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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,116 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
I recently won an auction on ebay of a collection of 20 different cents. I bid on it because it contained a couple proofs that I needed for my collection. I only bid a price that was equal to what I would pay for only the coins that I wanted / needed. So basically I paid for the coins that I wanted and the rest were "free". I keep an inventory of all my coins to include the price that I paid for them. So how do I put a price on the other coins that I really got for "free". Do I put a zero cost or divide the whole lot by the total price that I paid? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3233 Posts |
Yep...makes sense to me. Zero cost the stuff you felt cost you nothing.
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Valued Member
United States
144 Posts |
I'm not an accountant, but I'll play one now.
If this is for tax purposes, I'd spread the total amount out over all the coins in the same approximate ratio as their current values according to any price guide (for example, if a price guide for 2 coins says 100 for one and 10 for another, and you paid 30, then 100/110 * 30 for the higher priced coin, and 10/110 * 30 for the other).
If this is only for your own scorecard, I'd go with the zero idea. Allocate the total amount you spent in the way most meaningful to you, as long as the total allocated amount equals the total you paid. If that's $100 for coin A, and 0 for coin B, so be it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
914 Posts |
I go the way that Greyhav does. Split the cost proportionally among all the coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
If they were mine, I'd calculate my cost basis on the extras as 1/20th of the shipping cost. But greyhav is right on about calcualting for tax purposes. If you don't expect the coins to appreciate then keeping a lower value on them won't hurt.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1106 Posts |
Keep the ones you were looking for and sell the rest. Problem solved  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Absolutely what greyhav said. Regardless of the reason, in the future you would look at your statistics and go nuts wondering why you paid nothing for a coin. Maybe it's me with a bad memory but I would go nuts in a few years wondering about a 0 for a purchase price. Of course you could write a nice long explanation and put it somewhere, but a proportioned amount as noted would be the best.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
750 Posts |
I too agree with Grey. I take coins that I get like that, and figure out pricing in proportion to the true value. Nothing cost 0. That would throw so many red flags up. ie.. buy 2 coins for $100.00. One coin is worth $100.00 the other worth 10.00 I would put my cost at something like $95 and 5.
Just my nickels worth..
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Valued Member
United States
264 Posts |
I'd divide the cost + S&H by the number of coins or items to get avg cost per item. You may consider them "free" but it still cost you really.
I keep two different list for myself. I keep a list of auctions I've won, price, shipping, seller, and coins in the lot. I pull out the coins I specifically bid for, needed for my collection, etc. These I put in a list with the date purchase, market value at that time, a pointer to my lot list, and then the cost as the total lot price + S&H divided by the # of coins in the lot.
Coins that I don't want I may sell individually or add with other coins to form new lots of coins to sell. If the lot sales I add it to my "sold" list with a reference to the coins/lots that made up the sale lot. I then use that money to buy more lots. So sort of like my coin roll hunting I just take $100 or so when I can afford it and keep recycling it till out of money.
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
For tax purposes, I also divide the cost among all of the coins. For coins that are in a lot that I decide to keep for my personal collection, I divide the entire cost among the coins that I will be selling.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1151 Posts |
A couple people have mentioned "for tax purposes". Are you using profit / loss of an investment for deductions or for what other purposes are you using these costs?
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,116 |
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Posted 07/31/2007 5:47 pm
