POLL: Teletrash vs FeeBay

Dave99B

Is it just me?

In the last year or so, does it seem to you like the quality of Teletrash (i.e. “Teletrade”) material has generally improved, while the quality of material available on eBay taken a complete dive?

Except for a few fixed price items with high reserves or starting prices, I see very little on eBay. Yet I keep finding a few things to nibble at on Teletrash.

Am I alone?

Dave

BigD5

The quality of coins listed on Ebay was GREATLY affected by their listing fee price increase.

For someone selling a few coins, it may not be a big issue, but if I'm listing 30-75 items a week, and am targeting $50-$1,000 price range, I'm smack dab in the middle of where they placed their increase.

The fee increase definitely affected my listings. I can sell a lot of the items I used to list on Ebay at a show, without the fees, for similar money. No sense in bothering imaging and listing the coin if that's the case.

Think about listing a $100 item and starting it at $100, with a BIN of $125. It will cost you $5 to run that auction for 10 days, with 3 pictures and the BIN. That's 5%, JUST TO LIST THE ITEM! Figure Paypal (3%), and the FVFee's (3% approx.), and at 11%, that's simply too much for any reasonable profit margin to bear.

My opinion.

So, if the Ebay fees on an item like that are in that 10% or so realm, why not consign the coin to Teletrade, let them do the work, and send you/me a check?

1977topps

I am very happy with Teletrade, I don't buy coins on the 'bay.

TorinoCobra71

Have you been found yet?

TorinoCobra71

mrearlygold

Amazing how some people speak about a technology which has improved lives of millions of people worldwide without any intervention of government, a technology which has helped aid in the construction AND continuation of what has been one of the greatest bull markets in coin market history and has helped thousands if not tens of thousands of good people pick their lives up by building a little business for themselves and their families.

Perhaps the same type of people who whine and snivel about Ebay should just stay away from Ebay huh? Why continue to go there if you don't appreciate it?

No credit line at any regular auction company or with any dealer?

That's my bet.

Tom

Gandyjai

I'm with BigD5.......10%+ right off the top and it's a LOT of hassle with the imaging, description, and listing.
Not to mention, the packing, shipping and feedback. Teletrade and Heritage are looking better all the time!

Happy Hunting!
Brian


I LOVE IKES!

bgrice

I've never dealt with selling any coins with a specialized auction site/house(Heritage, David Lawrence, Teletrade, etc), so I did look into Teletrade when I decided to sell off my 1934-1940 PCGS walkers. A complete turn-off to me to know that it might be 2-6 weeks before anything listed and then another 36 days to finally pay me. And with no minimum bids by the auction house I'd be stuck with my own "Buy-Back" as the starting bid if I wanted to make sure the coins didn't go for an unrealistic price. They all may work that way, but I was ready to sell, so they went on FeeBay.... and I hate paying them anything. One $1400 sale this week cost me close to $80 in fees(listing, ending price, Paypal), but I guess it's a wash as Teletrade would have charged the same thing and kept my money for another month. I buy from Teletrade once in awhile, but I'll pass on listing with them.

BigD5

Gandyjal,

Please don't misunderstand my comments. The fee structure altered the manner and type of coins I list. Ebay still works but my feeling is that after they imposed their increase in fees, they targeted a particular segment of their listings, and once they implemented the fee increase, that made those who list items, whose fees were impacted the most, to persue alternate means of selling those coins.

Who is whining and sniveling Tom?

mrearlygold

Darin, I'm referring to how the names of these companies have been used and how they are described by some people. Do you disagree Darin?


Tom

topstuf

Ebay USERS are the clams. Weird ducks.
F'rinstance, why the negativity toward starting prices? Nobody's getting a 93s for 99 cents. Anyone selling or buying a coin should know where a fair ..low.... value is. I start at what I ....KNOW.... I can wholesale for with NO listing costs.
I'm turned off by silly low starts which for some reason (maybe legit but a PITA) some think will cause "excitement." I'll take my excitement with a "sold."
Besides, if anyone starts silly low they almost have to have a shill or two goosing the action.

Computer technology makes shills nearly untraceable anyhow.

But then it's all a circus anyway.

Dave99B

Darin -

I agree, the fee increase probably scared some people off, especially whose working on a very thin margin. I imagine other sellers were just flat P.O.-ed by the increase, and have decided to try other venues. But I'm not sure if that really explains everything. I can't figure it out myself.

As far as your $100.00 item example goes, I think it defines a “fixed price” item scenario much better, not a true auction.

If you list a $100 coin with no reserve, and a .01 start, the total fee is more like 3.63% (assuming it sells for $100). Accepting PayPal is not really required --- I see many sellers who refuse to accept it. To me, $3.63 doesn’t seem extremely high given the broad audience eBay provides. Of course, you do have to do all the work yourself (vs working with Teletrade, Heritage, etc).

BTW, in no way to I mean to “slam” eBay. I've been an investor for 3 or 4 years, and have done well. I'm hooked on the site. I guess I'm more concerned than anything. If I see this type of situation going on in the coin category, I start to wonder if it's occurring everywhere...

Dave

mrearlygold

If you list a $100 coin with no reserve, and a .01 start, the total fee is more like 3.63% (assuming it sells for $100). Accepting PayPal is not really required --- I see many sellers who refuse to accept it. To me, $3.63 doesn’t seem extremely high given the broad audience eBay provides. Of course, you do have to do all the work yourself (vs working with Teletrade, Heritage, etc).

BTW, in no way to I mean to “slam” eBay. I've been an investor for 3 or 4 years, and have done well. I'm hooked on the site. I guess I'm more concerned than anything. If I see this type of situation going on in the coin category, I start to wonder if it's occurring everywhere...

Dave >>









Dave, I wasn't referring to you either. I just see some people making comments and using derogatory terms for Ebay and so I inject my own two cents. Sorry, I wasn't pointing the finger at you.

Tom

TheRock

TT has for improved over the past 12 months. I've had nothing but great coins and service from them. On the other hand, Heritage in my opinion has gotten way worse. I don't buy off EBAY. Seems way to ricky.

mirabela

Is there a way to actually view Teletrade lots in person?

Here's why I ask -- stuff keeps going for pretty decent money there. I see the things I'm watching selling at prices that are too high if the coin is just so-so, but perhaps quite attractive or even low if the coin is better than you can tell from the pic. I have, in fact, gotten a few from TT that were *significantly* nicer in hand than you can tell from the picture; then again, I've also received a few that were not. Anybody know what their provisions for lot viewing are?

CardsFan

I don't even bother shopping Teletrade anymore. I don't like their searches because there are no thumbnails (if someone knows how to get these please let me know) and I hate their reserve system. Many times if you want a coin without paying crazy prices you have to wait to the third time it lists. I will say their customer service is good.

mozin

I like Teletrade much better than Ebay. I only wish they offered more on my want lists.

Boom

I have won coins at Teletrade back in the good ole days before the price setting and shilling were PERMITTED along with eBay if you know how to shop correctly. As for Heritage.....allie with PCGS or not, really, who here does not understand what is going on when there are but 2 bidders on a given item and "next bid meets reserve" and the coin not get sold?

Gee, I wonder "who" the 2 bidders might be! Then on top of all this there is a 15% buyers fee and fairly high shipping. Give me eBay.

messydesk

I pay what I want to pay, no more, for a coin, no matter where it's listed. Sometimes that means I don't buy it.

As for selling, I don't accept credit cards through PayPal, and if I go over my "personal account" limit in a month (rare), I hold off on listing other coins or find other venues for selling them. I also have a bunch of "sell whenever convenient" coins that I list on promotional listing days, assuming I receive the announcement before it's too late.

291fifth

I still do very well on eBay. I haven't used Teletrade so I really can't comment on it. The problem with most people with a dealer mindset is their need to never take a loss on eBay. Coins, like all collectibles, are worth what the market of cash buyers says they are worth. In addition to coins, I have recently been selling some fairly valuable photographs on eBay. The prices I realized for the photos were very much in the range of what I suspected they were really worth...not the sky high prices asked by the dealers in the field but still good money. The photos had very high numbers of "hits" (over 300 in one case) but in the end, few bidders. This is an indication to me that the field is very price sensitive with few players on the upper levels.

VAMs4U2BuyHere

I've only sold on eBay and Yahoo Auctions. Because 95% of my sales are VAMs, which the top 2 TPG's do not yet attribute or recognize, I am limited in how my coins are marketed.

Based on the final sale price, on average it costs me 10% in fees (listing fees, upgrade fees, final value fees, paypal fees) on almost every coin I sell on eBay.

With the increase in fees earlier this year, eBay is quickly losing market share in coin & collectibles. They've priced themselves out of the market in the name of good ole American corporate greed. A lot of decent sellers have bailed out of eBay. This may be why you are not seeing the coins you are used to seeing.

Now, with the introduction of other auctions sites like overstock.com and yahoo, they will lose even more business. Yahoo currently doesn't charge sellers anything to sell. That's right. Not a single cent to list, not a single cent in final value fees. No charge for 10 day listings, no charge for photos, no charge for gallery photo. Granted, they don't have the volume of buyers.... yet. If they simply advertised on television the way eBay does, they'd skyrocket in sales.

For those who watched the eBay special on CNBC last night, you know that Yahoo is the premier auction site in Japan, and eBay is having a hard time breaking into that market. It stands to reason that with a proper marketing campaign, yahoo auctions could take a tremendous amount of market share from eBay here in the states.

PerryHall

Since Yahoo doesn't charge any seller fees, am I to assume they charge a buyer's fee?

rb7557

Just my 2 cents. I've done some buying at TT. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. The pics are fairly accurate, but the coins are usually better in hand. They have great customer service. My only complaint is sometimes I receive slabs that have a glue residue on them, which I think is from the reinforced tape and a box stuffer with dirty hands.

Ebay is not bad in my opinion either. You just have to use a little common sense. I have to admit, I've met my fair share of idiots there. But by the same token, I have come up with some great people to deal with, and it gets even better when you move the buy and sell off of the ebay venue and into personal 1 on 1. Just a few emails and things can happen. Then you only have the paypal fee's. But you do have to get to know these people to get the trust built up.

VAMs4U2BuyHere

No sir. They are currently using a system of sponsors. This is all new as of about a month or so ago. No seller fees, no buyer fees. About 4 months ago they also started using the paypal system.

While I do not expect this "free thing" to last very long, it is interesting, and it has begun to bring a great many new sellers to yahoo. Last month, a single check of current US coin listings numbered around 7,500. I just checked the number of current listings this morning at 11,043. A better than 50% increase in US coin listings in a month, during the supposed summer doldrums.

I only have 12 auctions listed on Yahoo. There aren't enough buyers over there right now to warrant the time I spend creating my listings. But, in my opinion, it is a buyers dream. A lot of coins and little bidding competition.

koynekwest

If you deal with ebay, you had better only bid on coins with good images and you had better be able to grade for yourself. I'd say 75% of the stuff listed there is badly overgraded. I'd LOVE to see someone give them some competition. They do NOTHING about the constant fraud seen there.

I used to buy and sell on teletrade years ago but the costs are too high for selling so I haven't dealt with them for many years.

Dave99B

YAHOO!

Yahoo tried the free auction approach in the past, and it flopped. Why? No buyers (no eyeballs). A very bad situation for an auction site. It still takes a lot of effort to build listings – what seller in their right mind would bother with Yahoo, with little to no buyer competition?

As far as Japan goes, eBay has lost that market to Yahoo Auctions.....forever......Meg Whitman has admitted this. The party is over there, as eBay was 6 months too late. But China is the real pot of gold, not Japan. Whoever wins that market will rule the roost.

Dave

millennium

My last 5 coin purchases have been from Teletrade.....I do believe the eBay material is getting worse..More and more junk that can't be sold anywhere else. But, I still look...........

streeter

Ebay material is definitely drying up for certain kinds of products. I am not sure if the stuff is still out there or it has just left ebay. Used to be the place where good people could meet and sell decent stuff but now is infested with way too many land shark sellers. There are still some good sellers---but not anywhere as much decent merchandise.

I sell anywhere from $1000-3000 a month as a part time endeavor and last year my TOTAL fees for sales were less than 5% of Cost of Goods Sold. Best deal on earth, actually.

This last month, peepers are down about 50%. November can't come soon enough.

VAMs4U2BuyHere

<< <i>Yahoo tried the free auction approach in the past, and it flopped. Why? No buyers (no eyeballs). A very bad situation for an auction site. It still takes a lot of effort to build listings – what seller in their right mind would bother with Yahoo, with little to no buyer competition? >>

I completely agree. All sellers and no buyers does make for a buyers market though. And a buyers market tends to bring in... more buyers.
Time will tell if it works for yahoo this time. Remember, this is a little different from last time in that eBay has really screwed over a lot of sellers recently with their massive fee increases. When the sellers dry up on eBay, as was mentioned in this thread, the buyers will start looking elsewhere.

For now, I put too much time into my listings, and I have a rather specialized product, so it's just not worthwhile for me. If I were selling run of the mill widgets, with each auction listing exactly the same, it might be a good venue. Free listings & a lack of final value fees are awesome from a sellers standpoint.

I used to buy thousands of dollars in coin on eBay every month. But now that I am narrowing my business to VAMs, I usually only purchase at coin shows, on DLRC, teletrade & heritage. Mostly because I can really see what I'm buying (more so on heritage).

From a buyers standpoint, I would not hesitate to purchase a PCGS or NGC slabbed coin on eBay as long as the seller has a decent return policy. But that's just my opinion.

Elcontador

Sorry. IMO, comparing E-Bay to Teletrade is like comparing crab lice to ringworm. I do my best to avoid both of them. Based on what I collect (high grade, 19th Century type), both venues have little of anything, except for bottom of the barrel, low end material.

An Orthodox Jew would have an easier time making a pilgrimage to Mecca than one would have finding an attractive, properly graded, say, MS 64 Seated $ or MS 65 Barber Half on either of these two venues.

Dave99B

Elcontador -

Ya, low end trash like this: Barber



Dave

onlyroosies

I can get a coin back from PCGS today, have it listed on ebay this evening closing in 5 - 7 days and
90% of the time have the funds in my paypal acct with in another couple days. Unless you are going
to sell the coin directly to someone how can you beat this system. You can turn a small inventory
over 2-3 times on ebay before one cycle at Teletrade. You are also building a customer base through
ebay. You never know who bought your coin from Teletrade. IMHO ebay is the smart way to go.....

edited to add.....I'm talking about the selling of coins.

lablover

Sometimes you can score on TT...like this one:



and this:

Elcontador

Dave, just because a coin is in a 6 or 7 holder does not necessarily mean that:
a) it is properly graded or
b) it is attractive for the grade

I've seen plenty of five figure coins that I wouldn't want in my collection even if they were offered to me back of Bluesheet bid. This coin sold on the lower end of Bluesheet. From its image on my screen, I don't have a clue about it. Practically speaking, especially re a proof coin, an image is not helpful re getting a feeling re where a coin is in the continuum of its grade.

If in fact, this was a nice coin for the grade, it would either be offered by one of the major auction houses, or for sale in a top drawer dealer's inventory. Really nice material even now brings strong money. Everything else is either offered at wholesale -- and not many people are interested -- and / or is on E-Bay or Teletrade.

cosmicdebris

I won my first auction on Teletrade last week. Auction ended Tuesday night, paid by PayPal Wednesday morning and had the coin in hand in Friday's mail.

Dave99B

Elcontador

In my opinion, you are making waaaaaaay too many assumptions. But that's cool with me; I can live with that.

Dave