Ebay Sellers

I agree with the previous posters. I have done quite a bit of buying and my experiences on ebay have been 99% positive.

I collect both Canadian and American coins and currency and I am less trusting of American listings than Canadian. That probably has to do with the greater volume of U.S. listings and more opportunities for unscrupulous sellers.

I would recommend ecc36, habibani, kkg789, but you often find good deals from the casual seller as long as you look closely at their feedback, photos and descriptions. Some of my best purchases, however, have been auctions with fuzzy photos or poor descriptions. There is a higher risk with that but sometimes you can tell if that is done with an intent to deceive or just a seller that has found or inherited a few old coins or notes they don't have a use for.

Good luck!

ebay is a great experience. If you're like me, I'll gamble on a poor picture and hope for big rewards. I do get shafted now and then but that's part of the game and I expect disappointments. Unlike many here, I avoid most Canadian sellers. They likely know what they have and there's little likelihood I'll get a major bargain. I really like American sellers. Many simply don't know what they've got. Just in the last two weeks I got two great scarce coins on ebay at very low prices. Both from the US. Just enjoy the experience.

I started out with a box of pennies and a Charlton guide. Then I opened up an ebay account Sell my extras and buy what I needed. But be wary of bad pics and if its to good to be true it is. And yes I never buy anything with no return policy.

On a ocompetitive item, the whole auction is really the last 10 seconds. Being ahead before that doesn't matter. The only way to avoid being annoyed by having an item taken from you by a last minute "sniper" is to bid the most you are happy to pay. You may still lose, but at least you won't have second thoughts. After losing 10 or 20 things to snipers, I have stopped being cute about bidding low on things I really want.

The last ten seconds is the game. And often you'll be surprised at how lucky you get in pricing. Bid what you're comfortable with. My main beef with ebay sellers at the moment is packaging. Many are so determined to keep that little bundle of joy safe that they'll bury it. They'll completely tape the exterior of the envelope. Then they'll tape the contents to the inside of the envelope. They don't stop there and include one insert after another to conceal the coin. It can be a chore just to find your purchase inside. And now something that will make some forum members seethe. If you're one of those bidders who piles on bids - for some strange reason I have not discovered yet - be prepared to pay. I'll sometimes find a coin I like and check the bidding queue. Sometimes, the same bidder is there with five to ten separate bids piled up. I just can't help myself. I'll begin to eat through those bids with one incremental bid after another and then stop just below the final one. I'll likely not come back but it does bring a certain satisfaction and I'm sure has made many sellers happy.

Eventually, you'll probably get jaded like a lot of us.

I would suggest doing your mental health a favour, and (if you haven't done so already) turn off the email notification when you've been outbid.

Then just bid your maximum. If you win, you win, and if you lose, it was more than you were prepared to pay.

I've been buying and selling on ebay for 11 years and 4 months, and have done about 8,000 transactions (lost almost 3000 feedbacks when ebay changed their rating system back in about 2006). I've been collecting since 1962 when I was a 12 year old paperboy and got paid in real silver coins . Went to my first coin show that same year (first TOREX and still have the token given out at the entrance). Took the bus and streetcar from west end Toronto -Kipling/Queensway- to downtown alone. Made my first coin deal there (sold a 1927 AU cent for $1.75 and bought a lower grade for 25 cents - had no idea about grades then so thought I did real well making a $1.50 profit minus about 20 cents for the bus fare). What a hobby ! Only other sales I made between then and 2000 was to sell off some of my stuff to a dealer because of financial troubles in the 80's (sure would like to have that F/VF 1932 50 cents back - got $50 then, who knew it would rise so much?). Only when I started on ebay in 2000 did I get to actually make a few bucks out of buying and selling coins.
Get a Charlton catalogue or a copy of Canadian Coin News TRENDS section to check prices.
You MUST MUST MUST know how to grade to a reasonable extent. Look at 100's of ICCS or CCCS coins on ebay, even if you aren't interested in that particular date or denomination for now, just to understand what each grade looks like (eg. a George V EF coin will have almost the same look or wear for all denominations). Many sellers, wait, make that many, many, many sellers overgrade (especially asyn and almost everything certified by ACG ). Habibani, a seller another member mentioned, often puts the photo of a nice coin but sells multiple copies of the same year, so you don't get the coin in the photo . Also, other sellers put a "stock" photo, not the one you will get, so be sure to read the description carefully to ensure you are bidding on the one shown. Check the photo carefully - I've received a few bent coins which were not identified as such in the auction description
You need to see clear photos of both sides of the coin you will be bidding on. Beware of flowery descriptions with ordinary coins, or small or poor photos - there are so many large cents auctioned off that have corrosion all around the leaves and legends, and somehow the seller just happened to forget to tell you that - when they say lovely EF, it could stand for Extremely F..F..F..F.., well you know what I mean, so you must always be careful and be informed.
I guess it wouldn't be proper to blab my ebay user name here, and I currently have no items for sale anyway. You can email me for it if you are curious. I use the same user name as here on 2 other Canadian coin sites, so you can check out posts I've made on them.

ebay is AWESOME, think of it as being in the World's largest coin store 24/7. No where on this planet will you have as many choices to pick from with an unlimited # of prices and grades on coins that you seek.
E-bay has made all collecting regardless of what you collect very simple and at times less challenging than it was 15 years ago (Pre-Ebay). However, people are people and we all want what we desire right away. Nobody has the time or patience anymore to wait or hunt like the old days.
And as for PAYPAL, have no fear, it's bullet proof. In the 3,000+ transactions I've enjoyed with Paypal, from buying coins to Christmas shopping, I've never been disappointed once!

Glenn