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Posted 01/15/2012 07:25 am
I've been buying and selling on ebay for 11 years and 4 months, and have done about 8,000 transactions (lost almost 3000 feedbacks when ebay changed their rating system back in about 2006). I've been collecting since 1962 when I was a 12 year old paperboy and got paid in real silver coins 
. Went to my first coin show that same year (first TOREX and still have the token given out at the entrance). Took the bus and streetcar from west end Toronto -Kipling/Queensway- to downtown alone. Made my first coin deal there (sold a 1927 AU cent for $1.75 and bought a lower grade for 25 cents - had no idea about grades then so thought I did real well making a $1.50 profit minus about 20 cents for the bus fare). What a hobby 
! Only other sales I made between then and 2000 was to sell off some of my stuff to a dealer because of financial troubles in the 80's (sure would like to have that F/VF 1932 50 cents back - got $50 then, who knew it would rise so much?). Only when I started on ebay in 2000 did I get to actually make a few bucks out of buying and selling coins.
Get a Charlton catalogue or a copy of Canadian Coin News TRENDS section to check prices.
You MUST MUST MUST know how to grade to a reasonable extent. Look at 100's of ICCS or CCCS coins on ebay, even if you aren't interested in that particular date or denomination for now, just to understand what each grade looks like (eg. a George V EF coin will have almost the same look or wear for all denominations). Many sellers, wait, make that many, many, many sellers overgrade (especially asyn and almost everything certified by ACG
). Habibani, a seller another member mentioned, often puts the photo of a nice coin but sells multiple copies of the same year, so you don't get the coin in the photo . Also, other sellers put a "stock" photo, not the one you will get, so be sure to read the description carefully to ensure you are bidding on the one shown. Check the photo carefully - I've received a few bent coins which were not identified as such in the auction description 
You need to see clear photos of both sides of the coin you will be bidding on. Beware of flowery descriptions with ordinary coins, or small or poor photos - there are so many large cents auctioned off that have corrosion all around the leaves and legends, and somehow the seller just happened to forget to tell you that - when they say lovely EF, it could stand for Extremely F..F..F..F.., well you know what I mean, so you must always be careful and be informed.
I guess it wouldn't be proper to blab my ebay user name here, and I currently have no items for sale anyway. You can email me for it if you are curious. I use the same user name as here on 2 other Canadian coin sites, so you can check out posts I've made on them.
. Went to my first coin show that same year (first TOREX and still have the token given out at the entrance). Took the bus and streetcar from west end Toronto -Kipling/Queensway- to downtown alone. Made my first coin deal there (sold a 1927 AU cent for $1.75 and bought a lower grade for 25 cents - had no idea about grades then so thought I did real well making a $1.50 profit minus about 20 cents for the bus fare). What a hobby ! Only other sales I made between then and 2000 was to sell off some of my stuff to a dealer because of financial troubles in the 80's (sure would like to have that F/VF 1932 50 cents back - got $50 then, who knew it would rise so much?). Only when I started on ebay in 2000 did I get to actually make a few bucks out of buying and selling coins.Get a Charlton catalogue or a copy of Canadian Coin News TRENDS section to check prices.
You MUST MUST MUST know how to grade to a reasonable extent. Look at 100's of ICCS or CCCS coins on ebay, even if you aren't interested in that particular date or denomination for now, just to understand what each grade looks like (eg. a George V EF coin will have almost the same look or wear for all denominations). Many sellers, wait, make that many, many, many sellers overgrade (especially asyn and almost everything certified by ACG
). Habibani, a seller another member mentioned, often puts the photo of a nice coin but sells multiple copies of the same year, so you don't get the coin in the photo . Also, other sellers put a "stock" photo, not the one you will get, so be sure to read the description carefully to ensure you are bidding on the one shown. Check the photo carefully - I've received a few bent coins which were not identified as such in the auction description You need to see clear photos of both sides of the coin you will be bidding on. Beware of flowery descriptions with ordinary coins, or small or poor photos - there are so many large cents auctioned off that have corrosion all around the leaves and legends, and somehow the seller just happened to forget to tell you that - when they say lovely EF, it could stand for Extremely F..F..F..F.., well you know what I mean, so you must always be careful and be informed.
I guess it wouldn't be proper to blab my ebay user name here, and I currently have no items for sale anyway. You can email me for it if you are curious. I use the same user name as here on 2 other Canadian coin sites, so you can check out posts I've made on them.
