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How much does a coin seller actually earn?

How much does a coin seller actually earn per year?

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  • OwenSeymourOwenSeymour Posts: 365 ✭✭✭✭

    But to answer your question somewhere in the realm of $0 - $500,000++ / yr

  • davewesendavewesen Posts: 5,759 ✭✭✭✭✭

    if they are like me, it is a losing hobby on ebay

    so less than $0

  • Ahaha , i am a seller.. well not really a seller but i sell coins as hobby.. i made about maybe 500€ per month.. but as hobby...
    I want to know how much a professional can do.

  • CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This is not a job category like mechanical engineer where a number of say $60-120,000 can be plugged in. Some no doubt, hit a net negative in the last few down years. Others I suppose can earn in the sseven figures with a large footprint and strong customer base.

  • TomBTomB Posts: 20,689 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes.
    No.
    Maybe.

    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
  • BruceSBruceS Posts: 1,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Would you like to tell us how much you make a year? It's a pretty vague question regardless.


    eBay ID-bruceshort978
    Successful BST:here and ATS, bumanchu, wdrob, hashtag, KeeNoooo, mikej61, Yonico, Meltdown, BAJJERFAN, Excaliber, lordmarcovan, cucamongacoin, robkool, bradyc, tonedcointrader, mumu, Windycity, astrotrain, tizofthe, overdate, rwyarmch, mkman123, Timbuk3,GBurger717, airplanenut, coinkid855 ,illini420, michaeldixon, Weiss, Morpheus, Deepcoin, Collectorcoins, AUandAG, D.Schwager.
  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I wont get into specifics, but I will tell you I have been a full time coin dealer since 2008 when I lost my job due to the economy down turn. maybe not the first year , but even the slowest years I have done way better than I ever made as regular employee for a corporation in the business I was in(not coins)
    I had a good job with a decent expense account, but never had any extra cash after paying bills, not a problem in the coin business.

  • jwittenjwitten Posts: 5,072 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have been an ebay dealer since about 2007 or so. Honestly, my income from coins goes down almost every year. Ebay, post office, etc are always raising fees. I am not a "big time" dealer though, so do not have my own website or anything. I have always had other self-employed income as well, so this only makes up a part of what I do. Basically, it is allowing me to enjoy collecting, and make a little on the side :)

  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    How much does a cook or a singer or a ballplayer or an actor earn?

    It depends. Most, not very much.
    Some, though, quite a lot.

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • TheDukeKTheDukeK Posts: 359 ✭✭✭

    @NumismaticEmpire said:
    Ahaha , i am a seller.. well not really a seller but i sell coins as hobby.. i made about maybe 500€ per month.. but as hobby...
    I want to know how much a professional can do.

    Well then your a professional and you know what you earned :P

  • rawteam1rawteam1 Posts: 2,472 ✭✭✭

    The only one who knows that, is Mr Owl...

    keceph `anah
  • BStrauss3BStrauss3 Posts: 3,108 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Without some parameters it's basically a meaningless question.

    How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

    How much cash do you have as a starting point. You need cash to invest in inventory to sell.

    Are you opening a bricks-and-mortar? online?selling through eBay? Some or all of the above? Are you going to be setting up and selling at shows? Local, regional or national? (The bigger and 'better' the higher the table fees and travel expenses)

    Are you a single shingle (sole proprietor) or a corp (LLC costs to set up but protects your personal assets if you fail).

    All alone or will you hire help?

    You should invest in a couple million dollars of excess liability insurance (called an umbrella policy).

    You need enough money to cover opening expenses and to keep yourself going until the business starts generating cash.

    Etc.

    -----Burton
    ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There are so many variables involved in such a question, it is virtually impossible to state a figure with any type of accuracy. Now, if you specify some parameters, you might get better information - such as B&M site, all national shows, only online etc.. Cheers, RickO

  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I might add this: I am straight up and honest , but if you want to do shady stuff and break ethics, you can make a pile of money:

    Local dealer here a few years ago started with nothing, made a pile of money in a very short 2 years, (I mean this joker had so much money he used to get 100k bricks of cash banded from the federal reserve (ordered from banks)and show em off) I went to his office about a year or so after he opened, , he had like 400k in cash just sitting in his office.
    2 years later broke again, when the gold business went slow.
    Just started up again under another name and only been open 2 months and is kickin a$$ again

  • KollectorKingKollectorKing Posts: 4,820 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 29, 2017 7:24AM

    @ricko said:
    There are so many variables involved in such a question, it is virtually impossible to state a figure with any type of accuracy. Now, if you specify some parameters, you might get better information - such as B&M site, all national shows, only online etc.. Cheers, RickO

    Not true. Income is quantified able at any level whether it's- + Or 0.

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes, it is quantifiable at any 'level'....however, that is only data, the parameters make it information. Cheers, RickO

  • unclebobunclebob Posts: 433 ✭✭✭

    I earned about $5K last year just cherry picking and flipping on ebay. Just passing time while watching TV.

    Got a bit froggy, and jumped into the shallow end of the pool. Trying to sell on Ebay and a display in a local flea market.

    My initial nest egg has run dry tied up in coins being graded, sitting idle, and listed on Ebay.

    My business model will shift back to a more quality/less quantity pick and flip vest pocket approach.

  • krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭

    @jdimmick said:
    I might add this: I am straight up and honest , but if you want to do shady stuff and break ethics, you can make a pile of money.

    And I suspect people who supply **those ** people can do well also. I remember a guy who used to come to shows and it seemed every coin he had for sale had problems. Cleaned, plugged, rim dings, smoothed fields, whizzed, ex-jewelry, you name it. The coins were priced right for what they were. But I always wondered if the people who bought from him wholesale were the type to conveniently forget to mention the problems, which would have produced a healthy profit if they had enough uninformed buyers.

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

  • caddyshackcaddyshack Posts: 115 ✭✭

    why do people who sell on ebay (the worlds largest flea market) consider themselves coins dealers? the real pros know how to grade and really make their money that way. the bigger retail firms have overheads exceeding $50,000.00 a month easy w/travel, insurance, tables, advertising, etc

    a good weekend guy can probably net out $500-$2,000.00 depending on what they sell

  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I sell on ebay a lot , only because our area here is numismatically depressed. and then some always has. I put stuff out for sale in the display case and it just sits there, so after about 2 weeks, ebay it goes. The bigger stuff I usually hold out for the bigger venues like Baltimore or Ana. Or consign it thru a national dealer if I don't fell like attending the show

  • mustangmanbobmustangmanbob Posts: 1,890 ✭✭✭✭✭

    How Much, apologies to those who say income true income can be quantified, is like what is "pretty".

    For example, I retired from the business world at 53 (Thank you Dot.Com Mania) and have my own "business". I sell locally and on CL and ebay. I had a website, but it was not worth it.

    How much do I make? hard to say. My accounting friends have examined the "books" and say, "Too hard to quantify."

    For example, I may buy 20 of an item over a 6 month period, basically exactly the same, some for $1, some for $5 each and some for $10. I sold 14 of them ranging from $25 to $40 each. Did I sell all the $1 ones and then the $5 ones, so my remaining inventory is the $10, or in reverse. They are not marked, cannot tell which is which.

    So I basically use How much did I make - how much did I spend +/= change in inventory value guess.

    But what are expenses? IRS says I can write off the costs of travel, spaces at shows, etc. But I was going there anyway, and since my genre is outside, and spaces are parking lot spaces, I always buy a space or 2 just so I do not have to walk from Nepal to get into the meet, and not have to carry stuff (some of it heavy) to the truck. Yes, an expense, but I get to "write it off" so what should be an expense for daily life becomes a tax write off since I am profitable.

    I also sub divide stuff, for example, like buying an entire filled album for $200, and then selling off $199 but having 60% of it left. Have I lost money, broken even, or am I ahead, and what is the "value" of the remaining inventory?

  • Jinx86Jinx86 Posts: 3,666 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Well when I did an ebay store part time selling coins, metals and watches a few years ago I cleared 20K after taxes.

  • crazyhounddogcrazyhounddog Posts: 13,776 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Any sales job is hard to measure.

    The bitterness of "Poor Quality" is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭

    $18 is the limit

  • DancingFireDancingFire Posts: 311 ✭✭✭

    I buy high and sell low.. :'(

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,794 ✭✭✭✭✭

    <---- Honorary member of the "Where's All My Money ? " club. Far as I can tell, a small acreage would have been cheaper.

  • bestdaybestday Posts: 4,220 ✭✭✭✭

    with well established ebay , B&M , good walk in clientele to buy from ... easy $100,000 + .....for 60 hrs +, more a week

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,794 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I put all my profits back into inventory. The wages of sin remain the same.

  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 23,898 ✭✭✭✭✭

    "One Million Dollars!"

    All glory is fleeting.
  • CoinRaritiesOnlineCoinRaritiesOnline Posts: 3,638 ✭✭✭✭

    @NumismaticEmpire said:
    How much does a coin seller actually earn per year?

    The most successful dealers are certainly making north of 7 figures, and the least successful are in the red.

    Anywhere in between those extremes is possible depending on your skills, your goals and how hard you're willing to work - just like any other business.

  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 7,541 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 31, 2017 10:25AM

    It's so variable - buying it right and timing determines margins.

    eBay is not a flea market - it's a major big time venue.

    Only requirement buy low / sell high.

    So Cali Area - Coins & Currency

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