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The "What Not" craze
logger7
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I spoke to a grading company that said due to the "What Not" craze they're greatly expanding their facility with lots of new employees. This does not make a lot of sense to me. People bidding on things as if collectibles were the new tulip mania. Does anyone have a handle on this?
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I have never heard of the "what Not" craze. What is it?
It's an auction platform, sort of like eBay.
You "spoke to a grading company" and they said this? What grading company?
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Im in the want not club. Thr rbc as well
I would think it's "not" the best visibility auction site for coins.
Everyone wants everything entombed in plastic with a number on it, so it seems. I remember thinking 11+ years ago it could happen to video games and then it did.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
This is one company that tried it with phenomenal results but said it was a lot of work: https://boardwalknumismatics.com/ The grader didn't want me to break the news fully, so hopefully there is a news site covering this.
Well let's think this out. Impossible to contact PCGS so that rules them out, NGC is better but not that much better with communications so they are out. That leaves ICG, ANACS, or Joe's basement graders, my money is on ANACS but the odds are about even between them and ICG.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
ICG seems to be making a resurgence lately. My money is on them. They are prime Whatnot fodder.
What Not craze?!
I hope not.
Coin livestreams such as Whatnot, eBay live, and others (if there are any others) attract the type of bidders that are fueled by fear of missing out on a coin and will pay however much they need to secure a coin they like. This results in extremely competitive bidding even on some of the most common coins. It seems like a cheat code to making money in the industry. I watched an eBay livestream once where the auctioneer was using greysheet prices to get bids on ICG PR70DCAM Ikes for $700+. Coupled with the ability to remove unwanted chat messages, the livestream format can be dangerous for new collectors who don’t know what to watch out for. Some may say this is just part of the “new wave” of collectors, but in my opinion, it isn’t the right direction for the hobby.
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
We started live streaming on Whatnot almost 2 years ago, and recently on eBay live as well. I am all for anything that brings new collectors into the market, and I can tell you for certain, this has brought new collectors into the market. That being said, not all of the 'streamers' selling on these platforms actually have numismatic knowledge or ethics. We have sort of used it as a cross between a live auction and a coin show. It is much more work than it would appear to be on the outside looking in- a 5 hour stream is about 15 hours worth of actual work when you add in all of the preparation, set up, shipping, ect.
Justin Meunier
Boardwalk Numismatics
I have viewed them a couple of times. The material seems to be all over the place.
I really don't like the idea of watching these zanny types of livestream auctions.
Im a little more focused on what I like to buy.
To each their own. If the buyers are being treated fairly and not overpaying then more power to them.
I don't think the collectors on this forum would have much interest but who am I to say. Just my opinion.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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Dantheman984 Toyz4geo SurfinxHI greencopper RWW bigjpst bretsan MWallace logger7 JWP BruceS bigjpst
JWP PROMETHIUS88
Yeah, it's a whole different market. You have to have the patience to just wait and watch for things to come up and then purchase them with little or no research and planning. A good way for shops to blow out widget inventory and bullion it seems although some does go for under-market value, maybe enough sells for more than it should to offset any losses for the dealers. Not something I have the patience for and they almost never have inventory I'm interested in.
ICG is making a resurgence on whatnot. Lots of sellers with top pop coins in ICG holders quoting PCGS guide. Of course the buyers don’t pay those prices.
Selling an ICG 70 for $150 when the same coin graded by PCGS would be $1000 makes the buyers think they are getting a deal. Of course the same coin in a PC69 is $20.
Lots of shady marketing on the platform.
There are also lots of good honest sellers as well. But they can get lost in the crowd.
Full disclosure:
I sell on whatnot, but don’t bs or hype. My low auction prices reflect that. Haha.
My Ebay Store
ICG has offered $5 custom label numerical grades for submissions for as little as 50 coin submissions for Whatnot resellers.
Sure is. ICG and the sellers can’t lose. That just leaves the buyers.
My Ebay Store
In the long run this will likely expand the perception of this company being “less than” the others as many many more coins will come to market in these holders and collector sellers will find out the harsh reality in price disparity.
My Ebay Store
I’ve heard about it and know what it is, but have no interest in it. They must sell a lot of raw coins for it to impact the grading services. I think buying raw these days is extremely risky and is not something I would advocate.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I watch WhatNot shows occasionally. Some are pretty amusing.
Seems to me that many dealers simply use WhatNot as a means to liquidate inventory they want to move FAST. I see many newbies overpaying for things, so it apparently works. To each his own.
Dave
I agree that in Classic U.S. ICG is fairly good right now. But I will still only buy them when viewed in hand without a discount. I have in the past purchased bulk graded groups of ICG coins online and even with a 1 grade discount struggled to get them sold.
The coins I'm seeing on on whatnot mostly are the US widgets that tend to sell for melt or just above in NGC/PCGS 67,68 etc. with large jumps in 69 or even 70. Silver IKES and other modern MS coins. The buyers are smart enough to not price the ICG like the PCGS coins, but the discount is somehere in between and when they decide to sell they will likely find they still overpaid by 3-4x.
My Ebay Store
There's also this auction network: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ I mentioned that an auction company in Massachusetts in a local shop's town had a better date GSA cc Morgan that sold through that network and they were familiar with the company with their low ball buying practices. The coins I saw selling on "live auctioneers" tend to go high.
Live auctions with product on display in background and in hand. There is a host (auctioneer) who talks about the item holds it up to the camera and on the side you see comments from people. You have set up your account with CC Card you can bid. You have a handle and you can message the auctioneer and he/she will usually respond real time. They do things live put some high value coins in mystery pouches and auction them for a low starting rate like $189. They sell 50 of them one by one and some lucky bidder will get an 89 cc morgan or a gold coin etc... They open the pouch after the sale real time so if you win you can see can what you got and so does everyone else. It's quite exciting but beware, no returns..
It's not just coins, it is all sorts of things..
I like watching the live auction format from time to time but do not buy or bid. To understand it I did set up an account and watched for about a week on and off to see how it works. Then bid a a coin or two... Kinda fun really.
Some dealers have won some nice coins on that platform for good prices..
Anyway Traderbea is a big one on Whatnot and they have PCGS making the inserts for them which is kinda weird.
They guys and gals that do it are doing quite well so far. They come to local shows, set up and buy up a lot of product from dealers.
It's quite brilliant because it ties into the social media aspect of life and you can bid anywhere from your smartphone..
The court jester does not play, but gently pulls the strings…
Outside of the bizzaro world of low ball coins have never heard of the what not stuff.
What Not is an amazing platform but, like anything else you buy, discipline and patience is key. I see some shows that the seller is raking in incredible sums from clueless bidders all night. And I see some sellers losing their shirt trying to gain a foothold. In both extremes jaw dropping deals that are flat out steals do happen. Disclaimer! I don't pay attention to anything slabbed.
My favorites
thevaultman
phiguy
pouredinusa
morganhntr420
bullionbrother
pawnbrokerpickers (people over pay big time on their auctions but like I said, amazing deals happen)
COPPER is gutter !
whatnot was founded in 2019, has many other sales platforms in addition to coins, and is currently valued at over $11B (wiki). In my opinion, you cannot watch a couple of whatnot streams and make any kind of judgment. Nor can you explain whatnot in a few sentences. Here are some "talking points" from my 2+ years on whatnot:
At any point in time, there are 40-50 live coin auctions going on at the same time. Busy times like Friday night will have over 100 live auctions. If you like multiple coin auctions at your fingertips at any point in time, it's not a craze, it fills a void.
Part of the craze? whatnot's sellers fees are roughly 8% (it's more complicated than that), a good bit lower than ebay or GC.
If you made it this far, a free piece of advice. If you go to whatnot, are new, and decide to bid on an item, DO NOT USE THE YELLOW SWIPE BAR! Why? First of all, they have a Custom Bid feature to the left of the yellow bar that allows you to enter a specified amount. Second, and more importantly, if a coin is at $45, and you swipe thinking you are bidding $50, don't be surprised if you win the coin for $125! Why? There are multiple people across the U.S. bidding at the same time. When multiple bids are entered at the same time, which takes precedence? Which electrons travel the fastest? Who knows, but almost all whatnot veterans have learned the hard way not the swipe.
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
Does coin certification really help on the "What Not" platform much? If auctions and sales are so fleeting and almost arbitrary, how would certification really help presumably with modern coins? At what point does this market get saturated and those flinging money on it start dropping?
Basement graders have more upside from Whatnot impact. Lot of low knowledge eyeballs and buyers getting exposed to coin products selling lightning fast with little time for reflection when sellers are heavily pumping them up.
It's the lower 50% of the coin market inventory that's going to Whatnot - not the quality items.
The pawnbrokerspickers you tube channel from their pawn shop is excellent.
COPPER is gutter !
