Selling reproduction coins, can you make a profit?

mr3holesinone

While searching on eBay I found a guy who has about 130 auctions running for reproduction coins. Very few of the coins have bids on them; he starts them at $5 and it's $2.50 to ship. With so few of his auctions receiving bids I am wondering how it is possible to turn a profit. Plus I can't believe that anyone would bid on a reproduction of a coin but that's another topic. He clearly marks his auctions and doesn't appear to be trying to scam anyone but what am I missing here?

Example of an auction

storm888

The seller has grossed about $3300 in the past 30-days.

Alot of his items are novelty items that are readily available
from online wholesalers.

Some of his "coins" are medium/poor quality Asian counterfeits.

Some of his titles and descriptions are TOS violations.

His "(REPLICA ?)" pitch is designed to fool the stupid, and is
a TOS violation.

Most people who buy his stuff just do so to have a novelty item.
I am sure a few folks are fooled. Some folks buy the stuff to
fool other people with; that is why the stuff should not be allowed
on EBAY. (EBAY and PayPal probably make $500.00 a month from
the account, so no action will be taken against him.)

His gross does not sound impressive, but the items cost him
very tiny money.

So.... yes, he makes a profit.

RichieURich

I spoke with a fellow collector who is in China and he told me that the counterfeit trade and seated dollars are all over the place there and can be bought for $1 or less. So if you buy it for $1, sell it for $5, charge $2.50 for postage which is probably a bubble wrap mailer that costs 55c to mail, is this profitable?

CoinCollector65

Oh, God! I got on Ebay late one night and saw a beautiful 1914-D XF40+ cent going for only $59.95, so letting the Greedy SOB in me take over I shot it a $80.00 bid in the last 30 seconds. WooHoo I won. Now let's read the details: 1. The title said 1914-D, the slab with some misc. grading service said 1914-D, nothing on front or back. But right there in the Meat of the description was the word C O P Y!, or was it R E P L I C A?

Either way I almost lost my supper.

This example was a little deceptive however I see people spending between $20 and $50 all the time on copies, especially if it doesn't say COPY..

Hmmm... Is that something the Secret Service might be interested in?

kranky

There was an ebay seller a while back (maybe still around, I don't know) who was selling those "tribute" Morgan CC dollar replicas for huge money. The reverse had a COPY stamp but the seller only showed a obverse photo. Some of them sold for hundreds of dollars.

mr3holesinone

CoinCollector65 I sometimes wonder if they count on people doing things like that. In your case, I would have told them to take a hike. A negative feedback isn't going to kill anyone if you had to end up taking one.

I have a friend who used to go out drinking then come home and bid on stuff when he was wasted. He usually did ok but I remember once when his luck ran out and he lost a little more than he wanted to.

CoinCollector65

Actually, he let me back out. I also reported it to eBay. Usually the impact of their negative feedback on their sales is much more significant. Plus actually if it isn't marked copy on the coin it is a Counterfeit under federal law dispite any descriptions indicating it is a copy.

I had intended my post to be a little amusing, however the issue is a major problem on eBay. I purchase about $3000 worth of coins from ebay and break even with a respectable dealer who's been in business about 30 years by selling the "good half" I usually endup with about 30% misgraded (Intentionally or unintentionally, and I find I can return about 90% so generally I might be out $50 to $100 in shipping however with a refund with about 9/20th, roughly $900 after having recouped the $3000 I end up with about $900 to $2000 a month after about 20 hours effort. Not too bad... Additionally I've found a few gems which PCGS or NCG has validated. My most recent find was a 1856 Flying Eagle, I paid about $220 for. It Graded XF-45.

I do this every few months and do ok.

I have had about a 70% sucess rating, I have had a few months when I've been down.