Selling Off Father-In-Law's Coin Accumulation - But Where?

There's still technically a sellers fee with GC as they still charge you the listing fee.




Completely agree. Local shows are generally the worst place to sell something especially if you try and sell a huge group. Most of those guys will give greysheet offer on the nicest coins in the group and offer you that for the whole thing.

I agree and disagree with you at the same time. A lot depends on the actual coins value. I do agree that the buying base on ebay as a whole is much larger than some of the secondary auction houses where from prices realized it looks like their buyers may largely be dealers. That said though for 4 and 5 figure coins I do think the the first tier auction houses like Legend/Heritage/Stacks have a more serious buying base in that area and it is safer as they have more ability to block a charge back.

I do agree though with the point that you were making that people often get steered away from ebay too quickly for a 2nd tier auction house recommendation where they very likely will end up with significantly less money after the higher fees and prices realized. In those instances you almost might as well just sell to a dealer as the net will be about the same and it will be much quicker to get paid

As an executor, the coins (US modern proofs) were a pain in the neck. But they were nothing compared to property and stocks. I took them to a local brick and mortar shop and liquidated them. It took 15 minutes.

If the aggregate greysheet value of your coins is under $25,000 I'd recommend doing the same. Don't be disappointed at the paltry value common coins have. In my case those were the ordinary 1990-2010 proof sets. Remember that the dealer has to unload them, and if you sell them yourself you're competing in a buyer's market.

You've obviously never had a coin switched by an unscrupulous buyer on ebay. The 'situation' of which you speak relates to the standing on ebay, that is the feedback number, buyer vs seller. ebay will always side with a buyer having over 10K count vs a new seller. And you and I both know unscrupulous sellers on ebay who buy under a different name.

It is always safer for the seller to sell an expensive coin on GreatCollections, Heritage or Stack's vs ebay. Always -

@Go-Rebels

I am fully aware of the dynamics of selling and buying on ebay, as well as accepted practices and unsavory conduct on either end. No matter what I sell, I have to say that encountering a buyer with 10K feedback has not happened. I guess they don't buy from me, at least. Personally, I don't track sellers for what they buy.

I don't understand comments that paint ebay as an unsavory venue from which to sell anything. It seems like an unfounded fear to me.

Sorry if somebody already said this and I missed it, but you get some sort of medal for doing this with such care. I noticed you said you were the only "coin person" in the family; if the others had to deal with this it would be a huge pain and also the payoff would be much smaller. I salute you.

I didn't know about ProxiBid until I read about it here. Having a bunch of my coin collection I wish to sell and not feeling great about listing them on ebay, I immediately went to ProxiBid to sign up as a seller, only to find out that they only allow registered businesses to sell on ProxiBid (not individuals). Bummer.