Tough Selling

Many people won't go near a seller with less than 100 feedback. In their eyes you could be some clown that just started a new account because your feedback was poor. The guys in China that sell counterfeits do this a lot.

Putting reserves on ebay auctions is very costly; if item doesn't sell you lose the pricy reserve fee. You do get one shot at re-listing and if it sells the 2nd time, you get your reserve fee back. No sale the 2nd time means you lose the reserve fee plus have wasted money on listing fees twice. The cheaper alternative is to list it at the minimum price you can live with and start the bidding there.

Overall, I think ebay is a great place to buy coins for bargain prices for the average collector. I am not convinced that private collectors can make much profit on the sell side unless you can buy large lots in bulk and break them down into small lots or coin by coin listings. Or you'd have to spend a lot of time hunting for bargains then sell for profit at fixed prices. Typically, I lose between 10-20% of each transaction to ebay and Paypal- you have to factor that into your pricing.

I do think coin dealers do ok selling on ebay because they have the ability to buy the coins from the public for prices way below the market (like buying silver at 5x face value when silver is currently 10-11x face value). I witnessed a dealer recently offering 2 bucks a piece for Walking Liberty halves, so they can do just fine selling it at or slightly above buillion. You or I selling at buillion would be at a loss if we bought it near buillion, because the fees swallow it up- you have to wait for silver to go up 25% to make even a small profit as a private collector. Maybe some dealers can chime in. I do get the sense that buyers want bargains and will not pay even close to book value unless the coin is very hot or it is a key date. I don't know what price guide buyers use, but several are out there: RedBook, Bluebook, Grey sheet, pcgs web site to name a few.

I do not believe at all the triple digit feedback rating is necessary. I often see auctions on EBAyers with less than 50 transactions go nuts with the bidding, because the bidders sense that the newbie doesn't know much about their coins or some other unforseen reason. I just saw 10 rolls of wrapped Buffalo nickels go for above market price on a person with 2 transactions. So, no, triple digit feedback does not play, in my opinion, a significant role.

Welcome to CCF!

In addition to SeatedNut auctions that turn me off are...

-Reserves - most (not all) of the time the reserve is set to a ridiculous amount and it's not worth my time checking into it.

-New member - sure we all have to start out somewhere and sometimes I give a go at helping someone out. But when someone is brand new and had a $100+ item for sale...it's not worth the headache if this person doesn't know the ropes.

-Neutral feedbacks - if people aren't 100% satisfied I'll dig into the persons feedback and check for ratings like "good" "alright coin" "thanks for nothing" People leave these for fear of retalitory negs when they truly didn't like the transaction and don't want the hassle of the return

-No Return Policy - I doubt I'll ever return something to a seller....but it's a security blanket and makes me feel safe about my purchase.

-Shipping - it is not meant for profit. I normally make about $1.00 sometimes when I sell but that's about it. Give the customer a good deal on shipping and they will Always come back

-Ramblings - nothing turns me off in an auction more then endless pages of meaningless dribble about their auction that is not pertinent to the item in question. I can't believe that someone would take the time to just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and

People want silver...and for some reason they pay ridiculous prices for it sometimes. I won't say what I search for but there are a LOT of misplaced auctions out there waiting to be had for way low prices to resell.

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So what about the jerks that just don't leave feedback.

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You may want to leave feedback only after the buyer gives you feedback. It may give them incentive to do so and is not unusual on ebay.

As far as shipping goes, you should be able to buy a bubble lined envelope for less than 50 cents (as low as a dime a piece if you buy bulk). Shipping with delivery confirmation from the USPS is about another $4.50. That's about 5 bucks. Sure you could charge for gas and personal time, but I think that may be a stretch.

As far as your pics go, I think they are fine.

for 1 Morgan?

simple easy way to ship an inexpensive coin. at the post office grap some of those priority envelopes and cut them down to the size that will fit inside a padded envelope. a #000 should be fine. with the morgan or other coin in a 2x2 I staple it gently inside of the cardboard piece and slide it into the envelope.

Buy In Bulk!

don't buy tape or envelopes at wal*mart. get them by the hundreds online and save a bundle...as well as tape.

To add a few more things to the pot

besides the final price few a basic simple auction should not cost you more then $1.00 You don't need the highlight, zoomed pic, bold, and other add ons that really don't bring That many more people to your auction. If you have silver, morgans, peace, or anything else that Will sell no matter what...starting the bid at .99 cents with no reserve and no BIN is the cheapest way to start an auction

Thanks SuperDave

I still feel I must be missing something the postage cost; for the penny was $9.30 I tried ups fed-x and USPS the USPS first class was cheapest. I have shipped proof sets at the postage cost of $16+ I understand your point about not wanting to pay overly postage, I don't want to either but how do I bargin USPS to below $9 I was joking when I stated the list of billables for mailing
But when you let a coin go at half of market price pay ebay and pay pal you certainly don't want to loose money on the postage too. I will agree my shipping was more than it cost me to ship but only by $3 if you include only packaging and postage. I would hand deliver if I could! and have picked up from local sellers. There is Something about manditory taxes, insurance, postage and cable tv that really bugs me (is my age showing)

there is a penny in the photo forum now and I suppose I'll upload some other stuff asap

Thank you for the words of wisdom.

Oh yeah the photo explaination I do this because I can see images that have been F**ked with in photoshop on ebay and I see images that show no information
I think it is important that people know the photo specifics things like contrast sharpening and a whole slew of other tricks can really change a coin especially above the MS 60 level I think (correct me if I'm wrong but at fine and very fine it's more about wear.