eBay is like a bad coin show
FrankH
Posts: 982 ✭✭✭✭✭
Stale stuff. If it doesn't sell, they keep showing it. For YEARS.
If a coin has a modicum of anything really desirable, it gets kicked up another 25% and STILL sits.
I've been SCOURING eBay for a long long time and coming up dry as a bone.
Depressing.
4
Comments
LOL!
Can't even laugh at mustard stains.
It depends on what do you collect. I got loads of good stuff from ebay , some bad stuff too ( but just because I was unexperienced).
Coinsof1984@martinb6830 on twitter
Change your search keywords.
It works for me.
If you always type in, for example, "PCGS TONED" you may continue to be disappointed.
Instead type in, for example, "PCGS MONSTER ALTERED POS" and you may well be delighted at the offerings that pop up.
peacockcoins
Or don't. Less competition to me for the "diamonds in the rough"
I think it would be more accurate to say that eBay is like a coin shop. There's always some stale inventory.
I have items on eBay that have been there for 10 to 15 years. I sold a cover this week that was at least 10 years old. I created thousands of these listings a decade or so ago and they've been slowly selling ever since. I had 3000 of them at one time, I'm now down to about 800.
There are coins (and things) I would move at any price and I discount accordingly. Some things, there's nowhere to go and once the listing is there, why would I delete it?
I have several dozen Canadian large cents and U.S. Indian cents listed for $1.99 (free shipping). There's really no way to discount them further and still ship them. I could end the listings and wholesale them for 50 cents each. But once the time was put in to list them, what's the incentive? They sell. It just takes time.
i have no problem finding things on eBay that I would like to buy. There are amazing coins on their all the time.
It reflects on your entire inventory for one thing.
WTF Dude, Flip baby Flip!!!!!
It reflects quite well on my inventory - for people who are shopping for such things.
Do you think that coin stores toss out their inventory every few months? Every coin store - and every travelling coin show dealer - has stock they've been carrying for years along with the new stuff.
I upload roughly 50 new things per week. Some sell, some go into inventory. Every week, at least a few of the "old" inventory sells as well.
LOL. I'm trying. I send offers out every day. It appears that some people just can't pull the trigger on a $1.79 purchase. LOL
It is possible to find nice coins on ebay but one must have a lot of patience. Lots of junk to wade through.I've found that I have to pay up for nice coin sold on ebay.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
If you popped it into a 99c start, no reserve, people would try for your "bargain."
At least that's my opinion and it is your business anyhow.
Yes, good stuff can be found on ebay. That being said, I do not shop there anymore because of the junk, the shysters, and the amount of time it takes to go through the excessive crapola. I have better things to do. Cheers, RickO
You can't ship a coin for 99 cents. Using eBay Standard shipping, it costs 51 cents (or 70 cents over 1 oz) Managed Payments are 8.45%+30 cents. So, a 99 cent coin shipped costs 89 (1.08 if over 1 oz) cents in fees + cost of the envelope and corrugated mailer.
buy when there is a e bucks promo, there is a 5 percnt one running now until Wednesday night
There are a lot of coins on ebay that you cannot find at any coin store, without knowing what your looking for your comment just sounds like sour grapes. My only problem with ebay is the retail+++ prices due to the high fees that sellers have to pay, that is what keeps me from buying very much there.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
You do have to wade through some crap to find deals, or even fair prices sometimes, but they are out there.
Collector, occasional seller
.> @ricko said:
It is like Gold Mining.
Ricko, I know you panned gold. Do you just walk up and pick gold nuggets off the ground, or is there a ton of overburden to get through. No different than eBay.
Well, DON'T offer free shipping with the cheapies. Few people assign the TRUE acquisition costs to their purchases.
You think so? A while back, I listed around twenty $10-$15-$20 items as 99 cents, no reserve auctions to see what would happen. I think three or four got bids. The rest were relisted at fixed prices ($10-$15-$20) and over the next year or so, most of them sold.
Still way less expensive than a store front and more consistent than coin shows. At 15 percent or so eBay is a great deal for sellers and I have bought loads of amazing deals from eBay and some dogs( my fault). No way I could view so many products. I agree it takes a little time and practice but it’s not that hard. 🤓
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Not mine, i start everything at 99c and roll it. Most of the time it kicks butt. once and a while something sells low or light, but not often
If someone's selling single $1-$2 items and still can't sell them years later then I submit they have a flawed business model.
For starters they aren't placing any value on their time or overhead. If you have such items and want to get rid of them on ebay I would put them in lots.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
I like ebay.
One reason for listing single $1-$2 items is that buyers of such often buy multiple items. And one reason for not listing them in lots is these same buyers don't want to pay for items they don't want.
eBay is a great coin show!
With my store subscription which is a fixed monthly cost:
Anything worth listing on eBay ($10 and over) I list there BIN, some BIN /MO. Occasionally do auctions usually bullion material. BIN: Some sell quickly some not. I had something sell the other day had been listed there 6 years sell the other day.
At shows I take whatever will fill my cases you never know what will sell. This is just part of being in the biz. The more you have more likely at least something will sell. Items under $10 I do at shows in addition to my other material. Could be budget stack of currency or collector coins stacked cowans album pages of 20 in 2x2. Helps pay show expenses.
While not the only venue I use - eBay is the worlds largest coin show, a fantastic place for me buy and sell.
@ErrorsOnCoins... You are correct - although I did find one nugget just that way. I have many other things though, that I prefer to spend my leisure time doing.... However, if I find myself in search of something unique, and become afflicted with the 'must have' fever, then I will spend time panning ebay for the treasure.
Cheers, RickO
I would much rather purchase coins at shows but if this option isn't available, eBay is ok.
Sure, you're still wading through crap but it's the same deal at shows.
Work is work whether it's in person at a show or at home with eBay.
Funny thing is I usually can buy items cheaper at a B&M store than I can on ebay, as I said the only upside is the larger variety of items that is available on ebay. I do agree with you that ebay is a good outlet for the vest pocket and flipper type dealers who could never afford to open a store front. But those are the type of sellers that often have the highest prices and are very inflexible on price.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
In my experience, mixed lots attract more views than a single cheap coin. The allure of finding hidden treasure plus the fact that different people might key in on different items both help drive up bids. We have a standing rule that unless the lot or item is expected to bring at least $20 we don't waste time listing it. I never understood why someone lists a single $1 item that if they're lucky they make .20 on. Ok, so the guy buys 10 items. Hurrah, you just made $2 for a conservatively figured half hour's work listing, packing and shipping them... and that's only if the deal goes smoothly. Sorry but I place more value on my time than that.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
Ebay once dubbed me a power buyer! I hesitate to guess how much I have bought on ebay since 1998....well into the millions! There is more crap to wade through these days...but I always seem to find something to buy almost every week. Back in the good ole days, when it was all auctions....if I was low on inventory, I would just sit and follow all the listings as they were ending...It wasn't hard to spend 10K in a day on stuff I could sell for a profit...sometimes a big profit!
It still amazes me how people will spend 15% more for the same thing on eBay that they can get it on my site directly. But eBay has the eyeballs I guess.
Well, if it's any comfort, I just added you to my group of dealers to search.
Nice stuff.
I have not been that fortunate. What's more likely to happen to me is to have buyers ask to purchase individual items out of the lot.
I don't do auctions anymore, so I'm not worried about getting bids.
People who buy inexpensive items sometimes buy more expensive ones, too. There are several eBayers who buy 10-20 items at a time from my listings, everything from $5 coins to $100+ ones. Obviously, the cheaper ones don't generate that much profit but in my case, they're typically the leftovers from a deal that I don't have any money in, so they're all profit (well, aside from fees). So my choice here is to sell them by the pound and get about 5 cents each or pick out the better ones to sell individually for 5-10 bucks.
I do eBay in the evenings while I'm watching a ballgame. I'm not giving anything up to do it, it's more like generating some extra income while I'm not doing anything else.
But then, that's just me.
Some people simply will not take a loss. My dad was like that, which is why I have a BU roll of 1950-D nickels that he bought during the roll price surge in the 1960's for $600. The price has not been close to $600 for a bu roll of '50-D nickels since. Much better to free up money sometimes by taking a loss and putting the money in something else. If I ever need $300 I will sell it.
I can see your point especially if you follow certain dealers with the same attitude as my dad had.
Anything I put up on eBay I try to sell for the current market price.
IF a dealer says to me "'O, I Cant sell that for $480 he puts it back in his case and it sits there three years without anyone even looking at it because he paid too much for it. He could have sold it to me and turned the $480 over ten times.
I try not to have any stale items on ebay, if it doesn't sell one way, I will try another. Stale money does not make money. Just like in Poker they say "scared money does not make money" .
...
I very _slightly _edited FrankH's post for comedic effect...
The good deals are out there but there's also a ton of eyeballs. You have to be fast. There are times when a fresh listing will only last 5 minutes or so. Always makes me wonder if I missed something!
Aercus Numismatics - Certified coins for sale
My comments referred to $1 items that were still sitting around years later... If someone's buying multiple $100 items, that's a different story, but I submit that they would still buy the higher end items anyway. In my experience very few high dollar buyers are looking at $1 stale inventory first. As to the people wanting to cherrypick things from lots, let me sum up my position on that with a brief story. We sell lots of 500 random unpicked wheats in the store for $29.95... I had a guy who wanted me to break open the sealed bag so he could pull out 2 coins he saw that he wanted. I told him I had both pieces available as singles in one of my stock trays, total cost $4. He said he didn't want to pay that much and liked these better at 6 cents per, and then asked again to open the bag and pull them. I said "Sure. It'll still cost you $29.95 for those 2 coins and you can have the rest of them for free." He got the idea... and bought the $4 duo.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
If a seller knew ahead of time which items wouldn't sell, he wouldn't list them. As for why they're still sitting around, the answer is above...
That doesn't work. I've done the experiment. People LOVE free shipping.
Arguably cheaper than coin shows. If you have a two day show with travel, it could cost you $500+ to set up. eBay fees are 10% or less which means you need to do at least $5000 in sales at a coin show to break even with eBay pricing.
Where coin shows (or storefronts) are helpful is that the incremental fees are low while the fixed fees are high. On eBay, you have the opposite situation. So, at a store or show, you could sell a $20 gold piece for a $10 profit. You could not do so on eBay. On the flip side, it costs nothing to sell nothing on eBay while you still have to pay store or show fees even if you aren't selling anything.
Exactly. People are perfectly happy to pay $10 w/free shipping, while for the same coin priced at $7 + $3 shipping (actual cost), they complain because "The shipping is nearly half the cost of the coin".
BTDT, don't want the T-shirt.
The goal is not to sell a bunch of $2 items. But, if you have a good process, you can list 25+ item in an hour with pictures. A $2 1st day cover (retail) when bunched is a 10 cent item. Sometimes I just wholesale them or lot them. But when I've finally listed them, there is no incentive to not keep them as store inventory as all the work is done.
Not that all the know-it-alls need to know my entire model, but the first listing is usually auction-style. So, my $2 listings often generate sales for $5 to $20. The remainders end up as $2 store stock. When I get tired of them, I lump them together and wholesale them.
This is no different than a lot of B&M's by the way, except for the need to photograph everything. On the other hand, in a B&M, you need to catalogue everything.
Retail coin businesses are full of low value work. There are, of course, people who only deal in $1000 coins. But most B&Ms are more retail oriented.
I used to have flat-rate shipping. The hope was to encourage people to buy multiple items. Some did. Most didn't. When I simply added the shipping cost in and offered free shipping (same total cost), my sales volume went up and people started THANKING ME for the free shipping even when they effectively paid 4 or 5 hidden shipping charges.
If I didn't have a full-time job, I could probably sell 10 or 20,000 coins per year in the $2 to $10 range. And most of those coins were bought in the large lots that people are recommending for 10 to 50 cents per coin. There's actually much better margins on junk than $1000 coins. It's just less aggravating to sell one $1000 coin for a $50 profit relative to 50 $2 coins.
But, I'm full service. Come to me for your $2 coins and your $1000 coins!!!!
That's true. You have to take your losses occasionally. On the other hand, you don't want to take your loss too soon. It depends on the parameters. If I list a $500 coin and it doesn't sell in a month, I could sell it for $400 and take my $25 or so loss. On the other hand, if I keep it for 6 months or a year and get $500, I make $25 or so. So, the question becomes: is it worth 6 months for 10%? Probably yes. Is it worth 6 years for 10%, probably not.
I don't need convincing on that- I'm already onboard. Since I'm not a dealer, I don't ever get the opportunity to buy $1000 coins out of collections. I can buy them from the dealer who did but then I'm competing with him for sales. And he can sell for less than I can. Better for me to buy the stuff he doesn't want to bother with for two reasons- 1) he wants to get rid of it and I can get a good price and 2) I don't have to compete with him for buyers. Everybody wins.
I remember when you could throw something up at a buck no reserve, and get the best price, for whatever. I still like selling there, but no one is really looking so much, so it's basically a store. On top of that, " hey, lets get rid of paypal so it takes six days to get any money, but go ahead and ship that!"
https://www.ebay.com/mys/active
If you are as specific as me you will search sold listings to see what you missed. I'm still chewing my lip on a coin I would have loved to have for my collection that sold for 1/2 what I would have paid for it. That was 2 months ago.
The cheapest show I recently used to set up(other than a 1 day local show) costs me well over $500.00 to do! The big shows are in the thousands and I go on the cheap!
I sometimes peruse the sold items too, but I limit it to avoid torturing myself over a missed deal! Missed a real sweet seated half variety not too long ago.
Aercus Numismatics - Certified coins for sale