Estate!!!!!!

keets

Here's a sample listing from a seller who seems to have a fixation on the word estate. What's peculiar is that no mention is made in the description or anywhere else besides the listing title. There are others, but this is a particularly annoying seller to use this type of tactic.

My question is simple---What is the attraction to a potential buyer with the word estate??

Al H.

FC57Coins

es·tate: ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-stt) n. - To hype accumulated junk that you picked up for pennies on the dollar and now you're selling it at a sizeable profit

ss350camaro

<< <i>What is the attraction to a potential buyer with the word estate?? >>



I think a potential buyer might tend to believe that it's some company, that doesn't know anything about the items they sell, blowing out Estate properties.

A buyer might believe there's a 'chance' for a 'rip' ?

Baley

I think in this case, the use of "estate" is an excuse to have this policy: Due to settlement with our consignors, all sales are final.

tmot99

Good point, Baley.

sliderider

I have been in contact with blueridge, though I never won any of his listings. He says his primary business is liquidating estates. I don't really know that the word 'estate' in a listing carries any extra marketing value, though, as I have seen many of his items end fairly low.

rhedden

Baley hit it on the head.

Barry

Estate is used in a similar way by realtors and builders. There are a number of developments around here, with names such as Deerview Estates. Not only are there no deer to view. There aren't any estates either. Just the usual 3 or 4 BR Colonials lined up in row.

laurentyvan

Approx. 6,500 people die in the United States each day.

When a relative dies, at some point the question is usually asked : "have they settled his estate yet?"

Many people use the term innocently enough and I can see its frequent use on E-Bay being perhaps more valid than you think.
"What are we going to do with Uncle Henry's coins?"

Having said that lots of scammers use the word estate with ulterior motives-thankfully they're unsubtle enough in many ways so as to be easily picked out.

RGT

I have won two or three classic commems from Blueridge. He seems to use "Estate" in all of his titles. When researching sales prices before I bid I found two of the coins that I ended up winning had sold in a Heritage auction just a couple of weeks earlier. These certainly didn't come directly from an estate, though it's quite probably that some previous owner of these coins is no longer living.

BTW, I've been looking for a decent 43-D Jeff. I think I'll watch this one.

keets

it would seem that Baley and RGT make fine points which allude to the sellers ethics, to wit-------i'm not to be trusted, so take a chance!!!!

al h.

RYK

My poll thread from earlier this year suggests that forum members hold "estate" coin sellers on ebay in low regard.

RGT

In this sellers case, I just took that word to be marketing hype. I had good pictures of the coins from Heritage and they were in reputable slabs. I bid knowing I didn't have a return. I would have to check my records to see if I actually won a coin that I didn't have a Heritage picture of. In the two coins that I did win I got them both withing a couple of dollars of the closing price from Heritage. After ebay fees Blueridge lost money on me. That's been about a year ago and I haven't really noticed him selling commems since then.

longtimecollector

I've purchased one coin from "blueridge"............

I won't be purchasing any more...........

Draw your own conclusions

mheffner2

"Estate" or not I just went over his list of open auctions; doesn't even look like he's fetching $ market for them. Though if he bought them all for a dollar....

Edited for stupidity.

TUMUSS

sweet jeffery....bid placed

now...what are we talking about?

abmluce

Its actually a nice coin!

dorkkarl

dude, your talking about blue-ridge1. that whack-jobs had the exact same "estate" schtick, for years. it's always been "no returns, but just to make it fair, start at $1 w/ no reserve".

he's a loser imo.

K S

Conder101

The mistake that most everyone makes is the assumption that someone has to have died in order to have an estate. The word estate refers to a persons possessions and/or property whether he is living or dead.

From the Meriam-Websters dictionary See definition 4b (in bold) 4a would also apply.

Main Entry: es·tate
Pronunciation: is-'tAt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English estat, from Old French -- more at STATE
1 : STATE, CONDITION
2 : social standing or rank especially of a high order
3 : a social or political class; specifically : one of the great classes (as the nobility, the clergy, and the commons) formerly vested with distinct political powers
4 a : the degree, quality, nature, and extent of one's interest in land or other property b (1) : POSSESSIONS, PROPERTY; especially : a person's property in land and tenements <a man of small estate> (2) : the assets and liabilities left by a person at death

So the term estate in an auction is meaningless. Any coin being sold, unless it is owned by a corperate entity, is part of an estate.

JadeRareCoin

Unfortunately, the word "estate" is over used on eBay and takes away from legitimate estates that are sold on eBay. We are currently selling a large estate on eBay for a West Michigan client. Everything listed is 100% factual. We submitted the better coins to NGC for the client to increase his profits.

Through our current listings, we received another "estate" consignment from a local church, which we are listing at no cost. Lesson here: not all eBay estate auctions are bogus.

Russ

<< <i>Lesson here: not all eBay estate auctions are bogus. >>



Very true. And, if one can sift through the phony ones and find the real ones, good deals can sometimes be had.

Click here for an example.

Russ, NCNE

vega1

Many words carry extra meaning, positive or negative. Attaching the word "estate" can be an attempt to give instant history or credibility to the item in the buyer's mind. It conjures up images of large manors, with oak paneled libraries and butlers, unlike say.... "garage sale". these words can act as a qualifier to attach some extra significance to an ordinary item. Another example might be "hoard" I think. Aside from this, I believe the attraction to a potential buyer could be that this qualifier would indicate an item that has possibly been off the market for some time and is "new material". (?)

keets

hey Russ

someone got a real rip if that's a 1953 Proof Set!!!

..............but back to "estate" used in a listing. what is the supposed attraction to a bidder when they see that word??? with 'ol blueridge, it seems that the word is placed in the listing title for a specific purpose and then no mention of the "estate" ocurrs in the description. does anyone think a bidder would see the word and infer something special or some kind of abnormal "RIP potential"??

i figure it's just some bogus key-word spamming that must work, i just wonder why.

al h.

dorkkarl

"estate" all by itself probably doesn't connotate much. ie if you plug the word "estate" into the context of a star-wars look-alike contest, your bound to draw little more than blank stares.

"estate" & "jello pudding" doesn't elicit much.

"estate" & "flight of the valkyries" - just not much reaction.

but consider:

"estate" & "old coins"

obviously, where there's no factual substance, the connotation is there to sucker the unaware into thinking that something's available that's not been picked over.

how about "grandpa's" & "old coins"? same effect. or "antique" & "furniture".

i suspect there really are quite a lot of genuine estate offerings on ebay, but the effectiveness of these genuine estates is diluted by the baloney "estates" - by such wonderful, upstanding ebay citizens as blue-ridge.

K S

Varlis

This isn't so much about the word "estate" but . . . I bought a bust half and a bust quarter off Blueridge when I was new to eBay. His pictures are very deceptive--everything looked to be there: he even said "100% original" for both coins. From the lighting and backgrounds, I took a chance. I wasn't necessarily trying to rip, but guess what? Both were cleaned. I think the half was whizzed (which I later sold to Ernie with full disclosure; he somehow failed to mention this fact when he relisted it as AU-58+++ hmmm).

Thanks to Blueridge, for me, "estate" = deceptively-cleaned coins