Can you sell proof sets and mint sets online profitably?
logger7
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I've been trying to sell proof sets and a few mint sets I've gotten online, but I see no way to price these with the current extremely competitive marketplace and make any money.
I was thinking of selling the group to an area wholesaler who usually pays 80% on sets he has a demand for, but when I called him he was not interested, only the silver ones. How do you sell these and ship them?
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Sure, if your purchase price is low enough. However, if you've bought them all at retail prices, you should change your expectation from making a profit to simply cutting your losses.
The question is what is "retail"? Greysheet pricing on the more common ones is around $4 each. The wholesaler said he would be buying those at $2, and in some cases $1 each. I paid less than Greysheet but not substantially less.
For some of these sets, it’s almost the same to just spend the face value as to try to sell them. If you have a large amount, there might be someone on the forum BST who would pay a bit above face but you have to have enough to overcome the shipping cost. If you want to put more work in, you can try selling single coins or sets of the same denomination on eBay (this will take more time though and brings the increased risk of returns).
If I were you, I'd look into the USPS rates for ground shipping and see what the sweet spot is in savings based on weight. Might or might not be worth looking into flat rate priority boxes too. If you can keep shipping costs to a minimum by grouping sets together in lots, you can maximize the price that you sell them for on eBay. Obviously, for selling one set at a time, the shipping cost is going to be prohibitive.
In my experience, for example, you can ship a single proof set for about $4 with USPS ground, but 8 proof sets together for about $8.
are there any special sets or special years?
what years do you have?
FWIW, proof rolls seem to sell. Not sure of profit potential but that is another way to go.
What time period? Classic era proof sets tend to sell better then modern ones, unless if you have the silver proofs.
God comes first in everything I do. I’m dedicated to serving Him with my whole life. Coin collecting is just a hobby—but even in that, I seek to honor Him. ✝️
That's a difficult call to make because it depends on several variables. When I had a bunch of '68 proof sets to sell, I tried it both ways - original sets and rolls. My priority was for everything to sell in a timely matter and not sit in inventory long term. At that time, and within that particular framework, I got more money for the original sets than I did for the rolls.
From my research on ebay, the more common non-silver sets from the early 70s to the 90s sell individually below Greysheet if you factor in ebay costs, Ground Advantage and material costs. They are popular, birth years, etc. and relatively inexpensive.
For whatever reason, modern (1960 and later) Proof sets have been in the doldrums for a long time. I like Proof coins, but it seems that a lot of collectors don’t. It seems like there are a group of collectors, like me, who get one set each year, and they don’t want any more. With annual mintages consistently over 2 million, there seems to be more than enough sets to go around.
I don’t do anything with mint sets. In the 1970s, the quality was terrible from the mint, and I gave up on them.
I could see were Proof set rolls would be a loser. That is strictly a wholesale game, and the dealers who buy them have to sell them individually to make any money. That’s a lot of work for a small reward.
There are dealers who pay Grey Sheet prices for Proof sets BUT the boxes have to be perfect as well as the coins. The set can be perfect, with no toning or spots, but if the box has the least problem, they don’t want it.
While all of the above information is true, have you inspected the individual proof sets for varieties that could help to bail you out? It depends upon the specific year, but check Variety Vista to see if any years have FS numbered varieties and then look for them closely. Good luck.
Local guy had been selling proof and mint sets on eBay for ovee 25 years. I never wanted to be him. He buys at 30% back. I don't know what he sells at.
Most wholesalers are at 30 to 40 back
The best and most sure way to not lose money on Mint Sets is to not buy/sell them. These have been a loser since most of them were issued. And selling them in a fashion requires postage/insurance will quickly eat up any small profit you might make.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
A lot of the silver sets are better off being sold as scrap
yikes. he mind as well buy at fv
God comes first in everything I do. I’m dedicated to serving Him with my whole life. Coin collecting is just a hobby—but even in that, I seek to honor Him. ✝️
Normally I would say No, but it depends on what you buy them for.
I have a hard time getting 2x face value for most proof sets.
The mint made billions and seems like everyone has some they are sitting on.
Of the several million proof sets struck each year from 1968 to 1998, how many are left? Half? More?
Do collectors typically buy the years prior to when they started collecting? I'd guess a noticeable pct. don't.
I don't believe there are 1MM+ collectors for these sets anymore. Too much competition at similar prices with the internet making practically everything available.
So are coins that are just basic silver bullion. I sell my constitutinal basic silver coins to my local coin shop. The cost of selling on eBay or any other platform will take away any profit from bullion value coins.
I think liquidation via a coin shop best.
Selling online: shipping cost and fees would eat you up on those. Then the time spent listing them….with all that - tough sledding. Now if the item big big ticket then different situation.
It’s possible but quite a challenge. I used to know a guy who set up specializing in Proof Sets. A really great guy but passed away quite awhile back.
Just mark them up accordingly markup factor that allows you profit factoring in cost, fees, shipping, packaging material plus allowing you profit. Then list in your online store, and if sell be ready ship them out. However other sellers of those may be too many and tough to beat on price for you to even be in the green. Then there are people blowing theirs out. However I would sell them (say picked up from estate) to a friend that specialized in PF sets (blow them out) then use that money for whatever.
They can sell well at shows for me. But ymmv. Most likely there can be numerous competitors who picked them up at 60 pct of bid raining on that project. Perhaps take them to a shop - blow them out and go into an area that does not have a lot of competition. In RCI you need to achieve sales that put you in the green.
speaking of proof rolls, there is an online seller that sells modern proof silver rolls that didn't make the grade. there is a thread about then on the pm forum
Some of them do end up at face value
Agreed. But we were only tallking about proof and mint sets.
It's also true of Canadian silver sets and most Canadian silver dollars.
i've received ms set coins in change at a coin store
I have better luck buying them on eBay or better yet, an online forum and selling in a local flea market.
In the shop locally,
I sell all the clad sets from 71 thru 98 at 3.00 each, buy them at 2.75, dont care what greysheet says, at 3.00 keeps em moving. the 68 thru 70 sets, I buy at 4.00 each, break the 40% half out, scrap it, spend the remaining.
the 1999 thru 2006 sets, buy at 3.50 sell at 4.00 each in store same as above. The 07, 08, 09, 10 buy at 6 bucks sell at 7-9 depending. 2011 thru current year, buy at less than half grey-sheet and sell at 1/2 grey-sheet. (they still dont sell well at that level either). I used to pay extra for the 12 set, and run it on ebay, but lately, they been getting hammered price realized. all the silver sets from 92 thru current buy at 90% figure, again, used to try and buy the 12 and pay quite a bit more,but ebay lately on them is not much above melt in price realized. the silver sets from 57 thru 64 buy at 18, sell in shop at 21, if crappy, melt em, if decent, I sometimes run a group on ebay and they net about a buck or so more. earlier sets case by case basis depending on quality, and those are mostly ebay'd.
I dont give a care in the world if people turn down the offer, as its a pain dealing with them anyhow, None of the other pawn, coin or gold buying shops locally even buy them at all. In fact, one shop buys all at face value including the silver!!
Mint sets after 67 buy at face value and cut them up and take to bank period, Becuase i am a business , they like to charge me a small fee depositing them, so last year, I opened up an MMA account and dump the change in there, no fee, and it piles up fast, last year account had grown to over 40k from cut up mint sets deposit, used it to buy a nice coin for myself.
Last month I cut up over 500 mint sets from 1 collection
Can these sets be cherry picked for 67,, 68 TPG grades to earn a profit? Or is it a fool’s errand?
Casual collector: Morgans & Peace Dollars & 20th Century Type Set. Successful BST transactions with ProofCollection, Morgan13, CoinFinder, CoinHunter4, Bretsan.
I've dumped hundreds, maybe thousands into circulation