Options
Single Mint Set - Best Way to Ship?
ElKevvo
Posts: 4,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
Sort of a basic question but I am not a regular seller of coins...I have some Mint sets (not forum worthy!) that I am going to sell on eBay and noticed that some of the sellers charge about 2.00 for shipping per set while others charge the 3.50 or so which seems to be the minimum to process via eBay.
Can anyone provide advice on shipping, specifically if the 2.00 is OK and is that in a brown envelope or ?? I know for the 3.50 I can put in a padded envelope but since some of these will be low dollar sets does not make sense to me to pay 75% of the value of the set in shipping! Or am I better off upping the selling price a bit and ship 'free'?
Your thoughts are appreciated!
K
ANA LM
0
Comments
If you ship without tracking you are at the risk of the buyer claiming the item was never received. Which means eBay will refund the buyer the purchase price + shipping.
sell in larger groups
Somebody on another thread this morning mentioned how higher postal charges have caused many uncirculated and proof sets to become virtually unseeable via the mail at a profit.
When I sell on eBay, I try to have an absolute minimum lot value of $40. When selling lesser things, I try to bundle similar things to get to that level.
Use the bubble envelope and charge $3.50. Make sure it is at least 3/4 inch thick and tracking should be free. By the time you eat shipping and other fees you might as well just spend em. As a buyer I wouldn't think they have a right to expect to get a dollar for fifty cents.
They are dead on ebay unless you give them away. As others have said, other than very few sets, most are better just spent or sold locally for whatever you can get for them over face value. Personally I just tossed all mine in a box, put then in the back of a closet, and will forget about them until maybe one day they are worth something again!
I would try and sell them in multiples. Also, to save money, I self insure on smaller orders, orders under $75. I generally change $3 or $3.50 for shipping. About the only time I insure a package lower than $75 is if it’s a zero or very low feedback eBay user. I have yet to have one issue. People are generally honest. If you have many sets to sell, you can buy padded mailers on eBay as a very low cost/mailer. They’re cheap, but work well for me.
Good luck,
Dave
I guess the moving box I have downstairs (unopened since my move in 2008) full of mint sets is pretty much just face value....well, except for the silver proof sets...Maybe just give them away to kids...Cheers, RickO
The white elephants of numismatics.
If you don't supply a tracking number you are at the buyer's mercy.
Quite a few know how to play the game and will claim it was not received.
On the other hand, as several posters have mentioned, the weight if the sets will eat up your profit and you would be better off just selling them at a local coin club meeting or consigning in bulk to a local auction outfit.
Mint sets are deader than dead.
If you sell on eBay, I would advise you to cut the sets up and sell as singles.
It will take longer to sell but you will make more (or...er.... lose less) but it's labor intensive.
Another strategy is to throw a beat up silver certificate or two, a couple of slick Buffaloes and worn out Mercury dimes, worthless tokens, wheat cents etc. and offer as "estate liquidation" or some similar gimmick.
Thanks everyone for you insight. I think I'll do a 'bundle' and a single set approach and see what works best (if at all!) then go down that path. "White Elephant of Numismatics"...LOL.
K
sell them in lots that will fit in the small flat rate priority box. As an alternative you can use the slightly larger non flat rate priority box (some call it the VCR tape box) and put it inside the flat rate padded envelope for about a nickle or dime more than the small flat rate box.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
I don't know how you would ship a mint set in anything other than a 'package'.
Someone charging 2.00 for shipping is taking their minor lumps......
Something like a '71 mint set would cost more than it is worth to ship.....
You would be surprised what you can get in a Flat Rate envelope! One of the funniest Post Office experiences I had was when I sold a bunch of 1100+ wheat cent lots on ebay. I just reinforced the envelopes with good strapping tape. I put a couple of them on the counter. The Lady clerk goes to put one on the scale and just grunts. I so wish I had a picture of her face!
Postal rates have indeed become way too high.
I knew it would happen.
But there is no inflation.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left