Posted some coins on Craigslist for sale to see how bad it is...
FadeToBlack
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And acted like an ignorant inheritor to see if people would try to rip me off. Here is the picture I provided.
"I would offer you between $20 & $25 for each coin."
"i will give you $100 for all of them"
"Would you do 120 cash?"
"I would pay between $40-$65 for most of the coins (more for a couple). It is definitely an interesting lot of coins and would have to take a close look at them to finalize an offer."
"If you are looking for some quick cash I can do $400."
"I can offer $500"
"$675. I can meet when are where it is convenient for you. "
And the two honest people....
"be careful on craigslist. you will find out that most will offer you between 50-60% of what your items are worth."
"you have well over $2000 worth of coins in that picture Don't take less before talking to me."
Makes my stomach turn to think people have probably sold coins for 1/10th of their retail value to these people.
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Honestly I'm not suprised that there were tons of low ballers.
Even one the honest guys was a bit off, I would say some offers are closer to 5-6% than 50-60%!
Ask the people who want to rip you off for their contact info and then out them.
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I wonder how many of the low ball offers came from coin dealers.
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"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Was it this email? This sounds like something a dealer would say.
"I would pay between $40-$65 for most of the coins (more for a couple). It is definitely an interesting lot of coins and would have to take a close look at them to finalize an offer."
Interesting experiment you have there. CL is absolute bottom of the barrel and this pretty much shows that. It's a shame that so many people are willing to rip off their fellow citizens to make a buck and it tells you something about society. I only ever use CL to look for interesting/odd stuff or to give stuff away, that way I don't have to deal with the "I'll give you $2 for it" type of people. I hope you sent a nice congratulatory note to the honest couple of people who contacted you.
Collector, occasional seller
"I'll give you $20 each for some but can only do $15 for the colored ones and $10 for the damaged one. Call me asap and I may be able to give you a tad more for the whole lot. Offer expires in 1hr. Thanks"
nice, would not expect anything else.
The sleazy ones would say when examining them that they were over-graded, problem coins, very hard to sell tarnished coins these days, or the bottom has dropped out in a depressed market. Cash is king, hey that's worth a lot more than a check which you would have to pay taxes on. It's a free country, thank god for capitalism...etc.
Craigslist is useful for getting rid of large or unusual items like old wagon wheels or slide projectors.
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I would have at least told you there was another hundred dollars for stickers.
thats nuts!!!! You should reply back to the low ballers........"sounds good, lets meet up at my bank" and then no show.
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
This is a fascinating experiment that made me chuckle.
You should contact the low-ball offers and tell each of them to meet at the same creepy place late one night. Then watch from a distance as each of them starts showing up trying to figure out who has the coins. Maybe it will reduce the likelihood of them bidding in the future.
Even better yet go into the group and pretend to be another buyer just to see what they say about you.
Many assume that you're hard up for cash and will take less if they pay cash.
If there isn't already one, someone needs to come up with an app that lets you scan paper money for counterfeits using a smartphone. I've seen devices in convenience stores where they pass bills [even small ones] through a device like a CC scanner to check that the bills are genuine.
I'm surprised that you got that many responses. Mostly, I get one or none.
@BAJJERFAN I bet they are assuming the OP is hard up on cash however some of those offers are just ridiculous........ $100 for all of them? geeesh.
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Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for the 1802 dollar?
I know a guy who is more a buyer than a seller on CL. He would try to arrange meetings at McDs and get there an half hour early and pack heat just in case.
Fun thread.
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I had one person try to lowball me on some silver. Needless to say it was refused.
Great idea and thread. Fun reading.
What was the asking price that you posted?
Interesting experiment.
I especially like the toning on the 1881 S top center, and the 1887 3rd row, 2nd column.
In truth, are any of these available for sale?
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I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. I'm guessing that was placed there on purpose.
Are you going to send back information about wiring you cash in Nigeria?
Surprised you didn't get a comment like this:
Hi coins mustly fake. i will help you and take them off you hands for free before fbi come and arrest you and send you to jail for 100 years and then you baby will cry because no one can buy it milk and you dont want what so where you want to me so i can help you get to no jail.
It's really not that hard to figure out what a PCGS coin is....and then find their price guide. The owner of such coins would quickly realize there are thousands of dollars there. Do the CL's scammers really think it's that easy to buy slabbed PCGS coins for 10C on the dollar? Raw coins are another issue though.
I listed a guitar on CL, (first and last time I used it) all I got were 'tire kickers', probably from somebody living in their Moms basement.
Missed the big picture..... meet up with a supposed buyer ,get robbed instead..... also maybe yourself injured
50 - 60 % ??... B&Ms taking 25-40 % back of bid on low priced coins
or the buyer gives you a bunch of low denomination genuine bills and a bunch large denomination counterfeit bills, ie a bunch of $1s and $5s with bad $20s, and $100 bills mixed in.
That's why I asked about an iPhone app to check them with. Unless you're adept at detecting counterfeit bills, there's a risk to taking cash. meet at a bank and have them check the cash.
Or you may be "rolled."
Seriously in all my years of mostly buying 90% & gold coins via CL, I've never felt nervous or any doubts in the deals I've done. Using common sense & taking some precautionary tactics help.
I sold a nice car on craigslist a few years ago, and there were many ridiculously low offers.
I guess people figure they have nothing to lose by trying those, and they obviously didn't care about wasting my time.
Sold it at full asking price after about 2 weeks or so.
I bought a lawnmower on Craigslist once. We met in a parking lot.
My wife thought I was an idiot and I'd probably get killed
The guy I bought it from said his wife thought he was an idiot and he'd probably get killed.
It is cheap that people do that, but I don't blame them. It is unfortunate.
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Since you are posting, I take it you won the knife fight. Congrats.
"Would you do 120 cash?"
Did you accidentally bid on your own coins?
I'm not amazed. For all that, though, I've found Craigslist to be a great place to sell the sorts of things that have real value and you wouldn't want to ship -- snowshoes, skis, furniture, that sort of thing. I've sold cars and bought a boat there too. Never had a problem.
I bought two Carson City Half Eagles (1890-CC, 1891-CC) in old PCGS holders from a CL offer that I accidentally spotted about 3 years ago. Turned out that the seller was a storefront pawnbroker in the next county who preferred to deal in electronics. When I didn't try to offer him used lawn tractors, snowmobiles, hand tools and costume jewelry like the woodchucks tried to, my cash offer got preferential terms.
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So what are they worth and what would a fair offer be?
I once posted a 1908-D $10 Indian certified by PCGS as an AU58 on Craigs List and got offers as low as $50. I also had a successful transaction once on Craigs List and enjoyed meeting another numismatist in the process. I estimate 80% of people on Craigs List are a bunch of goons. Most of them want to make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible and assume other people cannot do their own research despite having access to the Internet.
I recall that you bought the 1802 on some speculation. I'm still curious how much you paid for it (or valued it as part of the larger group).