On 8-May-2005, wrote:

It looks like all the sellers have got together, and are trying to robb
the
private collector, and buyer.


That's an interesting take. Mine would be a little different. I seem to
recall that waaaaayyyyyy back in the day, (like 1998 or 1999), coins on Ebay
were selling for a lot more than similar pieces at any coin shop I could
find. Since then, (and I don't have a lot of empirical data to back this
up), it seems to me that coin prices on ebay have come down _relative to
other locations at which I might buy the same coins_. This, coupled with
somewhat higher Ebay fees, and the near ubuquitous nature of PayPal and its
associated fees, has caused a lot of sellers to start coins for their
minimum asking price rather than for some ridiculously low figure, since
they are less able to rely on high ebay final bid prices.

Your mileage may varry.

p