OT - Has anyone else noticed that eBay has been very weak the over the last several weeks?

Aethelred

Is it just me, or have the prices for world coins on eBay been very weak of late? It seems like it might be a good time to be a buyer, but a seller could starve.

ajaan

Tell me about it. Hopefullyit will pick up after all the kiddies start school and summer holidays are over. It even seems like I'm getting fewer bids from overseas.

Aethelred

I know that the "Golden Age" of eBay selling before 9-11 is gone forever, but it would be nice to list something and not worry about taking a loss.

ajaan

<< <i>taking a loss. >>


When I reach my 10,000th post that may be my saying. Or maybe it will become my middle name. I see so much junk sell for way too much on eBay. But when a quality coin is listed, it goes for way below book. It seems only Staples Numismatics is the only seller getting good prices.

Udo

<< <i>

<< <i>taking a loss. >>


I see so much junk sell for way too much on eBay. But when a quality coin is listed, it goes for way below book. It seems only Staples Numismatics is the only seller getting good prices. >>



I agree with you, Don.

Isn't it the summer slump?

Buy in summer and sell in winter

drjules

Very poor showing these past few weeks

But I still can't seem to pick up any bargains!

Dr J

secondrepublic

In my neck of the woods (Poland 20th Century) prices are very strong. For quality material, they are much higher than they were a few years ago. And it's rare to see real quality material.

coinpictures

Ebay is a VERY different animal now, compared to what it was even 3 years ago.

I also collect pre-WWII stamps, collectible 1980s CD pressings, and to a lesser extent vintage trumpets and cornets. I've been buying and selling on the Bay since 1998. The signal-to-noise ratio is SOOOOOO much lower than it used to be. As a buyer you have to weed through so much crap, spam, and scams in the listings that it is extremely tedious. To make things worse, the people hawking garbage tend to defacate in mass quantities in the listings. You're just inundated with crap. From a seller's standpoint, your listing is likely to simply get lost, unless you spend the time (and money) on choosing the right keywords and spring for listing enhancements (bold, gallery, etc.)

The coin categories are filled with modern copies and counterfeits being touted as "patterns" (complete BS if there ever was), bulk lots of uncleaned roman coins sold under the mantra "Gold Found!" (yeah, right), and so much NCLT it makes your head spin.

The musical instrument categories are even worse, if you can believe it. Loads of "trumpet jewelry" listings; Indian, Chinese, and Korean knockoff instruments and accessories dominate the listings to the Nth degree.

The stamp categories haven't gotten nearly as bad yet. Still a pretty good signal-to-noise ratio there.

The combination of the poor economy, rising gas prices, and Hurrican Katrina make for less discretionary income. I think this holiday shopping season is going to be majorly down for most sellers, both on and off Ebay...

Of course, since I almost exclusively buy when it comes to coins, it makes for better cherrypicking opportunities for moi.

-Dan

Preussen

It has been a real mixed bag for me. I don't sell that often, but I did sell a few a week or so back; Some did very well, but others were not-so-hot. I could use a bit of help here - Preussen

MacCrimmon

secondrepublic, how's the Polish market presently for 16th and 17th c. silver and gold coins? Modern probe?

1jester

<< <i>secondrepublic, how's the Polish market presently for 16th and 17th c. silver and gold coins? Modern probe? >>



Good question! I hope ebay firms up at least in that area. I've got a lot of high grade WCN-pedigree coins to unload.

secondrepublic

secondrepublic, how's the Polish market presently for 16th and 17th c. silver and gold coins? Modern probe?

The market for 16th and 17th Century stuff still seems to be very strong. Price on Ebay are still generally lower than the coins would get if sold in Poland, but a lot of Polish-based bidders are now buying stuff on Ebay, so prices are becoming more comparable. A nice ducat or talar will sell pretty quickly and for a strong price.

The PRL-era stuff (1945-1989) including many patterns (probas) is generally pretty weak. That area has always been pretty weak, with a few exceptions. For example, the Pope John Paul II coins from that period always sell well. But communist-era coins, even the rarer patterns, are a weak market. The 1970s and 1980s patterns you can mostly buy for a song, because almost no one collects them.

The strongest prices are for larger Polish coins from about 1500 to the late 1700s (ducats, talars), some of the mixed Russian-Polish issues of the early 1800s (strong Russian market buys these, too), and Poland 1919-1939 (my area of speciality). Much older Polish material, pre-1500, has a following, but that's a whole different ballgame and I don't know much about that area.

Overall, the Polish market still seems to be pretty strong. Since 2000-2001, the prices for a lot of the nicer pieces have more than doubled and I haven't seen any indication of a decline. Even some of the more common coins, like the 1925 ten and twenty zlotych in gold, have gone up in value. To give one example - I bought an NGC 66 set of those two coins in 2001 for $330 and was the only bidder. Recently, a PCGS 64 (not 66) set in the old green label holders sold for over $600. Granted, that's not an average price for that set, but the trends seems to be up even for those two coins, which are pretty common.

For anyone planning to sell Polish coins that are more expensive on Ebay (like $200+ coins), I would really recommend getting them slabbed NGC or PCGS first. The prices seem to be stronger when the coin is slabbed. Part of this is because so many Polish coins (speaking of older coins, pre-1945) have been impaired in some way. Slabbing has not really caught on in Poland, but buyers seem to be willing to pay a premium for a coin that's been slabbed. That, and a good picture also helps.

secondrepublic

Good question! I hope ebay firms up at least in that area. I've got a lot of high grade WCN-pedigree coins to unload.

1jester, if you list 'em I'll bid on 'em.

Seriously, if the pieces are nice you should have no trouble selling them. I always put in bids on strong Second Republic material, even to buy as duplicates, for trading purposes, etc.

If the coins are still in Poland, you might consider listing them on allegro.pl and mention that they came from WCN. Prices on allegro.pl are stronger than on American Ebay.

cosmicdebris

My main areas of collecting for higher end pieces haven't had much going for them on eBay lately so I have not even been bothering to look myself. I've been mainly sticking to a few selct dealers to get my fix.

cacheman

Same here...the 'Proxy Queen' has been sucking everything up, and I mean EVERYTHING, for the past year. I deal primarily with Germany and private collectors...

1jester

<< <i>Good question! I hope ebay firms up at least in that area. I've got a lot of high grade WCN-pedigree coins to unload.

1jester, if you list 'em I'll bid on 'em.

Seriously, if the pieces are nice you should have no trouble selling them. I always put in bids on strong Second Republic material, even to buy as duplicates, for trading purposes, etc.

If the coins are still in Poland, you might consider listing them on allegro.pl and mention that they came from WCN. Prices on allegro.pl are stronger than on American Ebay. >>




Perhaps in many cases, but wouldn't ebay exposure itself ensure a wider audience, especially taking into account the fact that all auctions in Poland shut out all bidders save those in Poland (due to the no-export rule for coins prior to 1945)? It seems to me that this fact alone would allow for higher prices to be realized on ebay. What is your view on this matter?

Man

I've been bidding, I even had my eye on some of ajaan's coins but this semster has been particularly expensive college fees left and right.
Damn I lost on his 20 aussie pennies over 50¢

So I'm on a self-imposed budget until winter break.

SYRACUSIAN

There is a number of reasons why ebay brings less in some cases. For instance there's still a great number of computer illitterate collectors,some of them very wealthy. The situation that secondrepublic described for Poland has many similarities with Greece; Greek coins ,especially in high grades, will always bring high results, only my observation is that the common dates will bring less than what they would have a couple of years ago. Slabbed AU coins do not do well at all, people are very suspicious of them ,will bid low amounts,and if there is a reserve it is rarely met. Listing mint state raw coins is plain suicide for me, even with the best photographic skills, unless the seller has a following and has never listed slabs before, otherwise there's always the suspicion that this is a BBed coin. Timing is an extremely important factor and it's better to list a bigger number of items together, as many supposed "winners" might bring disappointing amounts, but they can be counterbalanced by others that bring much better than expected,and these are only a few lessons that I've learned by simply observing JJ's and other members' auctions.

The situation is much better for buyers who will go through each and every item in the category that interests them, unlike me who has a default setting of the higher priced items first, since I never have the time and patience to go through an avalanche of useless items that are listed. The low dollar works for the buyers and is a pain for sellers, and yet ebay is still a favorable place to sell for me. Low listing fees compared to auction houses,no waiting time, the ability to promote your own item are serious advantages that have worked very well in the past and I'm about to start listing my new duplicates this week. I have however excluded three coins, one supposed "unc" that did not grade above 58 despite a second submission, another that has artificial toning and a third that would have been choice BU if there wasn't a small flaw that would guarantee a severe downgrade by TPGs.By consigning those to a local auction house,(the 58 was cracked out), I can sleep well at nights without the agony of deceiving a buyer, most of which I now know in person.

edit: the above report was exclusively for the Greek material on ebay.

secondrepublic

Perhaps in many cases, but wouldn't ebay exposure itself ensure a wider audience, especially taking into account the fact that all auctions in Poland shut out all bidders save those in Poland (due to the no-export rule for coins prior to 1945)? It seems to me that this fact alone would allow for higher prices to be realized on ebay. What is your view on this matter?

The main issue in the analysis is where are the coins - if they are in Poland, that gives you some good options.

The market for Polish coins is now overwhelmingly in Poland. Whereas in the old days (to pick a random date, let's say before 1998) Polish coins were generally leaving Poland into the hands of US- and Western European-based collectors, now for every coin that leaves Poland, probably five flow into Poland. Often these coins are from German "stationary" auctions like Kuenker and WAG, and some from sources like Ebay. There is a lot of money in the Polish coin market at the high end compared with even five years ago.

The prices on Allegro.pl are often higher than Ebay.com/Ebay.pl for Polish coins simply because Allegro is where the action is, that's where everyone goes first (and most of the "everyone" is based in Poland). I just checked Ebay.com and there are 495 active auctions in the Poland coins section. By contrast, Allegro has over 5500 active auctions of Polish coins going on. (The Ebay figures don't include Ebay.de and Ebay.pl -- but those are separate websites and I don't think you can list on all three at once.)

If the coins are in the US, the easiest route is just to list them on Ebay. You should consider, though, that a lot of Poland-based buyers do not use Ebay, either because they don't speak English or because of the headache of paying for and securely receiving the coins. I've sold probably 50 Polish coins on Ebay in the last year, and only two went directly to Poland, and in neither case was the transaction simple. For example, I don't think Poland-based buyers are able to use PayPal yet. And insurance on parcels to Poland is a complicated issue that may involve tariffs on the coin if the declared (insured) value is over a certain amount.

If the coins are in the US and they are Polish coins, you might consider consigning them (the pricier ones) to WCN or GGN. Those auction houses have gotten very strong prices for good material in the last 3 years. The only issue is how to get them all to Poland, but that's more do-able than getting them out of Poland. Probably those auction houses have preferred ways of doing this.

Another alternative is to send them to Poland and have someone you know and trust list them on Allegro. The prices on Allegro are just stronger than on Ebay. The problem is that to get those prices, you need the right person selling them (preferably someone with a lot of positive feedbacks) and you need good pictures. If you'd like a recommendation of someone I've done a lot of business with who is rock solid and sells a lot on Allegro, drop me an e-mail.

The bottom line advice is always "sell the coins where the money is." Right now, and probably more so in the future, the big money for Polish coins seems to be in Poland. There are some major exceptions to this rule, obviously. However, as a rule of thumb, I would expect to get less for Polish coins on Ebay than if the coins were sold in Poland on Allegro or at an auction.

wybrit

The rules of wybrit:

If I bid, another bidder will take it above catalogue value - even Spink.

If I watch, the same thing.

If I sell, I pay more in fees than I net for the coin.

MSD61

I have not been doing any selling on ebay for some time now and as far as coin hunting I have found nothing.

Luvdawgs

I haven't bought any coins on Ebay for quite a while now, and am wondering how it's going on Ebay for Canadian coins...anyone know?

mrearlygold

Wish I could find better Vietnamese coins.