About Posters asking for advice on selling inherited coins etc...

Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65 and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.
--

-Sam
It is nice to be important, and more important to be nice.
I wish you well.

In article , morgancoin1
@aol.com says...
Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65 and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.


I think people here are a little better than this. I usually see advice
to sell on e-Bay coupled with other advice...like buy a redbook so you
have some clue how to grade the coin, start at a low start and no
reserve, and not to hope for a world cruise out of the proceeds. I have
to confess I am about to be in this category. I have agreed to help my
father-in-law sell a huge collection of comics on eBay, and I have no
clue what they are worth, how to describe or ship them, etc. I will
probably go to the comics equivalent of RCC and do the same thing there
that you are talking about...ask questions about how to sell them.

--
Chrysta Wilson

My Collection:
http://www.chrystawilson.com

On 24 Mar 2004 01:08:53 GMT, MorganCoin1 wrote:

Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins
when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't
meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals
from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I think I have sent people to the listing on the ANA site a few times but
not a lot. I also have suggested local dealers probably a bit more.

One thing is I sometimes have a hard time finding anything on the ANA site
when I go looking for it but that is another rant and I digress

The second thing is, how many people live within a decent distance of one,
let alone three, of the dealers found on the ANA list or have three close
local dealers? I do but only because I am a half hour from a big city. I
bet a lot of people don't.

Next, I don't know 99% of the dealers on an ANA list, and while being on
the list is a little comfort, I don't see it as a tremendous amount of
comfort.

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65
and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99
to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there...

Lol! You make a good point there. I think some of that can be avoided by
asking them what they have and giving them some places to find values. Not
all people are going to be receptive to that or listen, of course. Just as
some people will never believe that their 2 headed Kennedy is not a real
mint product. That is when I suggest ANACS or in the case of selling
coins, a local dealer.

It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO.
(With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.

I think it depends upon the situation. Find out what they have, give them
an idea of value, maybe suggest a dealer but I don't see Ebay as a
terrible thing to suggest and I also won't refrain from suggesting it.
When I do suggest Ebay, I let them know that it is more work than a dealer
but the return can be better if they take a little time to learn what they
have first.


--
Stujoe
http://www.coinpeople.com

Chrysta Wilson writes (Ok, Chrysta Wilson "types"):


In article , morgancoin1
says...
Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins
when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't
meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65
and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to
open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people
in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.


I think people here are a little better than this. I usually see advice
to sell on e-Bay coupled with other advice...like buy a redbook so you
have some clue how to grade the coin, start at a low start and no
reserve, and not to hope for a world cruise out of the proceeds.

Thing is, remeber the lady that had a bunch oif common circ Morgans? She might
have been MUCH better off just selling the lot rather than 1 item at a time.
She might have done much better selling to a collector in one shot or even a
dealer.


I have
to confess I am about to be in this category. I have agreed to help my
father-in-law sell a huge collection of comics on eBay, and I have no
clue what they are worth,

I have a friend that has over 20,000 comics. I helped them sell them for a
while, but even they have lost interest. I saw the price guides. I suggest that
you:
Show the father in law where the "SELL" button is and let him have at it. They
grade comics, too, and yellow pages, tears, etc matter... You won't like comics
as much as coins, I'll wager. They weigh a lot, they do not bring much money,
and the action is cutthroat. You, of course, will be blamed when a lot brings
in less than expected, but you will get zero credit for well written ads and
expert handling of the business.

First, go to local dealers with a bunch and see how it works. Some comics
dealers will trade coins for them... Comics on ebay? Not for me unless I have
truely rare items... YMMV

how to describe or ship them, etc.

Because there are ads in the comics, you cannot get cheap shipping. Also, they
weigh so much that priority mail or any quick options are not economically
feasable. HTH

I will
probably go to the comics equivalent of RCC and do the same thing there
that you are talking about...ask questions about how to sell them.

NO!
Let father in law peddle them locally first. AFAIAC, I wouldn't put up any that
will not likely bring at least $15 each. That means if the price guide says
$100, then list it. Comics are thinly traded and weigh a lot. They are a
storage nightmare. (Get some wet and you will see what I mean) Many collectors
have special storage safes that keep the pages white and control humidity and
temp... Sell them locally. G/L
--

-Sam
It is nice to be important, and more important to be nice.
I wish you well.

Chrysta Wilson wrote:

In article , morgancoin1
says...
Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65 and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.


I think people here are a little better than this. I usually see advice
to sell on e-Bay coupled with other advice...like buy a redbook so you
have some clue how to grade the coin, start at a low start and no
reserve, and not to hope for a world cruise out of the proceeds. I have
to confess I am about to be in this category. I have agreed to help my
father-in-law sell a huge collection of comics on eBay, and I have no
clue what they are worth, how to describe or ship them, etc. I will
probably go to the comics equivalent of RCC and do the same thing there
that you are talking about...ask questions about how to sell them.

Chrysta,
Look at all the comics for sale on ebay and then go over to look at
www.heritagecomics.com They have a lot of good information on their
site about what things are worth plus you can download the whole
overstreet comic catalog for $15. If it's worth enough you may want
to even coinsign to them. They sold a bunch of my better coins and I
got a lot more than they would have (considering similar coins) on
ebay plus they only charge 5% to the seller.
Cliff

(MorganCoin1) wrote:

Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65 and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.

Sam,
A good point and it would have been valid maybe 20 years ago but today
there are very few people who have 3 ANA dealers that have a store
front within any kind of driving distance.

I believe the advice to get a Red Book, go to a dealer or two if you
can, and if not, list it on ebay is still about the best advice you
can give someone.

Yes, there are a lot of rocks on ebay selling coins that have no clue
what they are doing but you are in the same shape with just about
anything inherited. If you can't become your own expert and there are
no dealers around then you just have to get out there and run with the
big dogs.

Cliff

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 01:08:53 +0000, MorganCoin1 wrote:

Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

I would recommend sending a novice to eBay for a few reasons...especially
to sell.

1) No matter what type of coin or currency the novice may have, you can
bet there are enough specialists watching/and bidding the auctions to
ensure the novice will get a fair market price.

2) For the reason above, a novice does not need to learn how to grade,
does not need to attribute, does not need to buy/borrow books, etc. What
they do need to do is have good pictures depicting detail and condition,
so the experts can make a fair offer. Now, if the novice had a true
interest in collecting, I would advise to learn grading, attributing,
etc., before selling, so they can determine if there are pieces they would
like to keep.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

3) I'll wager eBay is viewed by far more ANA dealers than what could be
found locally, and what are the chances they are truly qualified to assess
a fair market value for every piece? The greysheet, redbook, etc. doesn't
list a value for every variety and die state of every type of coin out
there.


I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65
and some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'"
49.99 to open no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the
people in the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction
venues, IMHO. (With some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters,
either, IMHO.

4) Totally agree here! Unfortunately, there is no school
of marketing or advertising mandated by eBay before selling ;^) I know
it's frustrating to see this, so IMO, some good advice to novices may
be to just describe the coin to the best of their ability to include
dates, markings, etc., include good close-up images of both sides of
the coin, and trust the market (eBay in this case) can figure out how rare
and what the grade is.

5) Another piece of advice I would give a novice determined to sell
(one-time, not as a startup dealer), would be to start out with a very low
starting bid and avoid BIN, unless they truly know the coin (wouldn't be a
novice if that was the case). Let me use one case example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3902039632

This seller has only 38 feedbacks (all positive, btw), and appears to be
selling off some odds and ends of an inheritance. He started with a very
low bid of $2.00 and NO BIN. He may have looked at a Redbook, and had the
good sense to figure out there were enough varieties of the 1804 half cent
to warrant not placing a BIN on it, especially since he is not a
specialist or even a self-proclaimed expert grader. If he had put a BIN
of say, $60., it would have sold instantly, and someone would have
unknowingly given me a heart attack! This seller trusted eBay would have
enough half cent specialists to provide a fair market value without much investmnt of
time on his/her part. Hurray for the novice with commonsense!!! BTW -
This 1804 C7 variety has a rarity of R4, not the rarest of die marriages,
but the die state is R6! In addition, this is the only C7 I've seen on
eBay for over 6 months. IMO, someone paid way too much or thought it was
a bit better grade...but my bid of $600 would have been much appreciated
by the novice seller.

My half-a-cent!

Buck

In article , morgancoin1
@aol.com says...

I have
[quoted text muted]
to confess I am about to be in this category. I have agreed to help my
father-in-law sell a huge collection of comics on eBay, and I have no
clue what they are worth,

I have a friend that has over 20,000 comics. I helped them sell them for a
while, but even they have lost interest. I saw the price guides. I suggest that
you:
Show the father in law where the "SELL" button is and let him have at it. They
grade comics, too, and yellow pages, tears, etc matter... You won't like comics
as much as coins, I'll wager. They weigh a lot, they do not bring much money,
and the action is cutthroat. You, of course, will be blamed when a lot brings
in less than expected, but you will get zero credit for well written ads and
expert handling of the business.

Believe me, he won't care. And he's going to cut us (hubby and I) 50%.
That's strong incentive. He just wants to get rid of them.


First, go to local dealers with a bunch and see how it works. Some comics
dealers will trade coins for them... Comics on ebay? Not for me unless I have
truely rare items... YMMV

I have to get a price guide first. I may try this though.


how to describe or ship them, etc.

Because there are ads in the comics, you cannot get cheap shipping.

Huh? I don't think I follow.

Also, they
weigh so much that priority mail or any quick options are not economically
feasable. HTH

I was hoping to sell the more valuable ones in smaller lots, and maybe
the less valuable in much larger lots that would at least cut down on
the number of times I have to deal with shipping.

I will
[quoted text muted]
probably go to the comics equivalent of RCC and do the same thing there
that you are talking about...ask questions about how to sell them.

NO!
Let father in law peddle them locally first. AFAIAC, I wouldn't put up any that
will not likely bring at least $15 each. That means if the price guide says
$100, then list it. Comics are thinly traded and weigh a lot. They are a
storage nightmare. (Get some wet and you will see what I mean) Many collectors
have special storage safes that keep the pages white and control humidity and
temp... Sell them locally. G/L

These were not stored in anything like that kind of controlled
environment. I think I will start small, and if it's working out ok,
build up from there. Thanks for your advice!


--
Chrysta Wilson

My Collection:
http://www.chrystawilson.com

In article , cliff50
@bellsouth.net says...
Chrysta Wilson wrote:

In article , morgancoin1
says...
Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65 and
some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'" 49.99 to open
no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the people in
the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction venues, IMHO. (With
some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters, either, IMHO.


I think people here are a little better than this. I usually see advice
to sell on e-Bay coupled with other advice...like buy a redbook so you
have some clue how to grade the coin, start at a low start and no
reserve, and not to hope for a world cruise out of the proceeds. I have
to confess I am about to be in this category. I have agreed to help my
father-in-law sell a huge collection of comics on eBay, and I have no
clue what they are worth, how to describe or ship them, etc. I will
probably go to the comics equivalent of RCC and do the same thing there
that you are talking about...ask questions about how to sell them.

Chrysta,
Look at all the comics for sale on ebay and then go over to look at
www.heritagecomics.com They have a lot of good information on their
site about what things are worth plus you can download the whole
overstreet comic catalog for $15. If it's worth enough you may want
to even coinsign to them. They sold a bunch of my better coins and I
got a lot more than they would have (considering similar coins) on
ebay plus they only charge 5% to the seller.
Cliff

Thanks for this! I will definitely check this out!
--
Chrysta Wilson

My Collection:
http://www.chrystawilson.com

I couldn't have said it better, Gerald, up to and including the part about
making sure that there's an active eBay market for the subject coins. Thanks
for saving me a lot of typing!

--Chris

"Gerald Buckmaster" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 01:08:53 +0000, MorganCoin1 wrote:

Can someone tell me why anyone would send a novice to ebay to sell coins
when
they come here asking for help? It seems to happen regularly, ( I ain't
meaning
to point any fingers) and I may have done it myself. After careful
consideration, I shall not be sending novices to ebay to sell.

I would recommend sending a novice to eBay for a few reasons...especially
to sell.

1) No matter what type of coin or currency the novice may have, you can
bet there are enough specialists watching/and bidding the auctions to
ensure the novice will get a fair market price.

2) For the reason above, a novice does not need to learn how to grade,
does not need to attribute, does not need to buy/borrow books, etc. What
they do need to do is have good pictures depicting detail and condition,
so the experts can make a fair offer. Now, if the novice had a true
interest in collecting, I would advise to learn grading, attributing,
etc., before selling, so they can determine if there are pieces they would
like to keep.

What ever happened to the advice of getting at least three appraisals
from
local ANA dealers and taking the best offer for the whole lot?

3) I'll wager eBay is viewed by far more ANA dealers than what could be
found locally, and what are the chances they are truly qualified to assess
a fair market value for every piece? The greysheet, redbook, etc. doesn't
list a value for every variety and die state of every type of coin out
there.


I really do not believe we need any more titles like:

"LQQK, YOU GRADE IT, RARE 1964 SILVER QUARTER!!!!!WOW!!!

'kause I don't know nuffin' 'bout gradin,,,, but the cardbored sez MS 65
and some of the letters show,,, but the 19 of the date is wore off'"
49.99 to open no reserve as is,,, no returns


out there... It is not helping the hobby nor the reputations of the
people in the hobby to send unqualified sellers to online auction
venues, IMHO. (With some exceptions) It isn't helping the posters,
either, IMHO.

4) Totally agree here! Unfortunately, there is no school
of marketing or advertising mandated by eBay before selling ;^) I know
it's frustrating to see this, so IMO, some good advice to novices may
be to just describe the coin to the best of their ability to include
dates, markings, etc., include good close-up images of both sides of
the coin, and trust the market (eBay in this case) can figure out how rare
and what the grade is.

5) Another piece of advice I would give a novice determined to sell
(one-time, not as a startup dealer), would be to start out with a very low
starting bid and avoid BIN, unless they truly know the coin (wouldn't be a
novice if that was the case). Let me use one case example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3902039632

This seller has only 38 feedbacks (all positive, btw), and appears to be
selling off some odds and ends of an inheritance. He started with a very
low bid of $2.00 and NO BIN. He may have looked at a Redbook, and had the
good sense to figure out there were enough varieties of the 1804 half cent
to warrant not placing a BIN on it, especially since he is not a
specialist or even a self-proclaimed expert grader. If he had put a BIN
of say, $60., it would have sold instantly, and someone would have
unknowingly given me a heart attack! This seller trusted eBay would have
enough half cent specialists to provide a fair market value without much
investmnt of
time on his/her part. Hurray for the novice with commonsense!!! BTW -
This 1804 C7 variety has a rarity of R4, not the rarest of die marriages,
but the die state is R6! In addition, this is the only C7 I've seen on
eBay for over 6 months. IMO, someone paid way too much or thought it was
a bit better grade...but my bid of $600 would have been much appreciated
by the novice seller.

My half-a-cent!

Buck