Coin Buying and Selling - Sale in Internet Auction
You should carefully consider the available options and their advantages and
disadvantages before proceeding.
This method of selling numismatic items has increased in
popularity rapidly since the late 1990's. The leading Internet auction company for collectibles
is eBay (www.ebay.com), although there are
others that you may also want to consider. (See the
PNNA
links page.)
Advantages
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Potential for good prices realized without paying large commissions. |
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Access to a large and
growing audience of collectors that use the Internet. |
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Buyers can rapidly
search for items of interest out of millions of items for sale. |
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Much easier to sell
certain items, such as tokens and medals, that are not of interest to local
buyers. |
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"Feedback" mechanism
keeps most buyers and sellers honest. (Although eBay has stopped allowing
sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers.) |
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Payment is generally secure and convenient thanks to services such as
PayPal. |
Disadvantages
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You must handle
arrangements for payment and shipment of items sold, and be on alert for
possible fraud and dishonesty. Electronic forms of payment (now required on
eBay) are vulnerable to buyer claims (e.g., item not received or not as
described). For higher priced items, you are likely better off dealing with a
major numismatic firm or auction house. |
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Your chances of
success are greatly reduced if you don't have the experience and knowledge to properly
describe and grade your numismatic items, or if you don't have much positive
"feedback" from prior transactions. Good photographs or scans are
essential! |
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You may need to
obtain a business license, collect sales taxes, etc. Also, eBay is now
requiring sellers to adopt certain professional business practices such as accepting
electronic forms of payment and returns for items "significantly not as
described." |
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The total fees,
especially with electronic forms of payment, can easily be 10% or higher,
especially on lower priced items. There are also significant fees for having
reserve bids and/or high opening bids. Also, listing fees are usually not
refunded for unsold items, or you only get a refund if the item sells on the
second attempt. |
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The short duration of
auctions (typically 7 days) can sometimes make selling "hit or miss."
Longer listing durations may be available for fixed price items. |
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May not work well or
may be too time consuming for large quantities of common items. |
Advice
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Consider building up
some positive "feedback" from buying before you try selling. |
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Limit the number of
items you sell online, concentrating mostly on interesting, unusual or rare
items that may be difficult to sell locally for a good price. |
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Get help from
experienced collectors in describing and grading your coins, or use a
third-party grading service for valuable items. (Certified coins
sell better than "raw" coins.) You may also want to
seriously consider consigning your items to persons who sell online as a business.
|
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Avoid high starting bids
and reserves; also avoid high shipping charges. |
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Be aware of all the
rules and policies of the online companies you're dealing with.
|
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Be sure to ship items with
delivery confirmation and/or insurance. If you sell internationally
(almost a must for world coins), be aware of customs forms and
regulations. |
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Unless you're an established dealer
who does a lot of advertising, it's best not to sell numismatic items on your
own web site, as you probably won't get much traffic. |
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Use a P.O. Box or
Private Mail Box for your business activities. Even though eBay no longer
allows you to state that you accept cash, checks or money orders, some
customers will still want to use those payment methods, plus you'll need a
return address in any case. |
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