Does The Internet Make It Easier Or Harder To Get Good Deals?

I voted easier. Both sides have some good points. I think it's easier because of the selection available, you can get just what you are looking for. Possible low prices, hard to find but there if you are patient and follow your set budget. No pressure shopping, it may be hard for some to not get caught up in the salesman's pitch. Shipping, yes it irks me, but in reality, probably fair with all things taken into account, then, suddenly it's at your door. Some collectors have only this option to grow their coins. I am pretty lucky to have a LCS, and shows within a fair distance. I shop all 3, internet, LCS and shows.

Couldn't disagree more. The internet makes it insanely easier. You can see 100s of thousands of coins for sale in a day sitting at home eating/drinking/watching tv/doing whatever you want ect and it costs you nothing.

Without the internet you would be driving around to shops all day sitting in traffic burning gas just hoping that one might be there and once you visited all the shops you would have to travel to find more.

There is no question that the internet has made it MUCH MUCH easier to buy coins and find deals.

20+ years ago you had a couple newspaper, a few magazines, the occasional auction catalog (if you bid), the yearly or seasonal show, dealers catalogs (if you ordered), and local shops.

In a days search, if you wanted to take a whole day, we can see as many coins as would be available then in a year.

And with the exception of a couple of those, there were the sellers descriptions, and rarely a photo.

There is no comparison.

Yes and no. The ever-vigilant eye of ebay bidders makes it impossible for some items to slip under the radar. If I post a genuine US classic (worth more than $20) the odds that I will be taken to the cleaners are negligible. From that standpoint, deals are harder to get. For example, I grew up near Stone Mountain, so the commem is on my wish list, but try to find a "deal" on an example with any eye appeal left.

But, widen your scope and deals are hiding everywhere. I could ramble on for pages about the ancients or random world coins that I got for a criminally good deal on ebay because the seller was lazy in their research. Even I almost sold two silver Polish commemorative coins as base metal because I bought them as such and never questioned the seller!

?. If you mean selling it in an a low start auction you must be using a different ebay than the rest of us

Before the Internet, there were - within the average collector's reach - maybe a dozen sources between local B&Ms and online publications. With the Internet, there are thousands. And your need to be able to suss out a good deal based on the information available hasn't changed one whit. Nor, I'm guessing, has the percentage of "good" deals, of those offered.

The only difference between people being taken to the cleaners thirty years ago, and people being taken to the cleaners today, is their relative ability to complain publicly about it.

I can certainly see others' points about what it used to be. Unfortunately, that is not applicable now. This is what I see online:

Junk being overpriced. Horrible deal.
Mediocre stuff, overpriced. Bad deal.
Decent stuff, overpriced. Big Risk.
Good stuff, overpriced. Risk.
Great stuff. Not in my budget.
Awesome! Way out of budget.

There has been a rise of people jumping on the bandwagon and they (uninformed) think that every coin they have is worth $1k. That increases the competition for real gems and the other searchers sleep less than you. I haven't experienced other methods but, the current atmosphere in deal-finding is harsh and dog-eat-dog.

I don't think internet makes it easier or more difficult to get good deals. I think the whole set of principles behind coin shopping has shifted, so I vote for 'different', which isn't listed of course.

Anyway, the biggest disadvantage is not being able to hold the specific coin in hand before you buy it. Anyone can post a stock photo of a coin online. Is it really the coin you get? Not everyone is a Steve McCurry when it comes to photography skills. Using too much flash under the wrong angle and your coin looks harshly cleaned. A lot of blame will be put on that in case of disappointments. Is everyone honest when it comes to descriptions? Coin grading and pricing is highly subjective. What does 'choice' mean, which 'details' are subject? Or why is it even sold as a problem free coin? And how good is the deal when postage is added?

Now for the bright side for the buyer. The amount of offers is dozens of times bigger than it used to be. Not everyone is a highly specialized coin seller, not everyone cares about what's being sold: some people just want to get fast cash out of a heritage and got advised to auction or sell online. And added to that, you now have the world as your playground. Coins are valued in a different way in different regions. Here in Europe American coins are not cheap, but less overpriced as they are in the USA. Norwegian or Dutch coins, on the other hand, seriously drop in value when spotted outside Norway or The Netherlands.

I do see that coin shops also tend to react to what's happening on the net, by either opening up their own shop or by adjusting prices to what's happening there. You now have a price reference on your cell phone and you don't need to buy a Red Book or grey sheet anymore to get an indication of what catalogue prices may look like, and they know that, too... That also means that they will push up the price of some foreign or obscure stuff, by the way, as they need to make money out of that now as well.

So, different, not easier or harder.