Need Advice On Inherited Coins, Please

A couple things...

#1. An unwillingness to trust major coin auctioneers will cost you a dump trucks' worth of money over time if there are more investment-grade coins like that '92-CC. IE, I would have given you $1800 off ebay for that coin, meaning your net would have been closer to $1750. Heritage could have probably netted you around the same at 95% of hammer. However, they do have a minimum consignment value of $5k, so they won't do business with you if it's under $5k total. I'd be more inclined to use GreatCollections, honestly... They net good prices and you'll end up with more money in your pocket. Of course, if you have an ultra-valuable ($10k+) coin, I'd still send that to HA.com. It's not a bad idea to list high-value coins on ebay given their fees are capped at $250 per transaction, just make sure you know what it's worth before you list it, and factor in ebay's costs into your final sale price. Don't forget, paypal fees are not capped. Also keep #7 in mind when considering listing a high-value coin on ebay.

#2. Take your time selling. This has already been said before, but worth restating. Selling high-quality coins is often about finding the right buyer for your coin, not selling it at the right price. Unless you're asking a ridiculous premium over bid/book, you can usually move most coins for the price you want in 30 days. I do a lot of business just on ebay, buying and flipping coins, by winning them at auction and watching BIN's, then grading the coins, turning around and selling them. Last year, I netted $10k doing this. Patience is a virtue, especially in numismatics. The easiest way to make money in coins and most other businesses is exploiting others impatience.

#3. Where are you located? Sitting down with somebody who knows their stuff and doesn't want/need to make money off you could be highly beneficial. I am sure there are members here who will extend their services to you just for the pleasure of checking out the collection. I've done this before elsewhere, and was happy to get a consignment out of the deal. I only made a few hundred bucks on a collection worth $15k+, but it was a pleasure to help somebody out during a tough time in their life and ensure they weren't ripped off during the process of dispensing their coins. I believe many numismatists share this sentiment and would gladly help you out for little or no profit.

#4. Dealer buybacks... ouch. I wouldn't bother going this route unless you just want to quickly and easily dispose of the collection. Dealer overhead generally means they need to buy at 60%-70% of retail if they have a storefront, which results in you leaving a ton of money on the table. Some dealers have fantastic buyback programs, but those dealers are likely to be mostly on the show circuit, not local, so I doubt that you have any close to you. Once again, if we know where you are, we may be able to send you to somebody who can help.

#5. Before you do any of the above, create an inventory of everything. List date, denomination and mintmark in a spreadsheet so you know what you have. Unscrupulous individuals will take advantage of you if they can, and defending yourself against individuals like that is of utmost importance.

#6. Cash is king. If this is a large collection worth $10k+, it's beneficial to find somebody who will deal in cash. While you'll take a slight haircut in value when you insist on a cash transaction, it can save you a lot of money in terms of reporting income, assuming that a lot of the costs of these coins are not documented properly. I dispensed of a collection of mostly junk silver worth about $23k a few months ago, and since the purchase prices weren't documented, I found a cash buyer and probably saved the individual whom I sold the coins for around $7k in taxes, while only losing about $500 for doing a cash deal. In the long run, this is far more cost effective.

#7. Kind of related to #6. Remember that if you hit certain thresholds, PayPal is forced to issue you a tax form (6050W) under certain circumstances. Per their website, "PayPal is required to report gross payments received for sellers who receive over $20,000 in gross payment volume AND over 200 separate payments in a calendar year." The issue here is that if you're not the owner of the coins and don't document the consignment agreement properly, you will get stuck with the tax bill for the sale of those coins. So once again, cash saves you a lotta trouble.

If you have any questions specific to the selling-side of the hobby, feel free to drop me a line. I'm not a dealer, but still know a ton about it thanks to dipping my toes in the water on a regular basis. Best of luck to you.

One worth reading. Chasingtailbar, if you don't mind I'm going to see about integrating your post into the "What to do if you've inherited a coin collection" thread.

You know you can do a "buy it now or best offer" listing on ebay also. You could have listed it at 2400 and had offers coming in.

and also, that was an excellent, well thought out post chasingtailbar! Nicely said!

Ssuperdave and chasingtailbar, the 1892cc was initially listed on ebay as an auction starting at 2500.00. No bids but 2 watchers. I relisted it two more times both times reducing the price. While sitting at my aunts house, I told her I just can't sell them on line. I had a couple of emails from potential buyers offering 1200.00 and 1350.00. I told her this but said I wasn't going to give the coin away like that but she is super frustrated because she has too much to worry about one coin she can't even sell. So she told me to list it for 1800.00. It sold in 30 minutes with instant payment. It was shipped yesterday to a man in California. I'm sure he'll be very satisfied as I sit here with a knot in the pit of my stomach. Ugh! Basically the reason for this reply is, I wanted to let you know I did start the bidding higher, I only ended up with the auction ending and zero bids, two watchers and a couple of messages making offers from low ballers. That is why I felt I was in the wrong place to sell. I think like everyone else, eBayer looking to buy coins are lurking and waiting for people like my aunt to give them away. It kills me to see that happening. Especially when my uncle told me to not let her get taken. It's very sad how he saved and collected his whole life and never enjoyed the profits of not having been able to sell them. I feel like we are doing him an injustice. It's very discouraging and I almost don't want to be a part of it. I think with coins you can't help but to sit on them- just with the buffalo reverse- it's a beautiful coin- I thought about buying it but after what happened to my uncle I can see why you leave this earth leaving coins behind- you never want to sell the precious ones. Does that make sense?

So are you guys telling me Ha.com is the best place to sell and dispose of a ridiculously large collection? I can't even imagine trying to inventory each and all and especially not having expertise in grading. This is so frustrating. Maybe I can get my 250 posts and sell here.
I think back when we were helping my aunt go through the house to declutter and we found several large jars of coins which (at the time) looked to be just pocket change saved up from over the years- thought every night my uncle took the change from his pocket and chunked them in the jar. I found it odd that no pennies were in there- there were quarters in one jar, pennies in another etc- Long story short, she had her son in law take the jars and dump them in the coin star machine at a local grocer!! I sit here and question if these coin jars were special coins of value. Seems like we keep making mistakes upon mistakes. SIGH!

Chasingtailbar, what you're missing is I that after the initial ebay listing to auction it for 7 days which I waited until it ended with no sale. I relisted it and reduced price- it was a reduced but fixed with a buy it now price - I did this twice. It didn't sell and because it didn't have any bids, I did an "edit listing" and kept reducing until it sold. I wonder if the edited listing doesn't show up. Could that be it?