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 Replies: 81 / Views: 4,871 |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
Edited by TerrapinWill
07/18/2005 08:32 am
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Rest in Peace
United States
954 Posts |
To be real honest with you I wouldn't bid $6.00 for this coin. The toning has advance to a corrosion stage and probably wasn't that bad when it was graded. To me it's a damaged coin.
catman
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
I would suggest reducing the size of the font for your description. We have found that font size 18 is plenty big enough and it keeps your pictures closer to the top of the page. The larger font is almost like being yelled at and I know that there are people who won't read descriptions done this way. Personally, I would have started the bidding lower. The lower the starting bid is, the more bids you'll tend to get. I've also found that the final hammer price seems to be higher starting low. I probably would have started it at $200 over what I paid for it and let it run. The pics look good. I have a feeling that the toning on the coin is much more attractive than what it appears in the pics, but getting good color when shooting through a slab is very difficult. Good luck with it. If it doesn't sell the first time around, you may want to try some of my suggestions and see how it goes.  |
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Valued Member
 United States
57 Posts |
Well if it doesn't sell, I'm sure PCGS will guarantee the grade. But given the colors and the poor lighting I have, it's tough to capture just how nice the coin really is.
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Forum Mom
United States
5877 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by TerrapinWill
Bid too high...isn't it a good opening bid for being below bid/ask?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...y=39465&rd=1
ebay doesn't operate on greysheet. It is a whole different market. The lower the starting bid, the higher your final price will be. I just noticed that you're ending it in the morning. If it doesn't sell first time, you may want to run it again and end it on a Tuesday or Thursday around 7 PM Pacific Time (10PM EDT). Most hits come from the east coast, so you would want to tailor the end time for that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Hi Will
Although Susan is much more knowledgeable than me ,, I really think that you did pretty good on the listing,, the free shipping is attractive to people, as is the toning to alot of folks also I happen to know that there is a group of folks who specialise in toned morgans .
The price starting below Bid is also good but I would expect the coin to sell for around opening bid.
with a Buy it now option, consider a ten day auction !! this allows more folks to get a chance to find and think about it for a little longer basically talk themselves into it .
Good Job,, Nice coin, Excellent date and Mint !!
Rick
PS I just saw Susans suggestion about ending time,I agree that it better to end the auction in the evening !!
Edited by Metalman
07/18/2005 10:56 am
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Forum Mom
United States
5877 Posts |
The thing with ebay is that many of the people who buy there want to be able to "play". By that I mean that they want to be able to bid multiple times and still be way under what the coin is actually worth. As more and more bids are placed, people get caught up in the competition. That is why coins that are started lower go so much higher. We have also found that, with a few exceptions, 10-day auctions run too long to hold people's attention. There is a feeling of "better bid now or I'll miss it" with a 7-day auction. Many 10-day auctions are put into people's My ebay and then forgotten. It is sad that many people now have short attention spans, but it is a reality that needs to be considered. Since lower starting bids cause people to bid early, it helps because people do not tend to forget about an auction once they have bid on it. The other thing to consider is that it's summer. Sales always fall off in the summer. This is the first year that our sales, while still lower than in the other seasons, are very stable. This is because we take into account what weeks most people are on vacation, we don't end anything on the weekends again until after Labor Day, and we end our auctions a little later than normal during the week. We have been analyzing data for 4 years to come to the conclusions that we have. Our actual listings are a very small part of why we have been successful at ebay sales. We spend a fair amount of money every month for tools to analyze who is watching, who is bidding, where the bids are coming from, when the most active times are, etc. So I can truthfully say that the advice I'm giving is very soundly based. For a coin such as this one, you may want to wait until October to list it again if it doesn't sell. People begin their ebay Christmas shopping at the end of September. Items listed from the end of September through the last week in November sell for considerably higher and can often blow "trends" out of the water with final sale price. |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
I know lower starting bids usually raise the hammer price, but on the other hand I don't want to part with a coin worth at least $1200...mor eto people with love affair for toning. I wouldnt want to see it go for 700-900 or something when bid/ask is 1200/1300. I certainly didnt want to puta reserve, cause that usually scares people away. I'd be thrilled to get 1200-1300 for it. it's a remarkable speciment for the grade, very few with this color and because of the color it is tough to see just how good the strike is. it only cost $10 bucks or so to list it, and since I basically stole the coin, Ill take my chances. If it doesn't sell I'd almost be willing to try to go for an upgrade, since I have so little invested in it.
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Forum Dad
United States
24161 Posts |
quote:
with a Buy it now option, consider a ten day auction !! this allows more folks to get a chance to find and think about it for a little longer basically talk themselves into it.
That's not as important as it seems. Without a reserve, if someone places a bid the BIN goes away. |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
I'm actually a little surprised that it hasnt been bid on. Not a ton of 1880-o MS64's out there. A no reserve auction with a starting bid below bid/ask I thought might be an attractive thing. I guess we'll see.
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Forum Mom
United States
5877 Posts |
There is a good chance that it will sell, but if it does, it will sell at the end of the auction for the opening bid or only slightly higher. Bid/Ask is meaningless on ebay. The longer an auction goes without bidding activity, the more the chances are reduced of getting any bids except for snipes at the end. It is necessary to take risks to make the most money on ebay. It's the nature of the beast. Had you started this coin under $500, chances are it would be up around $1100 by now with the difference being that your auction already has active interest which would cause it to escalate quite a bit towards the end. |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
So At this point I should expect the hammer to be around 1100 if it sells......? I guess I was stupid to start so high. If it doesn't sell, I will likely relist it with a lower starting bid. Do Reserves always scare people away?
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Forum Mom
United States
5877 Posts |
Reserves don't always scare people off - but if you use one, you should state what the amount is in the description. Overall, I would suggest not using one, especially since you have very little money in this coin, which means that your risk factor is minimal.
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
I never used a buy it now 99% is too high in price I never bid on a coin with a high starting price 99% is too high I run away from people with large text and people who sell smallest coins of the world whatever they are selling I bid a few times on coins with a reserve but am not intrested anymore I bid on a 40 lire Maria Luiga and was highest bidder below reserve the guy showed me reserve in an email and I just answered him he must be kidding I was highest bidder below reserve on a proof half ounce Brittania without holder or certificate . So for me it is only sniping at end of auction |
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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
Well I'll be thrilled to sell it for opening bid. It really is a very pretty coin, and my pictures do not do it justice. It is obviously not a rainbow toning, but its colors are breathtaking when coin is in hand. I've seen coins with similar strikes and not as a ttractive fetch more than the BIN. I guess we'll see.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Despite my busy summer schedule, I'm always happy to jump in with an opinion on a Morgan. I agree almost completely with Susan right up and down the line: start the auction low, get the bids started, and let it rise to its market level. I almost always start my auctions with 99-cents, even with very valuable coins. Once the first bid is made, the contagious bidding fever sets in and they will bid it up rapidly for the first couple days or so. It'll usually plateau out at some level in-between what you'll settle for and what you really, really want and stay there for the middle days of the auction no matter how long or short it is. The last day (or two) will see a flurry of bids in which the ebay value is set. This may or may not be at or above Greysheet, PCGS Prices, Coin Values, or whatever, all of which should probably be ignored in any instance since this is ebay, not Bowers & Merena. If you're really concerned about getting a certain price, then a realistic Reserve should be set; Reserves do tend to scare away some people, but not enough, in my experience, to affect the sale if the coin is desirable. If the auction doesn't meet the Reserve, it can always be relisted again with either a lower Reserve or with no Reserve if you really want to roll the coin over. As Susan stated and I am happy to reinforce, ebay sets its own market values which may or may not be above Greysheet, PCGS Prices, etc. Unless the coin is really junk, it will sell if the start price is low enough. This is the great advantage of ebay over other sales and auction venues: the potential buyer market is huge -far larger than anything else- and with so many people who are browsers and grazers (lookers), somebody is bound to bid if the start price is low enough. The whole idea is to get the bidding started; after that, the ball is rolling and it's all downhill. The point with which I cannot agree nor disagree with Susan is the timing of the auction in terms of summer, days of the week for auction ends, time of day, etc. I got to thinking about it and I'm always off on some adventure during summers, so don't run auctions during summer months and have no experience from which to draw. |
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Replies: 81 / Views: 4,871 |
Posted 07/18/2005 10:36 am
