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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,608 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1590 Posts |
I sell on ebay. I have sold some Barbers this week. They grade anywhere from G4 to VF30. My last sale is typical. 1897P in G4. It sold for $3 out the door. Deduct ebay and paypal fee's and we are down to $2.14 ( 9%+3% plus $0.50). Stamp and envelope equals $0.50; total net equals $1.54. I probably bought it for $1.60 to $1.80. Either way I just lost money. Now if I sell directly to my scrapper I am going to get about $2.40. But another coin is gone forever. Just thought some would like to see this from a dealers point of view! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
Why not sell your silver in $5, $10, & $20 face value lots then?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4944 Posts |
 Sell the coins in lots, so you don't need to pay all the fees on each separate transaction. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1590 Posts |
I do sell in lots at times. I just thought I would give some beginning collectors a shot at some hole fillers. I have some "S" dates that are in this job lot that got me to thinking it would be better to give a young/beginning collector a shot.
It seems with Barbers that unless it is high grade that you don't get much over melt. Which seems a shame.
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Valued Member
United States
333 Posts |
Don't sell on ebay. There is a way to sell here instead to people who understand the costs on single coin transactions and are enthusiastic about collecting. |
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Valued Member
United States
366 Posts |
Bundle a bunch of them together and sell as a group. Not much margin but more than single coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
As a collector its a shame that coins get melted (unless it makes mine more valuable  ) but I definitely understand why it happens. People sell to make money or because they need money. It only makes sense that they would sell to places that will give them the most money, which with a lot of lower grade silver coins ends up being the scrapper. With the current price of silver the only way to stop that would be a concentrated effort of overpayment to make it more valuable to sell. Since we all like getting deals and few of us would overpay consistently like that I dont see this changing anytime soon without a significant PM price drop Edited by basebal21
09/30/2012 6:15 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
It's pretty simple - selling small-value lots at any auction venue is not a profitable business model. Never really was.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1590 Posts |
I agree that if you sell the occasional small lot it is not worth your time.
I normally work on percentages and volume. If I can maintain a 50 percent profit then it does not matter if I sell 100 small lots or one large one. If the first lot cost $100 and I can plow $150 into the next lot and then $225 in the next and $337.50 in the next....well, you can see what I mean.
I just find it interesting and bit disconcerting that before the run up in spot prices I was maintaining a profit of 52 percent; according to my spread sheets. Since the run-up my profit has dipped down to 18 percent.
You can still make money on flipping silver, but forget gold. The margins are not there. The market is not as robust as it was either. Gold $20 eagles are selling for about $1875 each. Deduct your fees and they are selling for below spot.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
If you have close to a roll of cruddy Barber dimes you're willing to let go for spot plus shipping (and I mean Barbers that have no numismatic value over their silver and would give you that kind of a loss on ebay) PM me. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Just one of the many reasons to stay away from ebay. But who listens? That same coin would have sold for a lot more at a coin show. Unfortuantely traveling to a coin show, with the price of gasoline, too would cost. Buying a coin is always one thing. Selling is always something else. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3755 Posts |
I sell those types of coins as well. No, I dont make a whole lot on them, maybe .25-.50, but they are a draw to my store. And I cant bring myself to sell anything for melt aside from lower grade Kennedy halves. And even some of those I have to pry out of my own fingers. LOL I would rather take a measly profit and see the coin go to a collector than it possibly get melted. Now, if I can, I will sell silver coins in runs. I just sold a roll of Roosies as a straight run. Every date and MM, with a 44 and 45 Merc to round it out to a full roll of 50. A few of the coins were MS, the rest were XF to AU, so no huge premiums over melt. But sold as a straight run, and not just G-VG, I pulled a good margin. I would think you could do the same with lower grade Barbers. Given that you want to have some to offer up hole fillers, those you have to be prepared for the low profit. But maybe you could put together small groups. Like say, 06 PDSO. Or the decade of 1900, one of each year. Things like that that still offer up the coins at a reasonable price, and can still be hole fillers, but offer a greater chance for margin for yourself. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Its a shame that to save the coin you have to take a loss on a coin, I understand where you are coming from and also understand that you were hoping to help someone fill some holes. I guess when you do this you have to decide if its worth it to you to eat away at the profit you made on the other items in order to maybe help out another collector. I know there has been times I have given away coins on this forum as contests that I knew I could sell for over $100.00 at times but it was worth it to me (and I could afford it at the time) to know whoever received the coin would enjoy it. I have sold some coins and made a profit from them but I just take these coins away from the profit I have made and decided it was worth it to be able to help someone else out that may not be able to acquire that particular item any other way (believe me I have received help from others before myself in more way than I have ever helped anyone else so it is just my way of giving back when I can). I feel my ADD is kicking in again and I may be trying to over explain things but I hope you get what I am trying to say
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Moderator
United States
188415 Posts |
Take one for the team. Save the coin.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
507 Posts |
You compare selling on ebay where you account for all of the little fees, but then you act as if selling to the melter has no costs at all. If you have to travel somewhere there's the cost of gas, and the time that you spend. And if you wouldn't travel to sell a single dime or nobody would drive to you for a single dime then it's not a fair comparison. I figure my travel costs $0.15/mile so unless the buyer is my next door neighbor the costs add up. Just pointing out there are costs to consider on the other side as well. |
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,608 |
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Posted 09/28/2012 12:57 am
