E-Bay Coin Prices , What's Going On ?

You asked about BIN items. There are two main reasons why some sellers have high BIN prices.

1. To see if someone is willing to bite.

2. They have items that are similar which they are auctioning off. It's a way to get you to bid higher on an auction item and you will still think you got a good deal, because you did not pay the full BIN price.

Remember, none of this works if you are an informed customer who did his/her due diligence before purchasing or bidding on an item.

I sell full time on ebay (ornamental plants, not coins) and I've learned over time what people on ebay will pay for certain items. I couldn't care less what you could buy them for elsewhere. If I can get $100 for an item on ebay that I could only get $50 for selling in person, you can bet anything I'm charging $100 for it. Literally no one is being forced to buy on ebay. If you pay the higher price there it is either because you like the convenience of buying there and having it shipped to you with no hassle, or you aren't willing to put in the effort to see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. I have literally bought plants from Home Depot at full retail price and turned around and listed them for 2x the price on ebay and they sell.

By the way, I also like to list items new to me at a high price to start to see if people will pay that price. If they do, great! If not I lower it until I find the price that moves the item. Remember that what matters is the selling price. Lots of people ask way more for coins there than they will get, so lots of coins go unsold.

Keep in mind, this is how I make my living. If I only ask $50 for an item I know I can sell for $100 then that is $50 of income I've given away. What I sell is exactly like coins in that they are 100% a luxury item. No one needs them, they only want them. So when you buy from me your luxury money gets converted into money I use to pay my mortgage and other bills.

As an ebay seller, I can ask whatever price I want. If I thought my 2003 cent was worth $100,000,000, fine. But it won't sell. In order to actually sell my coins, I need to price them at a competitive wholesale price (going rates on ebay are wholesale), and I usually have a best offer option. I need to flip coins quickly, and I find this method works very well.

Does the seller not have any costs to ebay for listing a BIN coin that does not sell?

This applies to sales in general, not just on ebay. There are weird psychological factors at play sometimes when it comes to price-setting and salability. For example, a low price can seem like a good deal, but it can also suggest to a perspective buyer that the seller doesn't value the item very highly, so maybe it's not worth all that much. My wife tells me a story about when she did a show once (she's an artist), and a friend of hers who was also showing her work at the same show was having very poor luck selling her work, even though it was priced low and was very good quality. My wife told me she suggested to her friend that she triple her asking price, which she did, and immediately her sales picked up. Go figger.

These higher-priced auctions are where some of the best deals are found, and they are the worst way to sell. They are largely ignored because few people want to commit to a higher bid at the outset, so they stick to $0.99 auctions. BIN buyers want the coin now, so they will also ignore any auctions. This effectively eliminates half of the people searching for the coin on ebay.

There was an UNC Trade dollar with a single chop mark, certified by NGC as such, with a start price of $199. I didn't have cash to bid on it at the time, so I had to pass. It sold for the openning bid. Similar examples have sold for around $400, so I was bummed when I got the cash a couple days after it ended only to find out that it sold.

Isn't this just the way a free market works? I think Saruma gave a great example of how this works. ebay offers a few tools which made their market evolve into this way of dealing, it may just change overnight if 'the market' decides to change or if ebay changes their tools and/or policies.

I know all about waiting long time for an item (not necessarily a coin) to become available at a competitive price, it can be frustrating. Patience you must have, my young padawan.

I agree listing coins on ebay just doesn't make sense sometimes. I have listed coins 2-3 different times with very little action and then re-list and the coin sells within a hour. You are just waiting for the right buyer. You also may have a buyer that comes along and does not want to put in the pricing research mentioned by the OP. In this case the seller may get $10-$20 above the "price guides". It is a waiting game for most sellers. Somebody will usually take the bait...eventually.