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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
Hi.
I'd like to divert myself away from certain other threads/arguments without more killfile entries, so let me see if I can find some good feedback on the subject indirectly, and do a little brain storming. Ok, we all know that eBay is currently the king of the online auction. I'm about done reading a book called "Boom!" in which they talk about how kings (companies) can and do fall off of the thrown. Sometimes it takes a long time and changes in environment, but it can happen. I'm on a tangent already. I'm not looking to suggest competition with eBay ... that would be silly. But what alternatives might be out there? My primary collecting interests are coins, although this isn't always apparent on eBay. I dabble in other things - stamps and covers in particular. In the world of stamps, they have a couple of interesting "for sale" web pages. I've only really found value in 1, although I haven't given the others a fair shake yet ... buying singles isn't my emphasis at the moment. This one web site allows sellers to list items for free, and charges a very low fee if/when they sell something. Now, from what I understand, sales aren't massive; my $20-50 orders often get a "thanks for the large order!" note. I'm doing it again. QUESTIONS: Can anyone provide a reference to a coin trading/selling/buying web site that they find worthwhile and valuable? Does anyone buy from a particular site often? Or perhaps a dealer who has a particularly useful site? Are there any central repositories of "coin links" that are worthwhile? Perhaps a page that categorizes sites my type (trade, for sale, reference, dealer, etc.,.)??? ARE there any coin auction pages that an average collector can list on other than eBay? Fixed price or offers? Any that seem to have potential? Ok, so not as many questions as I had first thought. But lets see what responses I get, if any. I mean, I have a web server 10 feet from me. It's not very high-powered, and it's now on a cable connection (means my uploads, or outsider's web hits)are slower than when I had DSL). But it's a more dependable connection, overall. I'm going to make a list of my world-wide proof sets I have for sale and post it. I'll then post links in various places and try to get interested parties to look. So, is there a central place on which to try and get mentioned? Could/should there be? Craig's List is an interesting model. Well, as much as I know about it. I'm going to try and see how that ticks. But I wouldn't list coins on Craig's List. There's much to be said for non-local buyers and anonymity. What if there was a google-like thing specifically for coin sites where dealers and collectors could list their wares? Perhaps labeled somehow as collector/dealer or something in between? Hard to do, I suppose. Perhaps it could list a reasonably limited number of things/items/notes and allow references to individual web sites. I would suggest a simple list of external links with a short blurb about the site, but what about the guy who doesn't have a web page OR has space at his ISP but doesn't know how to set it up? You don't have to be a webmaster or HTML-whiz to get a decent-looking ad on eBay. Cost. Ideally "free" would be nice, eh? Free could be done for awhile. Remember "always free"??? If a site got particularly popular, you'd start having some issues. Bandwidth could become an issue, if you were lucky ... a million hits a day would be too much for a simple cable connection . How much support would it demand? Hmmmmm. Well, I'll think small-medium potatoes for now and worry about popularity when/if it happens, remembering of course this is all hypothetical. Thinking out loud. Would the average collector be interested in listing their items at a fixed price? Can they do this somewhere NOW (other than eBay)? Or perhaps take offers, realizing that with no final "auction is over" deadline, offers may not be prompt or competitive? Still, if you've got the goods and someone wants them ... maybe there is a connection to be made. Personally, I've owned most of my for-sale proof sets for many years. If I could have list them all once and sold a few a year, I'd me in much better shape now. Add your favorite reference sites? Folks looking for a good reference site and finding this list at the same time MIGHT just come across a forsale, or WANTED listing. Wanted listings! There's something I could personally use. What it it was primarily a WANT LIST site? Link to pictures of your own coins / collection? A feedback system of some sort? Ick. Liability issues. There may not be a "simple" answer that works here anyway, noting eBay's constant changes. Is this type of "venue" a liability even in its simplest form? A simple web page where you let users register, then list there web page? Minor moderation would be required to keep the porn-peddlers away. Perhaps some type of "recommended" counter where other members can validate a particular lister? Coins only? Related items? If you expanded to "miscellaneous", you'd lose any target audience, which would be bad. I would suggest a limited scope. Ok. Enough. This is the kind of thing I do at work, only it's usually a live group discussion with instant feedback creating mutations and different ideas. Thanks in advance for any replies (crossing my fingers) ... even the ones I won't see Nick |
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#2
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
"Nick Knight" wrote in message ... Hi. I'd like to divert myself away from certain other threads/arguments without more killfile entries, so let me see if I can find some good feedback on the subject indirectly, and do a little brain storming. Ok, we all know that eBay is currently the king of the online auction. I'm about done reading a book called "Boom!" in which they talk about how kings (companies) can and do fall off of the thrown. Sometimes it takes a long time and changes in environment, but it can happen. I'm on a tangent already. I'm not looking to suggest competition with eBay ... that would be silly. But what alternatives might be out there? My primary collecting interests are coins, although this isn't always apparent on eBay. I dabble in other things - stamps and covers in particular. In the world of stamps, they have a couple of interesting "for sale" web pages. I've only really found value in 1, although I haven't given the others a fair shake yet ... buying singles isn't my emphasis at the moment. This one web site allows sellers to list items for free, and charges a very low fee if/when they sell something. Now, from what I understand, sales aren't massive; my $20-50 orders often get a "thanks for the large order!" note. I'm doing it again. QUESTIONS: Can anyone provide a reference to a coin trading/selling/buying web site that they find worthwhile and valuable? Does anyone buy from a particular site often? Or perhaps a dealer who has a particularly useful site? Are there any central repositories of "coin links" that are worthwhile? Perhaps a page that categorizes sites my type (trade, for sale, reference, dealer, etc.,.)??? ARE there any coin auction pages that an average collector can list on other than eBay? Fixed price or offers? Any that seem to have potential? Ok, so not as many questions as I had first thought. But lets see what responses I get, if any. I mean, I have a web server 10 feet from me. It's not very high-powered, and it's now on a cable connection (means my uploads, or outsider's web hits)are slower than when I had DSL). But it's a more dependable connection, overall. I'm going to make a list of my world-wide proof sets I have for sale and post it. I'll then post links in various places and try to get interested parties to look. So, is there a central place on which to try and get mentioned? Could/should there be? Craig's List is an interesting model. Well, as much as I know about it. I'm going to try and see how that ticks. But I wouldn't list coins on Craig's List. There's much to be said for non-local buyers and anonymity. I find Craig's List to be great for selling items too large of bulky to ship. I would agree that selling coins there, except maybe as a one-time deal, would not be wise. No charges at all, you can include photos, and you usually ask for cash. If it doesn't sell, try it again. You're likely to get a whole different group of searchers. I put up a nice antique oak clawfoot table and four chairs. I got emails asking if I would just sell the table or just sell the chairs. I answered no, and the stuff didn't sell. So a couple weeks later, I put up two entries-- one for the table, one for the four chairs. Within two days I had both sold and in each case the people who came to pick up their item said they wished they had known a table/chairs had been available. So you do seem to get new people looking every week. |
#3
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
In article , "Nick Knight"
wrote: Hi. I'd like to divert myself away from certain other threads/arguments without more killfile entries, so let me see if I can find some good feedback on the subject indirectly, and do a little brain storming. Ok, we all know that eBay is currently the king of the online auction. I'm about done reading a book called "Boom!" in which they talk about how kings (companies) can and do fall off of the thrown. Sometimes it takes a long time and changes in environment, but it can happen. I'm on a tangent already. I'm not looking to suggest competition with eBay ... that would be silly. But what alternatives might be out there? [snip] I'm on a continual search to find cost-effective and time-efficient alternative selling venues. Unfortunately, other than eBay and my website, there ain't much out there. Amazon Auctions worked for a while, but deteriorated when they added zShops, and I eventually stopped listing there. Yahoo!Auctions was halfway sorta decent for a while, but then they went "free" and got deluged with grossly overprice crap basically "parked" on their site ... and with continuous "free" relists, it simply never went away. Yahoo eventually collapsed under its own weight (sellthrough rate approached zero) and they discontinued their auction site. Bidville and ePier, both "free" sites, have suffered from Yahooitis from Day One, simply being Lists Of Overpriced Crap, with continuous relists to the point that they are not even worth browsing to find the one truffle in the sea of mud ... Other "meteoric" websites have come and gone, some spectacularly so like Wagglepop which was "shuttered" before it even launched, then "relaunced" later under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Overstock, eCrater, Bluejay, somewhosenamesIveforgotten ... it's a VAST WASTELAND out there ... -- Ken Barr Numismatics P. O. Box 32541 website: http://www.kenbarr.com San Jose, CA 95152 (souvenir cards, MPC, Hickey Bros tokens) 408-272-3247 Next show: San Jose CC Feb 1 - 3 (w/Mac's Coins) |
#4
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
"Nick Knight" wrote:
QUESTIONS: Can anyone provide a reference to a coin trading/selling/buying web site that they find worthwhile and valuable? Does anyone buy from a particular site often? Or perhaps a dealer who has a particularly useful site? I'm not buying a lot at current prices, and will probably be looking at selling some of stuff in March or so. That being said, I've purchased around 10 coins from Northeast Numismatics, http://www.northeastcoin.com/, I've been delighted with every one. Ok, so not as many questions as I had first thought. But lets see what responses I get, if any. I mean, I have a web server 10 feet from me. It's not very high-powered, and it's now on a cable connection (means my uploads, or outsider's web hits)are slower than when I had DSL). But it's a more dependable connection, overall. I'm going to make a list of my world-wide proof sets I have for sale and post it. I'll then post links in various places and try to get interested parties to look. So, is there a central place on which to try and get mentioned? Could/should there be? Check your agreement to see if your service allows you to run a commercial webserver from your home. Many do not. Also, as a simple matter of security policy, I do not visit websites identified only by an IP address, so consider establishing a domain name and using a dynamic DNS provider. There are undoubtedly better forums where you can research and discuss the pros and cons of running a web server at home versus using a hosting service. 'nuff said. What if there was a google-like thing specifically for coin sites where dealers and collectors could list their wares? Perhaps labeled somehow as collector/dealer or something in between? Hard to do, I suppose. More time consuming than techinically challenging. It's easier if you can associate the Buy/Sell "classifieds" with a general discussion forum, but then you end up taking on both eBay and PCGS. But it can be done. I've both bought and sold photography gear on such a site, even though eBay dominates that marketplace as much as coins. -- Michael Benveniste -- Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email address only to submit mail for evaluation. |
#5
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
"Michael Benveniste" I'm not buying a lot at current prices, and will probably be looking at selling some of stuff in March or so. That being said, I've purchased around 10 coins from Northeast Numismatics, http://www.northeastcoin.com/, I've been delighted with every one. I look at their site often, and have purchased from them, they ship quickly, and are friendly to deal with. They have lots and lots of high end US and foreign coins. -- My Website on Numismatics - Scottish in Particular: http://www.geocities.com/scottishmoney |
#6
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
In , on 02/01/2008
at 12:48 AM, Ken Barr said: Yahoo!Auctions was halfway sorta decent for a while, but then they went "free" and got deluged with grossly overprice crap basically "parked" on their site ... and with continuous "free" Ah ha. Now THIS is good stuff. I'll have to revise my idea that "free is ideal". I should have realized this issue with "free" myself, but thanks for the thoughts. I remember than my EX would always want to take the kids to functions that were advertised as "free". And 15 billion other kids w/parents would end up being there. I finally demanded that we go on days you have to pay, as I'd rather not have to pay by fighting the crowds. I can see that unlimitted free listings would be Bad. Excellent. I'll think a bit more. I'll look over your other comments as the evening progresses, too. Thanks for the reply. Nick |
#7
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
"Michael Benveniste" wrote in message ... "Nick Knight" wrote: QUESTIONS: Can anyone provide a reference to a coin trading/selling/buying web site that they find worthwhile and valuable? Does anyone buy from a particular site often? Or perhaps a dealer who has a particularly useful site? I'm not buying a lot at current prices, and will probably be looking at selling some of stuff in March or so. That being said, I've purchased around 10 coins from Northeast Numismatics, http://www.northeastcoin.com/, I've been delighted with every one. I've have had good results with purchases from Northeast Numismatics. Also, I have recently started browsing, bidding and winning at DLRC (David Lawrence Rare Coins) and have had pleasant results. Two auctions a week. The coins generally have a reserve that is shown in the last 24 hours of the auction. The classic commems that I have won have had reserves that were under Greysheet bid or between GS bid and ask, even after adding buyers fee and shipping. Some auctions have Buy It Now, some are listed in retail format with just a sale price, some show a suggested price and ask for an offer. The coins I have looked at have all been certified coins, but I would recommend close study of the large images and being selective. As far as selling coins, I have no alternative suggestions. I sell either on eBay or at the local coin club auctions and have not tried any other venues. The local monthly club auction used to mean giving away your coins but in recent years, with much larger attendance, the results are a little better. The club charges 5% commission up to a $3 maximum fee per line. I think no matter where you sell you will have to pay some overhead, sooner or later. As someone who does not make a living selling coins, I think eBay is still the best way to unload unwanted parts of my accumulations. I don't like giving them their cut but that's just my greed. The larger eBay is and the less competition they have, the better with regard to quantity of potential buyers, however they will certainly always be trying to maximize their profits. That partly means they will charge fees as high as will be tolerated by those who list. They may already have higher fees in mind but are planning to spread the fees out over several increases rather than shocking with one larger increase. Years ago, I used to create my own menu prices, following percentage guidelines as well as personally visiting the competition. My prices were never set with any consideration for profitability, but mostly weighted for competiveness. No longer. Now I still set my own retail prices but there is a lot of science and studies that show me ranges of prices with comments about customer resistance, indifference, etc., etc. Menu pricing is more heavily weighted toward maximizing profits, which happens to be what I want to do as a business owner. EBay is likely the same, with studies and tests determining what they can charge and still keep the sellers in their camp, happy or not. If studies showed four years ago that they could increase fees/revenues by 50%, those same studies would recommend that a 50% increase be spread out over time as several smaller increases. Bill |
#8
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
In article , "Nick Knight"
wrote: In , on 02/01/2008 at 12:48 AM, Ken Barr said: Yahoo!Auctions was halfway sorta decent for a while, but then they went "free" and got deluged with grossly overprice crap basically "parked" on their site ... and with continuous "free" Ah ha. Now THIS is good stuff. I'll have to revise my idea that "free is ideal". I should have realized this issue with "free" myself, but thanks for the thoughts. I remember than my EX would always want to take the kids to functions that were advertised as "free". And 15 billion other kids w/parents would end up being there. I finally demanded that we go on days you have to pay, as I'd rather not have to pay by fighting the crowds. I can see that unlimitted free listings would be Bad. Excellent. I'll think a bit more. I'll look over your other comments as the evening progresses, too. Thanks for the reply. If you want to see the "poster child" for the absolute worthlessness of free listing sites, check out http://lowcostcoingradingservice.ecrater.com/ Current number of items - 10,027 Items sold last month - 6 6,327 of the listings are for coins: http://lowcostcoingradingservice.ecr....php?cid=57837 The hunnert-en-fiddy items *I* have listed in the Coins category are TOTALLY lost in the weeds, get between zero and three hits every month, and NOTHING has sold since last November ... (I'd delete them off the site, but that would take some effort, so it's quite a bit easier to just let them sit there and stagnate ...). -- Ken Barr Numismatics P. O. Box 32541 website: http://www.kenbarr.com San Jose, CA 95152 (souvenir cards, MPC, Hickey Bros tokens) 408-272-3247 Next show: San Jose CC Feb 1 - 3 (w/Mac's Coins) |
#9
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites & Alternative Ideas?
In , on 02/01/2008
at 09:52 PM, Ken Barr said: I can see that unlimitted free listings would be Bad. Excellent. I'll think a bit more. I'll look over your other comments as the evening progresses, too. Thanks for the reply. If you want to see the "poster child" for the absolute worthlessness of free listing sites, check out Ok. So, a totally free listing site is not going to be worthwhile. It makes sense. I still want to look at the Stamps2Go.com pages and see how they charge sellers. I find it a great resource although, again, I don't believe they do tons of volume. I try to help periodically! But you also mentioned having your web site listed around, yes? How do you think most people find your site? And are there listings of coin links that are known to be great references?? Or are you easy to find via google? What if there was a WANT LIST site for collectors. Assume it's at least mildly popular and utilized, and had listings for coins and related categories? It might suffer from a "too hard to check for too little return" syndrome, at first ... but what if you didn't have to manually check? What if it emailed you when anything was listed in category X, perhaps with keywords Y and Z? And/or had an RSS feed available? Or maybe you logged in and it had a "my possibilities" page that knew your searches and did them dynamically. I've posted WANTED ads in classic car forums and on sites before. A few years ago I was on a kick and wanted 1 of a couple of different types of 50's or 60's makes. I'm still in the market, kind of, although I'm not putting any energy into it. Still, I get an email every so often about one of my ads, which apparently still exist. A couple of months ago a women wrote me about the 56 Buick Special Convertible she had inheritted out in CA. I had her send me pictures. It was complete, but a total basket case. Exactly what I want (and can afford) - a huge project. She was just teasing me, though. She wanted to know what it was worth, but then told be she was going to keep it for awhle. Damn. The point is, I hadn't put any energy into this long-shot search and still got a hit, albeit a bit wasteful. I'm going to ping her today ... hmmm. With a more mainstream list of WANTS and a little more energy, I'm sure this system would net results. Still toying with ideas. At first, I believe I might try a coin link page if I can't find any that are already well established. Or even if there is one ... it can be at the top of MY list. Low energy, low cost ... no real down side. Nick |
#10
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Survey: The Good, The Bad about eBay - Worthwhile Coin Websites &Alternative Ideas?
On Feb 2, 4:54*pm, "Nick Knight" wrote:
In , on 02/01/2008 * *at 09:52 PM, Ken Barr said: I can see that unlimitted free listings would be Bad. *Excellent. *I'll think a bit more. *I'll look over your other comments as the evening progresses, too. *Thanks for the reply. If you want to see the "poster child" for the absolute worthlessness of free listing sites, check out Ok. *So, a totally free listing site is not going to be worthwhile. *It makes sense. *I still want to look at the Stamps2Go.com pages and see how they charge sellers. *I find it a great resource although, again, I don't believe they do tons of volume. *I try to help periodically! But you also mentioned having your web site listed around, yes? *How do you think most people find your site? *And are there listings of coin links that are known to be great references?? *Or are you easy to find via google? What if there was a WANT LIST site for collectors. *Assume it's at least mildly popular and utilized, and had listings for coins and related categories? *It might suffer from a "too hard to check for too little return" syndrome, at first ... but what if you didn't have to manually check? *What if it emailed you when anything was listed in category X, perhaps with keywords Y and Z? *And/or had an RSS feed available? *Or maybe you logged in and it had a "my possibilities" page that knew your searches and did them dynamically. I've posted WANTED ads in classic car forums and on sites before. *A few years ago I was on a kick and wanted 1 of a couple of different types of 50's or 60's makes. *I'm still in the market, kind of, although I'm not putting any energy into it. *Still, I get an email every so often about one of my ads, which apparently still exist. *A couple of months ago a women wrote me about the 56 Buick Special Convertible she had inheritted out in CA. *I had her send me pictures. *It was complete, but a total basket case. Exactly what I want (and can afford) - a huge project. *She was just teasing me, though. *She wanted to know what it was worth, but then told be she was going to keep it for awhle. *Damn. *The point is, I hadn't put any energy into this long-shot search and still got a hit, albeit a bit wasteful. *I'm going to ping her today ... hmmm. *With a more mainstream list of *WANTS and a little more energy, I'm sure this system would net results. Still toying with ideas. *At first, I believe I might try a coin link page if I can't find any that are already well established. *Or even if there is one ... it can be at the top of MY list. *Low energy, low cost ... no real down side. Nick A 'wanted' site might work, but it seems to me there are pitalls; you've noted one that occurs to me. You want something, but there is a large mismatch between what the seller and buyer want. eBay exposes people who need to sell and are not especially afraid that the price will be discovered. Saying that I want a Studebaker Golden Hawk may not be enough to expose a willing seller. Saying that I will pay up to $2000 for one in good condition is better, but to really deal with the condition, might mean defining the condition in a more widely understood sense. The coin world has done this pretty well. Even so, there is a difficulty making expectations converge enough for a sale. I am eager to buy 1986 French 100 FF piedforts at a total cost of $8 or less. I am eager to buy all the Morgan silver dollars (XF or better) I can at $10. I get very few chances to do so. It probably would seem to you that my offers on such a site barely rose to the level of spam ... |
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