Poll: If ebay were to disappear as a coin buying/selling venue...

RYK

I find myself performing my routine ebay searches less and less. There are never any coins there for me. I almost never buy coins on ebay and rarely sell them on ebay. Before you label me a rare gold snob, I also look for circulated buffalo nickels for my son's set, dream coins like 1793 large cents, modern PCGS bullion coins, generic $20 Libs and Saints, Wisconsin errors, 42/41 merc dimes, and so forth...quite a mixed bag of different coins. I am so distracted by all the NNC slabs, reproductions, problem coins, evil sellers, etc. that I quickly lose patience and quit searching. If ebay disappeared tomorrow, other than the entertainment value of the rip-offs and fakes, my collecting would not be affected one bit.

(I suspect I am an outlier here.)

ms70

Yes. I sell junk I find at garage sales & flea markets on eBay to fund my coin collection. It would suck if they were gone.

Millertime

I voted yes because I'll bet I can't find PR69DCAM Kennedys for less than $15 anywhere but eBay. When I get my type album going it won't suffer as much because of all the advice from this board about buying raw coins on eBay.

Millertime

keets

some stuff is much easier to find on eBay then at shows or dealer sites, but that's only because eBay exists. put another way, eBay is like being able to attend all the coin shows in the country at any time at all in regards to some/many items.

if eBay were gone i'd be limited to dealer sites, newsletters, ads in magazines and any shows i could attend-----very, very limiting if you have a busy schedule. eBay affords me the luxury of spending an hour or two at any time i can find the time, and i can search thousands of inventories at once. very convenient.

the bigger question is this--------------would your collection suffer if the internet dissappeared???? but i already know the answer to that......................................

al h.

RYK

would your collection suffer if the internet dissappeared????

BIG YES to that question.

I must say that I am surprised by the early results. 12 No and 5 Yes. I would have expected it to be the other way around.

TerrapinWill

it would crush me.....I think it's much cheaper to buy slabbed coins here, though as someone pointed out in an earlier thread, sometimes lower priced coins get "overbid"...so it isn't always cheaper. But as Al pointed out, where else can you browse such a huge inventory, with out wearing shoes......

fishcooker

No. My collection would be fine. I prefer to only buy garage sale stuff on ebay, since it is one massive garage sale.

Bootleg

markets in collectables,coins,rare records "vinyl",stamps,have all had thier ups and downs ever since ebay started to go bigtime,markets shifted,and then flooded and destroyed afew collectables markets,....
but items like bottles prices have gone up and up,coins i do see have ups and downs,.....

but i will say yes ebay has effect alot of markets,especialy the spotscard market!.......to many fakes produced now also,Topps Mantle rookies are repro'ed almost like the real thing even with the off set cutting and aged look,.....so be wery if you collect,like trade dollars and other rare coins they are producing cards aswell....

comic books sufferd the worse though,im sure a few of you old timers wish you had that Spiderman #1 your mom threw out!----big bucks in any condition today,but when populartiy of the movie/icon dies the price will drop 30% to 50%......so best thing to do is put them away for your grandkids......thats if you have any old comics...


but thought id throw my 2 cents in...

GoYankees

I voted no.

In the great free market capitalistic system of ours, someone with an entrepreneurial spirit will start a new user friendly auction service for the average collector. Hopefully, such a service will be more discriminating than eBay.

If not, I'll just go to more coin shows.

keets

am i the only one who understands that the sheer volume of coin sales on eBay affects the pricing of coins throughout the entire hobby?? i would say that if you figure eBay being gone wouldn't affect you, you might be shortsightedly not seeing the big picture.

BTW, i'm one of the two maybe so's.

al h.

solid

I voted yes! There is certainly a lot of junk, hype and questionable lots to soft through,
but I have made some mighty fine purchases of premium coins there.

It is also invaluable for selling, allowing me to realize top value for my duplicates or
no longer wanted coins.

Ken

Longacre

My collection would not suffer, since I rarely make ebay purchases and any sales that I make are nominal compared to what I spend elsewhere.

Regarding the comment on how ebay affects the prices of the coin market, I think ebay is an imperfect indicator of the market. It seems that common coins get hyped up easier on ebay, and the level of knowledge of buyers seems to be lower than that of buyers at a major auction. I think the prices in the market are reflected "more perfectly" (I know this term does not make sense) in a major coin auction in which professionals who track the markets as part of their jobs, "set" the prices to be paid. Just my opinion.

coinbuf

IMO 95% of collectors would be affected if ebay closed. There are no major shows in all of AZ so I would have to go to Longbeach to see any coins of substance. And in my experience unless you have a relationship with a dealer at a major show the prices are very high due to high table fees. Granted my experence is low as I've only been to one major show.

Chris

vega1

I have never purchased a coin on ebay, and I never go there unless one of you people sends me there to giggle and point at someone, so it would affect me nada.

flaminio

I'm not sure what you mean by "eBay". Do you mean just eBay itself, or the entire concept of online auctions and sales. If eBay disappeared tomorrow, I'm sure someone else would take over (Yahoo, Overstock, or whomever) and all would be well in a few weeks' time. But if you mean that there would be no central location where people can buy and sell goods all over the world; well, yes, my collection would suffer.

nwcs

Yeah, a little. But not that much.

PTVETTER

I don't use ebay so It would do nothing either way

robertpr

I find myself performing my routine ebay searches less and less. There are never any coins there for me. I almost never buy coins on ebay and rarely sell them on ebay. Before you label me a rare gold snob, I also look for circulated buffalo nickels for my son's set, dream coins like 1793 large cents, modern PCGS bullion coins, generic $20 Libs and Saints, Wisconsin errors, 42/41 merc dimes, and so forth...quite a mixed bag of different coins. I am so distracted by all the NNC slabs, reproductions, problem coins, evil sellers, etc. that I quickly lose patience and quit searching. If ebay disappeared tomorrow, other than the entertainment value of the rip-offs and fakes, my collecting would not be affected one bit.

(I suspect I am an outlier here.)

Dave99B

Yes, and my IRA would also get absolutely hammered...!

Also, my ability to quickly and easily sell material at very fair prices would also be hampered. Dealers would love it though!

Keets - am i the only one who understands that the sheer volume of coin sales on eBay affects the pricing of coins throughout the entire hobby??

Nope, count me in Keets. There are at least two of us.

Dave

robertpr

Keets - am i the only one who understands that the sheer volume of coin sales on eBay affects the pricing of coins throughout the entire hobby??

I think everyone understands that concept but the question was whether your collection would suffer if eBay closed. I suppose if your collection is only a dollar figure to you then that is a valid answer. On the other hand have you considered that eBay may be keeping book figures down by increasing supply?

Myqqy

Despite all the junk on ebay, I still find a large number of quality coins- and the process of looking is very therapuetic for me!

stev32k

It would affect me a great deal. The only coin dealer within a 60 mile radius is an idiot that won't be in business very much longer. Coin shows are few and far between around here. So I would be forced to buy when I make occasional trips to some big city or from dealer web sites. To sell I would have to go though some auction house or on-line dealer which would be more expensive, and/or get less money for the coins.

RYK

I am probably doing it wrong, but I have not purchased a single coin on ebay (n=60 or so) that was worth keeping. Almost all of these coins have been sold, are marked for sale, or have been otherwise disposed.

Edited to add: Up until very recently, ebay was a great place to buy coin books and auction catalogs. Lately, even that has dried up for me.

cdan12

oooh yes

Shamika

I've found it too difficult to find really nice coins on eBay. But I do enjoy looking.

mirabela

I would miss it as a place to dispose of so-so coins. Everywhere else, you have to really discount such stuff to get it off your hands, but ebay is so big that usually there's somebody out there who really wants whatever & is willing to pay for it. I hardly buy anything there anymore. All year I've been slowly whittling down a haphazard accumulation built 20+ years ago, and that's been the outlet of choice for such things as aren't really attractive to folks here or at shows. Now, I'm down to not much dreck left to dispose of, and I'm not in the market for more, so this should be less and less an issue for me, but it's still nice to know there's somewhere you can get close to sheet for utterly ordinary things. For the record, I voted "maybe so."

coincollector1989

No because I purchase most of my modern stuff from the mint and submit myself. Obsolete coins I purchase from dealers or other collectors.

Melmcbee

I voted no. I mostly only buy from the b/s/t threads or online dealers that were suggested here.

kieferscoins

I voted no. I love ebay and the thrill is in the hunt of finding the coins. You can say there is a bunch of junk also at coin shows yet people still go to find the gems amongst the rough

Cameron Kiefer

CoinResource

eBay charges too much.... they need to be more humble. cr

TheRaven

I have never purchased a thing from ebay or any other online auction site.

Have not worked it up to trust the site.

I prefer to see the coins before I purchase them.

As for the effect on the entire coin market, I am sure that there is some and alot of the effect would be on the top of the market as you might have less people looking at the truely rare coins.

razorface1027

Without a DOUBT! My family would suffer, too. I'd live a misery if such a thing were to happen.



Tom

anablep

Yes. The variety is much greater than the 2-3 coin shops I go to. Coin shows hardly ever have what I need. Ebay has supplied many of my nicer Morgans...

SUPERCARCOINS

..are you serious ? With ebay you can reach out to over a million prospective buyers , and offer them what you've got for sale .
You may also search tens of thousands of numismatic items and shop to your hearts content .
Go TRY and sell a coin at a coin show - better yet , go to your local dealer/coinshop and ATTEMPT to make a sale !!

pharmer

All right, I actually understood that!