Best ways to sell your coins?

[shirohniichan]

When you need (not just "want") to sell your coins, what methods yield the best return for the amount of time and money invested?

 

For bullion items I'll go to my local coin store. There are no advertising fees, and I get cash quickly.

 

When I don't need the money for a month or so, what works best?

 

To get the most for trade dollars or seated coins, I figure an ad in the Gobrecht Journal may bring the best return for scarcer varieties. The downside is that it may take a long time.

 

I haven't used eBay for years because of the high fees, flakey buyers, and other hassles. Is it time to go back?

 

Do the buy/sell/trade boards on this forum and the other side of the street work well?

 

If I had lots of time I'd go back to my coin business and start a web page again. I don't have that much time any more.

[bsshog40]

I very seldom sell but I recently decided that if I do, I'm gonna stick to the BST forums. The ebay and paypal fees are not really designed to minimal coin sellers. Basically my experience is it rips off small time sellers. You have to offer free shipping on ebay or you're assessed fees for the shipping charges, then listing fees, then final value fees and then of course Paypal fees. To me this is just big business ripoff anymore. I've been a member there for 12yrs and it gets worse all the time. I've heard it's better for large volume sellers. So to get off my rant and back to your question I think the forums would be better.

[Nutmeg Coin]

For nice certified coins you may want to send the coins to CAC trying to get approval with them and they will usually make an offer, usually pretty strong, if they get approved there. Ebay is not bad for high demand coins and when the time is right to sell. It never hurts to pick up the phone and call the dealers who sell nice type coins for strong money.

[jpcienkus]

I just sold 20+ coins by consigning them to Kryptonitecomics. They were mostly common date Morgans in common grades and I didn't want to hassle with eBay, yet I felt eBay was the best place to sell them. So I consigned them and am pleased with the results.

 

Where you sell your non-bullion coins really depends on what you are trying to sell. Without knowing more detail about your coins, it would be difficult to give you sound advice.

[AstroTrain]

I find forums are the best. I do sell on ebay and even Amazon, but the forums are the best. Of course if you can take nice pictures your going to better overall.

[Coindude]

It's been a while since I've seen you post and it kind of saddens me to hear you say that "I don't have that much time any more".

 

I hope you are ok and I hope it's not a fire sale since you won't be able to get as much as you might with a more timely sale.

 

The BST and Marketplace are excellent and we have a lot of good buyers here. As already referenced ebay has high fees and you would do better if you have the time at places like Heritage (you could contact Mark Feld) and Great Collections.

 

Wish you the best.

[coinman_23885]

When you need (not just "want") to sell your coins, what methods yield the best return for the amount of time and money invested?

 

For bullion items I'll go to my local coin store. There are no advertising fees, and I get cash quickly.

 

When I don't need the money for a month or so, what works best?

 

To get the most for trade dollars or seated coins, I figure an ad in the Gobrecht Journal may bring the best return for scarcer varieties. The downside is that it may take a long time.

 

I haven't used eBay for years because of the high fees, flakey buyers, and other hassles. Is it time to go back?

 

Do the buy/sell/trade boards on this forum and the other side of the street work well?

 

If I had lots of time I'd go back to my coin business and start a web page again. I don't have that much time any more.

 

You might increase your yield by submitting the coins to CAC. If the coins pass, you can solicit a bid from CAC. These have been very reasonable for me in the past, and they have purchased coins from me at levels comparable to what I have asked here and was unable to sell them after two weeks. I liquidated a MS 66 Barber Dime and lower MS graded CC quarter last year using this method, and I was pleased with the transaction. It is much better than I could have done at auction considering all the fees. Collectors also tend to pay more for CACed coins.

[Raisethis2]

The options listed above are all sound however, I sell regularly at various auctions.

 

A good well publicized auction that posts pictures on the internet (Proxybid, Auctionzip, etc) that will accept your consignment for 15% or less (some are zero Sellers Premium) is a terrific alternative. When you can set a reserve, that's even better.

 

The keys are that they must be well attended and people need pictures to review first.

[shirohniichan]

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't even know CAC would make offers if requested.

[MarkFeld]

The options listed above are all sound however, I sell regularly at various auctions.

 

A good well publicized auction that posts pictures on the internet (Proxybid, Auctionzip, etc) that will accept your consignment for 15% or less (some are zero Sellers Premium) is a terrific alternative. When you can set a reserve, that's even better.

 

The keys are that they must be well attended and people need pictures to review first.

 

I don't necessarily agree with it being "even better" if you can set a reserve. Reserves tend to dampen bidder interest and enthusiasm and can end up negatively impacting bid levels/prices realized.

 

I have no way to prove it, but believe more times than not, coins will sell for higher prices if offered at no reserve. When I used to consign to auctions, I hardly ever placed reserves on my coins.

[e1cnr]

The options listed above are all sound however, I sell regularly at various auctions.

 

A good well publicized auction that posts pictures on the internet (Proxybid, Auctionzip, etc) that will accept your consignment for 15% or less (some are zero Sellers Premium) is a terrific alternative. When you can set a reserve, that's even better.

 

The keys are that they must be well attended and people need pictures to review first.

 

I don't necessarily agree with it being "even better" if you can set a reserve. Reserves tend to dampen bidder interest and enthusiasm and can end up negatively impacting bid levels/prices realized.

 

I have no way to prove it, but believe more times than not, coins will sell for higher prices if offered at no reserve. When I used to consign to auctions, I hardly ever placed reserves on my coins.

 

That clearly depends on how the reserve is implemented. At some places, you have no idea that you are bidding against a reserve - which is bidding against you live. The reserve is basically a buy-back unless the sale price beats their bidding/reserve number.

[MarkFeld]

The options listed above are all sound however, I sell regularly at various auctions.

 

A good well publicized auction that posts pictures on the internet (Proxybid, Auctionzip, etc) that will accept your consignment for 15% or less (some are zero Sellers Premium) is a terrific alternative. When you can set a reserve, that's even better.

 

The keys are that they must be well attended and people need pictures to review first.

 

I don't necessarily agree with it being "even better" if you can set a reserve. Reserves tend to dampen bidder interest and enthusiasm and can end up negatively impacting bid levels/prices realized.

 

I have no way to prove it, but believe more times than not, coins will sell for higher prices if offered at no reserve. When I used to consign to auctions, I hardly ever placed reserves on my coins.

 

That clearly depends on how the reserve is implemented. At some places, you have no idea that you are bidding against a reserve - which is bidding against you live. The reserve is basically a buy-back unless the sale price beats their bidding/reserve number.

 

In that scenario, the auction house is not being transparent. I think that deters bidders, which can negatively impact prices realized.

[e1cnr]

If you read the terms of some of the 'auctionhouse / sellers' on the networks Raisethis2 mentioned, it is clearly stated (so transparent) that they may do this. Keeing in mind that the auctions on those networks are mostly small and local with some not even having viewing and a physical location where people bid - all internet, and some timed without auctioneer help at all.

[MarkFeld]

If you read the terms of some of the 'auctionhouse / sellers' on the networks Raisethis2 mentioned, it is clearly stated (so transparent) that they may do this. Keeing in mind that the auctions on those networks are mostly small and local with some not even having viewing and a physical location where people bid - all internet, and some timed without auctioneer help at all.

 

Understood. And for those reasons, among others, such venues might not be the "Best ways to sell your coins".

[Raisethis2]

Just to be clear, what I'm advocating is a good, well attended auction that publishes pictures on the internet prior to the auction date.

 

Heritage and great collections are bigger than I'm suggesting and I think the fees are a bit high.

 

I have an auction near home each month that does just what I'm suggesting and if a lot hammers for more than $250 there's zero Sellers premium. That's a great deal!!

 

 

[wdrob]

 

The best way to sell your coins is to get them into a PCGS holder.

 

 

[Kurtdog]

The best way to sell your coins is to get them into a PCGS holder.

Then offer the coins on their BST where their narcissistic registry fanatics hang out. We might as well take advantage of their fanaticism, too, their host went to all that trouble marketing them up for us. I mean you just hate to see all that great marketing go underutilized.