Losing an opportunity - The worst part of the hobby
ARCO
Posts: 4,422 ✭✭✭✭✭
I peruse Ebay almost daily, I avoid buying on Ebay daily...prices too high, quality too low. Ditto most of the retail coin venues. It is very difficult to find quality coins at a fair market price. By FMP, I mean a price that you buy and could turn and sell it for the same price tomorrow. That doesn't exist for the most part. Heritage is as close as it comes to a true auction, except for the Juice that puts the buyer in an automatic loss position if they were to turn the coin back to Heritage for resell.
What I find, is that nothing discourages me more in this hobby than missing a really quality coin that has a FMP that is in line with reality, especially a coin that doesn't turn up but every couple of years, or hardly ever.
Anyone else find that the missed coin is the hardest burden to bear?
Tyler
Comments
I look at it as part of life ..... gain and missed opportunity but I move on to another promise
Life is GOOD
Best part of the hobby is that there will be others.
The main opportunities that I kick myself over are the opportunities that I missed because I did not pull the trigger on a rare item that is almost impossible to find. An 1801 Thomas Jefferson inaugural medal is a prime example.
It is very difficult to find quality coins at a fair market price. By FMP, I mean a price that you buy and could turn and sell it for the same price tomorrow. That doesn't exist for the most part.
I think this is not an reasonable standard for any of the retail venues you mention. There should be a bid/ask spread, after all. It's not that you couldn't buy a coin from Heritage and sell it the next day. I've done it. But it should not be the rule for a retail venue.
I like @jmlanzaf comment a lot. The OP's originally-stated standard is nearly impossible to ever attain.
Your jollies/recreation is going to cost you money. That's life.
Hobbies are luxury, I get it. You could say the same thing about a heroin junkie. Choice is gone where there is addiction.
Heck, I'm addicted to collecting coins. If it were a strictly financial matter, I would have quit over 20 years ago.
The only way that I can buy at FMP on eBay is with eBay Bucks. Even with eBay Bucks it is difficult to get quality at a fair price. I went on a dry spell and could not find anything that I liked for three months, and almost lost my ebay Bucks as eBay cut me off for about 6 weeks. I missed a couple of good coins because I did not pull the trigger but there does always seem to be another coin to come along if you wait long enough.
Tyler - I totally agree. I rarely see anything on eBay anymore, but like you, I have to check at least once a day … just in case. I've also missed many great coins/deals on the PCGS B.S.T. Board.
I have a good friend who buys/sells new cell phones on eBay. He's written software that makes calls into the eBay API every 30 seconds, looking for new listings based on his criteria. When he hits one, he sends himself a text message. He often buys new phones within minutes of the eBay listing going live. I've considering doing the same for coins. I've missed many great opportunities. Annoying...
Dave
The premium is rising. Coins are not as easy to get.
I also hate when I buy a great coin and sell it off for a quick profit and then regret not keeping it. There are about 50 coins that I get sad thinking about selling and not keeping.
Dave - I like that Idea. I do see coins I like on Ebay, I just follow the trail and see that usually they were bought on Heritage and marked up...a lot.
Yeah, that is the second worse part of the hobby for me too.
My annoying miss was getting talked out of buying a holed Willow Tree sixpence. It was a very well made coin too. What a foolish move on my part.
I took that as a lesson to never get talked about buying something that I really like. It’s my money and taste, not theirs.
I've bought and sold the 1851 $20 Liberty
struck on a Large Cent planchet three
different times, (as a dealer) and didn't
have the money, or the smarts, to keep
it for myself.
It's probably my biggest regret in
buying (more than once!) it and
not keeping it.
There have been those items I saw after they sold, that I wished I had known about....Those that I knew about and really wanted, I have.
Yup Tyler. Gets worse as one gets older!
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
I tried to snipe something on eBay last night and instead of accepting my bid, my phone said I wasnt connected to the internet!
It sold for 1/3 of my max bid. Devastating.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
The most devastating thing for me is not getting out at the right time. I have far too many coins that I didn't sell when I knew I should only to be holding it years later at a fraction of the value. (mostly gold) One day the economy will tank again and gold will go back up and I will try again. ha ha...
--- Jack Handy
Positive BST transactions with members - Tander123, Twincam, UtahCoin, ianrussell
I find an awful lot of truth in the OP. Finding the "right" coin at a "fair" price is incredibly difficult for most of us. Those with inside connections and those with limitless budgets don't know the agony of the hunt that a peasant like myself faces, LOL. If I find a coin I really like, the price is usually ridiculous. Well above guide and what I perceive to be the market price. If the price is good or very good, the coin tends to be extremely common, a problem piece, or a dog with fleas.
HOWEVER.....I don't let it get me down
After 4+ decades of this crazy hobby, I have come to the conclusion that the BEST course of action is to step up and pay the premium for the RIGHT coins. Only you can decide what the right coin is for you and what that premium should be. But, in the instances I have located my "RIGHT" coin, and paid the "PREMIUM" needed to get it, I have never been disappointed. The market seems to find my level when it comes time to sell. It took me a LOT of time and wasted money to learn that lesson and quit chasing the wrong pieces.
Had a finest known in a rattler 64.
Now in a 66 with a bean.
And messed with.
So, even though I liked it and looked at it more than any coin I owned, I ....dumped... it.
Shouldn't have. Didn't reckon with gradeflation, irresponsible grading, and ....fickle fate.
I am thankful for what coins I have seen as well as what I own and have owned. And there is a feeling shared when another collector finds a coin, medal or token that is special to them.
The worst part of the hobby is what it has become instead of what it could be. The sad reality is there are views in connection with several components within the hobby that are accepted... instead of challenged. Grading is an evolutionary process that should reflect what we have learned about coins.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Nah. The worst part of the hobby is mean & grumpy people.
As far as missed opportunities, I hate that CRO’s early bird comes out on Tuesday when I’m in the operating room. I check the email between cases, but the ones I’m interested in are usually already long gone. Last time there was a perfect fit of a quality coin in the right plastic at the right grade and price point for one of the few remaining holes in my type set. Been looking for a couple of years. I like maybe one in 20 of these that I see and they don’t show up often at all.
Maybe if before we started I got the patient’s permission to take a break for a few minutes to call......
Maybe not!
I agree that often coins are listed at high prices resulting in them going unsold for months or even years. However, the idea that it shouldn't be difficult for a consumer to purchase a coin and sell it in one day at the same price is very unrealistic. If this was possible everyone would buy one of the coins and then be patient to get an extra 5 or 10% and then that's the end of that scenario. The annoyance in my mind is not when there is 10% bid-ask spread but a seller asking for 50% spread. But hey, it's a free country.
I don't think eBay is designed to be able to find coins that at a price that you can sell them for the same price tomorrow.
Of course, there will be lost opportunities.
With hard work and research, you can find opportunities.
The hardest working people seem to have the best of luck.
Hear that knocking ?
I hear you...nothing worse than hearing "I received multiple orders for that coin and you were second". I've heard that at least 3 times in the past year and each time I e-mailed or called literally within minutes of the coin officially going on sale. I know lots of things are losing value, but when really choice pieces come up for sale at even somewhat reasonable prices, they sure seem to go fast.
Maybe I'm just lucky but.....for every missed opportunity; I've almost always gotten other and usually better chances to acquire the coins that I needed..... sometimes years later. I used to kick myself, until I started realizing this phenomenon. Now, could I do it again, if I started over tomorrow?? Likely NOT.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
There are always great deals and bad deals - huge scores and things that you miss. If you walk around filled with regret, you're focused on the wrong stuff.
What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
Yes, there are coins that I wish I pulled the trigger on, or had bid up just slightly higher. ... but what I really kick myself over are coins that I had, liked, then sold only to realize what I had afterwards. A certain Trade Dollar springs to mind...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
I too have missed coins that I desired by being the under bidder at an auction. However, several times,the exact piece came over the block and I got another chance for considerably less.
I've heard of this happening before....That's very fortunate. Glad it worked out this way for you. Another reason why PATIENCE is key.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/