Would you buy a lot to get one coin/item?
TurtleCat
Posts: 4,628 ✭✭✭✭✭
I saw a lot for sale on eBay. Most of it was junk but there was one item I did want in there. It was a medal I’ve been collecting over the past few years.
So I was wondering if I’d pay the higher price for the lot (seller wouldn’t break up the lot) just for the item. The other items had no value to me and very little resell, plus I’m a collector and not a dealer so I’m trying not to burden myself with stuff I don’t want.
I ultimately didn’t buy because of the other stuff. So I was curious what you guys would do. Pay up or just pass?
2
Comments
If I placed enough value on that single item I would (and have).
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I may or may not buy the lot to get one coin. It depends on too many factors---how bad I want that one coin and what's in the rest of the lot. Of course, pricing of the lot and how easy it would be to dispose of the coins I didn't want would also be factors.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Depends on how good a deal it is, really. If I determine the effort to be worth the time I usually will.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I did that when I was dealer because I could sell what I didn't want. I once bought a complete type set of old commemorative coins to get the Hawaii and a couple of other pieces out of the set. I can't do that now because I don't have viable outlets for what I don't want.
Yes. I have done it many times.
Yes. 😉🙀🦫
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Yes
Yes, I have done it more then once. The seller knows that, and lots the items so that he can dispose of other stuff he does not want. I once bought a whole set of large cents from 1794-1857 just to get the 1799. I needed the1799 for many years and the seller would not break up the set. I still have this set, hidden away in a bank vault. You can dispose of the other items by selling them on ebay or to a local dealer. Or mail them to me for immediate disposal.
Yes, I've done it many times. I've also sold lots like this seeded with one good coin just to get rid of things I didn't want.
I've done this and just did it again. In this last lot, I wanted more items, but the value of the lot was determined by one item.
Even @tradedollarnut has indicated that he's done this.
There certainly could be circumstances that would have me buying the entire lot. Would depend on price, scarcity of the item, condition. I would not worry about disposition of the extraneous material. Cheers, RickO
I have purchased a lot for the purpose of getting one particular coin several times. Usually, I am gambling on what that one coin may be. In auctions, I bid based on the entire lot, not adjusted for the variety I am trying to get. Last time I did it, the coin I was trying to get was a bust, but one of the others turned out to be a great clash that was better than the variety I thought the other was. Other times, it was a complete bust and none of them were good, but at least I did not lose much, if anything on the purchase. Being somewhat risk adverse, I often fold and pull out before I spend too much. It's all a crapshoot.
I bought 73 PCGS samples once to get the one I wanted. After selling the other 72, the one I wanted was free.
Its called filtering and it happens in every type of collecting. Sellers group unwanted crap with desirable items to move dead stock to someone elses house. Discount the stuff you dont care about 75% and run the numbers if it isnt too bad then pull the trigger
yes
BST for what you do not want
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I've purchased small lots in the past to get the coins I wanted, but I usually ended up selling off the stuff I didnt want just to defray the cost of the material I kept.
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Done it many times. Usually one cherry in a lot where the seller doesn't know what they have.
And when collecting cameo proofs, it is the norm to buy an entire set to get the cameo you covet.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
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the opposite side of that coin can be painful sometimes, depending on the place we are at. i saw a clashed 1870 5c nickel with indian cent in high grade TPG holder BUT it was in a set of BS nickels those and those coins were kind of on consignment at the B&M i was at, so the actual seller didn't have a lot of wiggle room for negotiation, despite my sincere efforts.of trying but i didn't have even close to enough money for this high-grade set (there may have been proofs as well) and despite that being AT LEAST a high 5 figure coin, i couldn't find a way too get the group.
i've tried letting some of my regular sellers in on scores i find like that but 95%+ of the time, things end up going sideways, with me getting left out and while i don't mind letting some people in on things they may have missed, as we should with ones we have good relationships with, it can be a risky and tenuous proposition. i personally love sharing picks with people and would prefer to do it more but the way things go, i usually just keep it to myself and perhaps just do more business with that person/establishment as a way of my showing my appreciation for a find(s).
the TRULY painful truth of this is that because of a little greed or whatever you want to call it, SO MUCH more is missed out on. some of the people i've done business with have easily missed out on 5 or even 6 figures because those scores tend to compound, especially over years and where i'd have perhaps more access to go through stuff, thus everyone gets more and misses less, now everyone gets less, quite unnecessarily. imo
there is more i can say analyze but the point is quite made i think.
BUT, to be on-topic, i have bought groups for single items or more MANY times but it is USUALLY where the value of the item(s) exceeds the value of the group enough that the pain of tying up more (sometimes MUCH more) is eased by knowing that once that item(s) sells, the rest of the of the group is gravy, even if less quality. if it is something that is fairly easily flippable (time-wise), i will spend enough even if it is painful because of how easy/quick the recoup is.
i'm getting the feeling, i should have just said "YES" and been done with it.
More times than I care to count, and I am terrible about selling off the stuff I didn't want, it just piles up.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
With the lot I was thinking of, the leftovers would have been hard to sell. They were tokens and medals that would be interesting to people from specific towns/regions but probably few others. I guess I could have given them away but I didn’t think of that at the time.
Depends. If the key coin in question is really a scarce piece and does not appear often, yes, go for it. Especially if you can unload all the other unwanted items fairly quickly. If it comes around with some degree of regularity, wait.
I never have so far, I will not say never, but I doubt that I would ever need a coin so badly that I would buy a lot to get it.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Yep. Dumped the other items into the box I'm saving to donate for the TNA Youth Auction.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
I suppose I would. I bought 6 mares to get one stallion once
Martin
Absolutely. This was a favorite purchase off eBay, the only pics I was working from was the NGC multi holder, because I wanted the dime.
Ended up cracking and sending to PCGS- sold the four other coins for what I paid for the whole set (still was way too cheap for the Walker and Washington looking back) and ended up with the dime for free. My mouth dropped when I got the set in the mail and could see just how good the coins looked.
Absolutely, but I'd greatly discount the items I didn't want unless I was pretty sure someone else would.
Recently bought 5 to get one. Two of the duplicates have sold and I kept two. Not perfect but acceptable.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/set/172592
I have many times. I can sell off the others fairly easily.
Just a few weeks ago I bought this group of tokens...
...to get this neat ANA token with an incomplete clip:
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
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nice set and eye!
just curious, why certs different? the dime from the others.
nevermind. just ran the certs from the lower 2 and see the dime went from 67 to 68. a HUGE bump in value.
I’ve done that😊
depends
Yes.
Wow that's a nice set!
Collector, occasional seller
Yes, many times. With an outlet like eBay, it's hard to imagine you cannot sell the items you don't want. Maybe not for the price you want, but you can sell just about anything on eBay. eBay has taught us the wisdom of the old saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure".
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
I've done it many times, although on a few occasions I've convinced the seller break-up the lot and list the item I wanted separately.
There was one situation where i needed a half dozen old "skeleton" keys (called "tab" keys in the key business), and the single and double listings were prohibitively expensive. I found a listing for a box of a couple dozen or so, and I bought those for a fraction of the per-piece cost of the smaller quantities. Then I sold of some of the extras and doubled my money on the whole lot.
All the time. Sell the unwanted (usually cleaned) stuff no reserve on ebay and net cost for the item I wanted is usually a bargain. Surprisingly cleaned coins (properly described) sell for decent $$ on ebay.