Home U.S. Coin Forum
Options

Why highlight "estate" or "estate collection" in auction titles?

I’ve often wondered why sellers put “estate collection” or some other form of that phrase in their auction titles. Then often there will be a sentence in the auction description of the coin/s being offered repeating that, “this coin came from an estate collection”. I assume that for some reason the word “estate” is supposed to make the coin/s more desirable than coins that are not from some “estate” collection, but why? Is it solely a gimmick used in an attempt to pull in more potential buyers, or is there something honestly special about coins that came from an “estate collection”? I read titles like that and I say to myself, yeah, so what? Big deal. What, only dead people collected cool and valuable coins?
image

Comments

  • Options
    <<Is it solely a gimmick >>



    BINGO!!!








    Herb
    Remember it's not how you pick your nose that matters, it's where you put the boogers.
    imageimageimage
  • Options
    BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,525 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You are correct that sellers believe buyers will be more attracted by the terminology. Using "estate" allows a seller to:

    -claim no knowledge that the coins are problem coins
    -dump previously searched lots at high prices
    -deny return privileges
    -sell fakes, counterfeits, and other altered items
  • Options
    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,522 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image

    When I see "estate", the first thing that comes to mind is some shyster is hyping coins that have already been picked over.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • Options
    Plus I think it's a key word hook. Lots of folks I'm sure search for "estate" when looking for stuff.
  • Options
    FullStrikeFullStrike Posts: 4,353 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Why highlight "estate" or "estate collection" in auction titles? >>



    I see it as the ultimate marketing tool. Cons like to use the greed factor in pulling in their marks. When you see "Estate Sale" you're supposed to think there may be very valuable items that no one else will be willing to bid much on. You think you will get some great Coins at very low prices. Once you have decided in your own mind that you might get a deal, you are more prone to get the auction fever and bid a little too high.

  • Options
    UncleJoeUncleJoe Posts: 2,552 ✭✭✭
    That's done for my benefit.

    It tells me exactly which auctions to skip without looking at them.

    Joe.
  • Options
    HeywoodHeywood Posts: 1,246 ✭✭✭
    I ask the sellers for a copy of the death certificate.


    A witty saying proves nothing- Voltaire (1694 - 1778)



    An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor

    does the truth become error because nobody will see it. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
  • Options
    relayerrelayer Posts: 10,570

    Because the knowledgeable collector is now DEAD all that is left is the grieving widow/son/daughter who know nothing about coins and thus become an easy target for the scavengers to prey upon.

    Ripping valuables from unsuspecting innocents is what eBay is all about, so advertising the fact you are easy prey will hopefully bring them in. The buyer can then brag about their rip, unless of course the prey is actually a PowerSeller with 5000 feedback.
    image
    My posts viewed image times
    since 8/1/6
  • Options
    For the rest of my life, whenever I see "estate auction", I will forever think of the Savanna Scammers, Pam and Jim Donelly. image

    PJD1966 and all their various alt IDs including the currently operating "Estate Doctor" are the scum of the earth. Just this last weekend they took some poor fool for 5K with that copper plated '43 penny.

    Unless it's a physical sale with a real auctioneer and you are there in person to actually look at the items, run away. Run away as fast as you can.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file