End your lots at 6-7 PM eastern time on SUNDAY.
Start any coin worth owning at .99 cents at auction. Your coins will be judged for what they are and you will get a BETTER price for nicer coins by going the auction route.
Put up as many coins as you can. If a collector finds a coin that you are selling - ESPECIALLY if you are starting everything at .99 cents - many of them will look to see what else you are selling and will mark more of your items on their watch list.
Group your coins together (if necessary) to have an expected
minimum sales price of $25.00. This gets you out of
ebay's most expensive fee structure.
The single most important thing you can do is take amazingly accurate photographs head on with side and upper lighting to show a true depth, surface quality, and any problems.
MOST collectors look at the pictures and many of them buy based ONLY on your pictures. I've learned from experience that you can spend an enormous amount of time detailing the coin in your written advertisement, but I can also tell you that very few people actually READ any of it.
Some may read what you've written JUST before they decide to bid, but what attracts them to your coins is the PICTURES.
If you are selling ho-hum coins, don't bother. It's not worth the time. Take what you have to a show or dealer and get what you can. If you are only selling coins worth $10 or less, it's a waste of time. With what you get after postage, pay pal fees, and
ebay fees, plus the wrapping materials, it just isn't worth the time.
INCLUDE FREE SHIPPING - This is especially important if you are selling lots that are expected to sell for at least $25 or more. It will cost you $3.14 for one to three half dollar size coins. Bidders will ALWAYS and I do mean ALWAYS subtract a postage cost off of what they plan on bidding.
If they see an item they will bid on for $40, and they see a postage cost of $5 - they will bid $35. So you don't gain a cent the vast majority of the time by making the buyer pay a postage cost.
However, as stated above, if your lots are not going to sell for $25 or better, free postage just can't be done.
ALWAYS list 14 day returns. It doesn't make a bit of difference if you list that you DO NOT take returns. If you list that you don't take returns and a buyer is unhappy, Pay Pal or
ebay will refund them and you will have a black mark against you, or have Pay Pal deduct the funds from your account.
STUDY what has happened for sales of similar coins. If you are selling an 1921
Buffalo nickel in what you grade as VF 30, look at what others are listing the for sale at - and THEN look at the COMPLETED sales for that same coin.
If you feel a little uncertain about listing coins for .99 cents, then STILL list them at auction, but base your starting price on what similar items are selling for.
Lets say that 1921 Buffalo in similar grade sold in the $30-$40 range (I'm just making that range up to use as an example). There are tons of them on Buy It Now in the $40-$50 range. Then you have to figure it's going to cost you $3 plus for postage, probably a little for an envelope, and the fees for
ebay and Pay Pal. If you figure 15% for the fees, you will be close enough on under $100 sales.
So in this example if you want to sell your Buffalo for a minimum of $25 in your pocket, then add the $3, plus another $3.50 for fees and .50 for packing, and you want to list the buffalo at auction starting at $32 with FREE shipping. You will get a bid and maybe more than just one bid as you are starting your price in a reasonable range.
But in the end, I really must emphasize that unless you are averaging well over $10 per lot in your pocket after everything is considered it really, really isn't worth your time.
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Posted 08/14/2015 5:31 pm
