Selling Bullion Coins on Ebay Not A Good Idea

[Ed J]

In 2010 I brought 5 Vancouver 2010 Olympic Silver Coin .9999 at a price of $26 each at different times a total cost for 1 coin was $28.50. So I put one on Ebay 2010 Canadian Maple Hockey Player .9999 Silver Coin 1 Ounce Silver Bullion for $40.00 and $4.50 for shipping which had only one bider at the starting price. After the shipping, ebay,and paypal cost total of $7.24. Now silver is trading at $32.38 an ounce. Subtacting my expensess I sold the coin for $1.22 over spot. Just could have gone down to my coin dealer and sold it to him.

 

Ebay and paypal has increased their prices to the point it is not worth it to sell bouillon on Ebay. Lesson well learned.

 

 

Happy Collecting,

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jerseycat10]

I sell boullion on ebay once and a while, but usually in the form of chicken and beef cubes.

[Ed J]

I yea I get it Bullion not Boullion. My Bad

[jerseycat10]

I yea I get it Bullion not Boullion. My Bad

 

NP, just having fun

[RockMyAmadeus]

In 2010 I brought 5 Vancouver 2010 Olympic Silver Coin .9999 at a price of $26 each at different times a total cost for 1 coin was $28.50. So I put one on Ebay 2010 Canadian Maple Hockey Player .9999 Silver Coin 1 Ounce Silver Bullion for $40.00 and $4.50 for shipping which had only one bider at the starting price. After the shipping, ebay,and paypal cost total of $7.24. Now silver is trading at $32.38 an ounce. Subtacting my expensess I sold the coin for $1.22 over spot. Just could have gone down to my coin dealer and sold it to him.

 

 

That's the same balancing act I play, too. Is it more cost effective to just sell to a local dealer? Sometimes it is, but it's really a day to day thing.

[bochiman]

That's why, before I sell something on ebay, particularly bullion, I run the fees I will pay against what I stand to gain.

 

I've done that before and made the decision to just go straight to my local B&M.

Or, the BST.

 

 

Always do due diligence with understanding the fees you will pay BEFORE you sell (at least as an estimate)

[James_OldeTowne]

Man oh man, I JUST went through this exercise with a customer today, and he simply did not want to believe that he would get a better deal selling his bullion to our store directly at about 10% less than what eBay sales were supposedly going for! I am not kidding, I got home 40 minutes later than usual just from trying to explain it.

 

You subtract ebay fees, then paypal fees, then shipping fees, then insurance fees and you've probably just lopped off what, fifteen percent? That's a HUGE penalty to pay on bullion. Then, that assumes the item isn't returned!

 

Of course, I think using eBay in general is an overall net losing proposition, but hands-down, no doubt about it, I don't see how it is possible to sell bullion on eBay and make it worthwhile.

[cointagious]

I recently read an article about this very subject. Ebay has selected APMEX as the premier seller of bullion on ebay. I'm sure they'll enjoy reduced fees. I hope all of you enjoy your higher fee structure in order to accommodate Ebay's pet sellers. The funny thing is that while you struggle to price items so that you can eek out a profit, the Diamond sellers (The high volume, high dollar sellers) can undercut you, and in the end, you just drive more business to them. At some point, you'll see you're being used. Take the low margins in stride. Some day you'll realize the game is fixed.

[JIM F.]

So, where would you sell them?

 

[nemo656]

Since Ebay began the practice of taking a piece of the shipping I have stopped selling on Ebay all together. I find it offensive that Ebay would even consider that change. They don't pay for my postage or insurance, they don't pay for my envelopes and packing material, they don't pay me for my time, to pack the items, and they don't pay for my gas to drop the items off at the post office, but some how they see fit to take a part of my shipping and handling fee. I don't begrudge Ebay's auction and listing fees or Paypal's fees. After all they are in business to make money just like the rest of us. I still buy items on Ebay I just wont sell there. Just my opinion....

 

Have a great day

Jim

[e1cnr]

Not all local B&M's have realistic silver buy prices - there is one near me that oiffers 40-50% of melt. I have not tried sending away to AMPEX or other places yet.

 

So if you are selling small amounts, USPS is cheaper than driving hundreds of miles. In most cases, the premium found on eBay pays eBay/PAYPAL costs.

[philney-migration]

Depends on your seller designation. If you are a powerseller gold then its a great deal for you. Otherwise then you ought to sell through your local dealer. We allow our customers to put items on a trade board in our shop and pay us 2% and that's how most bullion goes through our shop, but I have noticed that 10 oz bars and silver eagles bring a premium there and are better sold at NR than brought to a shop.

[dopy02]

Since Ebay began the practice of taking a piece of the shipping I have stopped selling on Ebay all together. I find it offensive that Ebay would even consider that change. They don't pay for my postage or insurance, they don't pay for my envelopes and packing material, they don't pay me for my time, to pack the items, and they don't pay for my gas to drop the items off at the post office, but some how they see fit to take a part of my shipping and handling fee. I don't begrudge Ebay's auction and listing fees or Paypal's fees. After all they are in business to make money just like the rest of us. I still buy items on Ebay I just wont sell there. Just my opinion....

 

Have a great day

Jim

 

I still sell on ebay but the fee charge on postage really burns me also. Anyone who ships at actual postage cost loses money on postage.

[philney-migration]

they arecollecting on postage??? I suppose I need to start my own auction site then....bdcause a fee on postage is borderline communism....

[FishyOne]

they arecollecting on postage??? I suppose I need to start my own auction site then....bdcause a fee on postage is borderline communism....

 

Have been for a few years now.

 

The 15% figure quoted earlier is what I use too. Backing out eBay/PayPal/packaging/postage/etc. usually nets me 85% of the total sales price.

[Conder101]

They don't pay for my postage or insurance, they don't pay for my envelopes and packing material, they don't pay me for my time, to pack the items, and they don't pay for my gas to drop the items off at the post office, but some how they see fit to take a part of my shipping and handling fee.

The reason they take a cut of you shipping was because a lot of sellers were doing fee avoidance by selling their stuff really cheap (Think 1 oz of silver with a BIN of $5) and then charging $40 for Shipping and only having to pay the Final Value Fee on the $5.

 

It also avoided a lot of complaints from people who won auctions for what they thought were good prices only to find they twice market price because of greatly inflated shipping charges that they hadn't bothered to look at. Adding in the shipping charges to the FVF eliminated a lot of the fee avoidance. (But not all of the shipping overcharge ripoffs.)

[johnny9434]

I yea I get it Bullion not Boullion. My Bad

 

NP, just having fun

a soup nazi outlet like on sienfeld

[yonico]

they arecollecting on postage??? I suppose I need to start my own auction site then....bdcause a fee on postage is borderline communism....

 

Have been for a few years now.

 

The 15% figure quoted earlier is what I use too. Backing out eBay/PayPal/packaging/postage/etc. usually nets me 85% of the total sales price.

 

they just started collecting FVF on shipping about a year ago, and the greedy ebay sellers are to blame. people would sell a $500 item for $1, and charge $499 for shipping - to avoid paying the ebay fees on the total sale price. i guess ebay had enough of that and decided to charge final value fees on shipping charges as well..`

 

now 15% total fees sounds a little high, when i sell items in the "coins and paper money" section, i pay

 

to PAYPAL: 2.9%+30c on each transaction

 

to EBAY:depending on the total sale price, i pay (11%) on the first $50, (6%) on the next $51-$1000 balance, and 2% on everything $1,001+.

 

[in addition, as a top-rated-seller, i get a 20% discount on all final value fees. but that's besides the point]

 

CONCLUSION if you sell bullion on ebay, try to sell it in lots, the bigger the better.

[James_OldeTowne]

So, where would you sell them?

I believe we (my company) buys bullion at an extremely competitive level. I'll not spam myself here, but anyone is invited to PM me.

[RWB]

I suppose I need to start my own auction site then....bdcause [sic] a fee on postage is borderline communism....

 

Huh? Don't you mean laissez-faire capitalism?

[newprepper]

So, where would you sell them?

I believe we (my company) buys bullion at an extremely competitive level. I'll not spam myself here, but anyone is invited to PM me.

 

buy bullion.......sell spam? haha

[Conder101]

now 15% total fees sounds a little high, when i sell items in the "coins and paper money" section, i pay

 

to PAYPAL: 2.9%+30c on each transaction

 

to EBAY:depending on the total sale price, i pay (11%) on the first $50, (6%) on the next $51-$1000 balance, and 2% on everything $1,001+.

15% is just a good rule of thumb, especially for small value sellers. But for a small value seller it isn't that far off If you had a $50 transaction the paypal would be $1.75 and the FVF would be $5.50 for a total of $7.25 or 14.5% For a $100 it drops to 11.7% For $30 it's 14.9%

 

For a $1000 transaction paypal is $29.30 and the FVF is $5.50 + $57 = $62.50 That gives us total fees of $91.80 or 9.18% So the higher your final sales figure the better your break on fees. But for many small sellers the fees eat them alive. (Have to admit I didn't expect it to drop that fast between the $50 and $100 levels.)

[yonico]

now 15% total fees sounds a little high, when i sell items in the "coins and paper money" section, i pay

 

to PAYPAL: 2.9%+30c on each transaction

 

to EBAY:depending on the total sale price, i pay (11%) on the first $50, (6%) on the next $51-$1000 balance, and 2% on everything $1,001+.

15% is just a good rule of thumb, especially for small value sellers. But for a small value seller it isn't that far off If you had a $50 transaction the paypal would be $1.75 and the FVF would be $5.50 for a total of $7.25 or 14.5% For a $100 it drops to 11.7% For $30 it's 14.9%

 

For a $1000 transaction paypal is $29.30 and the FVF is $5.50 + $57 = $62.50 That gives us total fees of $91.80 or 9.18% So the higher your final sales figure the better your break on fees. But for many small sellers the fees eat them alive. (Have to admit I didn't expect it to drop that fast between the $50 and $100 levels.)

 

EXACTLY.

 

and so instead of 20 auctions selling 1 silver eagle each, it is a better idea to sell all 20 eagles in ONE auction.

 

then again, if your auctions have a final price of $500+, you're losing many many small potential buyers (those who come to spend $40-$50 on ebay). but the savings on fees is huge.

[RWB]

Why not sell the fees on ebay, and ask buyers to send you the silver eagles/ ?

[e1cnr]

now 15% total fees sounds a little high, when i sell items in the "coins and paper money" section, i pay

 

to PAYPAL: 2.9%+30c on each transaction

 

to EBAY:depending on the total sale price, i pay (11%) on the first $50, (6%) on the next $51-$1000 balance, and 2% on everything $1,001+.

15% is just a good rule of thumb, especially for small value sellers. But for a small value seller it isn't that far off If you had a $50 transaction the paypal would be $1.75 and the FVF would be $5.50 for a total of $7.25 or 14.5% For a $100 it drops to 11.7% For $30 it's 14.9%

 

For a $1000 transaction paypal is $29.30 and the FVF is $5.50 + $57 = $62.50 That gives us total fees of $91.80 or 9.18% So the higher your final sales figure the better your break on fees. But for many small sellers the fees eat them alive. (Have to admit I didn't expect it to drop that fast between the $50 and $100 levels.)

 

EXACTLY.

 

and so instead of 20 auctions selling 1 silver eagle each, it is a better idea to sell all 20 eagles in ONE auction.

 

then again, if your auctions have a final price of $500+, you're losing many many small potential buyers (those who come to spend $40-$50 on ebay). but the savings on fees is huge.

 

It depends on value of your time, and whether you consider cost of acquisition.

 

eBay/PAYPAL fees included, the net to you may be greater

 

for example if you averaged $2 higher per eagle selling individually, you maybe better than selling as large group

 

A reason that no auction site has been effective against eBay, is exposure to buyers - as I seller, I would not want to sell at a site where fees were free, if the gross was only 50% eBays comparable gross - and most sites fail because sellers start at high retail, so few sales/no new buyers.

[Nutmeg Coin]

I appreciate James' perspective and the other input here. I sell to Apmex when I have silver even with walkers and barbers mixed in, it isn't worth trying to get a little more for those to me. I started with ebay as an outlet for currency as none of the other options made sense to me. Easy to image, currency, especially when certified does well there.

[Houston Investor]

I would agree it costs 15% of sales to sell on ebay. This considers just the variable costs of listing, final value fee, paypals cut, shipping supplies, postage, and insurance. The $15.95 per month store fee is something I classify as a fixed cost along with my books, subscriptions, and supplies.

 

However, the 15% variable cost of sales selling on the Bay can be very reasonable for the small dealer vs the show circuit of table fees, travel, lodging, and meals (not to mention your time). I consider the cost of doing shows a variable cost allocable between sales (selling expense) and purchases (inventory cost). So a successful show would include good sales with nice gross margin along with some good deals on purchases.

 

A local B&M offers to buy bullion material at 80% of melt and on slabbed coins they pull out their bluesheet. No excuses or apologies are made as customers go along or else can go shop around somewhere else. They generally sell bullion coins at BV + 10-15% and slabbed cons at CDN ask + !0%. CAC coins for sale will receive a minimum tackon of between 10-15% or $25. Pedigreed coins (examples - Binion, OBH) or 1st strike mods get an automatic $10 sales tackon.

[yonico]

I would agree it costs 15% of sales to sell on ebay. This considers just the variable costs of listing, final value fee, paypals cut, shipping supplies, postage, and insurance. The $15.95 per month store fee is something I classify as a fixed cost along with my books, subscriptions, and supplies.

 

However, the 15% variable cost of sales selling on the Bay can be very reasonable for the small dealer vs the show circuit of table fees, travel, lodging, and meals (not to mention your time). I consider the cost of doing shows a variable cost allocable between sales (selling expense) and purchases (inventory cost). So a successful show would include good sales with nice gross margin along with some good deals on purchases.

 

A local B&M offers to buy bullion material at 80% of melt and on slabbed coins they pull out their bluesheet. No excuses or apologies are made as customers go along or else can go shop around somewhere else. They generally sell bullion coins at BV + 10-15% and slabbed cons at CDN ask + !0%. CAC coins for sale will receive a minimum tackon of between 10-15% or $25. Pedigreed coins (examples - Binion, OBH) or 1st strike mods get an automatic $10 sales tackon.

 

Some excellent points.

People tend to forget that while a (basic level) store on eBay costs $15.95 a month, an actual store to rent (at least in my area) starts at about $1,500 in a semi-good location (for about 500 sq. Ft), before the electric bills, phone, heat, insurance, alarm fees etc.. 15% now seems very reasonable (even though I do not pay eBay 15%, but I agree that's a close-enough figure).

The exposure is great, and if your pricing is right and low enough, your items will sell, 99.9% of the cases. Plus I think eBay perfected the auction style format, and many times buyers get caught in bidding wars (bidder-fever..?) and an item sells for more than it's normal market value - that's of course only benefits the sellers.

Other costs of selling on eBay - for small items, I buy a 500 pc case of small (#00) bubble mailers for about 6-7 cents a piece, and I'm using a Zebra printer to print shipping labels. So a small item will ship USPS first class (tracking included for no extra charge) for $1.64.

 

- no insrance is required for items < $50 (in my opinion). The USPS service is (in most cases) reliable (especially when there's a tracking number), and if one in 50 packages is lost and you have to take a $30 loss, you're still doing better than adding a $1.25 worth of insurance to each of these 50 packages.

 

- even if buyer does not pay for shipping, he still pays for shipping: I've tried and experimented that many times. If the going rate for eagles on eBay right now is $38 for instance; you will sell your eagle for $36 If you charge $2 for shipping, or for $38 with free shipping (or for $28 if you decide to charge $10 for shipping). So no big difference. Almost the same

Outcome.

But buyers feel better when they get free shipping, and it helps your seller status, and pushes you up on search results, so why not..

 

 

 

[newprepper]

All your points are correct, IMHO, the only problem is that while most things have a fairly large markup, bullion does not. You would have to have bought silver or gold about 5 bucks cheaper than currently priced to break even

[Nutmeg Coin]

On brick and mortar stores, I'm surprised that none of the major companies have opened up a storefront to compete with Sam Sloat and Guilford Coin in Connecticut. Instead they have offices in NYC which is admittedly a bustling financial hub still, but onerous and expensive in a lot of ways. You would probably have to have well into the six figures to open up a store to compete with the others effectively.

 

Ebay will still give sellers an edge over the wholesale buyers in some cases if the item is listed and imaged properly. No one is going to put in real bids on nice material unless the imaging is professional. On bullion items there are just too many good options for selling. With Apmex I ship priority on Monday it arrives on Wednesday and get an Ach into my account on Friday. And they don't hassle you on the coins not being perfect.