Wanting To Start Selling On Ebay

Thanks, Copperpenny, most enjoyed that tutorial.

ebay is way different today than say seven or so years ago . Unless the item is very unusual or off the wall or extremely rare,BIN is the only way to go. Any one can give a coin away through auction. You have to have a thick skin as you are going to eventually run into issues with both ebay and bidiots. Also very important to have a business background and a thorough knowledge of the market you wish to participate in. An ebay venture is a business unless you are selling just a few items and can be very lucrative or a total disaster depending on your business skills.
Also there are Governmental issues to deal with that include reporting income and collecting various state and federal taxes.
Good luck.

Here are a few pointers.
1.
Take the best possible images of the coins, Crappy images are a real turn off and most buyers will ignore the listing.
2.
Take time to describe the coin well but don't over embellish it.
3.
Don't BS about the coin if it is cleaned or has any other problems State them because if you don't it will all end up in tears.
4.
Try to have your listing end on a weekend if it is a 99 cent start listing.
5.
Don't overcharge for postage/shipping, Another real turn off for buyers.
6.
Most importantly have FUN doing this

Do not sell on Sunday evening.
There are so many coins.
I prefer a Thursday night finish with 10 days.
Also good pictures and an honest description.
Be honest and you may loose on some coins but overall it is easy.

End your lots at 6-7 PM eastern time on SUNDAY.

Start any coin worth owning at .99 cents at auction. Your coins will be judged for what they are and you will get a BETTER price for nicer coins by going the auction route.

Put up as many coins as you can. If a collector finds a coin that you are selling - ESPECIALLY if you are starting everything at .99 cents - many of them will look to see what else you are selling and will mark more of your items on their watch list.

Group your coins together (if necessary) to have an expected
minimum sales price of $25.00. This gets you out of ebay's most expensive fee structure.

The single most important thing you can do is take amazingly accurate photographs head on with side and upper lighting to show a true depth, surface quality, and any problems.

MOST collectors look at the pictures and many of them buy based ONLY on your pictures. I've learned from experience that you can spend an enormous amount of time detailing the coin in your written advertisement, but I can also tell you that very few people actually READ any of it.

Some may read what you've written JUST before they decide to bid, but what attracts them to your coins is the PICTURES.

If you are selling ho-hum coins, don't bother. It's not worth the time. Take what you have to a show or dealer and get what you can. If you are only selling coins worth $10 or less, it's a waste of time. With what you get after postage, pay pal fees, and ebay fees, plus the wrapping materials, it just isn't worth the time.

INCLUDE FREE SHIPPING - This is especially important if you are selling lots that are expected to sell for at least $25 or more. It will cost you $3.14 for one to three half dollar size coins. Bidders will ALWAYS and I do mean ALWAYS subtract a postage cost off of what they plan on bidding.

If they see an item they will bid on for $40, and they see a postage cost of $5 - they will bid $35. So you don't gain a cent the vast majority of the time by making the buyer pay a postage cost.

However, as stated above, if your lots are not going to sell for $25 or better, free postage just can't be done.

ALWAYS list 14 day returns. It doesn't make a bit of difference if you list that you DO NOT take returns. If you list that you don't take returns and a buyer is unhappy, Pay Pal or ebay will refund them and you will have a black mark against you, or have Pay Pal deduct the funds from your account.

STUDY what has happened for sales of similar coins. If you are selling an 1921 Buffalo nickel in what you grade as VF 30, look at what others are listing the for sale at - and THEN look at the COMPLETED sales for that same coin.

If you feel a little uncertain about listing coins for .99 cents, then STILL list them at auction, but base your starting price on what similar items are selling for.

Lets say that 1921 Buffalo in similar grade sold in the $30-$40 range (I'm just making that range up to use as an example). There are tons of them on Buy It Now in the $40-$50 range. Then you have to figure it's going to cost you $3 plus for postage, probably a little for an envelope, and the fees for ebay and Pay Pal. If you figure 15% for the fees, you will be close enough on under $100 sales.

So in this example if you want to sell your Buffalo for a minimum of $25 in your pocket, then add the $3, plus another $3.50 for fees and .50 for packing, and you want to list the buffalo at auction starting at $32 with FREE shipping. You will get a bid and maybe more than just one bid as you are starting your price in a reasonable range.

But in the end, I really must emphasize that unless you are averaging well over $10 per lot in your pocket after everything is considered it really, really isn't worth your time.

If you are a new seller, auctions, especially 99 cent auctions are not the way to go.
I've been selling for over a year now and still, my best experience in getting the most value for the coins I sell has been with Buy-it-now or best offer.
I list my coins at 90% of FMV and give about a 10-15% margin for which I will go down in price.
I charge shipping at cost or less (usually if it costs $6-$7 to ship, I flat out charge $5 and eat the rest of the cost). I offer various shipping options based on price. These are:

$3 for purchases of $25 or less.
$5 for purchases of $100 or less.
$15 for purchases of $300 or less.
Above $300 I give free shipping.

I make 30 days listings and ebay gives me more free listings than I could possible use so I don't lose money by relisting items that don't sell the first time around.
BIN or best offer is the best way to go so long as you don't need your item to sell immediately (this is the case with me). Some of the items I list, sell within a day or two, sometimes even for the buy it now price, even with OBO is available. Other have taken 3-4 months. All depends on whats hot in the market at the moment.

If I may add my Two Cents - I buy and sell on ebay and if you plan to mail to countries outside of the United States use ebay's Global Shipping program. It saves a lot of hassle. Just click on the appropriate box in the listing. ebay pays you and then all you do is mail the coin to them at their Global Shipping location in Kentucky; they in turn mail the coin to the buyer. Anything lost after that is on ebay, not you. I've used it a couple of times with no problems at all. Just make sure you either provide a link to the countries that are covered through the GSP or a list of those countries in your listing so potential buyers from countries not on the list won't bid on your items. I recently mailed a coin to Albania, not realizing they weren't on the list. Luckily the guy got the coin, otherwise, if he claimed he didn't get it, it would have been on me.

Steve S.