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 Replies: 20 / Views: 2,736 |
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Valued Member
United States
54 Posts |
Hi. I had a question about prices to pay for coins. Say I wanted to start collecting Buffalo nickels (which I just love.) If the current Red Book says the cost of a fine 1930 Buffalo nickel is $2.50, and I go to a reputable online ebay dealer who has this coin for sale, how much above the Red Book price is reasonable? A dollar? Twenty five cents? More? Less? And what about other coins, for example, Mercury dimes? I would like to add a few fun coins to my little collection since most of these don't cost much, but I still don't want to pay too much. Learning the ropes here! |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
I think Red Book is about 30% too high. Prices on numismedia.com is more realistic as is ebay sold values. John 1  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Good question. Learning to buy and sell coins is a valuable lesson. Sometimes buying coins is like buying cars. Some can get a better price than others .. and some dealers are are more fair than others. It might be easier to get a good price on a common date 1930 buffalo nickel, than it would on a key date 1913 D type two nickel. As mentioned above RedBook prices are known to be high. Remember all price guides ... are just guides. Many dealers will use greysheet. When buying from a dealer most times a customer will pay over greysheet. It may take years for a collector to really learn how buy coins at a good price. As suggested .. check out sold ebay auctions. And find a good coin shop, some dealers like helping out new collectors. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1450 Posts |
Online ebay dealers are mostly very high retail and often want more than RedBook prices. You can often get better prices from LCS who is willing to dicker especially if you establish yourself as return customer. The question you ask is so basic and yet has no clear answer. You need to determine what condition of coin you want to collect because that is often where price really gets variable. A Mercury dime 1921-D in good condition will cost you maybe $60 but one in EF condition will cost you $700 and if you want one in MS it will start around $1400 and only up from there. A 1921-S Buffalo nickel in good condition costs maybe $65 but in just AU it will cost $1100. For most collectable coins condition is everything except for the most rare and it counts there as well. Also some coins like Morgan silver dollars in good or very good condition are usually very worn and pretty ugly. While a coin in almost uncirculated may look great, but on key dates the price often explodes. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
If you are trying to buy inexpensive coins below $10 each the best thing you can do is make a lot offer on several coins. Either at a LCS or a show, but in person.
Most dealers are thrilled to sell a bunch of inexpensive coins and many will offer significant discounts if you buy a group rather than one at a time.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2125 Posts |
Red Book is usually above retail and bargans can be found on the ebay.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
If you want to buy common date Buffalos at mid circulated grades try bidding on e-bay . you'll be surprised at the great deals you can get . |
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Valued Member
United States
422 Posts |
I use Red Book as a reference guide only. It is printed yearly and yes sellers want as much as they can get. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3210 Posts |
The main three things to use when buying coins are ebay sold prices, numismedia, and the greysheet. I use the RedBook as a reference for coin mintages and also as a checklist of coins that I have in my collection that are constantly updated and I do this every year a new RedBook comes out usually in April. Keeps me from buying multiple coins that I already have and I have a quick reference if needed. |
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Valued Member
 United States
54 Posts |
Thanks for all the responses, they are very helpful. The ebay advice makes sense, I hadn't known how to look for the sold prices so I googled it and that is really helpful. Bidding, yes, I never tried it but I might give it a go. I have not heard of a grey sheet. Can someone explain? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
968 Posts |
Grey Sheet is a daily publication that the dealers use to figure out how much to buy a coin for and what to sell it at. It is sort of like the daily stock market price listings in a newspaper. It compiles data from a number of sources to come up with the average price a particular coin is being bought for. It doesn't directly tell a seller how much to charge for a coin, but they usually look at it when you ask the price of a coin and I'm pretty sure they are checking the buy price then adding whatever percentage markup they add to the price. Anyone can subscribe to this and you can also buy a one off of it which can be useful especially for coins that don't fluctuate in price much. ebay can have some great deals and some terrible ones. Auctions usually give you the best chance at a good deal, but sellers will sometimes list a coin as a buy it now with an unusually low price. Maybe because they don't really know what it is worth. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1308 Posts |
I use ebay as my shopping price guide. I go to completed items & look at lowest completed items of coins of choice & grade. It takes a lot of luck to get them as low pricing, best to buy during the daytime, and during the week. I avoid weekend auctions, especially into the evenings, sometimes liquor can run up the bidding. Best of luck! Edited by thecoinguy1964
10/26/2016 6:21 pm
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Valued Member
United States
54 Posts |
Looking at completed sales on ebay is really helping me understand the pricing better! Coinguy, it makes a lot of cents, liquor drivng up the price in the evening and on weekends! Thanks for the tip. |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
I start with NumisMedia, which I generally regard as retail. I find it sufficient for lower end stuff, but I like to compare with completed ebay sales for the pricier items. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Not sure if you really want to collect Buffalo nickels in F or XF, but if you are I would suggest finding a local coin show. Even if it isn't really close to where you live, you could do better by bundling several purchases with one dealer and making an offer. ebay sold prices are a great reference but there are good deals at the smaller coin shows. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
533 Posts |
I do some "false" bids on ebay. Pick the coins I like and watch them to see what they sell for. figure out before hand what my max bid would be and then watch to see if it sells for more or less. Do that for a month or so and you get a good feel for how proces are going for the coins you want |
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Replies: 20 / Views: 2,736 |
Posted 10/25/2016 6:59 pm
