Are Coins On Ebay Even Worth The Effort?

You will probably have to pull ebay from my cold, dead hands. Yes, my VAM-1L went cheap, but it's a limited-audience VAM, with an undetermined population, and the target buyers are pretty sophisticated. Taken in the context of the much larger group of 1921's I've been liquidating, I'm doing just fine, thank you.

As has been said already, ebay is not for the faint of heart or the uneducated, and the return on time spent is not great. However, if you know what you're doing, you are a wolf among sheep there. The keys are discipline, patience and knowing how to interpret sometimes-shoddy photography.

If you liked that one, NGiles, just wait for this one, after the Baltimore show:





Yes, it has a big gouge in the field, but that's not a blur in front of Liberty's profile. It's the biggest Machine Doubling shelf I've ever seen on a Morgan, and it's on a Condition Census VAM. I expect a little more play for this one.

Hi everyone!

Most of my coins (as little as they are) were accuired from trading computers for coins to friends or collecting various coins which kids brought in while I was working at a gas station during college, hehe. Recently though, I've bought quite a few off ebay - some older stuff and newer fun stuff as well. ebay is the primary source, but with the help of this community, I've been finding other sites online. Thanks!

As of right now, I don't use ebay. All of the coins I've bought came from the flea market or other various stores or places that I've found coins in. My philosophy is that seeing a coin in person is worth a thousand pictures, so unless I have rock-solid evidence that what I'm paying for on ebay is what I desire to receive, I probably wouldn't use it.

Shipping is a good point. I constantly see sellers charging $3.75 for shipping for an order of 1 coins then $1.50 for each additional coin. What a scam!

2 things... first superdave mentioned about interpreting bad photography and to use it in your favor, very important.

2nd....Shipping Fees I recently bought a coin for 99 cent that had a $6.95 shipping fee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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There are a lot of sellers who add all the fees into the s/h so that they won't lose the money even if the coin only sells for .99. Personally, I don't agree with this practice. Our First Class shipping charge is $2.00, but we truly combine shipping, without an additional charge for additional coins. Whether it's 1 or 10, the shipping price is the same.

It's a shame that sellers don't understand how high shipping turns buyers off. Granted, ebay doesn't take a cut of the s/h charges, just the sale price, but it isn't right to circumvent the fees by charging high shipping either. ebay gets on my nerves too, but they are still entitled to their money (even if I feel the fees are getting too high).

I have made hundreds of coin transactions on ebay and have only had a few problems. I have also sold hundreds of coins on ebay through Susan and Bobby and have done better than I ever have at a coin dealer. I still shop ebay as well as a few local coin shops that I have developed relationships with. When my main brick and mortar dealer and I can't come to an agreement on a sale or purchase we usually end up selling my coin or me bidding on his ebay site for a coin I want. In fact, I am bidding on two of his coins right now. The nice part is I just go pay for my coins and I and there are no shipping costs involved!

On another note, I have developed some realtionships with a few sellers on ebay that now email with offers before listing and then there are no fee's incurred by the seller and I get the coins for less... Mike

Moved to ebay Discussions.