I'm About To Start Selling Coins On Ebay

- Good pictures
- Accurate / up-front descriptions (no long BS stories)
- Right price
- Return Policy

With the coins you listed you probably will go right around melt unless you've got some key dates or BU grades.

List a few and get a feel for it, it's definitely different then you might imagine.

I won't turn this into an ebay bash post other than just to say I dislike that company.

As far as price, you can start your auctions at any price you want. So you should never really lose money. If you go too high it won't sell though. You can then relist. You get 50 free listings every month. After that you get charged fees even if the item doesn't sell. The fee structure is explained pretty well on the site.

Your higher grade Mercs probably won't sell for much more than melt unless we're talking BUs or better date. It's tough for new sellers to get good sales.

Established sellers sometimes get absurd high prices on their coins just because so many people know them and see their auctions...enough idiots buy from them. New sellers will frequently struggle to beat the wholesale price of coins.

Case in point...I recently watched a bunch of BU Roosies. This one established seller had his coins (common date MS63s mind you) selling for like $7...those coins are only $4.50 on retail internet sites and would be even less at a coin shop. I saw another new guy selling the same coins listed right next to his getting like 1 bid and selling for $2.25. The new guy's coin was just sitting there for around $2.....and you had the same coin from the established seller already a $5 getting bid up some more by like 3 or 4 buyers. People are so dumb sometimes and on ebay, you need to have sold for a while before you get the benefit of the stupid clientele.

The economy is down and the non PM coin industry is down. You'll get more sales than at a brick and mortar store by simple exposure, but as a new seller expect to be selling barely above wholesale...and after all your ebay fees, you'll be at about wholesale. Just a warning, ebay is far from a magical profit land for coin sellers.

I never thought about that SuperDave. I'm just starting into ebay selling myself and I think a lot of my stock will come from under priced ebay listings that I want to flip. I never considered the fact that someone could search what I bought and see that the coin I'm selling for $20 I got for $5. Maybe I'll make a second account too.

Oh, a random thought on this subject. There is a high volume seller that sells his coins in 2x2s that are covered with colored marker writing and stickers (one says "same price as 4 pizzas!). I'm sure he thinks it draws more attention to him. At least with me the opposite is true, I refuse to even look at the listings because just seeing those pictures in the search results drives me nuts! Basically, the garbage around the coin distracts from the coin itself. Don't let that happen with your listing.

Wow. Thanks for that advice. I hadn't thought of that.

It's started, folks. I placed auctions for 5 coins last night on the ebay. If you want to see one, check out 1921 Merc rotated die. You can then find the rest of my auctions.

I went with your suggestions on free shipping and a return policy. Now to figure out how I'm gonna ship. :-)

I offer free shipping on Silver sales, so the buyers can buy the coin, and, not the extra fees...with pre-printed ebay labels, small orders are mailed for about 1.75-2.35...the higher bids seem to negate the shipping costs...
I take pictures of multiple coin orders(with the label-printed mailing envelope, and, the coins from order next to envelope, to keep scammers from crying "I only got 4/5 coins", a common practice....NEVER state a coin grade on raw coins, or, state a slabbed coin "might grade higher"...scammers now can buy coins for possible regrade higher, and, if deemed not possible, ask for a return, and know how to play the "open a case" game, and, ALWAYS win, so, keep raw coins ungraded, and, just state the grade for slabbed coins as is, with no "should be MS67" hype, or it will haunt you...ALWAYS use delivery confirmation, and, Signature conf. on sales over 200 dollars(or, just buy Insurance for 201, which forces a signature)...
Because ebay does not allow sellers to leave negative feedback, it's a dangerous ocean to sail now....99% of sales go fine, then, wham, a doozie shows up...happens to all of us...
I have changed my feedback policy, due to this..I don't leave feedbacks now until the buyer leaves me one...I used to give one right after payment, but, after a few returns due to "changed mind", I stopped....
Clear pics of BOTH sides of coins a must, and, any issues must be noted(hairlines, improper cleaning, funky toning, etc...)or, it comes back to bite you...
Honesty is the best policy...full refunds a must, but, buyer pays return costs, and, I give a 3 day max. limit for deciding.
Calvin
Calvin

Lobby,

I have sold a lot of coins on E-Bay this past season and have a few things which I think may help you. This is just my experience, and I do not claim to be an expert by any means.

This said, please read all these seeing how they are not listed in order of importance. They are all important and need to be used in unison.

1.) Determine whether your coin will sell better as an Open Auction or better as a Buy-It-Now auction. Personally, I created a spreadsheet which automatically determines the better price outcome on any coin I decide to sell.

2.) Realize that you are going to pay approximately 12% in fees. So, if you are selling a coin for $10, you will only clear about $8.80 of the sell. You must figure this into your price before you place your coin for sale. Failure to do so can hurt your bottom line.

3.) Research the coin you are about to sell and see how similar sales of the coin have done. This will give you some idea of how the current market is viewing your coin and help you determine if you wish to sell it or wait for better times.

4.) To avoid a "Reserve" fee on your listing, simply make it an Open Auction with a STARTING BID. For example, if you know the current current going price for a Silver Eagle is $40, start your open bidding around $35. If the $35 is not met, it is not likely a Buy It Now of $40 would have been met either.

5.) Make sure you have good pictures of your coin. A good picture and make or break a listing quicker than you may realize.

6.) PLAN you selling time for your coin. Keep in mind the listing time quoted is in PST. This is three hours earlier than the East Coast. Think about when more people will be on E-Bay looking at your coins. If you can plan your auction to end at an opportune time, more eyes will see the coin and this will likely increase your bottom dollar.

7.) I normally do not leave positive Feedback until the buyer leaves positive feedback. You may even note such in your listing. Also let the customer know whether the coin can be returned or not and how the shipping cost, etc, will be handled. Personally, I do not allow silver coins to be returned due to the volatile fluctuations in the price of silver. Listing this as a reason seems to be accepted and well taken.

I hope this advise helps you in some way.

Kenscott

It is something you have to research. First, read about the fees for Open Bid auctions and then read about the frees about Buy-It-Now auctions.

The information is available on ebay. You will need to right down the information and then you can determine
the basic formula to use in determining which auction style is best for your situation.

As I said, I have written a spreadsheet to determine it for me. I have different countries, coins types, their silver content, and other information in the spreadsheet. I also have a hot-link to kitcosilver.com to retrieve the current spot and update my information.

Kenscott