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New eBay material has really fallen off
jabba
Posts: 3,159 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have started to really notice that the search terms I have saved for coins I look for have really started to fall off on available material I wonder if the seller fee structure has finally did some sellers in?
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
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I don’t know but there has been very little showing up in the saved searches I have as well. In fact, for months now it’s been nearly barren.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
I’ve noticed the same thing… Guess I’m not the only one that won’t sell on eBay anymore.
I list new stuff all the time and my sales are doing as well as ever. The lower fees and shipping costs (managed payments and eBay standard envelope) mean more money in my pocket than before.
But maybe that's just me.
ditto
It also looks like they are F'n with their search engine again...that could be part of the problem. When is ebay gonna learn if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Recently, my website and Instagram sales have blown away my eBay sales
I list all my coins in both places (eBay and website) and you would think the ebay sales with a billion eyeballs would have better sales.
So, the thesis is that ebay decreasing fees last year decreased listing????
Yes. It's never been cheaper to sell on eBay.
You shouldn't use words like never or always. When I started on eBay back in the last century the maximum seller's fee was two dollars.
3 weeks ago I was finding stuff to buy every day or so. Pretty barren now.
It's a good time to be an eBay seller. I have been getting strong bids, even on junk (90% silver).
Sales are still going well for me.
I'm a part timer too.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I've noticed some coins aren't showing up in searches. I'm very search savvy and I can't figure out. They are definitely manipulating the results.
Edited to clarify: If you search with one set of search terms a specific coin will show up. But then you change one of the terms where the same coin should still appear and meet the criteria, it's gone.
Also, those that sell on ebay should know that ebay is preventing buyers from bidding on their items as well. My account is over 25 years old and I have almost 3600+ feedback, and regularly buy high dollar items, and twice in the last few months I went to bid on items at the last moment only to have my bid denied for suspected fraud. Then I call ebay and they can't tell me what caused them to try to "protect me" by denying my bids. In both instances the sellers realized much lower sale prices.
And you didn't have as many eyeballs or as many guarantees. You also didn't have credit card processing or discounted shipping.
I've been selling on ebay since 1997. I remember the early days. Apples and oranges.
I'm struck by the hit and miss nature of the old holder listings. They seem to come in waves. An example is the PCGS Regency holders. I can't remember seeing a listing in the past 12 months and now there are three.
Feast or famine.
Tim
Even some stamps that I've looked for have now vanished.
These are items that I would see at least one or two listed at any given time (but not for the price I wanted to pay).
But now there there aren't any listed at all, for any price, and it has been that way for several months.
As a very, very small seller I have relatively few listings on E-Bay presently. Competition to buy new coins (in all marketplaces) is fierce. I must consider the selling costs when purchasing new material. Margins on new purchases seem relatively small. I have little excess inventory that I desire to move. I am left in the position where my new E-Bay material has fallen off. Surprise.
This too shall change.
I am finding that most of my coin searches have better finds / results in major auction houses.
True that I am seeking higher grade Kennedys in MS67 or better but still they are not constantly showing up on eBay.
When and if they do, the pricing on it has gone from fair to ridiculous.
To much of an asking or offer price by sellers.
I have bought many coins from a major auction house including buyers premium at less than half the money asked on eBay.
I just purchased a coin that PCGS listed at $1500.00 for $872.00.
Yes it is not at half price, but a lot less than $1800.00.
I am not a seller. I only purchase.
As a seller, how much would you offer me for this coin?
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
50c
Not surprising, given the sales tax and sellers having to raise their prices to account for fees, savvy collectors either don't use ebay or use it to search for coin dealers websites.
Totally disagree. I see Fairmont and everything else including the kitchen sink.
OP is vague and too general IMO. Try to specify and then I can give you an opinion on specific material.
The fees are outrageous these days so I’m not at all surprised. I quit selling on eBays 4 years ago. But I don’t sell my coins very often so it’s easy to stay away from eBay.
On the buy side, 77 orders (not coins) in the past month. Probably around 100 coins in there given multiple coin orders.
Past few days have been busy with bucks, 23 orders starting on 4/25... there's material out there!
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Fees are lower than 2 years ago. Fees are also cheaper than anywhere but a Facebook back alley.
So here is my take on eBay at this moment -----IT SUCKS!!!!! I stopped selling over a year ago! There is no way you can say the number of buyers or the quality of coin listed was anywhere near what it was even 5 years ago. The number of scammers has doubled every other month and the number of misattributed- YouTube promoted BS coins just gets bigger every day. Serious collectors are over at GC now and with that the sellers getting more money for their coins. eBay really needs to police the crap being posted. Now that is not to say I do not check every day to try and cherry pick something, but the number of coins on my watch list rarely is more than 2. I cannot see how this backwards trend specifically on coins will last if eBay does not seriously get involved. Rant over!
WS
Yeah, eBay is dying...
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/EBAY/ebay/revenue
You don't get it. The Cool Kids have left eBay. I read it here all the time.
It's rarely more than two because there are so many aggressive buyers on eBay. Every time I list a PQ coin for a reasonable price, that coin is gone in 48-72 hours.
eBay is hungry and I LOVE it.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Just a suggestion- You might want to do a past sales archive search on GC and just validate that your buy price is as good as GC. If it is, I am glad for you.
WS
My buy prices? My bread and butter is buying raw and grading it... Apples to oranges.
If you mean sales prices, well since I play mostly in the $200-$500 region, GC's 12.5% cut hits a good bit harder than eBay's effective 9% cut (factoring in sales tax transactions).
I do consign some stuff to GC, but just the stuff that tends to do real well there like toned Morgans.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I love ebay, I need more inventory.
I agree it has been difficult to find any decent coins to buy over the last month. I checked and I’ve bought 12 coins in April, compared to at least double that in almost every month the last few years. And had 2 April orders cancelled on me by the ebay seller (which is not uncommon). Is everything being held all of a sudden and nothing being resold?
Yeah, eBay is dying...
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/EBAY/ebay/revenue
WHAT? You mean ebay is cheaper???? But people call it "Feebay"....
In the little niche corner of the hobby where I hang out, eBay is the only consistent source for material. It takes patience, especially with the flood of misattributed errors coming from the YouTube crowd, but there are nice coins to be found. Last month I bought a clipped modern proof dime for $25, show me another site where I could do that.
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
I will say this, ebay is expensive when you consider what they actually do. I remember in the early days thinking....man they are making a killing just having a bunch of servers whirring away racking in the dough. I would have bought into ebay when they went public if I had been given the opportunity...turned out it was an invite only. I talked at length with someone I met later who was given that opportunity. He went and viewed their operation and it was just a room full of servers, etc. He passed! I told him I bet you understand now that was a big mistake! It didn't take a genius to figure out how much money they were raking in just on listing fees alone! He did agree with me!
And now listings are free
But the FVF is way, way higher! I was really peeved when they raised the cap...that makes a chunk of change for them. I think the FVF should be capped at $50-$100 myself. Thought I should add the FVF fee itself, not the payment processing part.
Also I should mention a big reason why I prefer eBay over GC is because I control the images... GC has inadvertently set me up to fail with bad pics in the past on some tougher toned coins to image so I am hesitant to send them anything but obviously easy coins to image. I have asked, they are unwilling to run my photos side by side with theirs. For a specific example, I sent them a Morgan Toner that I paid $175 for. It sold for $100 at GC, and shortly thereafter I saw it listed and sold in hours for $350 by an instagram dealer. That should have been a $100+ profit for me, not a nearly $100 loss.
That said, GC's lack of a dedicated, quality numismatic photographer is what is really stopping me from doing a LOT more business with them. If they had a quality in-house photography staff I'd probably be consigning closer to 6 figures with them per year instead of 5. There's no excuse for this, in this day and age there's a whole slew of very good coin photographers. Pick one or two and hire them.
Anyway, rant aside, eBay gives me more control on the presentation of what I'm selling (and no, I don't juice my images and rip people off), more flexibility on what I list, more flexibility on sales prices via BIN OBO, costs less in fees, and only takes a bit more work... And really, listing/selling/shipping isn't that hard once you have a workflow established. I spend 20-30 hours a week on buying, grading and selling and should eclipse 1/2m in revs this year. If I continue to scale (not happening), I may decide to work more with auction houses, but at present scale, it introduces unnecessary risk of loss due to a lack of control.
If you all want my unsolicited opinion on the best coin imaging in the auction house world, it is Stacks, hands down. All the others should aim to emulate their approach, whatever it is.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I get a lot of the things I sell on eBay from eBay. eBay is a good place to buy AND sell.
Per photos! Let Great Collections stay where they are...after you learn their pictures...to an extent...makes for some bargains!
As per Stacks....YIKES! They are near the bottom, at least they are starting to link trueviews though. Heritage you can usually tell from the slab photos what a coin looks like.
@DelawareDoons
I can understand your concerns on picture quality on GC.
The coin that I was talking about (see above post) had a photo that almost made me not bid on it.
It appeared to have a lot of polish lines on the obverse.
It might have scared others from bidding.
I needed it as an upgrade for my registry set so I took a chance on it hoping for the best.
The coin arrived mark free and is a nice representation of a MS67 coin.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
"Serious collectors are over at GC now and with that the sellers getting more money for their coins."
"Let Great Collections stay where they are...after you learn their pictures...to an extent...makes for some bargains!"
So GC can be a good place to buy and sell coins? Just like eBay, it would appear.
Agree to disagree, Trueviews are rarely an accurate in-hand representation of the coin, why would you give them credit for using those? They have utility on certain coins that need to be imaged outside of the slab for best results, but otherwise, I never rely on them to form a solid opinion on a coin, more just as a data point to take into account in combination with other images/videos.
Who all is there that handles a decent volume in US? there's four main players right? This is how I'd rank them.
Stacks
David Lawrence
GreatCollections
Heritage
If you expand to the more limited, niche auctioneers you could probably put Legend on top of that list. Or do you really wanna tell me HA's scans are better than Stacks close ups? That GC's slab shots with no extra images are better than SB? DLRC is the only one of the group that provides close ups of every coin they sell and their images are lackluster at best, and I say this as somebody who knows their coin photography well.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
^
Love your passion but reverse your rankings.
I don’t have any problem finding anything to buy on eBay . But a lot of the time (numismatics) simply can’t get it at price comfy with.
May go back try GC. Last time was facing bid war, nuk bids on on the items wanted and resigned that situation early. Now that’s just one instance they do have a lot of neat, quality stuff, fantastic photos. Did get a really super deal on some PMG currency recently. Their buyers fees reasonable too vs others. Ian is a top flight guy and done great job. It just depends who your competing against in bidding. eBay / GC like my fav WR so whatever which one open throw to…..
I actually wish that eBay would charge a listing fee on every listing
Agree. Charge a high listing fee. If the coin sells, they get the fee back. It would discourage non-sense listings such as common circulated Lincoln cent for $10,000.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.