BST vs Ebay...

lkenefic

I've noted a number of individuals on the Forum tout Ebay as having a greater "number of eyes" on your coins. I have a listing on the BST that has over 700 views whereas my ebay listings have fewer than 50 with only a handful of "watchers". They will definitely sell on ebay... I started the auction at $0.99 with no reserve.... and I'll likely get about the same as what I had them listed for on the BST.

Its definitely a different set of collectors with the BST having more knowledgeable users but on the surface it seems like there are more "eyes" right here on the BST... unless the same individual is repeatedly looking at my listings hundreds of times...

coinbuf

I think it is safe to say that there is indeed more eyeballs on ebay vs the BST, however that does not mean that every ebay auction gets the entire number of ebay users looking at it. And yes it is possible that you could have the same members here looking at a BST ad multiple times depending on what is being offered.

Piano1

This may be a dumb question, but what is BST? At some point, I'll be selling some of my collection and I would like another option than eBay, though I have been happy with the sight for the most part as a buyer.

Thanks.

Piano1

pcgscacgold

@Piano1 said:
This may be a dumb question, but what is BST? At some point, I'll be selling some of my collection and I would like another option than eBay, though I have been happy with the sight for the most part as a buyer.

Thanks.

Piano1

Buy Sell Trade is part of this site. World and US coins in two different places.

pruebas

Nobody will pay retail on the BST. On eBay, at least you have that chance.

Generally, I’m not willing to wholesale coins that I’ve spent (often significant) time and money to obtain.

skier07

eBay has millions of eyeballs looking at stuff while the BST is limited to the number of people who are either registered users here or lurkers.

jmlanzaf

@lkenefic said:
I've noted a number of individuals on the Forum tout Ebay as having a greater "number of eyes" on your coins. I have a listing on the BST that has over 700 views whereas my ebay listings have fewer than 50 with only a handful of "watchers". They will definitely sell on ebay... I started the auction at $0.99 with no reserve.... and I'll likely get about the same as what I had them listed for on the BST.

Its definitely a different set of collectors with the BST having more knowledgeable users but on the surface it seems like there are more "eyes" right here on the BST... unless the same individual is repeatedly looking at my listings hundreds of times...

It really depends on the listing on ebay.

I would also not be fooled by the official views. On ebay, thousands of people scroll through the listings but none of them count as views if they don't click on your listing. So if the price or thumbnail don't appeal to them, they looked but aren't being counted. They are so many listings on ebay, how many do you actually click on?

On the BST, there are no thumbnails. The only way to see the coin or usually the price is to actually click on the listing. There are so few items in the BST you can actually click on all of them if you wanted to. You certainly could click on all the "fill in coin type here".

So, your numbers are kind of a meaningless comparison.

blitzdude

No fees on the BST but you will pay plenty on eBay. As a result, you should be able to lower your BST asking price a bit and still come out on top. RGDS!

Glen2022

also, no seller fees on BST. I would think many people would try to sell on BST before listing on eBay, but that's just my opinion.

jmlanzaf

@blitzdude said:
No fees on the BST but you will pay plenty on eBay. As a result, you should be able to lower your BST asking price a bit and still come out on top. RGDS!

@Glen2022 said:
also, no seller fees on BST. I would think many people would try to sell on BST before listing on eBay, but that's just my opinion.

For one or two coins, you might try to save 5 or 6%. If you're selling a lot of coins, why do you want to list them all twice.

And before anyone asks: if you have no store and are paying 13% ebay fees, I would assume you want half of that yourself. Hence 6%. If you have a store, you are paying 8.7% hence 5%.

The BST also has no buyer or seller protections unless you use PayPal at 3.5%

The only 2 times I tried BST, I ended up wholesaling the coins for more than they didn't sell on the BST. FWIW.

MasonG

@blitzdude said:
No fees on the BST but you will pay plenty on eBay. As a result, you should be able to lower your BST asking price a bit and still come out on top.

If you lower your price since there are no fees, the buyer is getting the benefit of "no fees", not you.

oih82w8

When I list something on ebay the fees are incorporated into the lowest price I will accept. On the BST, there are no fees in include. I can certainly agree that there are more eyes on listing on ebay, mostly fly-by traffic.

kirkmink

My limited experience with BST here is that if you do not have a coin that has increased rarity or toning that sets it apart, the more experienced buyers here are not in the market for it unless severely discounted.

On Ebay, you at least have the opportunity to market to less experienced collectors that could be looking for more common coins.

In short, know your inventory and your audience.

Zoins

@lkenefic said:
I've noted a number of individuals on the Forum tout Ebay as having a greater "number of eyes" on your coins. I have a listing on the BST that has over 700 views whereas my ebay listings have fewer than 50 with only a handful of "watchers".

Views are different than watchers. Generally views will be much higher than watchers since not every one who views will be a watcher and a watcher can view many times.

P0CKETCHANGE

@pruebas said:
Nobody will pay retail on the BST.

Based on my own experiences—both buying and selling—this is not accurate. Of course, it depends on the type and quality of the material being offered.

Zoins

@oih82w8 said:
When I list something on ebay the fees are incorporated into the lowest price I will accept. On the BST, there are no fees in include. I can certainly agree that there are more eyes on listing on ebay, mostly fly-by traffic.

It's good to see the same coin on both venues with different prices to get a feel for differential in transaction costs.

Zoins

@P0CKETCHANGE said:

@pruebas said:
Nobody will pay retail on the BST.

Based on my own experiences—both buying and selling—this is not accurate. Of course, it depends on the type and quality of the material being offered.

@kirkmink had a good comment on this:

@kirkmink said:
My limited experience with BST here is that if you do not have a coin that has increased rarity or toning that sets it apart, the more experienced buyers here are not in the market for it unless severely discounted.

On Ebay, you at least have the opportunity to market to less experienced collectors that could be looking for more common coins.

In short, know your inventory and your audience.

blitzdude

@jmlanzaf said:

@blitzdude said:
No fees on the BST but you will pay plenty on eBay. As a result, you should be able to lower your BST asking price a bit and still come out on top. RGDS!

@Glen2022 said:
also, no seller fees on BST. I would think many people would try to sell on BST before listing on eBay, but that's just my opinion.

For one or two coins, you might try to save 5 or 6%. If you're selling a lot of coins, why do you want to list them all twice.

And before anyone asks: if you have no store and are paying 13% ebay fees, I would assume you want half of that yourself. Hence 6%. If you have a store, you are paying 8.7% hence 5%.

The BST also has no buyer or seller protections unless you use PayPal at 3.5%

The only 2 times I tried BST, I ended up wholesaling the coins for more than they didn't sell on the BST. FWIW.

I was under the impression that the OP was just looking to sell a few coins here and there. If my impression was correct, then starting up an ebay store makes no sense. We all know the fees are less if you have a store but for someone just looking to sell one here and one there financially it makes no sense.

@MasonG said:
If you lower your price since there are no fees, the buyer is getting the benefit of "no fees", not you.

Not if you lower your price 5% on the BST and save the 13% in ebay fees. The buyer and seller both win . RGDS!

lkenefic

@jmlanzaf said:

@lkenefic said:
I've noted a number of individuals on the Forum tout Ebay as having a greater "number of eyes" on your coins. I have a listing on the BST that has over 700 views whereas my ebay listings have fewer than 50 with only a handful of "watchers". They will definitely sell on ebay... I started the auction at $0.99 with no reserve.... and I'll likely get about the same as what I had them listed for on the BST.

Its definitely a different set of collectors with the BST having more knowledgeable users but on the surface it seems like there are more "eyes" right here on the BST... unless the same individual is repeatedly looking at my listings hundreds of times...

It really depends on the listing on ebay.

I would also not be fooled by the official views. On ebay, thousands of people scroll through the listings but none of them count as views if they don't click on your listing. So if the price or thumbnail don't appeal to them, they looked but aren't being counted. They are so many listings on ebay, how many do you actually click on?

On the BST, there are no thumbnails. The only way to see the coin or usually the price is to actually click on the listing. There are so few items in the BST you can actually click on all of them if you wanted to. You certainly could click on all the "fill in coin type here".

So, your numbers are kind of a meaningless comparison.

True... I thi k this is the best explanation for the disparity in numbers because that's exactly how I operate on ebay. I'll scroll through hundreds of coins yet only "click" on a handful. I suppose this only underscores the importance of quality images to entice the "click"...

COCollector

@Piano1 said:
This may be a dumb question, but what is BST? At some point, I'll be selling some of my collection and I would like another option than eBay, though I have been happy with the sight for the most part as a buyer.

Thanks.

Piano1

.
There are a number of different Buy Sell Trade (BST) forums on this site (stamps, cards, currency, etc.).

For U.S. coins: https://forums.collectors.com/categories/buy-sell-trade-u-s-coins

Coin Finder

In the past I have had real good luck on the BST, been selling there over 20 years... BUT...

The BST is a race to the bottom in most cases. It didn't used to be that way. If you don't need the funds right away I would use Great Collections or Heritage for the higher end stuff.

Some folks On BST are looking for rips..

You can move "widgets" On BST and lower end coins etc for very little profit. And make sure you pay the shipping or you may get flack for that also....

Just my opinion which may change

Edited to add, I have not sold on Ebay in 15 years, I see a lot of folks here doing well with it. I might try it again!

Cougar1978

Let’s say I do a PCGS, NGC, PMG Mexico search on eBay many interesting items come up of interest to me (am into Mexican material). Plus have Auction Sniper available. Both coins (Mod Onzas, Early 20th century, 1800’s 2nd Republic) and PM (Banco notes from revolution).

While I am sure there are players here who prefer the BST that’s them / their hobby.

jesbroken

That's odd to me, I used to sell frequently on the bst and enjoyed success, but then it seemed to move to mostly modern and bullion items and I lost interest. Interesting that @Ikenific had 700 viewers on a single auction, as I would not have thought 700 viewers looked at items on the bst in a week. Educated me, even items sold that I had listed for a week only had 40-50 views.
Jim

jmlanzaf

@blitzdude said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@blitzdude said:
No fees on the BST but you will pay plenty on eBay. As a result, you should be able to lower your BST asking price a bit and still come out on top. RGDS!

@Glen2022 said:
also, no seller fees on BST. I would think many people would try to sell on BST before listing on eBay, but that's just my opinion.

For one or two coins, you might try to save 5 or 6%. If you're selling a lot of coins, why do you want to list them all twice.

And before anyone asks: if you have no store and are paying 13% ebay fees, I would assume you want half of that yourself. Hence 6%. If you have a store, you are paying 8.7% hence 5%.

The BST also has no buyer or seller protections unless you use PayPal at 3.5%

The only 2 times I tried BST, I ended up wholesaling the coins for more than they didn't sell on the BST. FWIW.

I was under the impression that the OP was just looking to sell a few coins here and there. If my impression was correct, then starting up an ebay store makes no sense. We all know the fees are less if you have a store but for someone just looking to sell one here and one there financially it makes no sense.

@MasonG said:
If you lower your price since there are no fees, the buyer is getting the benefit of "no fees", not you.

Not if you lower your price 5% on the BST and save the 13% in ebay fees. The buyer and seller both win . RGDS!

I mentioned both ways.

jmlanzaf

@jesbroken said:
That's odd to me, I used to sell frequently on the bst and enjoyed success, but then it seemed to move to mostly modern and bullion items and I lost interest. Interesting that @Ikenific had 700 viewers on a single auction, as I would not have thought 700 viewers looked at items on the bst in a week. Educated me, even items sold that I had listed for a week only had 40-50 views.
Jim

Maybe he was 600 of them.

Walkerguy21D

The BST and the forum in general has led to many connections, where most of my sales go directly to members without even being posted.
I don’t price at nor expect retail; I try to price at what I think is good for both parties.
Advantages- dealing with friendly knowledgeable parties that very seldom return coins and always pay and don’t file disputes or missing item claims.
I’m sure I’m leaving some money on the table some of the time, but I don’t have the issues mentioned previously. I’m also not high volume, trying to move estates and collections of miscellaneous widgets.
I may try eBay someday, just not anytime soon.

Maywood

For what it's worth, I have bought hundreds of coins from eBay but never a single coin at the BST.

lkenefic

@jmlanzaf said:

@jesbroken said:
That's odd to me, I used to sell frequently on the bst and enjoyed success, but then it seemed to move to mostly modern and bullion items and I lost interest. Interesting that @Ikenific had 700 viewers on a single auction, as I would not have thought 700 viewers looked at items on the bst in a week. Educated me, even items sold that I had listed for a week only had 40-50 views.
Jim

Maybe he was 600 of them.

lol! I did give myself about a dozen "bumps" or so in the time I've had the BST offering up and then I switched it over to an Ebay notification for the two pieces that didnt sell on the BST. To be fair, the BST thread has been up for over a month, whereas the ebay auction has only been 10 days...

Zoins

@Maywood said:
For what it's worth, I have bought hundreds of coins from eBay but never a single coin at the BST.

Any particular reason for the disparity?

• Selection
• Price
• Protection

I've purchased mostly on eBay but have done some on the BST, mostly due to selection. I've had good experiences with both.

lkenefic

I've done many transactions on ebay, less on the BST, and about the same directly from Forum members. Hands down, the best transactions are from Forum members directly... especially those that understand the coins you're looking for. I've gotten a few rotten apples from ebay... none from BST and certainly none directly from Forum members. Those were the smoothest transactions...

PerryHall

@pruebas said:
Nobody will pay retail on the BST. On eBay, at least you have that chance.

Generally, I’m not willing to wholesale coins that I’ve spent (often significant) time and money to obtain.

Since when are nice coins ever listed on the BST at wholesale prices? Most of the time they are retail if not over retail. Don't forget that when you sell on eBay, they charge sales tax and most buyers will adjust their bids downward accordingly. Also, when you sell on eBay, they report your sales to the IRS and your tax return gets more complicated. Don't forget that the BST Forum is FREE unlike eBay. If you don't get your ask price for a coin, you haven't lost anything and you can then try another venue.

ARCO

I've noticed that sellers on the BST tend to want strong prices without offering discounts to the buyer that they might have saved if they were to sell to a dealer, on Ebay or an auction site.

The point of the BST, IMO, is to offer a coin to fellow collectors whose realized price might be split between what the seller would have had to pay on Ebay or Heritage, with the seller getting a bit more than on Ebay and the buyer getting the coin at a better price.

I peruse the BST, usually laugh at the prices, then move on. Unless it is common date gold, I don't post coins to the BST.

spyglassdesign

I have personally bought more on the BST than sold, but all have been great transactions. Ebay is a whole different story. I like posting in the BST as you never know if you have a coin a member here wants... I also list on eBay but at least members here have an opportunity to get it at a discount (due to lack of fees). As I said I don't sell much here but I do it for members benefit should they want what I have, and this forum has offered me so much knowledge free of charge, it's the least I can do.

I've been offered less than wholesale on both platforms and I kindly decline and move on.

Zoins

@PerryHall said:

@pruebas said:
Nobody will pay retail on the BST. On eBay, at least you have that chance.

Generally, I’m not willing to wholesale coins that I’ve spent (often significant) time and money to obtain.

Since when are nice coins ever listed on the BST at wholesale prices? Most of the time they are retail if not over retail. Don't forget that when you sell on eBay, they charge sales tax and most buyers will adjust their bids downward accordingly. Also, when you sell on eBay, they report your sales to the IRS and your tax return gets more complicated. Don't forget that the BST Forum is FREE unlike eBay. If you don't get your ask price for a coin, you haven't lost anything and you can then try another venue.

Listing and sold are different.

DisneyFan

@PerryHall said:

Don't forget that when you sell on eBay, they charge sales tax and most buyers will adjust their bids downward accordingly. Also, when you sell on eBay, they report your sales to the IRS and your tax return gets more complicated. Don't forget that the BST Forum is FREE unlike eBay. If you don't get your ask price for a coin, you haven't lost anything and you can then try another venue.

Based on what I'm reading here, If you are just selling a few TPG coins, Great Collections seems like a better alternative than eBay and has more exposure than the BST Forum.

spyglassdesign

@DisneyFan said:

@PerryHall said:

Don't forget that when you sell on eBay, they charge sales tax and most buyers will adjust their bids downward accordingly. Also, when you sell on eBay, they report your sales to the IRS and your tax return gets more complicated. Don't forget that the BST Forum is FREE unlike eBay. If you don't get your ask price for a coin, you haven't lost anything and you can then try another venue.

Based on what I'm reading here, If you are just selling a few TPG coins, Great Collections seems like a better alternative than eBay and has more exposure than the BST Forum.

GC is a great resource if you don't mind giving up control and just want to sell a few coins (or a bunch), and they have a large existing following. The BST and eBay do give you a modicum of more control in setting prices, delivery, acquision of funds etc.

Zoins

@spyglassdesign said:

@DisneyFan said:

@PerryHall said:

Don't forget that when you sell on eBay, they charge sales tax and most buyers will adjust their bids downward accordingly. Also, when you sell on eBay, they report your sales to the IRS and your tax return gets more complicated. Don't forget that the BST Forum is FREE unlike eBay. If you don't get your ask price for a coin, you haven't lost anything and you can then try another venue.

Based on what I'm reading here, If you are just selling a few TPG coins, Great Collections seems like a better alternative than eBay and has more exposure than the BST Forum.

GC is a great resource if you don't mind giving up control and just want to sell a few coins (or a bunch), and they have a large existing following. The BST and eBay do give you a modicum of more control in setting prices, delivery, acquision of funds etc.

There are number of good solutions to consider providing a good choice, but since they are all a bit different, it's worth examining them so you understand the nuances of selling on each platform, both how they operate and the types of customers that go there.

coinbuf

I have and still do buy coins from a few ebay sellers now and then, I have never experienced a problem as a buyer or a seller on ebay, not yet anyway. But some of the very best coins I have bought came from forum members on the BST or from a direct contact DM. Each platform provides solutions and both can have issues as well, as with anything being careful and prudent in your coin purchases and selling is the smart thing to do.

skier07

I’ve sold multiple medium priced pre 1870 gold coins on the BST over the years and have had very positive experiences. My pricing has always been realistic and I’ve always been flexible within reason. Could I have made more money with GC? Maybe but I suspect the difference would have been negligible.

Cougar1978

Never bought off BST. Bought thousands coins off ebay retailed at shows, online.

MasonG

Based on my experiences, it's easier to buy on eBay than the BST.

SurfinxHI

Like all sales mediums, you need to know your material, and your audience.

I buy and sell via BST. I am flexible, but I also have prices that are reasonable, and ones I won't dip below. And that's OK.

I also do volume at shows a few times a year, and use GC, among the others. You have to know your clientele.

I know, for instance, well priced gold will fly off BST, as well as 90% and even common date stuff. I know that retail plus shipping will sit on BST. If I need to move a group of worn collector coins, if they are priced a bit above what I can get wholesale, they will be gone in sometimes minutes on BST. And then the collector is happy, and so am I. Irrationally priced materials sit....and sit....and sit on BST. You'd think folks would notice!

Good luck and try BST!
Surf

ironmanl63

I recently bought a very nice coin off of the BST. I also paid over guide and am very happy with the purchase. The coin was not lower end.

ricko

I have never sold on ebay.... I have purchased there, though infrequently in the last few years. I have sold and purchased on the BST... all have been smooth transactions. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

Am busier at eBay than the BST... for over twenty years.

PeakRarities

@ironmanl63 said:
I recently bought a very nice coin off of the BST. I also paid over guide and am very happy with the purchase. The coin was not lower end.

I saw what coin the coin you scooped up, and imo that coin most definitely warranted an above guide price. I think that coin would still look good in the next grade up