Thinking of Selling on eBay?
After reading this, you may think differently.
While dealing with coins, we sometimes run into people who feel they can do better by selling on eBay, rather than by selling to us. In some cases, it would be true. But there are a lot of factors to consider when you compare selling on eBay, to selling to us. When you take those factors into account, you may find that selling to us can be much less hectic, and may be much more profitable for you. (Although, we know people who very much enjoy the eBay experience, and we don't begrudge that at all. But we know many other people who find eBay to be frustrating, and we understand that feeling because of our own past experience).
Let’s start with fees. Let's say that we might offer to buy a coin from you for $50. When you account for the eBay 12.9% final value fee (including that 12.9% charge on even your shipping fees and sales tax!), you need to sell your coin for about $59 on eBay in order to keep $50 for yourself. For a coin which we would buy from you for $350, you would need to get at least $405 on eBay. And of course we know that when you sell on eBay, you could become a victim of those auctions which “bomb out” at low prices, when you were hoping to get much more. Those duds really drag down your profits!
If you try to save time on eBay, by attempting to sell your coins in a large a lot, there are other factors at play. Coin lots on eBay often don't sell very well. You have likely learned that eBay sales generate more profits when you sell coins individually, rather than to sell them in a large lot. So you have a [serious] question to answer - what is your time worth to you? For all those individual listings, you must take photos, create listings, and answer questions. You have to keep checking the computer for e-mail, and to monitor your auction progress. When you finally sell, after a week of waiting, you need to send invoices, package the coins one at a time, take them to the post office, and pay for shipping one coin at a time. Then you send an e-mail to the buyer stating when it was shipped. Then you must leave feedback, and then answer questions from the buyers as to when their coins will arrive. And those trips to the post office will cost you in gas, and in wear and tear on your car. Then you have the stress from worrying that you may receive negative feedback that you know you don't deserve. And never mind the fact that you may possibly have sold to a fraudulent eBay buyer who will rip you off.
If you sell coins in a large lot to us, you may need to do an e-mail or two, or a phone call. You then can take all your coins, and put them in a USPS flat rate mailing box, which is provided to you by the post office. One package, very little time investment, one trip to the post office, and it’s over. That’s worth a lot in itself. You can use your extra time to relax, or you can use it to work in other ways to increase your income.
And then there is the cash flow factor. If you have a large lot of coins to sell on eBay, you may have to string the sales out over several weeks, so that you don’t overload too much product onto the market in a short period of time. By selling to us in bulk, you will turn over your cash quickly. That allows you to buy and sell more coins over time, and you can make even more money.
If you think that eBay might be a better way for you to sell, we ask you to please consider the case that we present here, before you decide. We used to be regular eBay sellers, but we rarely sell on eBay any more. We’ve learned that selling in bulk, with quick turnover, has been far more profitable for us.
