Is the coin catagory on eBay dying?

291fifth · November 17, 2005 10:06PM

I recently checked out some Barber and Standing Liberty auctions on eBay. It appears that starting prices for most lots are now near full retail. Grading of the raw coins is a total joke. How have your eBay sales results been lately? Do you think potential buyers are starting to ignore eBay because of the low quality/pricing of the lots?

markglicker · November 17, 2005 10:12PM

I believe that a lot of folks are getting burned, and are shying away from bidding. It is a shame, as the great majority of sellers, are genuine and good. 2 rules, buy PCGS, NGC and Anacs holdered coins. Pay with a credit card, through Paypal.

poorguy · November 17, 2005 11:09PM

Is the coin catagory on eBay dying?

No, it's just diseased.

Barberman55 · November 17, 2005 11:23PM

I haven't bid on a coin on Ebay in a very long time. I'd rather deal directly with a reputable dealer, who specializes in my area. You may pay a little more, but you get great service, a good return policy, and usually higher quality coins. When I look at the nicer coins in my collection, the majority of them have been bought directly from a dealer.

keets · November 17, 2005 11:25PM

i think what's happened is that the coin market overall on eBay has passed the point of maturity and now has moved from a true auction site to a semi-retail venue. most of the established sellers/dealers have an "eBay Store" or a link of some sort to their actual retail selling operation. when i first became involved with ebay, it was an almost pure auction site where i could locate items with much less competition-----not true any longer for the most part. not only are there more bidders who ar better informed, the sellers are also better informed and prices reflect that. i assume that this trend will continue to some point in time when a state of equilibrium will be reached as climbing prices slow.

RYK · November 17, 2005 11:27PM

I'd rather deal directly with a reputable dealer, who specializes in my area. You may pay a little more, but you get great service, a good return policy, and usually higher quality coins. When I look at the nicer coins in my collection, the majority of them have been bought directly from a dealer.

That said, I have a HUGE consignment on ebay right now, so please do not pull the plug for a few more days.

keets · November 17, 2005 11:34PM

I have a HUGE consignment on ebay right now,

link please, via PM if necessary so as not to draw the wrath of the moderators.

markglicker · November 17, 2005 11:34PM

Increased usage of snipe bids, has put the fear of God, into no reserve sellers. It is not the late bids, themselves, but the concerns of a system outage, at Ebay, or at the sniper sites.

MikeInFL · November 17, 2005 11:35PM

<< <i>That said, I have a HUGE consignment on ebay right now, so please do not pull the plug for a few more days. >>

Link, please?

Fairlaneman · November 17, 2005 11:41PM

<< <i>I'd rather deal directly with a reputable dealer, who specializes in my area. You may pay a little more, but you get great service, a good return policy, and usually higher quality coins. When I look at the nicer coins in my collection, the majority of them have been bought directly from a dealer.

That said, I have a HUGE consignment on ebay right now, so please do not pull the plug for a few more days. >>

Is the Walker one of your coins ?

Ken

seanq · November 17, 2005 11:44PM

I'm still finding some nice coins, though I have noticed that it's getting harder and harder to separate the wheat from the chaff. With enough patience, you can still find quality material and/or reasonable bargains.

That being said, most of what I collect is niche-market stuff, so I don't have many other options. If I were into collecting widgets, I doubt I'd give eBay a second glance.

Sean Reynolds

RYK · November 17, 2005 11:47PM

Link, please?

link please, via PM if necessary so as not to draw the wrath of the moderators.

Is the Walker one of your coins ?

I let Russ take care of the marketing.

Suffice to say, with the possible exception of a complete set of circ merc dimes and an auction catalog, I doubt that forum members would be interested in the other coins.

Back on-topic, I have purchased two Dahlonega $5's on ebay in the last 6 weeks, the first two that I have purchased on ebay. Perhaps, the demise of ebay for buying/selling coins has been exaggerated.

keets · November 17, 2005 11:49PM

what Sean said...........................

i can quite easily find Exonumia on eBay that is almost absent from shows of any size and can only be found with specialty dealers/sellers. part of the plus that eBay offers is that i can sometimes make a contact with those dealers/sellers and as recently as last week received an e-mail tipping me to a large auction with many beautiful itmes. the catalog arrived yesterday.

BlindedByEgo · November 18, 2005 12:11AM

Let's see... Thousands of sellers listing hundreds of thousands of items monthly and selling to hundreds of thousands of buyers worlwide...

Nope.

Actually, I thought that it was dying way back in 2000-2001 when dutch auctions of Walkers were being priced way down close to melt...

I agree with Mr Kelley that it's diseased; I just believe that it's too large and ubiquitous to die.

braddick · November 18, 2005 12:19AM

Auctions with a (high) fixed price and/or a hidden reserve may be suffering. I've seen many such auctions close with no takers. These sellers might complain.
Coins listed at .99 cents with no reserve and reasonable shipping are doing well from what I've seen and experienced.

Out of my last 20 auctions closing I only lost money on one coin and some of them I owned for less than two weeks.

The eBay coin catagory is selectively alive and well.

WaterSport · November 18, 2005 12:25AM

I do feel that more people are bidding on coins I want on EBay and that is driving prices higher than retail prices. I have had much more success going with other on line auction houses and dealers than EBay lately.

WS

cullenbryant · November 18, 2005 12:39AM

The few auctions i've run lately, sales have been a little soft
the purchases i've made ironically i've had to overpay for

seriously though, the collections/lots category is a den
an honest seller can't hardly list in there due to guilt by association

Baley · November 18, 2005 12:42AM

Yes, mister negative, everything is going to hell. Thanks for playing that same sad song yet again.

Russ · November 18, 2005 1:13AM

No, the coin category isn't dying. In fact, it's doing surprisingly well.

Russ, NCNE

jonathanb · November 18, 2005 9:37AM

I sold a Barber quarter on eBay recently and got almost 2x what I was offered by a dealer in person. It wasn't a lowball offer from the dealer either, but it had really nice bullseye toning and I had a feeling people would get carried away online. I was right.

I also just found out that two coins I bought on eBay are likely worth upwards of 20x what I paid for them.

So... dying? Maybe. But I ain't complaining!

jonathan

Myqqy · November 18, 2005 9:44AM

Yes, mister negative, everything is going to hell. Thanks for playing that same sad song yet again.

It takes a little time, but I still find many quality coins on ebay.....

TOMCATTOM · November 18, 2005 11:01PM

<< <i>Yes, mister negative, everything is going to hell. Thanks for playing that same sad song yet again. >>

He's just trying to make conversation. Don't have a puppy!

fcloud · November 18, 2005 11:14PM

Doesn't the market fall a bit this time of year every year? As we get closer to Christmas some people start to shift their discretionary income to gift buying.

librtyhead · November 18, 2005 11:25PM

Getting ripped off is no fun now when I buy on e-bay I only buy from people in my area that I can actually go and get the coins.This works great as I usually end up getting a few other coins plus I get to meet some new dealers that I give my wish list to.e-bay was once a good thing but now is choking on its own vomit.What e-bay does for me now is it gives me a venue to coin dealers that are trustworthy soon I will never have to go to e-bay and never have to step into the viper pit.

anablep · November 19, 2005 12:40AM

Now that my collecting habits and collection itself has matured, it takes me longer to find what I want on Ebay because I am very selective. Much more so than when I started using ebay. The same kinds of coin "stuff" is there, I'm just more sophisticated and choosey when it comes to my selections and spending my money.

Shamika · November 19, 2005 1:43AM

I certainly buy fewer coins off of eBay than I did five years ago. However, I do occasionally find a beauty and the satisfaction is enormous.

questor54 · November 19, 2005 1:59AM

We are all dying.

markglicker · November 19, 2005 2:01AM

The prices on my auctions have actually strengthened in the last 6 weeks. It just seems to take much longer for the prices on the expensive stuff, to get up there. I bit my nails a lot more, but the final prices seem ok.

streeter · November 19, 2005 2:09AM

I sell corvette parts and buy(used too) coins on ebay. As a seller, I've had to use a reserve for some higher dollar items(+500) for the first time ever.

My days of buying coins on ebay are over. I used to spend at least a thousand a month. Pickins are just too slim and too many coin sellers are shilling for my taste. I can't even rely on closed auctions anymore for accurate prices.

BaronVonBaugh · November 19, 2005 2:35AM

I have bought several coins recently on ebay. I don't see many that have what I am looking for doing true auctions though. If you take your time they usually do turn up with what you want eventually.

Is the coin catagory on eBay dying?

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