Top Sales - eBay, Coin Fairs, or Own Website?

[Coinery]

I'm wondering if it's possible to compile some stats on the following:

I'm particularly interested to know whether building a website and getting it ranked is a fruitful proposition, aside from the prestige, when it comes to selling coins?

Does eBay represent the greatest total sales for those who have both? What kind of % split would you say was an average?

What about coin fairs, do the tables there justify their expense?

Essentially, what percentage of revenue would you say each of the major outlets represents?

I would be very interested to find out, as I have been building a site the hard way (using HTML & CSS) and still have a long long way to go to complete it, so would like to know whether I'd be better off focusing my attention elsewhere in the short term if sales are the aim, which of course they are! Thanks all!

[Peckris]

I'm wondering if it's possible to compile some stats on the following:

I'm particularly interested to know whether building a website and getting it ranked is a fruitful proposition, aside from the prestige, when it comes to selling coins?

Does eBay represent the greatest total sales for those who have both? What kind of % split would you say was an average?

What about coin fairs, do the tables there justify their expense?

Essentially, what percentage of revenue would you say each of the major outlets represents?

I would be very interested to find out, as I have been building a site the hard way (using HTML & CSS) and still have a long long way to go to complete it, so would like to know whether I'd be better off focusing my attention elsewhere in the short term if sales are the aim, which of course they are! Thanks all!

All I can say from experience - as someone who once dealt via an outlet in an antiques centre and via a postal list, simultaneously - is that there may not be a reliable and defining answer. In my own case, sometimes sales from the list would beat the centre hands down, other times it would be the other way around. On rare occasions (e.g. Christmas!) both would do well, and more often, neither.

Auction houses will tell you that time of year, weather, economic climate, can all have an effect on how many people turn up and how much they are willing to spend. They will also tell you that trying to predict the outcome of a particular sale is absolutely 100% impossible.

Also talk to Derek (RedRiley) and Rob; both sell via websites so could be more use on that side of things.

[TomGoodheart]

My guess is it's going to be impossible to quantify however I know of three dealers who have both good websites but also sell on ebay. I suspect if you are running a proper business, rather than 'hobby' sales, the more bows to your string the better!

Dealers here can tell you how useful to them it is to meet people in person at fairs and the like. But for myself, I'm an internet buyer. I once visited Spink on a whim and there was nearly nothing in stock to interest me. Whereas online I can see hundreds of coins on sealer sites and auction listings in an hour.

My only recommendation is that when online, you include reasonable photos. I will not buy from a site that just lists coins. "Charles I shilling, 1638, mm tun, VF" tells me nothing - I need to see the coin. And sites where you have to click on a link or thumbnail pic to see a coin properly, or to view the reverse irritate me. I like a reasonable photo at the start with the option of enlarging those I'm interested in.

I also get annoyed with sites where I can't right click to open coin details in another tab. It's annoying to me to have to backtab all the time to get back to the main list, to only have the option to have one image viewable at a time, or to have only a photo but to find the details and price are back on the original listing page. In short, I'm fussy about what I consider 'good' website design and if it doesn't work the way I want it puts me off visiting again!

OK, if I collected milled it might be different, but I think I'd still like to make up my own mind about grade.

[Red Riley]

I'm wondering if it's possible to compile some stats on the following:

I'm particularly interested to know whether building a website and getting it ranked is a fruitful proposition, aside from the prestige, when it comes to selling coins?

Does eBay represent the greatest total sales for those who have both? What kind of % split would you say was an average?

What about coin fairs, do the tables there justify their expense?

Essentially, what percentage of revenue would you say each of the major outlets represents?

I would be very interested to find out, as I have been building a site the hard way (using HTML & CSS) and still have a long long way to go to complete it, so would like to know whether I'd be better off focusing my attention elsewhere in the short term if sales are the aim, which of course they are! Thanks all!

I have my own website, sell on ebay and also occassionally at coin fairs. In addition I frequently have a table at a coin club meeting.

1) Website; useful thing to have but getting up the top of the tree is a nightmare which I still haven't perfected. Useful that my wife and son are both computer wonks as I wouldn't be able to sort out anything other than minor problems myself, but other than a coin club table probably the cheapest way to sell;

2) E-bay. Most of what I sell is 'buy-it-nows' as the auction format has a multitude of pitfalls - possible losing money on a deal or putting potential customers off with high reserves to protect your margin. However you sell, charges are horrendous which means that the stuff you put on needs to have a high inbuilt profit margin but despite all this it can work;

3) coin fairs. The difficulty I have as a comparatively new dealer is getting a table in the first place - long established dealers getting priority even if they turn up an hour late, have little to sell and leave an hour early. When I have got a table I have usually been able to make money, although on occassions it has been marginal if you take petrol etc. into account.

So the answer is not straightforward but really you try to sell wherever and whenever you can.

[Coinery]

Just a thankyou to let everyone know I really do appreciate all the effort that gets put into answering posts like mine.

I'm really grateful, thankyou!

[Red Riley]

I also get annoyed with sites where I can't right click to open coin details in another tab. It's annoying to me to have to backtab all the time to get back to the main list, to only have the option to have one image viewable at a time, or to have only a photo but to find the details and price are back on the original listing page. In short, I'm fussy about what I consider 'good' website design and if it doesn't work the way I want it puts me off visiting again!

For those of us who are happier counting on our fingers and keeping notes on scruffy bits of paper, websites simply come as a package - even then they are capable of causing utter confusion in the untrained mind. Hence, although mine wasn't that expensive to set up, it is essentially a compromise and if I were to start from scratch I would include lots of features which it doesn't have and delete lots of useless things that it does. So I would urge you to use a little patience, the dealer is probably sitting screaming at his computer screen just as smoke is coming out of your ears while you browse his site...

[Peckris]

I also get annoyed with sites where I can't right click to open coin details in another tab. It's annoying to me to have to backtab all the time to get back to the main list, to only have the option to have one image viewable at a time, or to have only a photo but to find the details and price are back on the original listing page. In short, I'm fussy about what I consider 'good' website design and if it doesn't work the way I want it puts me off visiting again!

For those of us who are happier counting on our fingers and keeping notes on scruffy bits of paper, websites simply come as a package - even then they are capable of causing utter confusion in the untrained mind. Hence, although mine wasn't that expensive to set up, it is essentially a compromise and if I were to start from scratch I would include lots of features which it doesn't have and delete lots of useless things that it does. So I would urge you to use a little patience, the dealer is probably sitting screaming at his computer screen just as smoke is coming out of your ears while you browse his site...

In the early days of computers (so the story goes), one company experienced a serious hardware failure and called in a firm of computer engineers. The engineer arrived, spent about 10 minutes examining the computer, then put a cross on one component to be replaced, and left. The invoice was for £10,000. The furious company director demanded a detailed breakdown of the invoice. The engineer sent the following :

- Marking a cross on a failed component : £10

- Knowing where to look : £9,990