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What Portion of the Online Coin Market "Is" eBay?

Hi folks,

Another somewhat random question I got to thinking about today ... just how much of the online coin market do you all think eBay accounts for nowadays? I know many (myself included) have become increasingly frustrated and annoyed with numerous aspects of the site, but I am wondering if buyers really go elsewhere in large numbers to search for coins? I don't know of many collectors who simply Google what they are looking for to then find a coin dealer's stand-alone website ... it seems most I know simply go to eBay and search there.

What do you all think?

Comments

  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,772 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It depends on your definition of "is". image
  • derrybderryb Posts: 36,118 ✭✭✭✭✭
    90%, 450,000 active US coin listings at the moment

    The decline from democracy to tyranny is both a natural and inevitable one.

  • Dollar volume? I'd guess Ebay at about 20%. I would guess that Heritage alone does more dollar volume. Then add in Teletrade, and direct dealer site sales. As far as number of coins and sets sold, Ebay might be more like 80% because of all the low cost raw items, and proof sets and the like moved on the bay. Oh, I almost forgot the U. S. Mint, the mint probably does about 20% of all online dollar volume with new coin sales.
  • i guess a good 40% of the coin market funnels thru eBay
  • phehpheh Posts: 1,588
    These are not perfect, but not too far off either. They were taken from "eyeballing" a years worth of Terapeak data charts per category.

    eBay sales averages (per month/past 365 days)

    US. Coins
    Collections, Lots: $300,000 (per month)
    Colonial: $24,000 (per month)
    Commemoratives: $470,000 (per month)
    Dimes: $240,000 (per month)
    Dollars: $1,500,000 (per month)
    Errors: $36,000 (per month)
    Gold: $1,400,000 (per month)
    Half Cents: $25,000 (per month)
    Half Dimes: $18,000 (per month)
    Halves: $600,000 (per month)
    Large Cents: $70,000 (per month)
    Mint Sets: $65,000 (per month)
    Nickels: $180,000 (per month)
    Proof Sets: $230,000 (per month)
    Quarters: $400,000 (per month)
    Small Cents: $480,000 (per month)
    Three Cents: $19,000 (per month)
    Twenty Cents: $10,000 (per month)
    Two Cents: $10,000 (per month)

    So roughly six million a month on average for the major US coin categories.
  • 0% for me
  • pennyanniepennyannie Posts: 3,929 ✭✭✭
    Most of my purchases the last few years, 50 percent ebay, 20 percent local B&M's 30 percent Heritage and similiar.
    Mark
    NGC registry V-Nickel proof #6!!!!
    working on proof shield nickels # 8 with a bullet!!!!

    RIP "BEAR"
  • MidLifeCrisisMidLifeCrisis Posts: 10,504 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>eBay sales averages (per month/past 365 days)

    US. Coins
    Collections, Lots: $300,000 (per month)
    Colonial: $24,000 (per month)
    Commemoratives: $470,000 (per month)
    Dimes: $240,000 (per month)
    Dollars: $1,500,000 (per month)
    Errors: $36,000 (per month)
    Gold: $1,400,000 (per month)
    Half Cents: $25,000 (per month)
    Half Dimes: $18,000 (per month)
    Halves: $600,000 (per month)
    Large Cents: $70,000 (per month)
    Mint Sets: $65,000 (per month)
    Nickels: $180,000 (per month)
    Proof Sets: $230,000 (per month)
    Quarters: $400,000 (per month)
    Small Cents: $480,000 (per month)
    Three Cents: $19,000 (per month)
    Twenty Cents: $10,000 (per month)
    Two Cents: $10,000 (per month) >>


    So do you think this accurately represents a ranking of popularity for the overall hobby?

    In other words, are dollars the most popular collector coins? Are two cent and twenty cent pieces the least popular?

    Is eBay so big that it represents a snapshot of the entire hobby?
  • phehpheh Posts: 1,588


    << <i>So do you think this accurately represents a ranking of popularity for the overall hobby?

    In other words, are dollars the most popular collector coins? Are two cent and twenty cent pieces the least popular?

    Is eBay so big that it represents a snapshot of the entire hobby? >>



    Yes and no. Dollars are clearly an area in which there is a plethora of material which is suitable for eBay. That in and of itself lends the denomination to a larger collector base. And, the fact that dollars do more gross sales than gold does on eBay is telling indeed. However what these numbers can't show is what areas are "hot" and commanding more premiums due to strong collector demand and limited supply. For that you would have to delve slightly deeper to compare average total listings to total sales.

    By example:

    eBay Total Sold Listings (TSL) to Total Gross Sales (TGS) Monthly Average

    Dollars
    TSL 22,000, TGS $1,500,000
    Avg $68 per sale

    Two Cents
    TSL 300, TGS $10,000
    Avg $33 per sale

    Gold
    TSL 2000, TGS $1,400,000
    Avg $700 per sale

    Still even this is of limited usefulness as one really needs to dig deeper into the data. For example, dollars includes everything from a Flowing Hair to a Sac; Two Cents is just one defunct type; grades would be wickedly diverse; while technically gold should include no bullion sales it almost certainly does.

    So there is some very broad usefulness to the data, but care should be taken not to read too much into it. Still, the "more rich" data is out there and could certainly be used to answer some interesting questions. Asking the right questions is where things get tricky.

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