Do you NEVER buy coins off Ebay? - Poll

seateddime

Just interested to see how many of the board members are also on Ebay users, and active. Others may be too.

tightbudget

Maybe like once every couple of months-ish for me.

kranky

Probably 5 coin purchases in 11 years.

ricko

I did years ago....but not anymore. I do occasionally look, however, it is so full of con artists that I usually get PO'd and stop looking. Cheers, RickO

bigmarty58

<< <i>I did years ago....but not anymore. I do occasionally look, however, it is so full of con artists that I usually get PO'd and stop looking. Cheers, RickO >>



I agree, I find the BST, shows and specific dealers as my choice to purchase coins.

Bob

CoinCrazyPA

I browse ebay for certain issues, 99% of time they must be TPG.

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Probably 3 or 4 coins per month. For what I am concentrating on at this point, it's by far the best option. I know many say attending coin shows is the only way to go, well that's great if there are shows nearby. There are no shows, big or small, for hundreds of miles from where I live and it is not feasible to travel across country to try and add a few $15 - $20 coins to my collection. Ebay it is!

lkeigwin

Like it or not, ebay is a huge venue. Sure, there's a lot of junk. But filters are easy to manage and good sellers easy to spot.

I try to stay away from raw coins and those with no return allowed.
Lance.

RYK

I selected "never", but the real answer is rarely. In the past, I was more active on eBay. For me, it was a good way to make connections for subsequent off eBay transactions.

WaterSport

I am always looking. I have no coin shop and small local coin shows are about every 6 months.

WS

Barndog

just checked my ebay history for the last 90 days. I bought six half dimes (still own all six) and two classic head large cents (sold one, still own the other). Ebay is invaluable to a die marriage collector like me.

CarlWohlforth

Just bought a PCGS Dime for my Birth Year Registry set last night.

STONE

I'm in the ballpark with Barndog. To Die Marriage collectors eBay is an invaluable hunting ground.
Decent coins occasionally appear, but 95-99% of coins are easily junk and I immediately pass.
But those other 1-5% have potential.

In the past month I've purchased 8 coins (3 being R5's I cherried!) and I still own 7!
I actually just bought 2 coins in the last 2 days (unusual for me, but the timing was right for the bargains I snagged)
I have gone 2+ months without seeing a coin I wanted/needed, and therefore forewent purchasing.

RedTiger

I used to buy more. The flood of fake slabs is discouraging. This year, I have avoided certain coins because of fear that it is a fake slab. I believe fakes that are 99.5% visually correct are on the market and Ebay is the venue of choice, and collections are being filled with them. The end of the Bing cashback promotion this July has dented my purchasing as well. Recently, some buy-it-now coins came up that I would have been much more likely to buy if there was an 8% or more discount.

ctf_error_coins

I buy and sell many error coins every week on ebay. I'm On ebay all the time, Always Looking. Ebay is The best place to buy coins by far if you have knowledge about the series you collect.

TwoSides2aCoin

It's not the greatest venue, though it does work, despite those nasty fees that dig into our bottom line.
My last purchase was from a rather prominent dealer. ( "modern" U.S. mint coins to boot ) Thank you Julian.

Let me add... users of ebay who post here and are members in good standing have an excellent track record with me.
And there are quite a few.

LindeDad

Spend as much or more time there as here. No shops and very few shows in my neck of the woods.

BillJones

My answer is NEVER to two reasons.

Ebay won't clamp down on those who offer Chinese counterfeits.

Even in the good old days a lot of the coins that dealers offered on ebay were the pieces they couldn't sell anywhere else. I bought some coins off eBay years ago, but I knew the local dealer who posted them, and I saw them before I bid.

johnny9434

i do every once and a while. im not a big fleebay fan like i was at one time

123cents

I buy now and then but not like I did in the past.

silverpop

never have a bought coins from e-bay

relicsncoins

All the time......For my collection, it's really the only way to find coins on a regular basis.

rhedden

I buy less than I used to, but I remain vigilant for the occasional cherrypick.

ranshdow

Years ago I sold some coins on eBay, but I've never bought and probably never will.

etexmike

I've picked a few coins off of ebay lately.

I have had more success with "Make An Offer" and stayed away from most of the auctions.


Mike

scottgardener

I bought a circulated half-dollar once on eBay, which was an appropriately priced item in an appropriately-represented condition. I even bought it raw, before I knew how risky this was on eBay. (The coin has since been traded away.)

I don't otherwise use eBay, instead preferring other channels like Heritage or going to live shows. But, I would be willing to purchase from reputable dealers who happen to use eBay. Barry Stuppler is on there, and he's president of the ANA.

SaorAlba

I used to buy a lot, but it has been quite a long time since I have bought a coin on there - maybe a couple of years or more.

Unknown

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mdwoods

It's about the only place you can find mint state Canadian silver dollars. Teletrade has some every now and then.

pitboss

I buy a few every month.

sumnom

It's been a couple of years since I bought anything off of ebay. I find it something of a chore and with all the sniping programs out there I was finding it hard to win auctions anymore. I just buy from local shops or from dealers' websites now.

Elcontador

Went onto the site ten years ago. Spend about an hour. Was very unimpressed by what I saw. Navigation was clunky. I have a 'thing' about returning coins. I don't like it. If you, or someone you trust cannot physically look at the coin, you're buying it based on the image and the return policy.

Buying any collectible is a matter of personal taste. You're not (or imo, should not) be buying product. A coin I'm looking for in the right holder which is low end for the grade is product.

Because of the above, I haven't been back to the site since then and have no intention of doing so.

seanq

Always looking, and still finding decent deals and terrific cherrypicks. You would be stunned if you realized how few sellers look carefully and properly attribute their wares. I can look at more coins in an hour at my desk than I could in a month of coin shows.


Sean Reynolds

seateddime

I have had a lot of great buys on EBay over the years like an 1861 S NGC 61 dime, 1872 CC PCGS Dime VF35 and an 1843 O Dime in AU55+.

The cherrypicks however have been off the charts.

piecesofme

Sometimes look and buy for me. Used to be always looking. Reason why (from a buying point of view) blatant shill bidding that eBay will do nothing about, sellers who ship 5 days after my PP payment was sent, some sellers literally put the coin in an envelope with no packaging and send, I could go on but you're attention span might be long enough.

From a selling point of view...you REALLY wouldnt have long enough of an attention span.

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>I did years ago....but not anymore. I do occasionally look, however, it is so full of con artists that I usually get PO'd and stop looking. Cheers, RickO >>


Ditto.