My actual Great Collection results
seatedlib3991
Posts: 1,145 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have read so much here about the soon death of coin collecting and seen so many posts about get out while you can that I decided to share some actual results. Note: investors will not be impressed. I am a collector who sold some rather common collector coins. (Also, sample is to small for statistical purposes).
Earlier this year I decided to sell some coins. My goal was to raise a minimum of 1,000 dollars.
I use a pricing strategy of my own making. I add 2 wholesale price guides with 2 retail guides and divide by 4. I selected 12 coins with a combined value of 1, 500 dollars (my guesstamate). for the a b c coin guys I felt 8 coins were b coins and the other 4 c coins. Only 1 coin had a CAC sticker.
I sold 1 early copper, 6 Indian Head cents, 1 Seated Half Dime,, 1 Bust half, 1 Seated Half, 2 Morgans.
Three of the copper coins had small carbon spots (During 2016 my bank did a massive remodel including the vault. I should have paid attention to that because I had previously stored those coins for years without any spotting). My bad I call them class c for that. The other coin was one of the first coins I ever bought on the internet. I bought it as a reference coin so I could spot coins I considered over dipped.
Again class c, but I did not adjust my pre- auction estimates, although i expected these coins to sell for less.
Actual results: 6 coins sold for within 5 dollars (above/below) of estimate. 3 coins sold above and three coins sold below. Two of the spotted coins sold at a loss. The over dipped coin sold for the largest profit above estimate. Go figure.
The final hammer with all buyer/seller fees included was 1,465 dollar. I received a net return of 1,240 dollars. The amount i had invested was 1,380 dollar. As a collector i find it hard to use words like profit or loss. I had a lot of fun winning those coins in auction (Profit?) I also got a kick out of selling them. (Profit again?) The reference coin bought over 20 years ago. (How many over dipped coins did I avoid? (Huge Profit?) . Technically I lost 140 dollars. (Loss?).
Here is how i will actually judge the profit or loss of this sale. I promised my wife a new puppy for our 36th anniversary. (Part of sale will go into puppy fund). the balance will go into my coin fund so i can get an 1852-o Seated Half Dollar. If a year or so from now I have said coin then I will consider this to have been a great success. IF not? Well i hope it is a good puppy.......
Comments
What kind of puppy?
Thanks for the info on your selling experience
Same as my avatar. A Papillon . Although this time we will probably look for a male with black and white markings. It would not be fair to hold another red and white female to Cinnamon's memory. Thanks for asking.
What exactly did Great Collections charge you?
Wow sounds like you did great!!!! Thanks for sharing the specifics...that was much fun reading!!! Good luck with your search for a new puppy and the new coin!!!
Very good results! Congrats.
I recently sold some coins at GC and got hammered. Unhappily, the auction ended on Super Bowl Sunday....
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
The fees on my sale were about 100 dollars exactly. They charged to image coins and 5% of sale.
I enjoyed reading about your selling experience. Thanks for sharing!!
Congrats and thanks for sharing. $100 for sellers fees on 12 coins is a very fair price in my opinion. Good luck with the new purchase...I'm not sure you'll be able to find a pup on eBay or heritage
Congrats. You did considerably better than I did with my recent consignment. No matter the result it's always interesting to get the real-world pricing data.
5% is great....will they allow you to supply your own images?????
I have no idea. The fee was 3 dollars per coin. I thought it was rather cheap, but I suppose more talented people than me could do as you say.
thanks for posting your experience and the hard numbers. GC seems very reasonable.
Congratulations. You deserve more credit than this thread is giving you.
You got back 90% of your investment. If you did that over the past 1-10 years that's probably pretty good considering the coin market "in general" peaked back in 2006-2008. If your coins were bought 20 yrs ago that's not so great considering the strong run up from 1996-2008. I'd bet a decent 1852-0 half dollar doubled or tripled during that 12 year run. There's no crime in buying undervalued coins at bear market bottoms.
But if you get a nice puppy out of it, nothing but good things can come of that.
Thanks for reporting your results and experience.
Educational and I enjoyed reading it.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Good luck with the pup.
Don't you mean 15% (5% seller's fee + 10% "buyer's fee" that also eats into your net)?
Just hope that it doesn't leak on your rug and cost you hundreds more.
That is interesting... since I do not sell coins, I have never gone through the profit/loss computations.... never will ..... Cheers, RickO
Its important to remember that each coin is unique and just because one coin sells for $1,000 at auction (or some other number) does not always mean that another coin of the same date and grade is worth the same.
You could have overpaid 20 years ago by 50% and sold now and lost 10% thereby actually "making" 40%
Or you could have paid current market and lost 10%
Or you could have underpaid 20 years ago by 50% and netted losing 60%
No. I deducted the buyers fees from the gross sale. My out of pocket fees were 36 dollars for imaging and about 62 dollars for sellers fees. The buyer paid the other part, I just included the gross sale amount to reflect the total sale amount.
As far as buying and selling coins I hesitate to use words like profit or loss. The coins in question were bought between 1995 and 2013. Each coin I guess would have to be examined in it's own purchase/sale cycle, but as I said I didn't look at or treat them as investment products. To be honest, in my own business (NOT coin related), I would close my doors if I did not generate at least 2.75 dollar of profit for every 1 dollar of investment I make. (Fixed/variable costs)
I'm still undecided about Great Collections. On the one hand if you sell a common widget you run the risk that it will be simply overlooked because there are so many similar widgets. If you sell something not frequently seen you run the risk that it gets overlooked because there are so many coins to go through.
Selling at auction must be graded on a bell curve. Some will exceed expectations, some will not reach expectations. You have to look at the big picture.
Congrats to OP on meeting his goal and some.
I have enjoyed buying on their site. Pretty easy to search and they are quick to respond to questions(sometimes, even by the boss himself!). Not consigned anything to them yet, but really haven't sold any coins to speak of in some time.
My experience was about the same as yours.
But, unless you are already an eBay seller, GC is a huge savings in time! Mail 'em, and forget it. They deal with the photos, buyers, payments, shipping.
Yeah, maybe with a lot of footwork, wheeling and dealing, I could have done better. But it was quick and painless!
Wish I could make $3 per coin for pictures!
Well, technically, that $3 is a "listing fee", which includes photos.....And it can go up to $5 or $10, depending on starting bid.
I find selling at GC meets expectations, in terms of price. I find that if you examine closed auction prices, your sale of any given coin will likely be within a 15% parameter of that mark (plus or minus). So, if you are comfortable with that zone, the it is a no brainer. Easy to submit, easy and cheaper to grade, and good customer service. If you aren't comfortable with that price, I would suggest trying other options.
There can be a good amount a variance in the data, particularly for rarities, etc., so also pay attention to when auctions close, etc. Christmas weekend might not be the best time to sell....And CAC coins do seem to bring a better result.
As always, individual results may vary. I'm usually happy with my outcomes!
I think the OP did very well for being in the market that we are in.