Teletrade Penny Auction A Flop -WHY ??

SUPERCARCOINS

Teletrade's recent super hyped Auction # 1976, held on Dec. 19th had what must have been the top -if not close to top , registry set of Lincolns.
Yet , because of silly HIGH reserves; LESS THEN 20% of the little jewels sold !!!
T.T prints a special color flyer, offers free shipping, and the coins were nearly ALL stupendous ! So why bother with all that work/money if the seller ( supposedly selling for a " College Fund" ) sets the prices out of reach ??

kieferscoins

<< <i>So why bother with all that work/money if the seller ( supposedly selling for a " College Fund" ) sets the prices out of reach ?? >>



Because their job is to sell coins and not set the reserve. They tried their best and that way no one can blame it on them.

Cameron Kiefer

fcloud

Timing? I know I back off this time of year unless buying coins for gifts... I would think there would have been a better result in January. The free shipping should be part of the clue that it is tougher this time of year.

I sold a bunch of extra coins on ebay starting the first week of December. Many coins went for bargain prices. Again, I think it is timing.

wondercoin

I agree with Cameron on this one. As an auction company, you strike your best deal with a collector or dealer on a sizeable collection like the cent collection and the setting of reserves is often up to the collector/dealer. Of course, you learn for next time. GMAI is not in the biz of losing money.

Incidently, I took the time to lot view the Lincolns while I was over at TT one day. True, it only took about 20 minutes of my time, but, turned out to be somewhat of a waste of my time due to my personal impression of the reserves on the lots I was interested in. Although, it is often the case, the coins tend to reappear in a SECOND sale, sometimes at lower prices (so, the jury is still out on whether I will be able to buy coins).

Established customers of mine often ask me to assist them with the sale of their extra coins on TT and I am happy to oblige. However, if I am not comfortable that I can likely (and easily) sell 50% or more of the consignment at the prices the collector desires on his coins, I will suggest that the collector explore other avenues for a sale. Generally, no one is happy with 20% or 25% sell through rates, including the owner of the coins.

Wondercoin

jacktheknife

The unsold lots will reappear in a subsequent auction with lower reserves. Exactly how much lower remains to be seen.

Jack

bushmaster8

<< <i>The unsold lots will reappear in a subsequent auction with lower reserves. Exactly how much lower remains to be seen.

Jack >>



Exactly. It's gotten kind of silly, with TT's autorelist feature... so many coins appear initially with sky high reserves and don't get sold until the second, or more often, the third time around.

Same situation occured last week- a bunch of nice frankies were in TT but only 3 sold due to the "take a shot" high reserve thingy.

But the option still exists with TT to consign w/o the auto-relist option, so you CANmiss out on a coin entirely if you decide to wait for the re or re-re-auction, tho most people seem to consign under the auto list option.

SUPERCARCOINS

.well said everyone - and got me thinking ;
T.T revised their return policy a while back . Now if you return too many lots you can get blackballed from bidding in future auctions. Has anyone gotten the boot and/or know how many returns constitute a violation ?

roadrunner

A few years ago I was one of their favorite customers. I'd return over 90% of the coins because they were low end, pay then their 3% return fees (and postage), and they'd sell it again and again getting 3% for doing not much of anything. That 3% is now 5% and it adds up. That was a good business model. But you have to let things sell first.

P.S. I got tired up paying those 3% fees and jumped ship. If I buy one coin from them a year now it's cause for celebration.

roadrunner

haletj

Well, I got my pcgs ms65rd 30-d from that auction, and what looked like (and cost like) a high end ms65 was really a borderline ms65 that I don't dare crack out (30-d begins my raw set), so I guess I need to send it back. Return fee is going to be $10 + 5% so about $21 for me.

SUPERCARCOINS

.............yeperie ; you HAVE to return it Registered mail - and you HAVE to call them to get the O.K first.............

Mark

haletj:

I jsut checked out the picture of your (soon to be not-your) 30-d cent. The picture makes the coin look really nice. The only possible defects that I can see in the picture is that perhaps there is a scratch over the RT in LIBERTY and perhaps on the reverse there is a small dark area near the E in ONE and the C in CENT. But otherwise the picture looks great and it's really clear why you bid on the coin. Now that you have the coin in hand, what do you see that was not apparent in the picture?

Mark

haletj

Hi. The scratch above Liberty is worse than it looks, somewhat continuing up near IN. Although the obv looks to be okay for a 65rd, the reverse has a GASH between N and T of CENT. This appears in the image only as a very slightly darker line. That makes me even want to question the 65rd grade. Also the color is not quite so fresh and bright but just a slightly faded red.

Mark

haletj:

Thanks a lot. I can see the gash that you mention on the reverse...but ONLY after you bring it to my attention. From the picture I would never have suspected that the faint line between the N and the T was anything other than a faint line...

That's a real shame. I hope you get total satisfaction from TT.

Mark

haletj

Here's another coin I got from TT. This one looks to have a small hit or something above the Monticello on the right side, but it is also a large gash and scrape. It is very hard to tell from TT's images the severity of flaws. Also the description says near flawless surfaces! NOT!

On the other hand though... this nickel is now my favorite non-Lincoln in my coin collection! The luster is bright and flashy like a nickel from the 40's! I can't believe it! I was starting to think such nickels from 1958 did not exist. Besides S pennies and nickels from the 1920's, 58 and 62-d nickels are the only coins from the twentieth century that pcgs has never given out ms66 to. If anyone finds an ms66 I'll pay a fortune for it!

roadrunner

TT routinely uses the term "near flawless" in describing marks on their coins. This can run from MS64's with a few big hits to MS67's with a few minor hits. Certainly, every coin is near flawless if you remove the hits from consideration. Stating so is hardly a superlative. ex: "MS66 and nearly flawless except for some minor field scuffs." I defy anyone to figure out what this coin would actually be. What it won't be is a strong MS66 with near MS67 fields.

roadrunner

michael

roadrunner
Expert Collector

Posts: 4029
Joined: Jan 2002
Saturday December 25, 2004 7:22 PM (NEW!)



TT routinely uses the term "near flawless" in describing marks on their coins. This can run from MS64's with a few big hits to MS67's with a few minor hits. Certainly, every coin is near flawless if you remove the hits from consideration. Stating so is hardly a superlative. ex: "MS66 and nearly flawless except for some minor field scuffs." I defy anyone to figure out what this coin would actually be. What it won't be is a strong MS66 with near MS67 fields.

roadrunner

____________________________________________________________________________

roadrunner sums this up extremely well

after reading many comments on the coins many oh here have received from the above venue would it surprise many on here that the descriptions are really not brutally honest?? and isnt an auction a place where the coin sells to the highest bidder???????????? with such high retail reserves as is suggested by many on different threads i have read on here and also as many suggest from different threads i have read many items do not sell



clearly it is not an auction so what is this type of venue called?????

for me
if you cant see the coin in person yourself or have someone you trust look at the coin for you

let the bidder/buyer beware

michael


michael

SUPERCARCOINS

..........at least they stopped using the terms , " no serious marks" and " no major marks" !!! as i'm sure we all know the diffrence 'tween the two !!

roadrunner

Let's not forget that these "sales" are anything but AUCTIONS.

roadrunner