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 Replies: 19 / Views: 2,900 |
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Valued Member
United States
131 Posts |
Hello Everybody, After having read many of the threads here (which have been incredibly helpful), I've decided to open an account on ebay to buy and sell some coins. Since many of you seem very savvy at ebay, and I'm not, I figured I'd ask you guys the following: 1) What tips do you have when opening an account. Anything I need to know? Will I get a lot of spam? Should I avoid using my real name? Any precautions I should take from the beginning? 2) When buying, what should I look for, as far as sellers go. I don't plan on spending a lot of money, but to be honest, I have never bought stuff off the internet largely because I couldn't inspect the stuff myself. Have you had good experiences? What did you do to make those experiences good? What precautions did you take? 3) When selling, what did you do? I don't plan on selling anything expensive, probably mostly wheat pennies that are not key dates. Any tips would be more than welcome. Thanks so much for your help in advance. *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12840 Posts |
1) It's been 14 years since I opened my ebay account...so I'm not sure I have any good tips here. I don't get any spam from ebay as far as I know. I don't think my real name is on there anywhere but I don't know for sure. 2) When buying: a. Feedback is your friend here. Take a few minutes to browse through feedback on sellers that have an item you intend to bid on. Pay close attention to their feedback, particularly if it's a high-dollar item. This will give you a pretty good indication of if the seller is trustworthy. b. Watch out for unreasonable shipping fees. c. Be aware of the seller's return policy, just in case. d. Open a PayPal account if you don't already have one. Makes buying (and selling) much easier. And safer. e. Caveat Emptor. As with any purchase, use your brain. If it sounds to good to be true... etc. f. There are other good buying tips but I think exercising common sense will go a long way to keeping you safe. 3.) I don't sell much on ebay, will let others chime in here. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4901 Posts |
Agree with the above....
I have been selling on the Bay for many years and have done quite well. For a tool that has worldwide exposure it can't be beat. With that said there will always be dorks as with any site that is public. I have been fortunate and with close to a thousand transactions I have have maybe two idiots which I think is pretty darn good.
Go slowly into selling...try some low level stuff at .99 start price and see where they go...keep shipping costs low (or zero) and offer a return policy.
Buying is fun...selling takes more effort but is rewarded.
Good luck!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
597 Posts |
if you do sell anything over lets say $20 use the free option to include a tracking number print postage using the ebay postage it is cheaper and has a free tracking number. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Rule #1 for selling coins on Ebay- become competent at using using a digital camera to take macro photos. Without good photos, you will just be setting yourself up for disappointment and low auction prices. You should also make a number of purchases before selling just so you can at least have a buying FB history. Buyer FB ultimately has no relation to seller FB but nothing appears more dodgy than someone who just signed up for ebay and then immediately lists hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of coins. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Reup you don't need to have free shipping to get the tracking number free. But for the ops questions 1. Just make sure you're passwords are protected and use a different one for the paypal account. Enabling the text message security is good too. 2. I've gotten a lot of my coins online. For ebay I usually only buy slabbed coins for assaurance, even cheap coins you can sometimes find slabbed. You can always break them out if you collect raw coins. If you're going to buy raw though find trusted sellers Whether it be sellers you've bought from before, or larger sellers there are some reputable sellers on there. A lot of the bigger coin websites like david lawrence ect have ebay stores which I would be very comfortable buying from. 3. For selling just have good pics and good descriptions. If you're just selling small things like wheat lots ect its pretty straight forward. For larger lots of them the usps prepaid boxes can be great to save on shipping. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1054 Posts |
Another handy selling tip - avoid "reserve" auction formats and if you're going to do a "best offer" buy it now auction, be reasonable with the expectations. The ultimate goal is to sell lots of quality items and make customers happy.
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Valued Member
 United States
131 Posts |
Thanks for your responses. A couple of follow ups: I hear a lot of issues with shipping costs. How are they supposed to work? How much do I expect to pay for shipping in general? How much does ebay get? So a hypothetical: Let's say I buy a coin for $5. How much am I really going to pay for it? Let's say I sell a coin for $5, how much will I actually see? Thanks again members, your time is appreciated. |
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Valued Member
United States
299 Posts |
Shipping costs are announced right on the description page. Anything over about three bucks for a coin is something to avoid. A coin can be mailed for less than two bucks. Many sellers offer free shipping. If you buy a coin for fivebucks and two dollars shipping, you pay seven bucks for it. Generally where I see outrageous shipping costs are heavy tool items or junk that is not worth owning. The sellers of junk use a high shipping fee to discourage returns. Suppose you find a 'great deal' on a widget for only 99cents, but the shipping cost is ten bucks. When you realize you have bought krap after holding it in your hand or having it break after using it one time, you can get the 99 cents back, but not the shipping fee so you just toss it and not bother pursuing a claim. So I see high shipping osts for lightweight items as a signal to avoid that item and that seller. I also look to a seller's other items. For instance, I saw a rather nice looking Morgan dollar the other day, but the camera focus was not real clear. So I looked at the other items this seller had for sale. Every single one of them had the exact same sheen, a tip-off that he was cleaning and polishing them. Same with one well known seller who has rainbow toned Morgans all the time. It is clear that he is artificially toning them. Occaisionally when I look at other items, I see a lot of household junk and only a coin or two. This can be a person who has no knowledge of coins I have never sold on ebay, but it is the sellers that pay fees. As I understand it, those fees vary according to what sort of account and history they have. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Anything over about three bucks for a coin is something to avoid. I disagree. Theres no magic shipping cost where you shouldnt then avoid it. Shipping cost should be all about the method. If they charge 4 dollars for first class mail yes its a rip off. If they charge 5 for priority mail its actual cost. For shipping from good seller you should be paying basically what it says on the price was on the shipping label when it arrives at the door |
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Valued Member
United States
299 Posts |
Well true dat, but what I am getting at is that if you are paying a premium of five bucks or so just to have the seller put the coin in an envelope, I avoid it. The shipping ost is posted right out front before you bid,, so you know. It IS something to take note of.
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Valued Member
United States
230 Posts |
I believe ebay currently takes 8.25% out of the total selling price (including shipping) + the insertion fee. PayPal takes a few cents as well. So, taking all that into account, if I sell a coin for a total of $10 and ship it with First Class Mail w/ Delivery Confirmation (a must IMO), I expect to be left with no more than $7 in hand, probably closer to $6.50. Hope this clears up the selling fees. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
if you are paying a premium of five bucks or so just to have the seller put the coin in an envelope, I avoid it. Agreed. Coin shipping supplies just arent that expensive its not like they have to buy a protective tube or something for a poster or bat. I think when its said and done the final ebay and paypal fees are between 10-13% and probably closer to 13 for sellers. |
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Valued Member
United States
131 Posts |
Thanks for all the help guys, I actually made my first (very small) purchase today. Looking forward to the mail for the first time in a long time...
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
nothing better than getting a coin in the mail, very dissapointing when you realize youll have to wait for monday though lol
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Valued Member
United States
131 Posts |
I got my first purchase in the mail today - it was exactly as advertised. Awesome! I followed many of your tips, and will certainly do so in the future. Thanks again, folks. Much appreciated
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,900 |
Posted 07/31/2012 4:28 pm
