Learning selling the hard way

[Thane]

Live auction of a good chunk of my collection tonight (Friday)

 

Collecting coins is easy. Collecting coins on a budget is hard. Selling coins is easy. Selling coins for what they're worth is hard!

 

This Friday night (the 20th) is the night much of my collection goes up for live auction. You can watch it here: https://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=54963#272 or you can also find it through RJ's Auction Service in Scranton, KS.

 

Much of my slab collection will get sold cheaply, if my past buying experience holds here. Browse the auction for mixed date multi-slab lots of moderns, and you'll find great bargains. I wouldn't be surprised if the lot with the two PCGS 1960 5c MS65's goes for $4/coin, or if the eight-coin lot including the NGC 1965 5c MS66 goes for $40 total. OUCH!

 

Months and years of good buys, great buys, a few impulse buys, a few decent trades, LOTS of roll searching, and improving success at slabbing raw coins ... well, that all sounds good and like my collection improved, BUT ...

 

Let's just say no matter how great a deal you bought something for, it's not a great deal until you sell it. And you're not going to sell it if it's in a pile of boxes and half-finished coin projects in an area of your house you're trying to keep your messes out of the rest of your family's hair!

 

(I always admire collectors like W.K.F. who post photos of their pristine dining tables with an organized collecting project complete or ongoing in an easily seen start-middle-end fashion.)

 

Roll searching is true treasure hunting, but it's also death by a thousand messes in the household, and it's death by a thousand nickels in trying to resell great UNC raw stock at UNC prices. Ain't gonna happen, I don't have thirty years and 5000 s.f. to leave the stuff laying around.

 

What's the answer? Sell!

 

If I had sold all the slabs singly on EBay no reserve, I might've done better than this auction will go with multi-lots. The 2009-D BU dime rolls, lost in a multi-date lot, will go close to face, when the better choice/gem examples could sell for $5 each coin raw.

 

At least there's an unusual $100 of mine on the block, too.

 

Have fun watching the auction results, and if you accumulate your collection like I have mine, keep in mind how you plan on organizing and selling.

 

See more journals by Thane

[Six Mile Rick]

Thane, GOOD LUCK!!

[Jack Robinson]

Thane.... Good luck on the sales. I will make it a point to check into the auction.

 

I wish you well in your life's adventures.

 

Semper Fi !

 

Jack

[Jack Robinson]

Thane.... I attempted to use the link that you provided in your post. It was not entered correctly. The "272" is not part of the link. I cut and pasted the entire link and it worked that way.

 

You have some impressive coins up for auction and I look forward to placing bids for some of them.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jack

[SPHansen]

Selling takes experience, just as collecting does. I have sold a few items here and there through consignment, and have been selling on eBay. I reached top-rated seller and power seller there over the past year with some decent success.

 

One thing I learned very quickly is that an item's value is not what some guide says it is... its what you can get someone to pay for it. Nothing irritates me more than sellers who start auctions based on 'list' price, which is almost always out of line with the market. By doing your homework, you can see what something will generally go for. After that, its a matter of presentation and marketing. I currently have 50+ coins up for auction... (I'm coin-aholic on eBay).

 

I'll be (via Proxibid) at tonight's auction, and will be interested in seeing the results... good luck!

[Jack Robinson]

Well. . . I am now broke for the rest of the month with my coin buying budget. I enjoyed the auction; first live one I in which I participated.

 

I feel I picked up some good coins that were within my budget and then some.

 

Best wishes and I hope you have fun in what you are doing...

 

 

Semper Fi !

 

Jack

 

[SPHansen]

I grabbed the NGC Slabbed President Dollars... amazingly, I needed them all

[Jack Robinson]

S.P.H. ... SO, that was you!!! Glad to hear you got them. They were good.

 

I picked up some of the brown envelopes, the 1825 1/2 Cent and a bunch of other sets, that I don't even know what.... Most of my wins were under the $20.00 price range but, a few did get up to around $45.00.

 

It was so easy and fun, just sitting at home, eating pizza and clicking on that "bid" button.

 

I am waiting for the dust to seattle to see how many pencils I have to sell on the corner to make the $$$, for the coins.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jack

[e1cnr]

I bid on a few lots - not sure which ones I got yet until invoice comes - so the nickel rolls have all been searched?

 

Not sure which lots were yours, but lot 141 with the 1971-S brown and blue IKEs went well for $50.

 

There was a 15% buyers premium - was there a sellers commission as well?

 

 

The lots of slabbed coins may have done better on eBay with individual pics / lots, but then alot more of your time involved (working for eBay for free so they can be rich)

[Jack Robinson]

Hello e1cnr,

 

I am in the same boat as you. I bid and won on a bunch of the lots and the way the site lists the "final bid" prices, there is no mention as to who won them. I think I did not win the blue envelope Ike or, the brown 1971-S, cause I have a bunch of them already, in the raw.

 

As for roll (?) being searched? I took the whole auction as a purged collection of coins. The seller, a great guy, stated that he was getting rid of coins that he had collected. Knowing this, I took it to mean that he cherry-picked all of the coins in the past. The challenge is: if he cherry-picked them in 1990, and never revisited them, THEN there may be SOME raw coins that increased in value. For the most part, personally, I stayed away from this auction's raw coins unless, I researched first and placed a highest bid and I won without rebidding.

 

I do not know about the "sellers'" commission but, am aware of the 15% BP, along with the appropriate sells tax and also the handling fee. Except for the sales tax, Heritage Auctions charge similar fees. On Ebay, as you pointed out, the seller pays that 15% (?) fee and pay the Ebay fees. So, I feel the extra fees were about right.

 

If you did not know, Teletrade does a Tuesday night, no bidder, tax nor, shipping fee auction. I just found it two weeks ago. I look at it as an auction where there has been a lot of left-over coins and they want to pass them on to collectors.

 

I did buy a few of the slabbed coin(s) lots from last nite's auction. I could not pass up the price. $10.00 per certified and slabed coin (I stay with NGC coins).... I took time to go to NGC and verified the FMV of the slabed coin before I bid.

 

I did get the 1825 Capped Bust (?) 1/2 Cent raw coin, last night. Paid about $35.00, plus fees, so around $40.00. I can not seem to find this coin in the NGC site to get a FMV. Most likely I am punching in the wrong data. I am rating it, only as a starting point, a F-VF. This just gives me an idea as to a possible FMV.

 

Enjoy your new additions.

 

Semper FI !

 

[SPHansen]

In the Proxibid auction app during the auction, you can click on the My Lots tab to show you what you won so far... easy-peasy.

 

I was surprised at how much the Brown Ike went for... you got a great price on those. I picked up a 71 Brown Ike for $15 last week, and it's going to NGC for grading in a few days.

[Jack Robinson]

I followed my wins during the action while at the same time saying, "this is the last bid."

 

I think I ended up with 14 wins, most under the $25.00 range. I am curious about the FMV & potential grade of the 1825 1/2 Cent that I do remember winning. To me, that was my highlight of wins during this auction.

 

Best wishes,

 

jack

[Thane]

Thanks everyone for watching. Most of my consigned stuff was lots 182 and higher, like the 3c details NGC, all(?) of the NGC mixed-date multi-lots (including the 8-piece 25c lots which included TOP POP satins that went for $2/coin!!! OUCH!), the Kennedy albums, the 1853 $1G, all(?) of the modern MS collector cointube rolls, etc. ...

 

My collecting philosophy is to leave nothing unsearched. But I don't enjoy being too thorough with some searches, so collector rolls could contain RPMs, minor doubling, or other varieties ... unlikely, but???

 

One lesson learned - if you've got a great-looking coin that's possibly details graded, DON'T SLAB IT! That 3c piece I bought for MS62 money, hoping for MS63, and AU details money got me $60. The raw 1896-P Morgan, on the other hand, was so cleaned it looked like chrome on your kitchen refrigerator, it got me over $100.

 

Happy collecting, guys - my stash is mercifully smaller, MUCH more organized, and ready for the next round of roll-searching.

 

BTW RJ's Auction Service is top-notch for buyers. GREAT buyers' fees, low (for Proxibid) fees, VERY LOW shipping. Their coin auctions typically come up 3rd Friday of the month with very little warning - get on their email list.

 

-Thane