Is Teletrade Struggling??

19Lyds · October 1, 2009 2:30AM

I frequent Teletrade on a regular basis and, much to my chagrin, purchase from them quite frequently.

Lately, I've noticed that their auction offerings are somewhat reduced.

Do you suppose they are struggling or are sellers avoiding them due to the downturn in the market?

Unknown · October 1, 2009 2:32AM

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Bear · October 1, 2009 2:34AM

I have noticed that they are auctioning coins that

are impaired in some manner , at least for the more

expensive coins. In any down market, the quality coins

tend to go back into hiding, leaving the less then adequate

stuff available for the foolish at heart.

ziggy29 · October 1, 2009 2:35AM

Like a lot of venues, the quality of what's on the market is falling, and very often we see the same old constantly recycled schlock over and over again.

jhdfla · October 1, 2009 2:39AM

"Is Teletrade in Struggling??

no, I think they're in Irvine...

(sorry, I couldn't resist)

yellowkid · October 1, 2009 2:40AM

<< <i>Less material and of even lower quality, the times must be hurting them imho, and btw I like them, they do a good job for what they are. >>

I just sent them a half dozen ms65-66 commems.

19Lyds · October 1, 2009 3:10AM

<< <i>"Is Teletrade in Struggling??

no, I think they're in Irvine...

(sorry, I couldn't resist) >>

OK OK I screwed up the title! I was going to ask "Is Teletrade in Trouble?" but thought that may be too misleading and presumptive so I decided to change the question to Struggling. I then only changed "Trouble" to "Struggling"!

Bear · October 1, 2009 3:23AM

I think it is safe to say, that most of us are

also struggling in today's environment.

joebb21 · October 1, 2009 3:30AM

remember that teletrade is a partner with bowers and merena. If a coin doesnt sell in bowers it tends to show up in teletrade. Or another scenario- all the JUNK from bowers is bought by teletrade-where the pictures that are taken tend to hide the serious problems and then they sell them to the unaware buyer for a nice profit, as well where the buyer thinks hes still doing good. when the coin is received- it could be a dog coin but the buyer would lose over 5% returning the coin.

maybe this is just my rant. It happend to me at least twice.
(sadly only after) I did a search from bowers and found my theory to be correct.
it could just be me though

Connecticoin · October 1, 2009 3:31AM

Jacking up their fees did not help. 23% (8% seller fee and 15% BP) is quite a nut to cover on consignments.

metalmeister · October 1, 2009 3:35AM

A lot of material ( Coins, Art, etc..) are being held back
close to the vest in this market . For those who don't have to sell
it is a excellent time to have a glass of wine or cold beer if its
hot and enjoy your collection

beartracks42 · October 1, 2009 3:43AM

I think that Teletrade was just named the "Official Auctioneer" of the Santa Clara show. This was in the latest NN. They will not hold their Sunday internet auction on the weeks that the Santa Clara auctions are held according to this article.

I do not know if this indicates a business weakness or diversification?

WTCG · October 1, 2009 4:02AM

Teletelrade is exposed to the same problem that all other coin dealers have to contend with...a lack of availability of quality, exciting material. As for a lack of consignments, Teletrade has direct access to the inventory of one of the largest coin wholesalers in the world so it is unlikely that they will run out of consignments. Since Teletrade only accepts consignments and does not make outright purchases on their own behalf, the quality of the auction material is actually more dependent on the consignors.

telephoto1 · October 1, 2009 4:08AM

TT for some time has been a dumping ground for dealers' end-of-the-road stuff; also, from time to time there are some AT pieces, particularly doctored Morgans that lucked into a holder. That said, sometimes private consignors will offer some fresh material as well. You just need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

fc · October 1, 2009 4:22AM

perhaps there are really not that many great coins to begin with...
and most are exactly what you are seeing on teletrade right now.

those coins are the meat and potatoes of the coin world and most
people buy them. this forum is much pickier in my opinion.

SaorAlba · October 1, 2009 4:31AM

They sure cannot update their upcoming auctions page.

Dave99B · October 1, 2009 4:45AM

I agree - the last two months or so, listings have completely tanked, along with quality.

I like TT, but will only list with them when they have ‘specials’.

Dave

roadrunner · October 1, 2009 5:10AM

In the past month they had very strong listing in high grade type and gold. I don't know where it came from but it was large for TT. There were dozens of 19th cent. silver MS/PF 65-68 gem type and dozens of MS64-66 gold type coins as well as many better dates. It was 3X to 5X the quality/size of what they usually have. In gold they had half a dozen MS64 $10 Libs and $5 Libs, usually they might but one.

I suspect if dealers have liquidity issues they might come here first as it's the quickest route to get paid when others aren't buying. The only thing that bugged me about the above sale was that the prices many of the coins bid were up to 40% higher than what you could have gotten from Heritage by picking up the phone. MS64 $2-1/2 Libs were fetching $1450 vs. market price of $1050. MS64 $5 Libs were up to around $1750 vs market price of $1550. At least some of the $10's in 64 were reasonable around the $2350 range. It didn't make a lot of sense. But a few weeks later some of those same coins were up for sale again. Then it made sense. But they've been getting some higher grade slabbed type material as of late though it doesn't always seem to be buyable.

roadrunner

joebb21 · October 1, 2009 6:03AM

remember that tt has a hdden reserve that they bid up. if the coin doesnt sell it goes right back up a week later.

BECOKA · October 1, 2009 6:10AM

A couple of weeks ago they had some strong offerings in the lower grade gold that I am interested in.

I was blown out of the water on one, the underbider on another and won one. Did not bid on 5 or 6 others I though might have come from the same collection.

highbidder1970 · October 1, 2009 11:02AM

I have gotten some good buys from TTR but only bid on items if they fit my price. Considering the economy is in the tank there should be good buys on TTR but one has to realize he may be bidding against the owner. I hate their 15% buyers fee. Sometimes I think buying off the Bay with Auction Sniper my be better. I have seen a lot of CAC coins on TTR that really look like horrible. I sometimes think CAC was invented to market some of the dogs, especially those with black areas or thick brown, crusty toning.

I try to filter out the items on my tracking list which may bid up bc of the owner. I look for items not moving much to bid on in the last 10 minutes or so assuming I like them. There may be other items I put a max bid on earlier that will hold up and I win those too. Sometimes if they are blowing out a roll I can get a lot of them cheap. I look to seeif there is much activity in bid movement bc sometimes the owner might not have put bids on them. Then I will be able to retail them at a great profit.

I also like the TTR raw coin service bc there is no grading fee upfront. Then when they tell you the grades you can put bids on the stuff you want to keep and win it back.

I frankly don't see how they compete with ebay but TTR is not so loaded with the tons of trash thats always on the Bay and the TTR search engine is superior to the Bay.

JmCoins · October 1, 2009 7:54PM

I see there is a downturn in this hobby.. So, I guess a consignment house would have less inventory if collectors don't want to gamble on their coins at this point..

I want to thank their staff for doing a great service to coin collectors. John

19Lyds · October 2, 2009 12:45AM

<< <i>TT for some time has been a dumping ground for dealers' end-of-the-road stuff; also, from time to time there are some AT pieces, particularly doctored Morgans that lucked into a holder. That said, sometimes private consignors will offer some fresh material as well. You just need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. >>

While this may be true of some series of coins, I find that Teletrade is a great source for what I am looking for.

I cannot recall if I've ever come across slabbed IKE Dollars or slabbed CnClad Kennedy halves at local or even National coin shows. Its always the same old 90% silver coins. And while the slabbed IKEs and Kennedy's may be some dealers "end-of-the-road" stuff, its my collecting meat and potatos! While I understand the need to turn profit at large coin shows, I also feel that most of those venues do not meet my needs for collecting the series of my choice. However, I continue to go in the hopes of getting those needs satisfied.

Teletrade has been very good to me but lately the offerings are getting a bit thin.

roadrunner · October 2, 2009 6:00AM

I hate their 15% buyers fee.

Why? Don't you just back your bids off by 15% like everyone else and let the seller eat it along with the seller's fee? All fees except postage and handling are ultimately borne by the seller. About the only problem with the 15% fee rather than the old 10% fee is that it's harder to subtract out in your head.

Teletrade occasionally makes errors in which case a bargain can be had. One time they forget to set a proper reserve on a MS64 1893 $20 Lib and it sold for about $800 under market. I flipped that for $500 as soon as it arrived. Another time they failed to describe whether a group of MS64/65 2 cent pieces were RB or RD. From the description it seemed that they could be full REDS. This was before they had photos posted on line. It turned out that the entire group were REDS and they sold for RB money + 5 to 10%. I ended up with one but got sniped out of the other 4 in the last few seconds since others obviously picked up on the error as well.

roadrunner

BECOKA · October 2, 2009 6:06AM

If they are really struggling all they have to do is go back to two auctions per week.

mozin · October 2, 2009 6:15AM

What bothers me most about Teletrade, is the worst pictures of any auction house. I also question why lots lack decent descriptions.

Dave99B · October 13, 2009 9:51AM

I just looked over all of their upcoming auctions (a total of four). Wow; talk about pathetic.

I like Teletrade! What is happening here?

Geez....I hope these guys are not going to go 'poof'. They've been around a long time.

Dave

Cameonut · October 13, 2009 10:15AM

This is the time of year where auctions tend to pick up after a slow summer season. So far it has been a disappointment.

I used to be a regular customer, but my gold points balance is still at zero.

I do see many of the same old coins recycled over and over with reserves in place. The market isn't at those levels.

highbidder1970 · October 13, 2009 10:41AM

Lots of nice coins on Teletrade. I like bidding there, sometimes as other posters have pointed out, you can exploit a situation and get stuff cheap. Just watch out your not bidding against the owner. Don't get caught up in a bid war thinking its some collector your bidding against. I simply take the price I want to buy it at and back out 15% for the buyers fee. If the owner bids on it and wins, well let him buy it back.

We are in a weak economy, you should be able to get the majority of those coins 20-40% behind bid. Don't believe for a minute your probably not bidding against the owner or some hot shot dealer. I offer blue sheet on certified material brought to my table simply bc thats what I will be offered if I get in a bind and have to sell. The majority of them walk but the few who will sell are the reason I paid the table fee.

COALPORTER · October 13, 2009 10:59AM

Go ahead and send all your seated stuff to kick start things.

packers88 · October 13, 2009 11:16AM

Oh man, teletrade, the last time I was there was over a year ago. It looks like a nice place to buy, but I personally never tried it since I was convinced that I could easily net 20 to 25% on ebay. Fees are way too high in my opiniion and it is just too hard to compete with ebay, not just teletrade, but any auction house.

Is Teletrade Struggling??

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