Using Coin Sniper?

Actually Rusty who runs/owns coin sniper is one of the members here.. So maybe he'll be able to chime in at somepoint...

But anyways, Rusty's a great guy! Very honest and up front, I was having a problem with the site when I first signed up, a misunderstanding moreso, and Rusty was great about the whole ordeal. A friend of mine won a beautiful AU/MS toned merc with her free beginner bids.. What a a deal that was, I think she paid .07 cents.... Total....

But anyways, I'd bid on things all the time, he has some great, great coins that come up for sale, I just always worry that if someone else really wants the coin they will out bid me, which on ebay would be fine, but being that you buy your bids and don't get them back if you arnt the highest bidder is too much of a risk for me.. Especially on the more expensive coins I like... I just can't risk bidding a couple hundred dollars and then not wining he auction and loosing the money... I would be beyond PO'ed .

But... That said.. Rusty has been working on a bid cap, where people are only allowed a certain amount of bids per item, also where you need to bid a least once early on an item, so people cant jump in at the last second and win.. Beginner auctions, as well as some other new guidelines that I think will help this issue... So I've patiently been sitting by watching the auctions progress, studying how they work.. People have definitely gotten some super, super deals from that site, it's all about knowing how it works and being smart with your bids... And you could get some amazing coins for super low prices..

I should add! There are people that never figure it out, user up their free bids or worse, buy in before they know what they're doing and get burned and walk away never to try again. (Just as many have a great time and get hooked!)

I hate watching that happen. Obviously, it's in my best interest to get as many things selling to as many different users as I can, so I've worked very hard to try to keep the "burn" from happening. I've made a LOT of changes since I started the site nearly a year ago, and I'm probably not done yet. I'm a collector and I'm doing this for collectors, so I want to see people having fun and doing well. Unfortunately, there's only so much I can do... the rest is in the hands of the user and how much time they wish to spend figuring out how to do well.

I should also add that a number of serious collectors have complained about the auction estimates. They say they don't like my " Red Book Pricing" or some such thing. It's just a frame of reference - items often sell for significantly more or significantly less than the estimate. The buyer USUALLY (though not always) gets a much better deal than the auction estimate. In theory it should now be impossible to win and pay more than half price.

I'm dealing with serious, experienced collectors and people that are brand new to the hobby. Because it's a handy on-line reference, I link each auction to NGC's coin explorer. Their pricing system is a bit high (much like the Red Book), but if I deviate too much from the price they quote, people new to the hobby don't get it. It's just a frame of reference, a starting place. If you don't agree, you can bid accordingly.

That is one of the things I'm proudest of - I've brought a lot of people to the hobby that would otherwise not be interested. Furthermore, I've had a number of experienced collectors come to me and tell me they've immeasurably broadened their horizons because they got lucky and won something they don't typically collect, and now they're hooked on a new series or type.

That is why I do this - it's those comments that keep me going.

I do everything I can to encourage not getting into all-or-nothing fights to the death. People do them anyway. : ( I should mention - they sure don't do it very often anymore! But once in a while it happens.

Have you been by the site recently? A lot has changed... There are now limits on the amount you can spend per auction. I'm trying to lower those limits, but there's a balance I have to strike between letting my customers run a little free and not letting them go too crazy.

BamaBlue, I don't understand at all what you're talking about, honestly.

First of all, for the people that take the time to get good at it, it's a LOT of fun.

Second, you compared it to poker, and there are people that would agree with you. Think about sitting in front of a slot machine all day and instead of getting bing-bings and credits on a little paper slip, instead you had the opportunity to win proofs and Morgans and stuff. I don't know about you, but that concept appeals to me A LOT.

Secondly, I do Beginner Auctions that are basically freebees. They're not great coins, but I ship them out and buy them, they sure as heck ain't free to me. I feel they're a good way to calibrate my "presentation" of the coin to help your expectations as for my valuations and grading.

And if you're worried about not getting something - do you mean you don't understand how it works or people don't actually get anything? Because if you think for some reason people aren't getting something, you're quite mistaken. Let's look at what happened today.

It was a slow day.

I opened with a VF details Seated dime. This auction had no reserve and it happened to be the biggest coin of the night. Four CoinSnipers went after it (though three only made any real effort), nomish ended up on top using 11 CoinSnipes. Now, I know some of them were free, but assuming worst case, let's say he used all ones he'd paid for, at $0.60 per CoinSnipe that would be about $6.50 plus shipping.

Let's look at the next auction - coin didn't meet reserve, didn't sell. nomish was again high bidder, so just for bidding on the auction he picked up 2 free CoinSnipes. Also, anybody that bid on the coin got their bids back because it didn't meet reserve. No loss for anybody, and nomish got some freebees.

Let's skip ahead to the next seller: a holed high-VF Details 1853 Arrows Seated dime. ITSMINETHISTYME put in one bid. Again, no reserve coin. Nobody else bid, so for the price of shipping and one CoinSnipe, that coin is getting shipped out.

Next seller was an 1866 3-Cent Nickel in Very Good (tonight was Classic Wednesday, I do moderns and more recent coins, key dates, too.) gatortwins won the auction with 4 CoinSnipes plus shipping.

So nomish, ITSMINETHISTYME and gatortwins all picked up coins tonight that will be shipped out to them. ITSMINETHISTYME dropped a few bids on the 1866 3CN, but seeing as he got a Seated dime for a single bid, it more than evens out for him.

Let's look that first auction again - underbidders were gatortwins, alanabel and mtksas. We know about gatortwins, got a $15 coin for 4 CoinSnipes plus shipping. gatortwins also dropped 10 CoinSnipes on the dime nomish won. alanabel didn't win tonight, but the other night he picked up a VF Barber quarter, and he only dropped 3 tonight, so he's not hurting too bad I suppose. He had a good strategy, but luck wasn't on his side I guess.

So anyway, the people that pay for stuff are getting great coins, they're quite possibly opening up new areas of collecting they never would have considered, and they're having fun.

That's kind of a typical night lately. It just takes one or two serious collectors to get in on the action and the bigger stuff starts selling. The risks are bigger, as are the rewards. Good strategy, and luck win. But a lot of people don't even care about losing money (I care about them losing more than they do!) - they're just having fun, like those folks parked in front of a slot machine all day having a kick.

And that's how I have it set up - I'm hoping that those that can get good at it will even out over time. Many do better than even, some do worse. But the real piece here that's important is that it's fun.

So there's an example of three people that have paid for something and they're getting something in return...

I am one of the bidders referred to in Scropper's post above who didn't win tonight.
As a 'new' collector, I enjoy seeing what Rusty puts up for bid, along with the background of each coin.
He grades fairly and identifies any issues with the coins if they exist. He also can combine shipping if you win more than one coin.

Tremendous deals can be had if a coin has the critical mass of bidders interested in it to get it past the low reserve price.

It's worth a shot to try out for free - I won a common date Indian Head cent in a beginner auction (these are only for new people who have never won anything) for .01 using my free bids - and he ships the beginner auctions out for free. Tomorrow it looks like he's got a silver Roosevelt dime and War Nickel up in the beginner auctions. Go try it out and snag one of them!

Anyway - I think it's fun - you see a wide variety of coins, and Rusty is a great communicator.

I would assume that by the "pay for something you don't get" comment the poster was referring to the fact that everyone that bids on a coin and loses has paid for something and received nothing (or at least no coin). I can certainly see why some people feel that way but as you said no product/service will ever appeal to everyone. Keep up the great work.

Merc Man - yes, it can happen. But I try my best to give good advice about how to be successful to make sure you don't lose everything. People often ignore my advice, and that's their choice.

So yes, you CAN, but most often, those that spend some time figuring it out have fun and get "their money's worth." That's my goal, at least.

CoinsKelly, I sure appreciate it! I'm working hard to make the recent changes make sense. I know it can be overwhelming for somebody unfamiliar with the process. Also, I've been trying to run more auctions at different times, but at the moment there aren't quite enough bidders to support some of those time slots, so I'm scaling back. Hope to see you soon!