Internet Coin Shopping

I agree with USArmy on that one. I have like 27 feedback and I'm looking to sell some extra coins here soon. I am afraid to do so since I think selling might bring more negatives if something were to happen then buying would. So my score would be in the tank if I had one unhappy customer, or a loose cannon type guy to leave negatives. Although I'm sure I could make them plenty happy, but you never know with some people.

KurtS, what have you managed to score? I never seem to get lucky with BIN auctions. Maybe it's because the stuff I'm looking for everyone knows about.

I always at least look at the BIN stores, with the hopes of simply paying fair market value! They always, without fail, range from a bit overpriced to way over.

On a side note that became my favorite way to sell. I put a coin up with a BIN price for fair market value and it gets snatched in a day or two.

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I have articles posted on the forum of both finds.

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Wow! That's outstanding. Do you have a link to the articles?

I'm afraid I'm going to have to fry my brain trying to learn all about varieties :o( It's a field I previously ignored.

ebay is safe--but look at the seller's rating---new sellers may have a 96% and still be good because someone left bad feedback not desrved---look into the detail!

I have to disagree with the first post and agree with the subsequent posts regarding feedback. Don't immediately assume a seller is bad simply because he has a lower feedback rating than you would like. Look for quality...not just a number. And the reverse can also be true...bad sellers could have good ratings. Here's a little more information than you probably want, but I'll offer it anyway...

ALWAYS read the feedback narratives and don't just look at the number. Why?

(1) "Good seller, bad feedback percentage" - Lots of things can happen. The seller might have left negative feedback on a non-paying bidder. In most instances, the deadbeat will return the negative feedback, just for retaliation. Or perhaps the mail carrier lost/damaged the package. It wouldn't be your fault, but the customers will normally leave bad feedback anyway. Maybe the buyer orders the wrong item or just doesn't like it...most buyers seem to expect you'll accept a full return (even if the listing says sales are final), pay for s/h both ways, etc. When you don't give them what they want, they leave negative. And here's the worst case scenario, but sadly it isn't uncommon. Some buyers feel that retaliatory feedback isn't enough, so they REALLY make things bad on the seller...they create numerous fake ebay profiles and use them to overbid on and win listings. Then they leave negative feedback on every listing and the seller is also stuck paying all the listing and FV fees. The fees can be refunded and the item can be relisted for a listing fee credit, but the process to get to that point takes about 2 weeks. So please READ a seller's feedback...it might be clear that he/she is a good seller with some unfortunate experiences.

(2) "Bad seller, good feedback" - Lots of sellers are significantly worse than what is reflected in their feedback rating. Always be sure to check the number of feedbacks withdrawn by mutual agreement. What happens is a buyer gets upset with a poor seller and leaves negative feedback. The seller then leaves retaliatory feedback, knowing that the buyer will be very upset to have a tarnished reputation. The seller then sends the buyer a "mutual agreement to withdraw feedback" offer and, in most cases, the buyer will accept it simply to restore his/her own favorable feedback rating. The narratives will always remain in the seller's feedback profile, so if you see a lot of withdrawn feedback, always check out the original comments.

Sorry that was so long. I'm a full-time eBayer (my only source of income) and I've seen and experienced it all. I've been burned by the fake accounts bidding on my items scam twice. Once was about 2 years ago and once just recently. It's clear this is what happens, but ebay will not take action. The worst part about it is ebay now "restricts" accounts with excessive poor feedback within a 30 day period. They restricted my account in November (right before Christmas season) based on the feedback from this scammer with fake accounts. I finally just gave up on fighting it and gave up my account (which I'd been using since 1998 and completed in excess of 40,000 transactions with). I took over my sister's account which had just 20 feeback and I'm basically back to square one as a seller. I've built up to 140 feedback this month, but already have one negative. The customer didn't like something. I offered her a refund, even though my listing said sales were final. She told me that she didn't want the refund because the rest of the items were too great of a deal, so she just left bad feedback instead.

Don't get cought up in a bidding frenzy.
In the end you will not get the coin you want
and you will pay too much for it.

There are many good alternatives to ebay online.

Smythe online has good deals on mostly high-end coins (google it)

Have to looked at APMEX? They sell raw and slabbed. (www.apmex.com)

A great source for Morgans is pccoin (www.pccoin.com)

Lots of others. Too many to name here.

I search google images and find online dealers I've never heard of. If you are paying with credit card you have a lot of built-in protection.

My Two Cents and apologies to any ebay dealers here.

Well, I am pretty good at ebay and am foremost an autograph collector; so I have another persepective on this too which might help. Here's a few more things to add to your list to look for.

1) Read full descriptions. A lot of times sellers leave out stuff and you "THINK" something is not a replica etc by the wording, but they are oftentimes very slick with wording. So DOUBLE CHECK and ask the question
2) if they don't answer within 24 hours I'd suggest not buying from them because if something bad happens, the odds of future communication will be worse
3) check all feedback and read all the negative comments; anything hinting at fakes, not getting items etc stay clear from unless it's a real aborration
4) check the seller's past ebay ID's and read the feedback on those if available.
5) if a photo is blurry, and tney can't mail you a clear one, don't buy it

Just a few more tips. I noticed while searching ebay and just perusing the coins, a LOT of the sellers do misleading things by posting several coins in a photo when they are actually selling just one coin (the others are "examples" of the other coins they sell etc or some of the bulk sales show 500 coins in the lots but you are actually bidding on 5 "random" coins from that lot of 500 or stuff like that. BE VERY careful.