How To Sell Coins On Ebay: An Inquiry, Not A Guide

While I've never sold a coin on ebay, I have been selling for years there. If you're selling coins, especially single coins or small lots, then a USPS First Class package works the best. The small bubble mailers at Wal-mart are great and inexpensive (more so in bulk). First Class packages include tracking. If you have something more valuable or heavier (because First Class cuts off at 13 oz) consider a Small Flat Rate box for multiple rolls and such. Technically, you can load that little thing up with 70 lbs of sales.

First Class needs insurance added while any Priority shipment includes $50 insurance. I generally use Priority, but only because of weight and the flat-rate options. I don't add Insurance as an option in listings because I take into consideration the value, likelihood of being damaged, etc. then add Insurance when shipping at my own cost to cover my butt on higher priced items. I've never had an item lost in the mail and I've never lost anything from an illegitimate buyer or scam (which has only ever ended in an Unpaid Item case being opened against the buyer and resolved in my favor) and I think I've had maaaaybe two things returned legitimately and then I relisted them and they sold for more the second time!

I don't understand the previous post about "item not delivered" despite tracking showing otherwise and losing a case. Always keep the tracking numbers/receipts and if you purchased additional insurance, keep that slip as well. Generally, cover your bases. ebay is a little biased toward buyers but not so much as you would think. ebay values the sellers more in the end because, without sellers, there would be no buyers!

Unless the sale will top $150+ don't offer international shipping. Sending off a "letter" blind with zero tracking or insurance will cost you about $8. The cheapest package option avaliable is $15 (only available at post office) and the cheapest ebay offers is $30+. I foolishly sold a $30 lot and only charged $8 for shipping internationally. When I had accepted that I was taking a loss on the shipping, the package was seized by the foreign customs office (it was ancient coins) and it was a total loss of about $45.

Domestic pacages are legally protected; the post office workers cannot open it unless they have reason to suspect foul play, e.g. a bomb or drugs. When customs are involved, they can open it at either side, just to see what's in there.

Never had a problem shipping domestically, but I do insure all packages over $100. Shipping charges of $2.99 seem to be the magic number; it will cover the shipping and supplies without much impact on the final bid.

To clarify my statement concern items not delivered...

I have been selling coins on ebay for 10 years, with 100 percent feedback. In those 10 years I have had three cases opened against me for "items not received". In the last one they just took the money out of my account and handed it to the buyer EVEN THOUGH TRACKING SHOWED IT ARRIVING. This was just last year. The ebay CSR told me that ebay does not consider it delivered until the customer goes out to their mailbox and puts their hand on it. When I said that you could never verify that, the CSR informed me that "We believe in the integrity of our buyers/Customers".

Of the three times this happened, one of them I think was legitimate. One sent me a check about 6 months later with a note saying it had been delivered 4 months later with no explaination by the Post Office. The second was a seller who was scamming other sellers by winning bids and then claiming non-delivery, and then reselling on his own account. He was shut down by ebay, but they never paid anyone back, even though they had made money twice on the sale.

ebay also refunded money from a transaction my business partner made concerning a double eagle. The buyer claimed non deliver even with signature confirmation. Why? Because the signture was not the buyers, but his maids ( no kidding!).

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Alot has been said already that I was going to say, but I thought I'd chip in anyway.

I've been selling on ebay for over three years and in that time I've sold over 6000 items, and I've got 100% feedback. But the feedback doesn't come easy. It's through dedication to good customer service, and you've got to accurately describe everything! With coins, I find it best to put an opinion of the grade, and the best quality photos I can provide. I use a third party image hosting website, and then html embed them into the description of the listing as large photos available to see.

In The United Kingdom, I send any coin worth over £10 tracked, I include it in the price of the coin usually so that it is free postage and packaging. The reason I send it tracked is that in the past, I've had many buyers take advantage of the lack of tracking, and claim that they haven't received the coin. Most people are honest, but many will try their luck with you, and you have no choice but to refund them in full, or risk receiving negative feedback. I've had buyers actually claim that the coin hasn't arrived, even when it has been signed for by their surname...perhaps a dodgy postman was signing for parcels and keeping them, but even if the buyer claims they haven't received the coin, and their is proof that it has been signed for by their surname, then ebay just shut the case down in your favour! And they have removed their feedback in the past too. If the coin is only worth a small amount, then you are insuring that you will never have to refund larger than £10. People are generally honest buyers, its just that when you start to sell a lot of coins, it increases your chances of selling to a dishonest buyer!

I will only send coins internationally tracked and signed for. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't cost a great deal more, if someone wants a coin they will pay the extra for tracked delivery. I can send a coin to the States for about £10 tracked.

If you put the effort in with photography, and describe the coin well (dimension, weight, honest opinion of grade etc) then you've done all you can.




ebay takes 10% of the final value. So, if you sell a coin for $10, you will take $9. Paypal takes around 3.5% I believe, so now you are down to $8.65 . Also, if you're not subscribed to a shop subscription, ebay will charge for a listing fee but these are small and often you get free listings as part of special advertising promotions.




It's not advised that you annoy buyers by asking high prices for postal charges. By all means, make room for expenses, it all adds up. You have packaging materials, gas costs, AND ebay takes a small proportion of the fee from international postage charges. If it costs $8 to send a coin, I feel its appropriate to ask $9 for postage and packaging. But this all depends on how much profit is in the coin! With coins over the value of say $10, I tend to charge free inland postage and packaging, and make sure I'm still making a profit whilst doing so. I'm also not sure how much it costs to send from Canada to USA, or USA to USA etc etc.

I've rambled too much, good luck with listing coins, it can be fun watching the bids come in! Or frustrating if they don't!

It's actually not a bad go on ebay selling off parts of your collection if you live in the states. I say this as you can have tracked mail domestically for something like $3. This gets rid of most scammers. Were not as fortunately up north where the cheapest letter shipping with tracking is 12-20 depending on where its going domestically.

Just a follow up question about the default settings. By default, I've found that my listings say I will ship within three business days and that I do not accept returns. I've switched it to two business days because that's a time frame I can definitely adhere to. I noticed that a lot of sellers offer next day shipping -- does it make enough of a difference to justify changing my listings?

Returns. Should I change my settings to allow for returns? Just from reading the forums about ebay listings, I've seen that "no return" sales are viewed with suspicion off the bat. Does it make enough of a difference to switch my default option? Seeking firsthand accounts: has anyone had issues with buyers abusing the return policy? Thanks again.

The buyer can force a return, even if you say you don't accept them. Might as well say that you accept them in your listings.

I would not even bother trying to sell sub-$10 items on ebay. It's not worth the time, effort and potential headaches. If you have many low dollar items try to group them together for sale on ebay or elsewhere (coin show, coin dealer, swap meet, pawn shop, etc). I personally do not sell anything on ebay that's likely to sell for under $25 or so.