Is It Just Me, Or Do You Hate Buying Coins Online?

Almost all of my buying is done online. If you collect off the mainstream material and you have an advanced collection you are not going to find much at your local B&M shop or at coin shows. Maybe at the big shows if you are lucky, but don't hold your breath. At the ANA show in Chicago this year I checked every dealer handling the type of material I collect including a couple who specialize in it. Struck out completely. About two weeks ago I got a list from a specialist dealer just back from a buying trip in England. Struck out there as well. But every now and then something comes up at auction or on ebay.



If they are CONSISTENTLY selling for over what you price guide says then you are probably either using the wrong guide or the prices in your guide are too low. If the guide says a coin is worth $50 but every time it comes on the market it sells for $75, then the guide is wrong.

Yep.

I've noticed exactly the opposite. Coins on ebay sell for consistently LESS than what price guides would suggest.

I've attributed that to folks being cautious buying through the internet where they can't see or feel the coin.

You don't have to live in a rural area to be without a good local dealer. I live in a major metro area and can't find a dealer with convient hours. I guess coin dealers are targeting retirees because I don't know how else they stay in business with store hours of 9-5 Monday - Friday. Needless to say I buy online.

Only ever had one problem...all the rest positive ;-)

I buy from coin shops and ebay. I have noticed that ebay has coins either cheaper or more expensive that what I see on lists, say at numismedia.com.

If I go to the coin shops and buy certain things, there is hardly no competition there. I can buy wheat cents from a large bin for 10 cents each and cherrypick those. Hardly nothing online can complete with that. Also, I can buy Indian Head nickels, 2 for one dollar. Indian Head cents also for one dollar and a few other things. But then again, some things are way more expensive at the coin shop. They had a small bin of Barber quarters for $18 each. I was like, no way.

I am extremely hesitant when it comes to purchasing online, over the phone or by mail order simply because I like seeing the coin before handing over money for them. One of the guy's at my coin club suggested I check out a local dealer who lists Lincoln wheat cents in coinage. I checked them out and they had BU and Choice BU Wheat cents from 1934 to present so I figured I would submit an online order for a couple and see how the quality was. I figured they were about a 45 minute drive from my home so worst case I'd just drive over and return them if they were not up to my standard. That was a year ago, since then they are the only online dealer I've used and every time we have a local coin show they are usually the first table I go to. their prices are good, and the quality of the coins they send are awesome! Most times it only takes them 2-3 days to fill and ship my order, the worst I've experienced with them so far was 2 weeks, the reason they said was with my order history and knowing my preference, one of the coins I had ordered they only had 1 and they didn't think it would suite me so they searched around their network and found one that they felt I'd like, so it took a little longer as they had to wait for it. Check them out if you'd like. I ordered my lincolns from 1940-1959 BU for somewhere under $100.00. The company is: "mcqueeney coins", you can just put those two words together and add a .com to it for their website.

I buy from pretty much everywhere.

I think you can be successful buying on ebay but you have to do quite a lot of work searching as well as learn what to look for to get things at the price you want. It's not like going to a store - there are going to be coins you want but they get bid up over your price - that's just how it goes. Lots of patience required and never buy without a return policy. No returns = no bid in my book.

Coin shows can be really nice if you are looking for specifics and have your prices in mind. You also have to ask around for what you want as sometimes the good stuff isn't out on the table. The most recent show I went to, I could have probably filled my Lincoln album. I told one of the guys I was looking for early uncirculated red-brown Lincolns; the owner grabbed a box from behind the table and said "you'll probably want to look through these". The guy I was talking to said "I think he must have just bought a set from some one". I ended up with a really nice 31-D in 63/64 RB (I have been looking a while for this one) and a nice 1914 in 63 RB. If I had a couple grand with me, I could have finished the set - my wife disagreed though - don't know why - I bought her a nice breakfast at IHOP right before the coin show! I also found a nice 1918 for a good price and a nice 1940 from a bargain bin. But all of the silver was overpriced in my opinion and so I struck out there. So you never know what you will find or not find at a show.

Coin stores are similar in that it is great to see the coins in person but stock is limited so sometimes you will walk out with nothing because they just don't have what you are looking for.

I think you can collect using one or all of these sources successfully. Different sources required different techniques and you have to find what works best for you and your collection.