Ebay vs. Heritage

[Matt_dac]

I've never purchased/sold through Heritage before and I was poking around on their site a bit last night.

 

For those who have, what do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of each venue? Do you prefer one over the other?

 

How about for selling?

 

Thanks

 

[BillJones]

When you bid in a Heritage auction you are dealing with a professional auction site that has filtered what they offer to weed out counterfeits and other such problems. The Heritage staff reviews the items they offer and provide descriptions and pictures that are produced under consistent procedures.

 

EBay is only a agent that posts items that their consigners place up on the Internet. EBay does not provide pictures or descriptions. Those are up to the people who offer items on EBay.

 

Heritage offers more consumer protection and far more consistent professional expertise in the description of items they auction. With Heritage you are working with professional people. With EBay you are working with people that can range from knowing nothing to experts and everything in between.

 

When you are consigning to Heritage you need to have some significant material before they will accept it for auction, I think $5,000 in value might be minimum. With EBay you can put up anything, even a worthless piece of junk. Therefore if you are just a casual seller with less expensive material, EBay is really your only choice. Heritage might buy your less expensive items, but they probably won't auction them.

 

[Nutmeg Coin]

With ebay you have to do it all yourself, the imaging, the listing with market analysis, etc., shipping, and so forth. Many major dealers including the major coin dealers in the country, sell and list on ebay, and also buy there.

 

With ebay everything is much faster, but you have to have accurate listings in all regards otherwise the complaints and item not as described cases can sink your account. With HA and the other auction venues you will probably have a 3-6 month wait for getting full payment, but in most cases will make more $$ if the fees on both ends don't eat in to profits too much. Great Collections may be a good alternative since you can set your price, they have professional imaging and usually pay within a couple of weeks after your item sells. Straight sales are sometimes the best option to the leading buyers if what you are selling is easy to value, you could call around to the major buyers.

[wdrob]

 

I have dealt with Great Collections on a number of purchases and have always been pleased with how quick they ship out and their customer service. They have very good photos as well in my opinion.

 

[dimefreak]

I hope Ian is paying attention and notices there is a door open at the LB show. They could use the national exposure and publicity and LB could use the auction. Lastly they both reside in CA and are used to the laws and regulations that are keeping other auction houses away... a perfect match at a perfect time IMO

[Nutmeg Coin]

I would recommended setting your reserve on all auctions otherwise your hard-earned money put into certified coins could easily be wasted on Bluesheet net profits.

[Eric Hazen]

With ebay you have to do it all yourself, the imaging, the listing with market analysis, etc., shipping, and so forth. Many major dealers including the major coin dealers in the country, sell and list on ebay, and also buy there.

 

With ebay everything is much faster, but you have to have accurate listings in all regards otherwise the complaints and item not as described cases can sink your account. With HA and the other auction venues you will probably have a 3-6 month wait for getting full payment, but in most cases will make more $$ if the fees on both ends don't eat in to profits too much. Great Collections may be a good alternative since you can set your price, they have professional imaging and usually pay within a couple of weeks after your item sells. Straight sales are sometimes the best option to the leading buyers if what you are selling is easy to value, you could call around to the major buyers.

 

+1

[johnny9434]

ive heard all good things about great collections and heritage. i am way more careful with ebay because of what was stated above where you can post any just or bogus stuff. jmo

[Matt_dac]

Thanks

[michael]

what do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of each venue?

 

it ALL depends on the coin you want to bid on and what you have to pay to get it

 

How about for selling?

the same

 

 

 

it ALL depends on the specific coin in question you want to have competitive bidding on

[joes2001]

I've never used Heritage and don't plan to. The coins I sell on ebay are always under 1 or 2 hundred. And I usually sell 1-10 items every now and then. I don't think I'd be able to auction my stuff to Heritage then. Ebay is so huge and well-known so there's always an interesting supply of coins to buy. I'm happy with ebay, but of course I wouldn't mind their fees decreasing.

[#]

Well since I started selling at any / all venues last Feb. 2013 my average is over 98% here on the boards; only not to sell were $5k plus coins. Heritage, again since 2013 100% sold and for more than 30% than what I wanted and more than 45% than their estimate. Both of these places have been outstanding in terms of lots moved and professionalism. The only differences besides prices of lots is since I'm not very computer literate is heritage is a turn key operation meaning they take care of everything! The money market place I always try first for the opportunity to meet with fellow members which has been priceless. though I have found the less expensive the coin the more headaches is it to sell; with Heritage it's not my problem. I've also noticed once someone buys from me the vast majority of the time they come back repeatedly, three members I consider regulars. I've also worked law away with two members and they've turned out to be invaluable resources. The majority of sellers here IMHO who don't sell many of their offerings are just WAY out of touch with the market and incredibly high with some asking FMV! Legend-Morphy cannot be beat when comes to selling mid to high end PCGS coins period. They're a smaller house but treat you like your their only customer and the swag they give is amazing. I just wish Heritage made me feel like they do. As for Stacks and Bowers I use them to buy coins I can't afford because the extended payment plans are the best in the business even though take make me feel like I'm the smallest and cheapest customer they have versus Heritage who with payment plans one can't tell a difference in service whether you pay cash or make payments. As for eBay...I don't mind the listing fees, seller fees or PayPal fees it's just the customers are never satisfied, always wanting better pics, discounts and being in general a pain in the butt. With that said my feedback is over 700 with 100% I just have to work at it a lot harder for a lot less money.

[reid1836]

Well Matt,

There are certainly a lot of varying opinions on this subject.

Personally , I have found Ebay to be a boon. That is to say, that it can be very profitable. Well established coin dealers on the other hand may not think so highly of it ! Since it has brought about a great leveling of the playing field so to speak. Greater competition ! Now collectors looking to buy that special long awaited key piece to their collections , need not contend with the over inflated profit margins of the dealers. They can simply peruse Ebay and take their pick of many choices and pay pretty much what they are willing to, and get a coin they are happy with. This has been a game changer as they say! I have found some really good deals to buy on Ebay . As well as, sold some coins at very nice profits ! As for Heritage. I have been a purchaser ! For the most part , the fees they charge, are in my opinion exorbitant . Sellers fees I get. But the buyers fees only serve to keep the bids moderate to low as far as I have seen for the respective coins. But , apparently the RICH don't mind paying too much ! So I guess there is some sort of balance to it. But, for my money. I'll go Ebay every time, as far as selling goes. I like having control over what it sells for. Right up to the end. And , anybody who sells much there , knows what I'm talking about. But, here's the rub ! It really doesn't matter about opinions in this instance. What does matter is , your experience. So, to that end. Knowledge is golden, and you won't have it until you get your feet wet one way or another. Then, and only then will you(you) know the best course of action for you to take !

Best of luck in your endeavour's !

[reid1836]

P.S

My Ebay feedback is 411 ,100 % pos .Many of which ,were let`s say moderate in price range ! In my OPINION !

[Nutmeg Coin]

HA, Stacks, David Lawrence, GC all get good results and with the HA archives and PCGS coinfacts it is quite easy to approximate the value on any given certified coin. There are coins more difficult to value. If you have the high end coins you probably have to run them at those auctions to fetch top money but will usually have to wait months, how much working capital do you have? That's what it comes down to whether you get full price or less than that. I have not had any luck with the bst forums, and I tried PCGS' "Collector's Corner" for a while. It took fifteen minutes per listing and the number of customers was quite limited. The market in numismatics is online now and looking over the ebay sales it is quite surprising how poorly imaged items do there, and people say that even standard 600 dpi, 24-48 dpi scanner images aren't good enough. I talk with significant ebay sellers in the state even with super macro digital cameras who don't have the best pics..

[Raisethis2]

E-Bay has it's place as do the majors. The advantages of the majors have been covered by others so I won't be redundant but on E-Bay as a Seller you can move lesser valued items pretty easily. Their fees are not great but they are less than the majors. The knock is that E-Bay buyers are, as a group, frugal.

 

E-Bay does help keep the majors from raising prices to ever greater extremes.

 

On the flip side E-Bay buyers should concentrate their efforts with Sellers who post great pictures, have excellent Seller feedback and have a solid return policy. Never buy without an excellent return policy.

 

Coins valued over a couple hundred bucks don't fit well on E-Bay. Buyers there just are at a different level.

[Hurricane4911-migration]

I would never buy an uncertified coin from Ebay...period. And then, only NGC or PCGS coins. Also take the certification number and cross check it. I seen some outrageous forgeries on Ebay. One that comes to mind is a 1924 Peace Dollar with a "post mint S" mintmark added at a 45 degree tilt complete with scratches.

 

I buy important pieces on Heritage. Yes, you pay an 18% buyer fee, but you are dealing with the best in the business, and every client must pre-qualify. I use Ebay only for finding deals on coins I can flip, or gifts for my grandsons collection.

 

You Get What You Pay For.

 

 

[dimefreak]

I would never buy an uncertified coin from Ebay...period. And then, only NGC or PCGS coins. Also take the certification number and cross check it. I seen some outrageous forgeries on Ebay. One that comes to mind is a 1924 Peace Dollar with a "post mint S" mintmark added at a 45 degree tilt complete with scratches.

 

I buy important pieces on Heritage. Yes, you pay an 18% buyer fee, but you are dealing with the best in the business, and every client must pre-qualify. I use Ebay only for finding deals on coins I can flip, or gifts for my grandsons collection.

 

You Get What You Pay For.

 

 

I got this off ebay RAW for $20... among many other nice coins over the years.

 

http://www.jmscoins.com/store/product.php?productid=19420&cat=265&page=1

[Hurricane4911-migration]

That is a beautiful Franklin and congratulations on picking it up. A find like that does not happen every day. You got MORE than what you paid for, I suspect.

 

The key differentiation between Ebay & Auction houses like Hertitage & Stacks is anyone can can sell anything on Ebay and put up whatever photo they wanted. Ebay does check that if you specify a coin grade, you need to back it up with a certification number. I don't know if someone at Ebay checks that number against a Registry, but I doubt it.

 

There are 27 bids on this 1916D Mercury Dime...

 

Ebay 1916D

 

That one is a bit sketchy

 

To tone it down a notch...There are a lot of holes on Ebay that simply do not exist at Hertiage.

 

 

 

 

[KeeNoooo]

I have found some great buys on eBay.

As a buyer, I look there first.

As a seller,(I'm not a seller, only an upgrader), its tough to keep perfect feedback. There are people on there who are always being difficult. And they never understand that nobody is perfect.

I once sold 3 different coins at auction. Right before they ended, I had some serious family problems come up and I had to refund their money. 2 of them were very understanding but 1 person was not. Left nasty feedback and would not cancel the transaction.

I understand it was an inconvenience but it wasn't an every day occurance as this person could see in my feedback. Things happen and some people are cold hearted.

Plus the guy got his money back....he sent me a nasty message and I just apologized that he felt the way he did and closed with "god bless you"

[$ilverHawk]

I've never purchased/sold through Heritage before and I was poking around on their site a bit last night.

 

For those who have, what do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of each venue? Do you prefer one over the other?

 

How about for selling?

 

Thanks

 

If you are buying or selling low end coins, it makes sense to go with eBay. Your margins will be tight but you can unload quite a bit of coins. You will have to put up with the hassle involved with bottom feeders but that's the reality.

 

If you are selling better, high end coins, eBay makes no sense at all. Much better to list with Heritage, Stacks-Bowers etc. You will get more exposure to higher end collectors that should result in better profits. Of course that depends if you bought right.

 

Personally, I have had very positive results with Heritage.

 

Carl

[History&Coins]

Great Collections doesn't do foreign coins.  Technically they do, but there is no effective search mechanism for them.  So if you're looking for an Austrian thaler in the 1500's, you'll have to sift thru every 2017 Chinese Panda proof to find one.  It means sifting thru 1,000 pieces of bullion to see if they have anything in a particular auction: essentially not worth my time. I've told them about this numerous times but their main area is more common US and foreign is not very important to them.

Despite a natural inclination to favor the small guy, I've had good experiences with Heritage.  On my last bid lot I asked for an eyes-on appraisal of the 1 foreign coin I was bidding on.  Chris Birrenbach of Heritage called me, with the coin in hand, to describe it.  One cannot beat that kind of service.

[Jade Collection]

love heritage, found lots of great pieces recently. Ebay is great too, I use both to the advantage of my collection!

 

[Alex in PA.]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2014 at 8:05 AM, Raisethis2 said:

E-Bay has it's place as do the majors. The advantages of the majors have been covered by others so I won't be redundant but on E-Bay as a Seller you can move lesser valued items pretty easily. Their fees are not great but they are less than the majors. The knock is that E-Bay buyers are, as a group, frugal.

 

E-Bay does help keep the majors from raising prices to ever greater extremes.

 

On the flip side E-Bay buyers should concentrate their efforts with Sellers who post great pictures, have excellent Seller feedback and have a solid return policy. Never buy without an excellent return policy.

 

Coins valued over a couple hundred bucks don't fit well on E-Bay. Buyers there just are at a different level.

I buy off of E-Bay once in a while however I don't consider myself as frugal.  I buy mainly from a very reputable old dealer whose prices and coins are better that what I see on E-Bay.  Why prices are so inflated on E-Bay is beyond me so if I'm looking for a bargain I turn to the dealer 90% of the time.  I do not sell coins, or anything, on E-Bay or anywhere.

[History&Coins]

On 2/1/2014 at 11:36 AM, dimefreak said:

 

I got this off ebay RAW for $20... among many other nice coins over the years.

 

http://www.jmscoins.com/store/product.php?productid=19420&cat=265&page=1

Sorry but the link is invalid and I couldn't see the item: "

Access denied !      You are not allowed to access that resource!     Error ID: 33  

I actually didn't address the OP: about Ebay.  A friend asked me to get them a certain holed coin for a pendant and I bought one on Ebay.  It actually cost way more than Heritage but they wanted it quickly and Ebay was the venue for such pieces.  Also I bought a slabbed common coin (1947-S silver Peso, NGC-65) for my son to take to school (2nd grade) for his book report on Douglas MacArthur.  However, other than low value coins like this I've always had problems on Ebay.  Just recently I bought a used MSI laptop [hi end] for my son's 9th birthday on Ebay for ~$660.  The laptop was refurbished, had a bad keyboard (the warantee void if seal broken thing on the bottom was opened), the laptop was a different model than what was advertised, also it had less installed RAM (memory) than advertised.  Fortunately I was within buyer protection and was able to send it back.

EBay's good for lower value items and used childrens' toys but for critical coins, I have to deal with the majors.  Yes I've heard stories about the guy who bought a silver milarense on Ebay described as a miscellaneous Roman silver coin, but how many lots do you have to go thru to find something like this?

[numisport]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2014 at 11:00 AM, BillJones said:

When you bid in a Heritage auction you are dealing with a professional auction site that has filtered what they offer to weed out counterfeits and other such problems. The Heritage staff reviews the items they offer and provide descriptions and pictures that are produced under consistent procedures.

 

EBay is only a agent that posts items that their consigners place up on the Internet. EBay does not provide pictures or descriptions. Those are up to the people who offer items on EBay.

 

Heritage offers more consumer protection and far more consistent professional expertise in the description of items they auction. With Heritage you are working with professional people. With EBay you are working with people that can range from knowing nothing to experts and everything in between.

 

When you are consigning to Heritage you need to have some significant material before they will accept it for auction, I think $5,000 in value might be minimum. With EBay you can put up anything, even a worthless piece of junk. Therefore if you are just a casual seller with less expensive material, EBay is really your only choice. Heritage might buy your less expensive items, but they probably won't auction them.

 

Read this again if you are new to auctions. Mr. Jones is right on the money. What I do like about Ebay is immediate shipping with PayPal protection. However you must know what you are looking for.