What to do when a auctions has more coins on your want list than you can afford?
gschwernk
Posts: 375 ✭✭✭✭✭
The April Heritage sale has a number of coins that have been on my want list for a long time. I can afford maybe 2-3 of the 8-10 coins I would really like to own. What strategy do you employ when confronted with this dilemma?
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Ask for terms
It depends how badly you want them. If your goal is to come away from the auction with something, pick 2 or 3 -- out of a hat if you want to leave selection to chance -- and go nuclear on them. You'll get the coins, but maybe not at a good price. If that doesn't matter, then there's your strategy.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Make more money? (and that’s coming from a social worker, so nothing personal) 🤠
Bid on the one or two you can afford and be happy if you win them. Don't think about the others.
Credit cards
Buy 'em all - figure out how to pay for them tomorrow. As the old adage goes - scared money never wins.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
depends on how much you want to spend on those coins , then figure out which coins would be best suited to what you want to spend and then get the coins
graded coins for sale
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SgQaHavtxqMq1uEM9
Concentrate on the 2-3 most difficult and go hard on them.
I buy the toughest ones to find first. Mortgage the house.
Don't afford them the opportunity. Pick the hardest to acquire of the group and concentrate on them and don't even look at what you can't afford. Works for me, most of the time.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Part with either some easy to replace coins or coins you have have that either aren’t needed or don’t make you smile anymore
Buy only the best of the target group compared to their peers outside the auction.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
WARNING THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE
Sell whatever you have to to buy them if you really want to, take out a loan or smth. Sell your kids, ect. Sell some stocks, some coins ect.
I've got 10 items on the watchlist that I have to nuke since I just bought one thing that blew all the rest out of the water. I spent so much that my bank's fraud division wanted to make sure that nothing was up with that big charge on my debit card.
I assume you are not a dealer and this is not inventory speculation. So, don't buy more than you can afford. Simple.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I wish that I could find something on my want list to buy.
Depends.
Do you want all of them about equally or are there ones you really want and others, not as much? Are they all about equally rare or are some harder than others to find?
It's easier if you don't have significant preferences, just submit bids for all with a spending limit. Once your winning bids reach the limit, no more bids are made. It's not as easy if you have preferences, especially if the lots you really want come up later in the auction than the others.
Personally, I stay within my budget. In my realm of collecting, you’ll see it again eventually.
Rob a bank or coin dealer.
Seemed to work out for Joshua911.
Seriously, one auction at a time unless there is something later you gots to have.
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Rack and stack based upon need over want.
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Thanks for all your helpful comments. For me collecting is a hobby and not an investment. I never borrow to buy a coin and only spend excess cash flow after taking care of family and charities. So I follow a strict spending limit. My question revolves more along the selection of the 2-3 coins I will buy. Of the 10 coins I am interested, 2 each will take up my entire budget. I am most likely to pass on these. The others are in the ball park of me being able to buy 2 or 3 of these. I am leaning toward establish a very strong bidding limit on 2 of these plus a good bid limit on the third. I will monitor the others and only bid on those if my limits on the first 3 are exceeded. One problem with this strategy is my limits are often only exceeded during the live bidding phase.
If it’s a coin that will come up again within a couple of years, buy only at a good price. For a coin you won’t likely see in 5 years, get a bit more aggressive. For a unique item (toning, provenance, top pop), well, that’s what the war chest is for. Miss it, and you’ll think about it for years.
But yeah, don’t borrow money to buy coins.
@gschwernk Heritage has some limits on Credit cards and PayPal. Personal experience. Contact them about the rules.
@Tibor Heritage no longer takes Paypal, but credit cards can be used for any amount (no limit) by retail buyers. There is a 2.5% credit card processing fee. Debit cards are free to use (no fee.) Bank wires, checks, or eChecks are also accepted.
@gschwernk Picking the right coins in big auction compared to your budget can be tough! We wish you luck with whatever pieces you decide to bid on and hope that you take home a favorite. If I can help with anything, feel free to contact me at sarahm@ha.com for advice or assistance.
you’ll see it again eventually.
I was outbid on an item in a September 1980 auction because I got nervous. It still hasn't turned up again.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
when that happens to me, and I rank them by which I would like the most. It frequently seems that they are later in the auction and after lowballing and losing the earlier items the important ones blow through my max
That was my experience 8 years ago.
It's a complex equation factoring your desire for each of the 10 coins with the order the coins will appear in the sale.
Set your budget amount then bid live. When an item comes up that you want, post your bid. If you win, deduct this amount from your budget and then move on to the next item. When you have exhausted your budget, quit bidding. When the auction is over, review what the items that you wanted went for. Next look to see if the winner is offering the item up for sale. If so, make an offer. This process can take up to a week which allows you some time to regenerate funds.
Or do the nuclear option, buy them all and pay using a credit card. This way you can pay over time. If you pay off within 30 days, there should be no interest charges.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
They're just coins...SMH.
I haven't got even a modicum of self control. I'd bust my budget and buy them all. No shame here!
USAF (Ret) 1974 - 1994 - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Remembering RickO, a brother in arms.
As a side note, if the lots are expensive, it might be worth travelling to see them in hand before finalizing which ones are truly special to you. Then plan on bidding live at the auction. Obviously, in-hand lot viewing is the ideal preparation for an auction. I cannot imagine attempting to purchase that many coins without seeing them unless I had a trusted dealer's opinion (or having Mr. Feld look at them on my behalf to scout issues).
Edited to add: I see you think you can only possibly get 2-3, so getting someone to look at them for you would be a nice option to help you narrow the field.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
This. I am replying to your post because you buy similar though more expensive coins than I do.
If I were buying US coins since none in my price range are hard to buy, I'd set a budget, select the coins I want most, and then define my maximum bid. If it doesn't matter whether I bid live, I'd bid my max and forget about it.
What the OP describes has happened a few times to me but not many. The first I remember was the 2006 June Long Beach Heritage auction. The problem I had in that auction is that there were coins I wanted less that came up for sale before those I wanted most, so I ended up losing out on some of both.
Do what the rest do, refi your house and suck all the equity out of it.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Oh, I do know that feeling!
This is my point of view
Latin American Collection
Bid on the coins that are highest on your list. Since it's Heritage, you get blown out most of the time. That's what happens to me. The way look at it, when you get blown out, it was not met to be. There are darn few coins that won't show up again.
This is, of course, a problem with auctions that go in PCGS order. You'll always get large cents and never commems.
Buy what you can afford and like the best.... It is a hobby, not a life sustaining need. Cheers, RickO
My thinking would be to list for each coin the length of time since the last one was available, and the length of time that you expect the next one to become available. The coin that you think will take the longest time to find, that is IMO the coin to try to buy.
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
This is essentially a big part of my thought process in selecting the coins I will go after. In my case the grade is also important since for some rare coins MS & AU are out of my price range and I need to limit my search to XF grade.
@gschwernk said:
I would generally agree with that, I am debt free and don't touch retirement funds for coins. However, some short term bridge type financing can make large purchases possible, such as consigning coins, selling stock (and possible short-term margin), etc. As long as the financing can be covered in a month or so, it is not long-term debt.
Sell the house. You'll be happier living in a tent with these coins than living in your house without them.
If your asking this question perhaps you should examine if you want buy coins period. Do you have funds set aside for emergencies? Are the bids going up 10 pct a week you feel like you have to buy coins now?
Limit the items your bidding on to your budget / available funds for coins.
For many auc I will put on watchlist then bid on those as come up in auction, shortly before close to pick off items for retail store. Once budget met no more bidding. Or I may input max bids up to budget for that auction. Once earlier items I lost close I can input additional bids into items closing later and sometimes some really good wins as competing bidders ran out of money. Getting in bid war not for me. Let the end users duke it out.
Do not run up credit card balances to buy coins. I know many in coin club who forced into bankruptcy because of this.
I try to narrow it to the one I want most and place a bid at my top dollar amount. If it gets over bid, I move to the next and so on...
I mainly collect raw Ancients, PCGS Mercury Dimes, and raw CSA'S... but have misc other sets...Jeffhttps://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/set/215647https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/showcase/8378
I agree with the financial philosophy in your post but this thread isn't from the standpoint of a dealer buying coins for inventory. Or, if you are answering as a collector, how many coins that you collect are actually hard to buy?
I don't buy coins using savings, at all. I only spend up to what I can cover out of current discretionary income. I can't say I won't ever do it, but it's not something I plan to do for the foreseeable future.
It simply isn't important enough to me and the coins I buy are harder to find than about 95% to 99% of all US coinage, unless the comparison is to some specialization or rarer patterns.
You can always ask....it can't hurt.
(and as a sidenote, I have actually seen a few collectors at our local coin shows that have been dressed like that).
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
Prioritize your list of coins to pursue and determine what you’re willing to pay for each. Then sit back, wait and hope that before the live auction, some of them are bid up well past your anticipated maximum bids. If that occurs, you can forget about them and focus on the ones you might be able to obtain. But if that doesn’t happen, be thankful for the wealth of opportunities.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Bid accordingly
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It's a shame that that we can't rearrange the auction lots in order of importance to us. Then set your budget and bid until your budget is exhausted.