Ebay Selling Advice
cinque1543
Posts: 450 ✭✭✭
I recently inherited a handful of 20th-century U.S. silver coins. Their condition ranges from F to AU. They are nice coins, but do not fit my collecting interest. So I probably will sell them.
I plan to try and sell the coins on Ebay. I don't need a tutorial, but I have never sold coins on Ebay. For those of you with lots of experience selling on Ebay, can you tell me your top one or two watch-outs? I just want to make sure that if I sell something, that I'll actually get paid.
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If the total sales are somewhat of a high value, I'd get a store. You can get an eBay store on a month to month, and the overall fees savings could be substantial.
Get a eBay store, take professional photos, and have competitive pricing.
That's the winning formula. As simple as that.
Micah Langford - https://www.oldglorycoinsandcurrency.com/
I almost always get paid. And the once or twice I didn't, I just blocked them and moved on.
More details would be helpful. Bullion coins are often not profitable on ebay unless it is a large lot. For example, If it's a $20 coin, for example, no one is going to pay you $20+$5 shipping. They will pay you $15 or $16 + $5 shipping. After fees, that's a net $13 or $14 which is 30% below melt.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
I’m still trying to get a handle on value. From last year’s Red Book and a 2025 grey sheet, I think will fall in the sales range of $100 to $200 per coin
Consider selling in small lots on ebay -- especially raw coins whose value is based mostly on silver content,
Also, call your local coin shops and ask what they're paying for silver content coins. Selling to them might be a better option -- you get quick cash, no ebay fees, no shipping charges, no ebay learning curve, no hassles.
Successful BST transactions with forum members thebigeng, SPalladino, Zoidmeister, coin22lover, coinsarefun, jwitten, CommemKing.
If you sell single lower value coins look into the EBay letter pack (not sure what it's actually called), but it is only a one ounce US mail rate, which is far easier for low value individual or a couple raw coins in 2x2's..
I wouldn't sweat selling coins of that value on Ebay. Open a store and cancel it when you are finished. My positive experiences outweigh the negatives 10,000 to 1.
That said, consider the BST here. Lots of great buyers and little to no fees.
Successful BST transactions- Bfjohnson, Collectorcoins, 1peter223, Shrub68, Byers, Greencopper, Coinlieutenant, Coinhunter4, SurfinxHI, ProfLiz
You need to check past sales on eBay for comparables if you are going to go fixed price.
Quality photos are more important than anything else. Depending on their value and how much is derived from silver content, it may be about a wash to sell locally to a dealer, and if you have any concerns about dealing with eBay, you avoid the platform. You can sell for a bit less and net the same because there would be no fees. More specific advice would really depend on what exactly you’re selling.
An eBay store gives you reduced fees. It pays for itself if you're going to have more than $500-1000 in sales over the span of a month. I forget the exact break-even point. It sounds like you're aiming at well over $1000 in sales. If so, it's a no-brainier to get a basic store for $27.95 for a month and see if you need it for longer.
I rarely sell on eBay. But when I do, I save up enough to get value from the store for a bunch of listings within the same month.
Fwiw it looks like I'm losing about 15% overall to the various eBay fees. That on mostly sub-$100 listings. You can do better percentage-wise with higher value listings.
One of the big decisions is how you set up the starting price. A $1 start will absolutely get you the most attention. It will probably also get you the highest final price. But you can also get burned badly with that approach.
If you know the market very well, I suspect the absolute best approach is to price things so high that you only get a single bidder willing to pay what you ask. Lots of sellers seem to use that approach. It can work. Or it can leave you stuck with no sales at all.
I personally set the starting price at the price where I'm willing to keep the item. I'm probably leaving a lot of money on the table. And I'm stuck with a bunch of items that don't sell.
In short... It depends a lot in what your goals are.
The Redbook and greysheet don't mean a whole lot when selling on eBay. Look at completed sales of similar pieces. And make that you look at typical completed sales, not the occasional outlier.
Thank you all for the great advice!
Looking for a bit more advice pls. I see there is a toggle button to allow / disallow international orders. If I turn this on, do I need to say anything in the item description about "not responsible for any tariffs or local fees", or something like that?
Also, if I turn it on, is there a way to say I will pay for domestic shipping, but the buyer is responsible for international shipping?
Please note I am NOT asking whether I should toggle the button on or off. I'm asking about the ramifications of turning it on. Thank you.
Important question: Do you want to ship internationally or not?
eBay has a service for international shipping. They give you an address to ship to in the US, and they take care of the international part from there. It's expensive for the buyer and it takes a long time for delivery, but it's transparent for the seller. You get that service if you leave the international shipping option OFF.
Otherwise, you can say whatever you want in the listing and I get most people won't read it anyway.
Shipping arrangements can be different for domestic vs international.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
When I list something, there is no toggle. It just says "Your listing will show up for buyers worldwide, where applicable." As far as saying anything in your description, you can but the people who will give you trouble will be the ones that don't read it.
Regarding shipping, here are a couple of way to go:
eBay International Shipping: You ship domestically to eBay’s U.S. hub, and eBay takes over the international delivery, customs paperwork, tracking, refunds, and returns.
Direct international shipping: You can also list your own international shipping services and ship straight to the buyer overseas, but then you keep responsibility for the cross-border leg.
Bonus for sellers with eBay International Shipping:
-Shipping cost is based on domestic delivery rates and your responsibility for the item ends when the item is scanned as delivered at eBay's international shipping hub.
-You don't have to deal with customs forms and requests from buyers to ship items as gifts or mark lower values to reduce their import fees.
-If the buyer decides to return the item, you don't have to do anything. eBay manages the return and refund, you keep the funds from the sale and do not get the item back.
Thank you. I misunderstood how it worked.
I got burned by eBay international shipping a while back. I shipped the item to the US address given to me by eBay but it didn’t reach the buyer and I was still on the hook for the refund. I was only compensated $100 out of a nearly $300 sale.
There are two different shipping methods. There's ebay International but also ebay global. Ebay global takes full responsibility but is very expensive for the buyer.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/shipping-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purchases-shipping?id=4057
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Some shipping questions. It turns out that one of the coins that I will be selling has a bit of value, about $3000.
Thank you.
When I ship coins like that, I use Door #3.
edited to add... unless they've changed their policies (I haven't looked lately), Fedex and UPS do not insure coins. And if you buy insurance through eBay, be sure to choose the USPS option, the other option does not cover coins.
+1
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Agree.
Instead of eBay, I'm thinking of sending the higher value coin (roughly $3000) to Great Collections instead, to be auctioned there. I still should use USPS registered mail to send the coin to GC, correct?
I would, but that's just me. Since it's under $5000, you can get insurance for Priority Mail if you want and the time in transit would most likely be shorter but there is not as much security and it costs more than registered mail. Unless it has to be there quickly, there really isn't a good reason to not use registered mail.
Thank you.