Is eBay success tied to relative costs of the coin?

Varlis

I hardly ever sell coins on eBay, but when I do, I always have better luck turning a profit on coins in the $100 range. (I'm talking just about classic stuff.) I've bought stuff for fifty bucks, then thrown it up at no reserve and sold it for three times that amount. On the other hand, when I put up stuff that's say in the $500 range, I've pretty much just broken even. Now I know this all depends on the specific coin, but assuming that the *quality* of the coins is the same (F-VFish bust and seated stuff), do you think the relative price has something to do with the number of bidders? Obviously when people put $150,000 coins on eBay, the potential bidder pool is limited, but for those of you who are frequent eBay sellers: do you see a marked difference for stuff in the $50-$100 range as opposed to stuff in the $500 or $1000 range, or do bidders step up to the plate no matter what? If a collector wants to pare his collection, is it better to put $100-range stuff on eBay, and try to sell higher-ticket stuff elsewhere?

ajc

I see a lot of times that the higher dollar items have a reserve or minimum price put on it. When there is a reserve or minimum price for some reason no one bids on it or a lot fewer people do. The same type item might come up for auction on another day without a reserve and minimu price and the bidders come out of the woodwork and actually bid it up to a very good price.

rhedden

A few factors at play here:

1. More bidders for $100 items, more competition. Many people are afraid to buy a $500 item from an ebay seller, and with good reason.

2. Most dealers won't make a mistake and sell you a $500 coin cheap because they take a good look at them, but you might get a $50 coin too cheap. In other words, you may have done better buying the $50 stuff in the first place.

3. If it's classic coins you're selling, you might want to make note of the varieties before selling, because that often explains the surprisingly high prices realized. The $50 item that realized $150 may have actually been a scarce variety that's worth $250. I've few mistakes myself by selling an S-150 (R5) large cent that I misattributed as an S-151 (R3), and with an unattributed 1810 bust half that turned out to be an R4. I probably got full price for both of them anyway.

lordmarcovan

I have done very well in the past with the less-than-$20 Darkside stuff. Cheap stuff in general seems to go pretty well. If it's cheap enough, folks will often pull the trigger on impulse and not worry about whether they really need it or want it that much.

Varlis

All good thoughts, thanks. With the classic stuff, the attribution definitely plays a factor, and I had attributed the item I'm thinking of that went for 3x, but who knows, maybe I blew it. I was also thinking about the idea that people may think they're going to get a fifty-buck deal as opposed to a five hundred buck deal.

LincolnCentMan

I've almost quit using ebay. The year before last, I probably sold 15-20K worth of coins on ebay. Last year, I sold a little more than that. A couple of weeks ago, I lost my "power seller" status (woopty.) I found that it's not worth my time to deal in coins under $200 unless they're coins that I "made" through submissions. There's just not enough mark-up to justify my time or risk. Ebay ends up making more money that me on coins at that price range. So I tried sticking with coins in the $200+ range so that I'd have enough mark-up to cover the ebay fees and still make a little. The higher the coin value, the easier it is to price in the ebay fees. The problem is, that once you get to a certain level, (for me that's about $1500), I'm generally better off doing direct sells. Go figure...

David