I wanted to see what some of you numismatic veterans think about pricing, eBay strategies, and LCSs. On eBay, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I naively thought that I can get lots of good deals by winning auctions, but if you are looking for something good and specific, winning is tough. If I have my heart set on a coin, I don't want to loose it, yet I don't want to get into a bidding frenzy, so I switched to the "Buy It Now" format. That works, but I feel like a lot of coins appear to be overpriced compared to the Numista catalog and other resources. Sometimes, if a seller accepts offers, I can get close to the catalog price, but often they are far apart and I wonder if I am overpaying. Sometimes, I get a better deal at my LCS, but they don't have nearly as much selection (especially world coins). I know that catalog is just guideline, so am I wondering, how do you know what's fair, how do you buy on eBay, how do you work with your local dealers (can they get almost any coin if you ask them in advance, etc)
There are no fine lines about how to buy. Catalog prices might be a fair guideline when you want to buy a coin but many such catalog prices are simply wrong and overestimated and you can easily check how others sell the same coin. I think you must be patient when you buy coins. I know how painful might be to see a coin that you like but if it's overpriced almost every time is better to pass and wait for the fair price. Personally when I buy coins I buy coins that makes me happy and this include the price that I am willing to pay for such a coin.
As far as I am concerned, I believe that catalogue prices are the prices at which you can buy a coin at a LCS. But quite often, the dealer grants you with a nice discount.
One of the consequences is that if you want to sell your coins to a dealer, he will take it at 50% of the catalogue price. Then, in France, Germany, Belgium, when you swap or sell to a non professional , your goal is around these 50%.
French and belgian catalogue are therefore at around the double of the "market" price, spanish and german ones three times over the common price.
Regarding eBay, in only take into consideration the "completed item" price, at which seller and buyer really met.
If you're looking for top end coins a well established dealer is your best bet. They do tend to know what's what so you're not going to get a real great deal, you will however get an accurately graded coin at a fair price. Exactly how fair depends on the dealer. The last thing they want is to have expensive coins sitting in their cabinets for years. So for example, a dealer who specialises in US cents may be willing to cut you a deal on common date Morgan dollars. as his regular customer base isn't looking for them. (the CC's will be sold on to a dealer who does specialise in those)
Ebay is hit and miss. Generally there a lot of bidding at the last minute and bargains are hard to find for popular coins or those with silver content. You can do OK if it's a misidentified coin or one that's ending at 4am but like you, I prefer the buy it now format.
If it's bargains you seek an ignorant seller is your best bet. By this I mean a "coin dealer" too lazy to research his own stock, not some granny selling off her late husband's coin album. We had a feller a few years back who was boasting about all the folks he'd ripped off. He's no longer with us. Please don't be "that" guy. There's really no shortage of wannabee coin dealers who have no clue how to value a coin much less grade one. I've never had any qualms about putting on my poker face and giving them $10 for a $200 coin while they're spinning me a line about how it's from an entirely different country! The saddest part is that if they ever had the foresight to pause the hustle and ask if I knew what it was and it's value I'd almost certainly tell them! They never do. Sigh.
They key of course is knowledge. If you know more than the other guy, you're in the driver's seat. At some point in your collecting life someone is going to say "books before coins" and really there's no better advice.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
My local coin shop prices everything based on ebay sold prices. Literally, I've stood at their counter before and waited while they searched ebay to determine what to charge me. Kind of makes me wonder why I went there in the first place...
Pnightingale, you score a point when you make a difference for top end coins.
Actually (at least for french coins), most of the coins with a value up to 10 euros in F/XF conditions can be found at 8 to 10 euros for one kilogramme. So the real market price is .... nihil or close to.
But the nicest the coin is (or the rarest it is), the closer the selling price will match the catalogue value.
The best advice I can give you is be patient. The vast majority of coins are common enough and they will come up for sale again and again. You will eventually find a good deal.
Catalog prices (at least for catalogs that are only updated annually) are an approximation of retail prices. They do not take into account local price differences and do not get updated often enough to reflect market changes. For example, prices listed in Krause's Standard Catalog of World Coins are for the US market and are usually out of date by the time they are printed. Some of them have not been updated in years.
Shopping at coin shows, you can often find deals with prices as low as 50% of catalog value. Dealers like you to think that the value of what you are getting is higher than what you paid. So, the price marked on 2x2s/slabs is usually close to the catalog value, but it's not the final price. Don't be afraid to ask how their coins are priced / how much they are looking to get / what their best price would be. You can usually get a discount, especially when buying multiple items.
When shopping on E-Bay...
... I usually stick to Auction and Best Offer listings. I find it much harder to find a good deal on BIN listings, but that could be just me. Being a type collector of world coins, I know a little bit about a lot of stuff, but would not call myself an expert in any one area where I could use my advanced knowledge to find bargains.
... take into account what percentage of catalog value you are willing to pay, any s&h charges, and your local sales tax (E-Bay now collects sales taxes automatically). To help with that, I've set up a spreadsheet which you can find and download here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hRQmHwNE99-eta_HJq1T13KYIG7dhrM2yho6I1lbLuQ/edit?usp=sharing
Quote: "frowell"My local coin shop prices everything based on ebay sold prices. Literally, I've stood at their counter before and waited while they searched ebay to determine what to charge me. Kind of makes me wonder why I went there in the first place...
Find a new coin dealer my dear fellow. Coins sold over the counter don't have the eBay fees, paypal fees and shipping cost plus none of the risks. Personally speaking, the moment anyone starts talking "they go for XXX on eBay" I'm outta there like a scalded cat. A couple of sock puppet accounts and you can prove just about anything using "eBay prices". Remember those $10,000 beanie babies guys? Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't they priced using sold listings?
On the same subject, does anyone know if eBay distinguishes between truly sold items and those which are sold but never paid for? I guess now that paypal is almost mandatory they ought to be able to weed out the frauds but until recent years you could make whatever payment arrangements you saw fit. It seems very easy to sell a common coin for $1,000 to a fake account and claim that's the market norm.
I know many of you are happy to use eBay listings as a guide, I'm not here to tell you that you're wrong - I'm just not one of them. Don't take it so hard it's ............... hey, have you seen the idiots using ESTY as a guide? Those folks are funny.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
Quote: "frowell"My local coin shop prices everything based on ebay sold prices. Literally, I've stood at their counter before and waited while they searched ebay to determine what to charge me. Kind of makes me wonder why I went there in the first place...
Find a new coin dealer my dear fellow. Coins sold over the counter don't have the eBay fees, paypal fees and shipping cost plus none of the risks. Personally speaking, the moment anyone starts talking "they go for XXX on eBay" I'm outta there like a scalded cat. A couple of sock puppet accounts and you can prove just about anything using "eBay prices". Remember those $10,000 beanie babies guys? Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't they priced using sold listings?
On the same subject, does anyone know if eBay distinguishes between truly sold items and those which are sold but never paid for? I guess now that paypal is almost mandatory they ought to be able to weed out the frauds but until recent years you could make whatever payment arrangements you saw fit. It seems very easy to sell a common coin for $1,000 to a fake account and claim that's the market norm.
I know many of you are happy to use eBay listings as a guide, I'm not here to tell you that you're wrong - I'm just not one of them. Don't take it so hard it's ............... hey, have you seen the idiots using ESTY as a guide? Those folks are funny.
