Ebay used to be a FUN thing to do

pitboss · October 21, 2014 1:09AM

Do you remember when you used to put coins up with a starting bid of 99 cents and just watch the bids go up every day a little bit at a time or when you were buying you would keep going up your bid ?

Now its put a coin up for what your minimum is and letting it sit there all month and maybe, if you are lucky, getting a last second bid for it.

If you start it at 99 cents now there are not enough bidders out there for you to even get your money back you own it for.

ctf_error_coins · October 21, 2014 1:20AM

My 99 cent auctions work fantastic every week.

I have many followers BECAUSE I run 99 cent auctions EVERY WEEK

telephoto1 · October 21, 2014 1:24AM

We start all our auctions at 99c with free shipping and can count the number of disappointments on one hand. Good stuff will always sell. Common stuff-well, you are rolling the dice a bit doing the low starting bid thing- but if you have built enough of a following your items should still pretty much bring what they're worth.

crypto79 · October 21, 2014 1:38AM

Part of the problem I believe is what you are selling. If I am not mistaken you have been marketing thinly traded modern pennies and as many moderns do, they may have run their course. Part of the market you thought was there was the same group buying, hording and flipping while marketing trying to build a brand. Once a few people back out it is the same as a bubble popping. Your results are not what I notice for PCGS graded classic and appealing coinage.

Casman · October 21, 2014 9:11AM

<< My 99 cent auctions work fantastic every week.

I have many followers BECAUSE I run 99 cent auctions EVERY WEEK

>>

At 99 cents it's simply guaranteed sales but my guess is it may cost you 50%+ of the profits.

TwoSides2aCoin · October 21, 2014 9:20AM

It's like working a second job for less than minimum wage.

ctf_error_coins · October 21, 2014 9:23AM

<< 

<< My 99 cent auctions work fantastic every week.

I have many followers BECAUSE I run 99 cent auctions EVERY WEEK

>>

At 99 cents it's simply guaranteed sales but my guess is it may cost you 50%+ of the profits. >>

OR, perhaps, I get 50%+ more because many bidders bid on these auctions which creates interest because many people are bidding on them.

Casman · October 21, 2014 9:29AM

<< 

<< 

<< My 99 cent auctions work fantastic every week.

I have many followers BECAUSE I run 99 cent auctions EVERY WEEK

>>

At 99 cents it's simply guaranteed sales but my guess is it may cost you 50%+ of the profits. >>

OR, perhaps, I get 50%+ more because many bidders bid on these auctions which creates interest because many people are bidding on them. >>

That's possible too and there's nothing wrong with steady sales and a strong following. You definitely have a niche with these.

hchcoin · October 21, 2014 9:39AM

I have found that .99 start auctions are the way to go for low price stuff. Whenever I put a higher starting bid I can hear the crickets begin to chip

PollywogRancher · October 21, 2014 9:53AM

The quality of buyers has substantially decreased over the years. Today, one seems to cater to the bottom feeders, corpse robbers, and those whose business model involves waiting in lines for government cheese handouts. Yes, exemplary material always sells for good money no matter what the sales venue is, but anything less than stellar material on the bay (or Amazon-light) as it has become better known, will rarely sell at a decent market price. There are exceptions of course, error coins have their own strong following for example, but bread and butter, plain-Jane stuff becomes a waste of time and effort.

DollarAfterDollar · October 21, 2014 10:03AM

I have 4 PCGS MS 64 CC Morgans up now on E-Bay WITH CAC Approvals on 3 of them. Three are semi Pl. I priced them below almost every other CC Morgan on E-Bay and crickets.................

E-Bay is a ghost town the past few months.

Can't even get any lookers.

pennyannie · October 21, 2014 10:07AM

Good stuff ALWAYS sells, according to every dealer and every person I have bought from I have only bought the "good stuff". Strange that when I go to sell it is not the right flavor for the month. lol.

Good stuff is a easy sale BUT, you got to buy it right. A lot of collectors buy the "good stuff" but are buried in it because of the added premium. You can only add so many layers of premium per coin,

Dreck is a easy sale if you don't overpay.

Ebay used to be great, for a few years I was able to buy just about any coin I wanted from the local B&M or coin show and look at it for a few months and then list on ebay and get my money back and then some 99 percent of the time.

Wabbit2313 · October 21, 2014 10:18AM

<< I have 4 PCGS MS 64 CC Morgans up now on E-Bay WITH CAC Approvals on 3 of them. Three are semi Pl. I priced them below almost every other CC Morgan on E-Bay and crickets.................

E-Bay is a ghost town the past few months.

Can't even get any lookers. >>

What are the dates and asking prices? Sometimes being priced below "almost" every other coin does not mean you are priced at the current market value. I am not saying that is the case here, but certainly will after I know exactly what coins and prices we are talking about.

lasvegasteddy · October 21, 2014 10:25AM

true value is what the next buyer is willing to pay
cutting a loss can free up cash for better placement of that cash

i still enjoy ebay
mostly buying of late

some stuff i'll sell myself...win or lose...if it moves...i can call it good
some i'll send off to a member who has an established following in specialized areas

bargins can be found on buy it now and some auctions show great buy prices

can't have all wins...got to have loses too
there's a balance there

MGLICKER · October 21, 2014 10:37AM

<< It's like working a second job for less than minimum wage. >>

For many that is true. For a decade I sold a number of high value, low margin coins.

That worked well when fvf fees were $40 on a $2000 sale. Now they are $120.

The big fellas have cut a much better deal with Ebay.

PollywogRancher · October 21, 2014 10:44AM

Now, now, don't complain about paying more in fees. You're a part of the happy ebay family where buyers will soon have the option of cancelling a sale one hour after it closes, or returning this item up to 6 months after the sale, and you should smile about this. Why? It's because you're a part of the happy ebay family!

Did I mention how happy the ebay family is? Buyers all have 100% FB! Theres no need to neg a buyer, they're perfect! It's just those nasty sellers that deserve negs

mustangmanbob · October 21, 2014 11:20AM

I use 2 basic searches, for the 30+ "subjects" that I search.

1) Buy it now, sort by most recently listed. Looking for the outlier, item priced WAY too low, compared to what I think it is worth.

2) Click the auctions only, ending soonest, look for something that no one else, apparently, wants. Lurk for a good deal. My major search starts at 150,000 items, and with the search delimiters, it knocks it down to about 3000. Put it on the 3 per line view, and I can check 24 hours of upcoming endings in about 5 minutes, flag anything interesting.

Once a buy it now has been up for x hours, for me, around 4 - 5, I do not look at them again, possibly thinking, if no one else nailed them, not worth it.

DollarAfterDollar · October 21, 2014 1:10PM

I hope this is ok to post. Don't mean to be pitching things necessarily but to answer a question. 1882 CC PCGS MS 64 CAC $329.00, PCGS MS 64 CAC 1884's are $299. I don't think that's way out of line but interest is lacking. I'm really thinking Great Collections might be next up to get my business.

Cougar1978 · October 21, 2014 1:15PM

A businessman controls the price of what he sells. If you want to throw your control to the wind, go w the 99c opening bid.

bigjpst · October 21, 2014 1:20PM

<< A businessman controls the price of what he sells. If you want to throw your control to the wind, go w the 99c opening bid. >>

I feel the same way. I used to run a lot of .99c auctions, but prefer now to use the Buy it Now with best offer. I will still do the auctions from time to time to just unload things I'm tired of looking at.

coinhack · October 21, 2014 2:13PM

<< I use 2 basic searches, for the 30+ "subjects" that I search.

1) Buy it now, sort by most recently listed. Looking for the outlier, item priced WAY too low, compared to what I think it is worth.

2) Click the auctions only, ending soonest, look for something that no one else, apparently, wants. Lurk for a good deal. My major search starts at 150,000 items, and with the search delimiters, it knocks it down to about 3000. Put it on the 3 per line view, and I can check 24 hours of upcoming endings in about 5 minutes, flag anything interesting.

Once a buy it now has been up for x hours, for me, around 4 - 5, I do not look at them again, possibly thinking, if no one else nailed them, not worth it. >>

Exactly right, mustangmanbob. That is the way the professionals do it.

When I have listed a new coin I will open it to make sure I haven't made any crucial errors and to my surprise there are almost always 2 or 3 hits on the page. Sometimes half a dozen people have seen the listing within the first minute. That may also explain why it seems like it's the same stuff over and over. The fresh coins, when they are nice and priced right, will be gone in a few minutes.

Wabbit2313 · October 21, 2014 2:44PM

<< I hope this is ok to post. Don't mean to be pitching things necessarily but to answer a question. 1882 CC PCGS MS 64 CAC $329.00, PCGS MS 64 CAC 1884's are $299. I don't think that's way out of line but interest is lacking. I'm really thinking Great Collections might be next up to get my business. >>

In this market, you are probably $50 over priced. Don't shoot the messenger please!

ARCO · October 21, 2014 3:28PM

<< Good stuff ALWAYS sells, according to every dealer and every person I have bought from I have only bought the "good stuff". Strange that when I go to sell it is not the right flavor for the month. lol.

Good stuff is a easy sale BUT, you got to buy it right. A lot of collectors buy the "good stuff" but are buried in it because of the added premium. You can only add so many layers of premium per coin,

Dreck is a easy sale if you don't overpay.

Ebay used to be great, for a few years I was able to buy just about any coin I wanted from the local B&M or coin show and look at it for a few months and then list on ebay and get my money back and then some 99 percent of the time. >>

Amen to that.

What made collecting financially viable was the ability to sell off coins with some gain, or at least breaking even, and to continue the hunt. Nowadays, every purchase is 10-20% underwater.

Tyler

illini420 · October 21, 2014 3:37PM

I used to like selling w/ 99 cent no reserve auctions as I felt I did get fair market prices for the coins in almost all cases.

Just don't feel that happens as much with auctions on eBay anymore. Way too many people use snipe programs and/or just bid in the last minute of the auction. While those last minute bidders rarely (or never) end up paying too much, quite frequently the item will sell for a bit less than market value, sometimes way less, and then I'll get one or more messages from the underbidders saying they tried to get in one more bid and/or that they would have paid more. Often, those underbidders try to get me to break the deal with the winner which isn't going to happen. With so many people trying to game the system and sneak their bids in at the last second to get something cheap, it ends up costing me as seller.

Instead, I'd much rather just set my price and if I happen to be too high for the market, then let the offers roll in and I'll decided on a case by case basis. Seems much more fair that way even though the buyers may not like it as much because they can never snipe something cheap from me based on timing and some luck.

All that said, I still do 99 cent auctions sometimes for certain coins, but I would do many more auctions if they added a minute (or even 30 seconds) to the auction after every bid...

grote15 · October 21, 2014 3:37PM

It's a calculated risk to start an auction off at 99 cents, but if it's an item that has appeal or buyer demand, you will realize more money in an auction format than with a (reasonable) BIN in many cases. For more common coins or lower demand items, that is usually not the case.

Illini, you also raise a good point~why doesn't ebay extend bidding 15 minutes like an AH until no bids are placed for that amount of time? It seems like a win-win situation~ebay gets higher fees, sellers get higher prices and people whose computers freeze up or who forgot an auction till 2 minutes after its close will have a chance to win. The only people I can foresee not liking this would be snipers looking to win an item at below market price.

lordmarcovan · October 21, 2014 5:04PM

<< Do you remember when you used to put coins up with a starting bid of 99 cents and just watch the bids go up every day a little bit at a time or when you were buying you would keep going up your bid ? >>

I still do.

<< Now its put a coin up for what your minimum is and letting it sit there all month and maybe, if you are lucky, getting a last second bid for it. >>

I generally don't do this. If I wanna sell at fixed price, I go to BST here.

<< If you start it at 99 cents now there are not enough bidders out there for you to even get your money back you own it for. >>

Not true, though admittedly I got a bloody nose on my most recent round of 99c true auctions for some ancient Greek coins.

I sell mostly world coins, so one still can't beat eBay's global reach.

I do think I will probably rethink going the true auction route for better stuff I paid near retail for myself. That's a recipe for monetary loss, if a certain way to move old stuff out.

But sometimes it's just better to move old material at any price, instead of leaving your money tied up in it.

I still think I will stick with true auctions for much of the inexpensive world material I sell. That and the huge bag of tokens I have are items I bought in bulk and have practically nothing invested in. There's not much downside risk at all.

I also offer free shipping- worldwide- so when you combine that with a true auction it entices bidders and gives more chance that two of them will compete for an item. It is, however, a definite risk for the seller, unless as I mentioned, the seller is moving stuff he doesn't have much invested in in the first place.

LochNESS · October 21, 2014 5:22PM

You must remember, Lord M this is a liteside board. I believe those statements are generally true for USA material. Generally. There's always the exception to the rule. I can think of two eBay sellers right now who still do penny auctions (that's right, not even 99¢ but true 1¢ starting bids ... yes $0.01 starting bids) and repeatedly do EXTREMELY well on every listing. But that's only two sellers. And if you factor in Modern Coin Mart, you have three sellers. Out of how many? thousands (selling US coins)?

My point is that it's still a somewhat decent place to buy world coins and maybe an OK place to sell them but for USA stuff try going somewhere else. IMHO.

astrorat · October 21, 2014 6:40PM

<< I hope this is ok to post. Don't mean to be pitching things necessarily but to answer a question. 1882 CC PCGS MS 64 CAC $329.00, PCGS MS 64 CAC 1884's are $299. I don't think that's way out of line but interest is lacking. I'm really thinking Great Collections might be next up to get my business. >>

Your prices are not "out of line," but rather at retail. Now it seems to be tough to sell common MS CC Morgans at retail. I think you will be equally disappointed with Great Collections if you use the same starting price.

northcoin · October 21, 2014 6:43PM

<< I hope this is ok to post. Don't mean to be pitching things necessarily but to answer a question. 1882 CC PCGS MS 64 CAC $329.00, PCGS MS 64 CAC 1884's are $299. I don't think that's way out of line but interest is lacking. I'm really thinking Great Collections might be next up to get my business. >>

I am guessing that those are fairly priced for being CAC stickered. It just might be that the premium for CAC may be evaporating for reasons that could be the subject of another thread but basically relate to saturation of the market through increased supply which is inevitable over time as more and more coins earn the CAC designation.

DollarAfterDollar · October 21, 2014 11:09PM

Thanks for the input guys, (can't shoot the Messenger when I asked the question). If nothing happens this go around I'll consider a lower starting price. I've done Buy it Now before with Make an Offer. Was doing fine but then the Buyers wouldn't even make ridiculous offers. Just stopped on a dime.

I'm not in any huge rush so I'm not too worried.

Again,
Thanks

pitboss · October 21, 2014 11:19PM

<< It's a calculated risk to start an auction off at 99 cents, but if it's an item that has appeal or buyer demand, you will realize more money in an auction format than with a (reasonable) BIN in many cases. For more common coins or lower demand items, that is usually not the case.

Illini, you also raise a good point~why doesn't ebay extend bidding 15 minutes like an AH until no bids are placed for that amount of time? It seems like a win-win situation~ebay gets higher fees, sellers get higher prices and people whose computers freeze up or who forgot an auction till 2 minutes after its close will have a chance to win. The only people I can foresee not liking this would be snipers looking to win an item at below market price. >>

I have been saying right along they should do away with snipe bidding as it is not a fair way to do auctions.

If people want to pay more for an auction they should have the opportunity to do so.

I will not do any more .99 auctions until they change their policy.

TwoSides2aCoin · October 21, 2014 11:21PM

Let me tell you guys what frosts my _____.

Coin doctors

and photo juicers.

UtahCoin · October 21, 2014 11:33PM

<< My 99 cent auctions work fantastic every week.

I have many followers BECAUSE I run 99 cent auctions EVERY WEEK

>>

Same here.

Overdate · October 22, 2014 12:33AM

<< I have been saying right along they should do away with snipe bidding as it is not a fair way to do auctions.

If people want to pay more for an auction they should have the opportunity to do so.

I will not do any more .99 auctions until they change their policy. >>

Do away with snipe bidding and many of today's snipe bidders will likely disappear.

And you will probably end up selling to the next highest bidder at less than his or her maximum price.

MGLICKER · October 22, 2014 12:40AM

<< It's a calculated risk to start an auction off at 99 cents, but if it's an item that has appeal or buyer demand, you will realize more money in an auction format than with a (reasonable) BIN in many cases. >>

I found that to be true until a couple of years ago. Now on short margin slabbed coins, it is treacherous at best.

Ebay used to be a FUN thing to do

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