ebay: useful?

[Guest Peter]

I am sure that this topic has been endlessly debated but I am new to this forum. I used to collect coins years ago, starting in the 'sixties' when we still had the old pounds, shillings and pence. These days I am very intersted in the reign of William III and have noticed that the coinage of this era is facinating so some time in the future (when I have some spare money!) I will start a collection.

My question is: what are the pitfalls of ebay?

I have had a look a few times at the coins on sale & have seen a very 'mixed bag' - the good, the bad and the ugly!

I have seen items that are clearly worthless being posted for quite a lot and others that seem to be undervalued. I guess that I may already know the answer ( buy from proper accredited dealers!) but would value the opinion of the experts.

[Unknown]

I am not a "proper accredited dealers" or an "expert", but I can tell you that you have to be very careful in Ebay.

They sometimes sell worthless piece of junk for a lot, as you say, and many reproductions that are advertise in a way that many would think to be the original thing.

So be cautious and when you see something (a coin) you are not sure about, ask here first!

In any case many expert collectors avoid ebay completely.

I never used it personally, but that is because I never needed it, I can get the coins I want (all the ones I do not own already ) without having to go there.

[Emperor Oli]

As long as there are decent high-res scans of the coin, and the seller's feedback is good, you'll be ok. There are some lunatics on eBay who think that just because a coin is old (in their mind pre-decimalisation) it must be worth a fortune, or because their grandfather game it to them, similarly, it must also be worth a chunk of money. If one has any experience in collecting, one will be able to spot the dunces straight off. However, the genuine sellers far outweigh these.

A website you might like to try is Fatfingers. It searchs for misspellings on eBay an other auction sites. I've picked up once when the seller listed a George III coin as "Goerge 111" and buried it in the wrongcatagory so nobody could find it.

[Sylvester]

Ha William III eh? Now you are talking!

Yes William III is within my period of interest, personally i'm on the sixpences but i'm interested in most other coins of his reign (minus the farthings and the halfpennies cos copper never did interest me).

For old Bill i'd forget Ebay, you'll only find the junk on their anyway, particularly so with coins of the latter 17th century like William's.

Any particular demonination that struck your fancy, or would you prefer to do a date set of say 1696 of all the denominations Gold down to copper?

Would you prefer to concentrate on the provincial mints, the 'errors' like spelling mistakes and transposed shields?

There is alot of material to work on for this reign, halfcrowns being the most popular.

Would you also include William and Mary's coins?

[colliewalker1]

Currently Ebay sellers have 7330 English coins on offer - so they are difficult to ignore!

Ebay is not for the unwary - but there is a lot of choice there and if the scans look good and the seller has good feedback, buying - at the right price - should be OK.

A good ploy is to check any coin on Ebay in which you are interested with similar coins on offer on a dealer website and compare the quality indicated by the scan - and the price.

There are some dealers who have an 'Ebay Shop'and who seem eminently respectable - and will accept returns if the buyer is dissatisfied.

What about the argument as regards dealers, that 'if you can't beat them join them'and add some 'tone' to Ebay, with exposure to a vast number of purchasers; oops - that should cause a stir- are you watching Chris??!!!

I have bought on Ebay and have not come 'unstuck' yet.

[Chris Perkins]

But the difference is, collectors usually have full time jobs and lots of other commitments. Proper coin dealers do the same kinds of things daily and they gain a big experience on the kinds of things people want, and also how to price and grade their coins.

They usually keep a good general stock too. Anyone can be a 'dealer' on ebay, but it's likely to be a very ameteurish hobby affair unless you have an independant regarded point of sale such as a shop or a website. And to be a proper dealer, some kind of dvertising is good too and you need punters and contacts. It would be hard to be a coin dealer just using ebay to buy and sell.

[Master Jmd]

Ebay:

Good things,

1. Wide selection of coins from all over the world.

2. Lots of different dealers with experience in coins.

Bad things:

1. Most of the coins are 'scrap' (not exactly the best of the best).

2. Profits on Ebay are generally out of the question.

[Emperor Oli]

Most of the coins are not scrap! Scrap means no collecting value (i.e fine condition minus). The majority of the coins are above this, and so have some collectable value.

[Master Jmd]

Most of the coins are not scrap! Scrap means no collecting value (i.e fine condition minus). The majority of the coins are above this, and so have some collectable value.

thats why i put 'not exactly the best of the best' in brackets

[Emperor Oli]

Don't call them scrap cause it's not what they are.

[Sylvester]

Don't call them scrap cause it's not what they are.

No just take the 's' off and you'll get what alot of them are!

[wybrit]

One of the most disturbing things about British coinage on ebay is the large number of cleaned coins there are, especially in the higher EF and UNC grades. Cleaning is seldom brought up as a problem in an ebay listing.

To make matters tougher, cleaning hairlines rarely show up in digipictures and never do on scans. There are many sellers with high feedback ratings, including some who would surprise you, who sell their items without describing the cleaning they've either done themselves or had done from a previous owner.

Avoiding cleaned coins is nearly impossible if you buy on ebay. One thing I can say about PCGS and NGC - they will not certify a cleaned coin.

[Sylvester]

I do not buy 'quality' coins on Ebay, there is too much junk out there.

I've had proper dealers sell me cleaned coins though in the past... at the correct prices with a photo but have not mentionned anything about it.

[Emperor Oli]

I've heard about the grading companies not grading cleaned coins, but I thought couldn't they just put somewhere on thre barcode bit that it has been cleaned?

[wybrit]

I've heard about the grading companies not grading cleaned coins, but I thought couldn't they just put somewhere on thre barcode bit that it has been cleaned?

Some companies do that. Most notably, ANACS will "net grade" a coin for cleaning and note it on the label.