What's the best way to liquidate a collection?

mansco

I've sold a couple of collections in the past year via dealers. I'm currently thinking of auctioning off a couple of collections. Based on my recent observations, I've noticed that in auctions the "good stuff" sells very well. The common stuff sells cheaply. What are your observations and thoughts.

Cocoinut

Consign the better material to a major auction house, and sell the more common items on this Forum and/or eBay. Common coins sometimes bring strong bids on eBay.

Jim

goose3

the b/s/t board on here is always worth a shot at first. No fees there.

sumdunce

I have found that you will get a better price on eBay if you add a decent quality picture of the obverse and reverse.

Also, if you can tie it to a registry set (it does not have to be in the top five) that the bidder can look up (add a link) then this also boosts interest.

ajia

How much time do you have & how much time do you have to spend on the collection?

I posted my first auction on eBay & was disappointed. If fact I might sell it to the high bidder, but it did not meet the reserve. He is offering $75 more than his ebay bid....but it cost me $ to try to sell the coin.

I posted to sell another coin on the boards, no cost to me, highest offer so far is very good, PLUS if I did not like it (which I do) I could always then put it on eBay.
Auction houses are probably great for great coins, but a 15% bite is pretty steep for coins that would sell for the same amount here or on eBay.

If you need to sell the whole set fast what about selling it to a dealer here?

BAJJERFAN

I would announce here that I intend to offer the set for sale on the board. I would add the restriction that the common stuff MUST sell BEFORE I list the good stuff.

Steve27

It all depends on what your goals are. If you want to maximize sales price, then selling them piecemeal (beginning here because it's free and then on to ebay) is your best bet. However, if you don't want to spend the time and effort it will take to do that, then selling them as a lot is your best bet (again begin here and then on to ebay, or an auction house, or a dealer).

dimples

I've used the first four ways to liquidate my dimple collection. also E-mail your counterparts in the registry. I sold more than half to other registry members.

Dan

mercurynut

You might want to consider letting a dealer with a large active customer base to work on commision to sell your coins.

roadrunner

There is no one way and it differs from collection to collection and coin to coin. Ebay is a good way to get strong money for much collector material that is reasonably priced ($0-500). It's always best to know what your material is worth and then try to get that price while limiting your downside. The auctions have risk and you pay extra for returns and buybacks.

For those with specialized or truly unusual material, it could take a year or two to formulate and complete a plan to maximize the price paid to you.

roadrunner

tompkins

It depends a lot on your goals and how much time you want to take (both elapsed time selling hte collection and your time spent working on the sale). I recently sold a 400 (or so) coin collection of modern proofs. I thought about selling them myself on eBay, but when I considered how long it takes me for each eBay auction I do (I'm not set up to do them efficiently as this is not my business), I ended up choosing to consign them to a board member (mnmcoin) who solde some through private sales and most through eBay. I believe that hisphotography, alone may well have paid the commission. And it certainly saved me many hours --- I'm sure I would have taken a couple months to get everything sold, yet he did it in two weeks and in general the prices were above my expectation (except some of the common stuff).

I might have made a little more money by selectively placing some higher priced pieces with auction houses (though I'm not convinced that is ture). But in my case the ease of the "one stop shopping" (or should I say selling) offset any lost money --- though, again, I think Morris' photography may have offset the commissions, and we certainly got strong prices on the higher valued pieces).

If you have lots of time and want to maximize return, you can pick and chose, and sell the coind individually. But I must say that a number of my coins sold for more than I ever would have asked---one in particular, a buyer backed out of a sale at around $300 (which was higher than any recent sales), and it ended up bringing over $400 on eBay (I think those are the right numbers, but it is certainly the right idea).

So the main thing is to get the coins in front of the most eyes because there are some that are paying crazy prices. If you're not in a hurry, the boards here are a good start. So is eBay with a high start price and a high buy it now. (Two of mine sold that way, again at prices neither Morris or I thought would have any takers---we fully expected to relist the coins the next week).

Hope this helps.

Pete

pontiacinf

send it to Michael Dixon

prooflike

Try the PCGS BST forum first, it's free. Then try the auction houses for the good stuff and ebay for the not-so-good stuff.

If it's raw not-so-good stuff, make up a good story and sell on ebay, big bucks there.

Dan50

Or you could just leave it on your front porch overnight unguarded. That'll do her

LincolnCentMan

$1000+ coins, Heritage
$20-$1000 coins, ebay
less than $20... whole sell it

Just my opinion.

David