other side too.

 

I just recently attended a live auction and an item was not moving. The auctioneer could not get a bid so he finally bought it himself. Anything wrong with this? I don't think so, but I do think it would have been wrong for him to be actively bidding while the item was being sold.

 

I think the purpose of an auction house/auctioneer is to offer items for sale, not purchase them. I guess from a sellers standpoint it is a good thing because it drives the price up.

 

Often a practice may be legit, but the preception of wrongdoing may be enough for most people to avoid it.

[BillJones]

Sell them to me! I love collector coins that fall into that price range. Unfortunately I do almost all of my buying in person because I am picky about what I put in inventory or sell to want list customers. You'd have to see me at show, and all but a few of my shows are in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

[davefperry]

No claim to IQ here but there was a thread on another forum in which the head of Heritage admitted to bidding on coins they had up for auction (through a different company in the corporation). This was after a member had consigned coins to Heritage, been advised not to set a reserve and then saw some of his coins sell for less than bullion.

It sure looked as if there was impropriety and conflict of interest.

[shirohniichan]

I'd definitely set a reserve. Supercoin's platinum coins sold for under bullion price to one of Heritage's companies.

 

Here is another piece of info that may help clarify where to sell them.

 

Two of the coins are for trade dollar specialists. The first is an 1873 with prooflike surfaces. Unfortunately that highlights the hairlines on it, but those who see MS 1873's will know the rarity of prooflikes in this year. The second is similar-- an 1876 with a prooflike obverse.

 

The others aren't particularly scarce, but the 1873 seated dollar took me a while to find in decent-for-the-grade AU.

 

If I put them up on eBay, I figure most people will expect them to be junk and bid accordingly. I've only had one better date/ nice for the grade coin meet my reserve on eBay before (an 1870-CC dollar in VF). Usually I get e-mails asking me to sell them really cheap when they don't meet the reserve.

 

Is eBay mostly for mooches and barely-made-the-grade collectors?

[BillJones]

Many dealers view Ebay as place to sell coins that they can't sell elsewhere. I've gotten a couple of pleasant surprises with the bids, but most of the time Ebay has been a disappointment for me.

 

Part of the problem is that there are some bad actors on Ebay and the only policing that I can see is in the feedback program, which is inadequate because of retaliation. Ebay should at least go after those who offer counterfeits that are not labeled as such, and they don't even do that.

 

I've sent emails to sells who were offering counterfiets. The only time I ever got a response was from an outfit that said, "We have a very liberal return policy." That's not exactly what I would call "consumer protection."

[paigow_johnny]

" Is eBay mostly for mooches and barely-made-the-grade collectors? "

 

Shiro...I guess that depends on your definition of a mooch ?? I'm very new to ebay but have been bidding on Yahoo auctions for a while. I personally don't expect to go to Ebay or Yahoo and expect to pay full market retail price for an item...if I wanted to do that I'd just drive out to one of the local dealers. If that means I'll never win an ebay auction...so be it.

 

That being said...in items I've been looking at, I've seen some real strong prices go on ebay...2 examples

 

1. 80/79-CC GSA dollar went the other day for over $500

2. 91-S Redfield red slabs going for over $200, when the best price I've seen a dealer offer to buy was around $100

 

People will bid strong right now if the merchandise is quality...

[BillJones]

With all due respect the two items you cited are specialty coins that are get special attention because they are in specific holders. It amazes me and other dealers (including some well-known silver dollar specialists) that people are willing to pay so much for specific dollars in these holders. I've seen collectors pay over $3,000 for an MS-62 or 63 1879-CC dollar in a GSA holder. Outside the holder or in a PCGS or NGC slab one would be doing well to get $1,500 or $1,600 for the coin.

 

The 1879 over 80-CC dollar was made from salvage dies. For that reason many of the them are not that attractive and really nice ones are worth more than "bid" for the given grade. I dare say that the coin is probably scarce in the GSA holder since most of the really nice ones, what few there were, were cracked out long ago.

 

I don't know much about your Redfield fascination. Back in the 1970s when that hoard was sold, Paramount Coin Company put a large number of them into their brand of slabs. Many that were given the MS-65 label were nowhere close to that grade, and many of us who knew better tended to stay away from them.

 

I guess the bottom line is that the grade of the coins you mentioned is often secondary to the holder that houses them. For that reason such items would be ideal candidates for Ebay when quality seems to take a backseat to marketing IMO.

[paigow_johnny]

True Bill...haven't seen a Redfield 65 that's close to 65...most of the good ones might make 63.

[Hoot]

Is eBay mostly for mooches and barely-made-the-grade collectors?

 

Shiro - I don't think so, although there are many there. I have often said that eBay is the big garage sale of the internet. By this I mean that many of the buyers go there with the mentality that they also take to a local garage sale- if it ain't cheap, don't buy. This is detrimental to all who sell there, as there are many upstanding dealers and some collectors who sell there.

 

I say some of that in my own defense - I sell on eBay those items that (1) I don't want any more, (2) items I submitted raw ans did not make the grade I desire for my collection (does NOT mean they are junk), (3) items that I don't collect but may have found a nice specimen of, (4) items I don't collect that came in a set I bought. I do all of this to help support my hobby habits, and for the most part, it doesn't work. I lose money all the time. That is in part because of the garage sale mentality of eBay and in part due to my naivety, stupidity, and lack of ability.

 

I have seen some very nice coins go for very nice prices on eBay. TDN has paid reasonable prices for outstanding coins there. Just set a minimum bid or reserve that meets your needs and stick by it.

 

Hoot

[shirohniichan]

I guess I'll put them up on eBay and see what happens. Maybe some of the people who pay outrageous sums for overgraded junk will accidently buy decent coins from me around retail price.

[gmarguli]

Just set a minimum bid or reserve that meets your needs and stick by it.

 

The problem is it is very hard for nice coins to meet the reserve. You frequently end up spending a lot of money in fees and get no results. Also, you list a coin worth $1200 and put a reserve of $1000 on it and it will frequently end with prices all over the place.

 

I remember putting a coin up with a reserve of $175. The bidding ended at $165. I then listed with a reserve of $150 and $125 and each time it failed to meet the reserve even though some of the same people bid on it. Finally after listing it with no reserve it sold for about $100. After all the reserve and listing fees and the actual selling fees, I could have sold it to most dealers for more money.

 

Reserve auctions suck.

[shirohniichan]

Do auction houses work with you regarding descriptions? That is, will they mention the prooflike characteristics or varieties if these are major selling points to specialists?

 

Do Heritage and B&M charge sellers' fees as well as buyers' fees?

 

Will either give you part (say half) of the reserves up front if they judge the coins to be nice enough?

[gmarguli]

Yes, the auction houses will mention these attributes if they are selling points.

 

Heritage will give you some of the money upfront, but I believe they charge you interst. You could try one of their bullet auctions which can get you paid really fast.

 

They charge sellers fees. I believe they are listed at 15%, but you can work on that. Several times they will do specials. They will also work with you if your collection is worth over $50,000.

 

[shirohniichan]

Screw the 15% seller fees AND getting charged interest for monies paid up front.

 

I'll go with eBay for now. I don't have too much to sell, so it wouldn't be worth it to set up a booth at Long Beach, either.

 

Now I just have to dig everything out, write descriptions, scan the coins, etc. That should take a week or so.

[New_Horizons]

shiro--

the last I spoke with Heritage, they charge a 5% seller's fee, as well as the 15% buyer's fee to the winning bidder. you are free to bid on your own coins, however-- should you win that/those coins-- you will also be charged the buyer's fee, along with the seller's fee, or-- 20%. Should you place a reserve price on your coin(s), and it not sell in the initial auction, your cost is 10%, and Heritage will place it/them in an after-auction 'buy-it-now' sale, usually at your reserve price, in an attempt to move it/them. should you not! place a reserve, and the coin(s) not sell, again-- Heritage will place the coin(s) in the after-auction 'buy-it-now' sale. your net proceeds should be in your hands in 4 to 6 weeks. there is more info available, so just give them a call!!!

 

Bottom line: e-Bay will return your money faster (about 2 weeks), yet Heritage will probably bring you more money, in my opinion... best of luck!!!

[keithdagen]

To add -- you cannot bid on your own coins through the internet, that's a no-no -- you can bid by phone, fax, or mail.

 

Heritage will occasionally run specials where they waive the seller's fee. Also, if a piece is sold, then returned, you have to wait for it to be put into another auction before it sells again and you can get the proceeds the second time, so the process can take 10 to 12 weeks total, depending on the buyers.

[gmarguli]

To add -- you cannot bid on your own coins through the internet, that's a no-no

 

Is that just thru ebay or thru their web site?

 

[keithdagen]

Greg,

 

I was told website, but the auction in question was an Internet auction, so it wouldn't have made it to E-Bay.

[Oldtrader3]

Looking at Coppercoin's Data Base on early Indian Cents, it is evident that Ebay is not the venue for better date, or better grade collector coins, except some popular denominations. I have had some luck selling these catagory coins to local dealers and getting more for them than on EBay.

 

I gave away some high grade Kennedy DCAM's (seconds) on EBay a couple months ago. Heritage wanted to sell some of my gold recently, but looking at their recent prices realized on collector gold coins did not make me want to try this venue.

 

I have a bunch (20+) of nice Certified Silver Roosevelt Dimes (MS66/67) that I would like to sell, but I just have not found the right niche to sell them right now. If you find one, let me know. Maybe I will drag them down to the Santa Clara Show this weekend.

[EZ_E]

I personally think the best way to sell a large quantity of coins is to make your own web page and advertise the URL in like "Numismatic News", "Coins", "Coin Prices", etc. Scan your coins, list descriptions and min. price acceptable and accept bids via e-mail. This will minimize fees and hopefully prevent a loss by selling to dealers.