More Ways To Acquire Coins

when buying off ebay, I always buy from sellers who have stores and only sell coins. They also need a very low number of negative feedbacks. Your parents are right, there are a lot of fakes on ebay.

Until two and a half years ago I had never bought anything via ebay. Since then I have done a hundred transactions. All coins. Buy only from those offering refunds. If I am spending over $200 for a coin I will only buy third party graded. I know they make errors but I trust their grading over my limited capability or the seller's tendency to maybe exaggerate. Looking back I see a few coins I should have maybe returned as I have learned to grade myself better, but all in all for me it has been a good experience.

Thanks guys! Now just to convince my parents....

Depends on what you want from ebay. The US sections are under an unwavering, watchful eye. Anything that is a good deal will be bid on until it is a deal no longer. I have gotten fantastic deals on cull type coins, but only because of combined shipping.

World coins can frequently be had for a bargain, especially when had as a lot. Same goes for ancient and medieval coins, but to a lesser extent.

I have had a few problem lots, but the most I ever lost out on was a Turkish coin that fell out of the envelope in transit. 6 whole cents down the drain on that one.

As long as you know to never bid on the big ticket stuff, ebay can be fun and rewarding, but also easy to blow away all your money.

Perhaps half of my collection of nearly 2,000 coins collected over 35-40 years, have come from dealers' junk boxes, in the $2 to $10 price range. That's something like 2 to 5 coins per month.

I have been buying varied, unusual, interesting, or just plain good value for money ancients to modern, all cultures. Almost everything I have acquired this way has been at a small fraction of their current market value at the time of purchase.

I have always been on a steep numismatic learning curve.

Check the Numismatist, an ANA publication, for shows in your area.

A trick for ebay is to bid a level or two lower than the coin appears in the photos regardless of how high the seller claims, and never if you see a rim damage or evidence of cleaning. If it is slabbed avoid the coins with the word details, since that indicates a high chance of damage. Be certain to include the shipping when figuring a value.

Evaluating a dealer through feedback is important, but read the negatives and neutrals. Some people bid only if feedback is 100%, but I have no problem if the shipping takes two weeks, r if the negatives are for broken glass collectibles. Look at the reasns for the feedback. And, if a person has 100% with a lot of ok and not any real positive comments consider people are sometimes generous in leaving feedback.