New Seller to the Bay of E*

nicholasz219

*A heartfelt bow, to the Lord Marcovan

In all seriousness, I guess I must have hit adulthood some time when I was not looking recently. I have finally decided that I would like to start trimming duplicates and non essential items from my collection(s) as well as duplicates from my daughter's collection(s). I fully plan on reinvesting proceeds back into said collections for both of us. I went through and pulled duplicates from my Russian minor Imperial collection for example and was able to fill a red box with just duplicates. I know that my daughter has plenty of duplicates in her British minor collection, especially 1/2d and 1d.

Now, I tend to get very nervous/skittish/paranoid about all that can go wrong, so please bear with me.

I have some concerns. As a person that has only been a buyer up until now, I am not familiar AT ALL with selling coins. I do know what I like in sellers from the buyer perspective (timeliness, prompt responses, coin as described, reasonable return option, etc.) but have no idea how to go about selling on my own. I have also thought that maybe I should give my friends here first crack at all of these coins for a set period of time before listing them on the Bay, but then also adding a link to for any latecomers so they may jump in. (I honestly would much much rather sell to friends on here and deal with known people/part of the community by far.) So I guess there is quite a bit that I don't even know that I don't know right now.

I would like to open up the discussion to any and all with advice. Keeping in mind that I am starting from scratch, please feel free to offer anything that I do not think to note in the following areas:

1.) I suck at grading and while I am trying to improve, I completely do not trust myself to assign an accurate grade that a buyer would have to depend upon. Just include a reasonable pic and say "Coin pictured is what you will receive." and let people judge and bid accordingly?
2.) Pictures. I don't even know if I have a working camera. It's iPhone everything here.
3.) Insertion fees/sale percentages to the Bay: this also gets tied into the "How do you determine list prices?" item below.
4.) How do you determine list prices? As a buyer that tries to scavenge for low-priced items and manage my bidding to keep it low, I am always looking for a deal. I would hate tremendously to be on the opposite end of a spectrum and totally get eaten alive for the coin.
5.) I seriously think I want to do nothing except Paypal. Thoughts? I am aware that I will get charged juice on those transactions as well.
6.) Calculating shipping costs: I live outside of Chicago, so I figure I am pretty centrally located to ship across the United States. What solid shortcuts can anyone offer me and what am I not thinking of? Is a bubble mailer and a coin in a 2X2 a pretty safe shipping method? I have not seemed to have any issues with coins shipped in that fashion.
7.) Shipping discounts? As someone who enjoys combining shipping to save $, is there any tried and true method? Is it just based on weight? Recommended wait time for people who may be bidding on one or more other auctions after having won one auction?
8.) Return policies/Insurance Requirements/Bad Sales: Let me hear the horror stories.
9.) At what point do you report to the Bay?
10.) Most of these coins are minor issues, but I do have quite a bit of silver that will go out if all of this comes together. So we are not talking any item that is tremendously valuable here, but in total, the sold amount should be significant. Create lots? By what metric do you decide for a single coin per lot or several?

I'm sure I'm going to immediately think of something else after I post this. Please feel free to offer advice on anything even tangential because I prolly will think of it a week from now and have to come back and ask anyway. If it is a super mistake to even sell on my own in the first place, offer that advice first not last.

Thanks,

nicholasz219

DoubleEagle59

You do need a good camera so you'll have clear pictures.

This is a must so I would recommend tackling this issue first.

1960NYGiants

If you decide to sell on ebay then download their listing tool called Turbolister. It is free and will walk you thru the steps of generating a listing. You can use it to create a template so that certain detail / statements are included in every listing. All you would have to do is change the specific details for that lot, price, shipping, and photos or scans. Ebay will typically cost you about 12% of your gross receipts.

You will also be required to sign up for a Paypal account. This will allow you to receive payments in many forms - credit cards, bank transfers, echecks. Paypal will cost you an additional 3.5% of receipts, typically.

Ebay/Paypal have a link with the USPS for shipping. Based on the weight and method you choose when you create your listing. You will receive a discount, approx 5%, when using eBay/ppal compared to your local PO.

You will need shipping supplies. Go online and purchase items such as Safe-T-Mailers, Bubble bags, bubble wrap, shipping boxes, tape.

Calculate these overhead costs into the price of your lot.

Others will provide more specific advice to your questions / concerns.

Best of luck and welcome to cyberselling.

candy2012mustang

Ebay can be a fun place to sell and buy. I have found through my experiances that it is a little more "buyer friendly".

Make sure you change your selling preferences under your seller dashboard i believe. You can change it that people with too many negatives cant bid, etc.

Make sure your pictures are good - I have a sony cybershot (14.1 megapixel) that takes great pictures of coins and diamonds. You just need to mess with the lighting and stuff - coins dont really look great in natural lighting in my opinion.

candy2012mustang

As a rule of thumb I always calculate that ebay and paypal combined take about a 15% commission on your sale.

print your pre-payed shipping lables with the ebay/paypal shipping option. It costs $1.64 for a small package ( padded mailer) and delivery confimation is free - and the delivery conf. # is uploaded automatically to your closed auction for the buyer to track. The buyer cant say "I never got it..." if he actually did.

nicholasz219

Well, thank you all for the advice so far. I just wanted to put that first because even in the four replies that I have today, I have already learned more than I would if I fumbled around with ten sales all going horribly.

1.) I know I need to address the camera issue first. I plan on making that a priority within the next few weeks.

2.) Wow, 15%. I never realized that the vig on selling for Ebay and Paypal would be so high when lumped together. But it makes sense. So I will have to figure that into my minimum prices for each lot. Speaking of which, no one has touched the subject of how to price lots. What is most effective? 99 Cent lot starts that you just let rise to their natural selling range or set a minimum so you don't get hurt too bad on any one lot? Isn't there a fee for reserved listings? Or reinsertion fees for lots not sold (because of a reserve) and then relisted?

3.) Gene, thank you for all of the advice. I will probably use Turbolister as I do not feel like reinventing the wheel from scratch nor having to recreate listing boilerplate each time either.

4.) Both Gene and Candy: you mentioned that if you print shipping labels from Ebay/Paypal, there is an approximate 5% savings versus using the USPS site or store. Do those labels need to be printed on sticker paper or is it just a bar code that gets printed on regular printer paper that I tape to a package? I know it sounds stupid, but I don't want to incur $500 in start up costs to run a business when I really am just trying to trim the ol' collection and reinvest profits back into said collection. For say five coins or less in 2X2's, would a bubble mailer typically be enough protection for domestic shipping?

5.) What are the Forum's thoughts on restrictions based on feedback for buyers? As a buyer, I typically do not purchase anything from a seller if they have more than 1% of negative feedback ratings. I figure anything higher than 99% allows room for error, especially for those with hundreds or thousands of ratings. (Newer sellers I give a little more leniency to and read the details of their feedback first.) Is that a fair metric?

6.) Lastly, I have thought about this and I have no intention of selling to anyone outside of the continental US. I can only see problems arising from this. Any thoughts?

Thanks again everyone. You have been a tremendous help. I have already written down two pages of notes from this post and look forward to learning more from your collective wisdom.

Nick

WheatieFan

The USPS/Paypal labels can be printed on regular paper and then cut and taped to a mailer. I've received coins in 2x2s or flips with a sheet of paper wrapped around it and secured with tape or staples, so this seems very common. But they have to be in a small mailer (not a regular envelope) for the delivery confirmation.

I would be hesitant to mail outside of the US also and don't think anyone will fault you for that.

Read the paypal and eBay seller protection pages. The big points are to use eBay for all communications, use paypal and ship only to official paypal address, and use delivery confirmation (or other method for high value items).

I would like to add that as a new seller you should not sell high value coins first. Bidders may be hesitant to buy from a seller without a history, and you won't get the prices you hope for. Start selling the low value items until you have a good track record.


Another option is to consign your coins to a seller. They will take a fee on top of eBay/paypal, but the added eyeballs and experience may make up for it. There are downsides to this in that you don't control the listings, the pictures, how they are grouped into lots, etc. But the one great upside is that it's very convenient!


-wheatiefan

coachbedford

I always used a scanner....worked great on silver and brass coins, hit or miss on worn/dark copper coins. But ALWAYS a scanner seemed more preferable than camera-- but maybe that just means I never mastered camera techniques. And have to admit... I NEVER learned to love paypal. I guess as a buyer I always had the patience to wait for my check to arrive, then wait for my coin to be mailed to me. Yeah, a little nicer to have the quicker transaction with paypal but not enough to overcome my utter contempt for their forcing me to use them along with their added fees.

nicholasz219

WheatieFan and CoachBedford, thanks for your replies.

WheatieFan brings up some good information. I plan on selling the lowest value items first simply to make certain that I establish a positive reputation as a seller before attempting anything over $100.

I also am about 99.9% certain that I will not sell to anyone outside of the USA. It just seems that nothing good could possibly come of it. I'm not looking to dominate world markets here, just unload some darkside material.

I'm also sure that I will only communicate through Ebay and use delivery confirmation as well. The fewer loose ends, the better.

Coach: As much as I hate paying vig on my own transactions where I am doing all of the work, I can not imagine dealing with checks and money orders could be any better. Frankly, if I didn't need checks for my rent, I would not use them either. I appreciate your disdain for Paypal, and I concur, but it's the lesser of two evils.

Andres

Make a note in every description, that you combine won items in one shipment, especially with low(er) value coins, thats important,
because otherwise shipping costs are percentage wise to high to bid on just one coin.

I would accept bids worldwide ----> more bidders , more competition and better /higher endprices.
I always list my items worldwide and start at 99 cents without reserve , that works out just fine for me.

if you are unshure about grading , the more important it is, to add good sharp supersized pics of your coins, and dont forget to take pics of the rim,
if they are reeded or have somekind of inscription.

I stick my coins in their holders between 2 pieces of cardboard , and I use enveloppes no smaller then approx. 10 x 6 inches,
use cellotape on all 4 sides of the enveloppe, so nothing falls out,
bigger and firm enveloppes normally never get lost or damaged in the mailing proces.

put a note with the coin(s), saying: Dear xxx , thanks a lot for buying my coin(s) , please leave Feedback and I will do the same for you.
its important you build a good feedback as a seller as soon as possible, without a reminder note , 50% of the buyers just forget to leave feedback.

YQQ

Well guys, I hate to say it...
BUT i do not like FeeBay either.
However, None of us has to do business with them. If we choose to do so, It is on their terms.
The smartest move they ever made is to buy FeePal. that entity makes them a multiple many times compared to FeeBay.
Now, assume you send your coins to Heritage or or another auctioneer... and, I think , you will pay more and have less exposure!
So please, lets all stop whining....we have choices....