Purchasing Coins Online

The Bay is a great resource, I agree - but try to buy from dealers with numerous and high feedback scores (preferably 100%) and FULL RETURN privileges. Many respected dealers have their own websites aa well - you can Google PCGS or NGC registered dealers, for example, and then go visit their sites.

If you are looking for higher end stuff, Great Collections or Heritage Auctions is good. Mostly certified stuff.

ebay is great as long as you do your homework and buy from reputable sellers. I highly recommend only buying slabbed coins, at least for anything over $100, and maybe even $50 until you know what you are doing. I was out of the hobby for over a decade, then 5 years ago or so I got back into it. Started buying raw coins on ebay and ended up with a few very pretty coins that were nicely cleaned! I wasn't a novice but I was rusty on my skills then plus I had never bought online before. Had I bought slabbed coins I would have avoided those mistakes.

That's a very helpful list fuzzy. Thank you for posting it. :O)

As a complement to other members' excellent advice, I posted this suggestion in a recent thread:

Read the seller's positive reviews, as well as any neutral or negative reviews, for clues as to what coin rolls or lots likely contain. I recommend positive reviews because many buyers will note in the free-form text what the coin roll or lot contained. It's akin to a subtle communication system amongst more knowledgeable buyers--a way to signal whether or not the seller offers a reasonable deal or not. Buyers often choose to rate the overall transaction as positive because they want to maintain a positive reputation with sellers, or for other reasons.

When you bring up the seller's reviews, select "Feedback as a seller" at the top (so you don't have to wade through reviews of them as a buyer), and then search (Ctrl-F or Command-F) for 'coin rolls', 'rolls', 'lots', or similar so that you focus on the most relevant reviews. Perhaps faster, you can use the "Search seller feedback" option and search for a keyword such as 'cent', 'roll', 'lot', or a combination thereof. The default setting is to search for reviews submitted in the past month, but you can change it to the past year.

I never buy coins on line. I only buy at coin shows.

For US coins, I use ebay almost exclusively. I can get for much less (sometimes 95%) off retail if I play my cards right.

For ancient Chinese, I have my ring of trustworthy dealers, plus a few auction companies, and a little on ebay.

For my Ancient Greek bug, I am sticking to auction companies and VCoins.

I use ebay often.

As others have posted. Always check sellers rating and return options.

Check the coin out. Is it cleaned or damaged? Compare prices
with similar coins, and price guides.

Ask yourself if the coin will fit into the collection you are trying to put together.