Strategy for ebay buying?
logger7
Posts: 9,044 ✭✭✭✭✭
How do ebay buyers comb through available items in numismatics looking for opportunities that are underpriced/underbid? How do you set your advanced search?
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Time + luck + saved searches + skill assessing coins via pictures + luck again= cherry picks
I have about 30 saved searches at any point. It takes about 3 minutes to look at the results. I also have "saved sellers" that I've purchased from in the past that have had BAD photography skills or cheap "Buy it nows" to watch their listings to snipe again.
Bad pictures of nice coins are my favorite coins to bid on...
Familiarize yourself with an area so that you know pricing well enough to identify good values. There are lots of different key words to use. Find your own path. There's a lot of crap out there to sift through, so don't forget that your time has value.
Auctions + ending soonest or buy it now + newly listed are usually good frameworks to work within.
IG: DeCourcyCoinsEbay: neilrobertson
"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
I look for nicely toned coins that are poorly imaged. A lot of them on the site.
If your search criteria are too broad it doesn't work; set "advanced search", category: coins and currency; dollars; auction or buy it now; one or more bids; $100 or higher?
Here is one of my recent ones, left is sellers pics, right are mine. Nothing crazy expensive, but a really nice toner that was very poorly imaged and sold via auction for $50...
@logger7- I normally do more specific searches, so that might be why you are having an issue. I look for specific dates/mm to narrow it down, or include keywords like "tone", "rainbow", "ms" "old holder" etc. There are also sites that search for commonly misspelled listings on eBay and other things like that.
I wish there was a way to block/hide listings on eBay so you don't have to see them for 3 years non-sto when your search is picked up by them...
I usually wait for bonus ebay bucks to get my purchase price down. Saved searches in a folder on your favorites bar is the way to search quickly.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Plus that method keeps the "watchers" numbers from jacking the price. Smart move. I do that, too.
I just use an app that finds coins with super eye appeal at well below wholesale.
The app analyzes the coin and determines which coins have excellent eye appeal and are way underpriced.
Then all you do is buy the coin through the app which then relists the coin automatically for you making huge profits.
This is all done in the background so you never have to check ebay, just check paypal to see your account grow hugely.
This app runs 24/7 and while your on vacation.
link to app?
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Seems like a profitable way to run a business.
Does the app relist the coin for you right away or wait till you receive it?
The version I downloaded finds a new buyer.
Right away and it also professionally re-photographs it for you in photoshop. The app take the sellers photo and brings it into photoshop and adjusts the image until it is perfect.
Will it pay shipping?
Sounds like a lot of work. I have an app that just adds money to my account.
Pretty much the same strategy I use, with one big exception: I use fairly broad searches. I don't want to miss the misspellings, missed mint marks and other mistakes of omission that non-coin collectors make in their listings. Consequently, my 30 or so searches take me close to an hour to peruse. I do it usually twice per day and more often for some, but I'm retired, so I've got the time. Belted a few out of the park this year - two 1918/7-S SLQs (one F15, one VG08), some nice Trade $1s and I'm waiting for a 1961 Proof Franklin DDR to arrive any day now...
mbogoman
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/collectors-showcase/classic-issues-colonials-through-1964/zambezi-collection-trade-dollars/7345Asesabi Lutho
Normally I search for a few specific VAM's
Slabbed or raw, I look at them all.
I keep tabs on a couple of sellers.
For a bit of variety (pun unintended), many nights consist of picking up a CPG guide and choosing a series and a variety that has looks cool and has upside.
From there grind it out.
Found a neat Two cent DDO and a couple rare large cent marriages.
If one wanted to search for deals on gold coins, you could do a search like this: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=gold&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=11116&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=1000&_udhi=1000000&LH_Auction=1&_ftrt=901&_ftrv=1&LH_NOB=1&_sabdlo=1&_sabdhi=100&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=06840&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_sop=1&_dmd=1&_ipg=200
Auction items ended soonest, 264 matches. But unknowledgeable sellers will do buy it nows at very low prices as we have seen. A tougher criteria to search for. There are advanced search criteria and then the brute force searches, probably a combination works long term. Or making 100 offers a day on recent listings may generate wins. Even Craigslist can be set for finding valuable items, including lost/stolen items, but search criteria can be thrown off by illiterate sellers.
You need to focus on what you know most about. What your reading is that most of us hit Ebay with a list of coins we can spot a mile away even in bad pics because we know the markers or condition senses or rarity in general that adds the value or is in demand and easy to re sell. I spend about 1-2 hours day on said searches. It also helps to understand on slabbed PCGS coins, you can do a cert verification to see if that coin was ever sold at auction where higher quality picture may exist at the auction site in their archives. And one other thing...expect to make mistakes.
WS
Spellink scills r bery pour 4 sum peeple.
Also, some people have no clue what the "correct" name is for a given coin.
Searches that check common errors in spelling can find stuff that no one else is looking for.
Try a search by emoticon
Diem peeny penni halve "Libery Penny" sakejewa dollar
Another tactic is to lowball a few auctions> @WaterSport said:
Everything WaterSport said is correct.
Helps to fish at different ends of the lake from everyone else.
Instead of joining the crowd looking at 1878p 8TF's it paid to look elsewhere.
I was likely the only guy looking thru 60,000 1886p Ebay Auctions over six months. It paid off handsomely but for every 1886 VAM 20 located (four in total... plus one stolen by dealer) there were three pretenders. Most of the found samples screamed at you. The losers were like $10 scratch off tickets recycled to Ebay.
Try to leave the problem coins to others. They are aggravating to sell.
If it's a new series and three guys are watching an obvious variety? That tells you there is no premium.
The CPG is just a guide. Published prices give you an idea of the rarity and premium.
The positive.... knowledge is power. Thousands of coins viewed each week ingrain PUP's and help make picking live a bit easier
Then there are the niches of chasing DCAM's and toners which is beyond my skill set.
Good advice.!.!
Amazing.... Obviously ebay has evolved far beyond what I have used it for. I started using ebay shortly after it was launched... those were good times. I stopped using it for a long time as scams and other issues grew. I do use it occasionally now, for specific things - coins or other items. Reading the foregoing (and realizing some posts are humor), it tells me that even though I am retired, I do not have the time to devote to ebay. Much to busy doing fun things... Cheers, RickO