Getting My Foot In The Door In The Business Of Numismatics

I sure will and I have a question about a coin I have maybe someone can answer it. I have a 1912 V nickel no mint mark but its all black but the grade is like vf20 or better because of the color does that deteriorate the grade?

Im sorry I need to make a correction its a Indian Head cent I'm sorry wrong coin

well it was working yesterday thats strange. I'm gonna get a better pic today and ill post it

Excellent. You've answered all of my objections nicely, and I wish you the very best of luck.

I liike this guys moxy, enthusiasm, you'll need it.

Logan, as others have said, get a mentor. It will speed up the process. Also, here are a few rules that will apply even to starting a coin biz.

1- expect to fail, several, if not many times. Success comes from failing.

2- learn from your mistakes, and do NOT commit them again

3- remember you will always be learning, you will never really know it all, so soak up as much as you can

4- be patient

5- be persistent

6- go with the flow

7- dont allow opinions that you formulate to cloud your thinking.


I wish you all the best!

Nice thread, I'm starting something similar but just as a hobby. Its kind of fun making a website, you could do that as you can give your buyers cheaper prices and make more money since there are no ebay fees.

Regarding profit percentage, and markup, I don't believe you should mark up items by a fixed percentage; 40%, 20% or whatever set percentage. Items should be marked up as much as they can while still selling. The markup price should be determined based on demand, the previous price you paid for the item in your inventory is now a sunk cost. There will be items you make a tiny bit of profit, others you lose money, and hopefully some you make a ton of profit on.

Keeping records of each sale and all of the costs that were tied to the sale. As others have said there is the price you paid for the item, but there are ebay fees (10%), Payapl fees, shipping, packaging. Some of these costs are obvious but some of the costs can get hidden. But tracking all of these costs will allow you review the profit you are making with each item. Review the sales history and continue to buy and sell coins that are giving you the most profit. Stop buying and selling ones you lose money at.

I see you think there is only one coin dealer locally. If you are in Tampa, close by is one of the major dealers called Gainesville Coins, located in Lutz, Fl. hey are large with a real internet presence.
I also read your example of selling nickels and the ebay and Paypal overhead. I think it is underestimated. Paypal had a percentage of just under 3% plus a transaction fee of about 30 cents. ebay fees vary depending on auction style or buy it now listings. But, they can be close to 10%. The real problem is that 30 cent base for Paypal, it can be a large percentage for small items. I tent to avoid listing things like nickels, r group them for only one base fee. And, coin buyers on ebay know the real price, including shipping, which is postage, envelope, 2X2, transportation to the Post Office, etc.