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 Replies: 21 / Views: 2,824 |
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Valued Member
United States
228 Posts |
I have 9 coins soon to be listed for sale at GC and would like some input on what minimum bids would be best. For ebay, people recommended starting the auctions at $0.99. Does that advice apply to GC as well? To these coins? Here are the coins (no pics sorry)...unfortunately 5 of 9 have details grades...all grades are PCGS: (A) 1886 5C G04 (B) 1893 5C MS62 (C) 1904-S 10C F15 (D) 1842 50C Medium Date AU50 (E) 1864 2C Large Motto AU Details Environmental Damage (F) 1871 2C AU Details Cleaned (G) 1862 3CS AU Details Cleaned (H) 1837 50C Reeded Edge XF Details Cleaned (I) 1853 50C Arrows and Rays AU Details Cleaned Thanks for the help. ----- After a little research, here's what I was thinking for starting bids: (A) $90 (B) $80 (C) $70 (D) $200 (E) $20 (F) $70 (G) $70 (H) $70 (I) $200 Just ideas for starting bid numbers. Thoughts? Edited by Phaedrus29
03/14/2015 10:28 pm
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
You see the result of my first thought.  We have quite a few here who do business with GC; it will be interesting to hear both seller and buyer opinions. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Put the minimum you are willing to accept for the starting price.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
My opinion can't be taken as expert, but I sampled about half of your proposals and they're consistently (to my mind) maybe even a few bucks low. Certainly well short of retail records of similar sales, so they shouldn't drive away knowledgeable buyers. If you're comfortable with these numbers - no Reserve, I guess? - use them. ebay is a far less sophisticated audience for coins, which is why one uses the .99 start to attract initial bidders. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1566 Posts |
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Valued Member
 United States
228 Posts |
Quote:
My opinion can't be taken as expert, but I sampled about half of your proposals and they're consistently (to my mind) maybe even a few bucks low. Certainly well short of retail records of similar sales, so they shouldn't drive away knowledgeable buyers. If you're comfortable with these numbers - no Reserve, I guess? - use them. Thanks for the input. I tried to follow the suggestion on the GC paperwork of setting the minimum bids to about 70% of the value to generate bidding activity and provide some protection...or in some cases I think I followed good previous auction results for similar coins. That being said, if the coins are likely to get one bid and sell for my opening numbers, I probably wouldn't be too happy! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1309 Posts |
What is GC, Gulf Coast Coins? If so, I didn't know they had a auction board? Can you please post a link?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
Edited by matthewvincent
03/15/2015 3:13 pm
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Valued Member
United States
228 Posts |
Ooooops, I didn't realize that was unclear. Yes, Great Collections...came highly recommended from forum members.
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Valued Member
Canada
79 Posts |
I don't like minimum bids on items. Coins of value should get an honest price in any decent auction
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Valued Member
United States
228 Posts |
Quote:
I don't like minimum bids on items. So are you suggesting starting the auctions at $1? That has been working well on ebay, but looking at the auction results at GC they didn't seem to do as well. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
Quote:
if the coins are likely to get one bid and sell for my opening numbers, I probably wouldn't be too happy! Selling your coins at auction is always a gamble at best. Unless a coin is so unique that it cannot be found elsewhere, no one participates in an auction expecting to pay retail price for a coin. When I participate in auctions (and I do a lot) if it is a coin I need for my collection, I take the retail price (as determined by me) minus the BP and S&H if it is an online auction. That is the most I will bid. If the BP is 17% that means I am only going to bid 83% of retail. If it is a coin that I like but do not need, I am only bidding if I can get a deal off of retail. Usually 20%-30%. What you hope for is to interest 2-3 people in the coin and get them to start bidding, then it turns into far more than "getting a coin for a deal" it turns into a an auction mentality, where the desire to own the coin become equal to the desire to not let someone else beat you for the coin. It is this kind of bidding which takes the hammer price over the retail price of the coin. You want to protect yourself, the trick is to not "protect yourself" out of any interest in your coins. I don't know enough about your coins to give you any valuable price information, but I can relay my experiences as an auction participant. Just remember, the market determines the true value of any coins. Edited by denco7
03/15/2015 4:32 pm
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
If it's an honest price it's not an auction.  |
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Valued Member
Canada
79 Posts |
It would stand to reason that if ebay will give you a more honest price, then that is where you should sell. |
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Valued Member
United States
228 Posts |
Quote:It would stand to reason that if ebay will give you a more honest price, then that is where you should sell. Perhaps, but the situation is a bit more complex because these were raw coins that really should have been graded before selling. GC's rates for grading are quite good. Grading them myself and then listing on ebay would have been considerably more costly. |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Not to mention most of them are worthy of a more discerning audience. It's still a risk any way you look at it, but GC mitigates the risk better for this stuff than ebay does. |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 2,824 |
Posted 03/15/2015 09:25 am
