frank Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 I'm considering selling part of my French coins/jetons collection on eBay. (I can't sell them at a good price locally.) Does anyone have tips to share? e.g.: Is it cost- (and time-) efficient to set a reserve price? What "listing options" (display options) do you consider essential (and worth the extra cost)? I want to be able to sell internationally, thru PayPal. How much should I charge in "shipping and handling" to try to cover how much PayPal will cost me above postage? What resolution do you use on your eBay coin photos? ... etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank Posted July 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 Addendum: 'Does anyone have success selling world coins on other sites? I have no illusions about eBay; it's the devil I know vs. the ones I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stilson Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Personally if I'm bidding on a coin and it has a reserve it puts me off some. But if they list the reserve I may bid. At least I know what I'm getting in to. As a buyer the better the picture the better chances I will bid on them. Display option at least the listing view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 honesty, no long sales pitch..tell what it is, have a good sized picture of obv. and reverse...as big as possible. Reserves are okay if you have a minimum you want to accept...and to be honest...sometimes the coin sells with one bidder....and most of all...be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prethen Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Have good pictures that are clear; be very honest; have a return policy; if possible, put no reserve and no starting bid; and be very clear on your description. If you think a coin is cleaned or has a rim tick they might not notice (or a hidden scratch); come out with it. You might get less money, but it's less likely you'll get a return and you'll have more respect garnered by potential bidders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 I recommend starting auctions at something like 99¢ because 1. it is cheaper listing fee, 2 attracts more bids. Lately I don't bid on impulse but put it in the watch folder on eBay so I can think about it. I am a last minute sniper type of bidder usually, cause I don't like to get outbid. So if you start an auction and notice no bids don't get discouraged, I have started auctions and for 4-5 days not one bid, but then you go into My Ebay and you will often see lots of people watching it and maybe putting in third party sniping bids that place the bid in the last seconds of the auction. I do not care for third party sniping myself, but rather like the thrill of successfully getting something on the last second of the auction with my trigger right finger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Not to say that I'm disencouraging you to list on ebay, but do check out their fees and give a rough calculation. Last time when I listed some coins for sale and when their overall bid was less than 10 dollars, ebay takes like a good dollar off which is like a good 10%. Unless you know how much it's likely to sell on ebay, chances are profits will be eaten pretty bad if you are selling some small tokens, etc. As well as, not to forget to mention that if you have a low feedback on ebay (I'm assuming here), it will hurt a fair bit as of how much the bidders are willing to bid. Alternatively if you can wait around, you can try selling on this forum, that is if you have 30 days and 25 posts. No fees to worry about too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Alternatively if you can wait around, you can try selling on this forum, that is if you have 30 days and 25 posts. No fees to worry about too That said, I prefer to sell here instead - like selling to friends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherry Picker Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 How much should I charge in "shipping and handling" to try to cover how much PayPal will cost me above postage? What resolution do you use on your eBay coin photos? ... etc. Keep in mind that pay-pal gets there percentage (fee) from the total payment you recieve, this includes your S&H charges.! Cherry Picker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ageka Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 I have seen US selllers list coins directly on ebay France Since all of France is on vacation somewhere in july and a little less in august savvy vendors are not selling now If the coins are worth over 50 euro most ebayers in France will start with 80-90% of their wanted price Medals often go below melt or intrinsic price Paypall will also bill both sides like 1.5% I think for the dollar euro conversion and over here like 4% for the paypall use It is legal here to add the paypall fee to the bill since we have a free eurowide banktransfer system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordie582 Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 How much should I charge in "shipping and handling" to try to cover how much PayPal will cost me above postage? Don't follow the trend of some cowboys that charge enormous P+P charges. I for one never attempt a bid on anything where the Post & Handling charges are ridiculous. It shows a lack of faith in the value of the item they are selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Don't follow the trend of some cowboys that charge enormous P+P charges. I for one never attempt a bid on anything where the Post & Handling charges are ridiculous. It shows a lack of faith in the value of the item they are selling. Cannot easily count the number of times these cowboys on eBay have lost my bid because of the $5-6 shipping charge on a banknote that cost a whopping 41¢ to mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowly but surely Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 While I do hate the overly huge S&H fees, they do have one big bonus for the seller. If someone has something I want and their fees are too high, I find myself checking out the other items they are selling to try to take advantage of shipping discounts. If you overcharge for one item, but allow bundling of multiple purchases for a nominal shipping increase, you may encourage people to buy multiple items from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostDutchman Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 they have pretty much hit everything else on the head.... but i have to stress good large pictures... you can bypass the e bay picture system by hosting your pictures on tinypic.com or somewhere else... here is one of my auctions where i use tinypic.com to host my pictures... 1893 S Morgan Silver Dollar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 I just hog the space on my website for auction images. $4.95 a month and I have 500mb minimum of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank Posted July 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Good heavens Dutchman that is one colossal Morgan auction --very, very far out of my league. Thanks for the tip, and thanks to all for their help. Of course Ageka's remark --that the French are mostly en vacances in July-August-- is very well taken; silly me not to have thought of that... frank bright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just carl Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Consider this. If you try selling coins here on this web site there is no charge of any kind. As to shipping and handling, when you make a sale you could just tell the person you will send it and pay the postage and handling yourself for a small fee if your not certain. If the coin is say $5 they could just add what they think the postage and handling would be. However, it would be easy to just go to the post office and ask how much it would cost to send XXXXX. They will gladly give you an estimate. I think your a lot safer with members of this forum than ebay or other on line auctions. Way to many scams out there. Here probably 99% of the members are honest and sincere people. 99% because I'm here. otherwise it would be 100%. Just think a fair price, good friends, no lost in the mail stories. Then there is always the chance that the person buying your coins is in your area and you could make a new friend and that is probably more valuable than the coins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted July 27, 2007 Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 I believe they're spelled "jettons" as I am reading a book entitled "Jamestown: The Buried Truth" which mentions the discovery of jettons by the hundreds in the area where the original James Fort was re-discovered. But I don't really know what a jetton is - can you please enlighted me ? Thanks, Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28Plain Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 I sold on ebay for about a year, and even set up a store. When I did my taxes I discovered that ebay and paypal together had gotten around 15% of my gross sales. Also, ignore anyone who tells you to start an auction at 99 cents and have no reserve. Unless you're selling something that's generally sought after and you have over 100 positive feedbacks, you're likely to give the item to a lone bidder for 99 cents. Ebay allows thieves and scammers to operate with impunity and are merciless in hitting solid sellers with exorbitant fees. I don't sell on ebay any longer. The venue isn't profitable for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ageka Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 My mother's nephew and whole family on her mother's side were carpenters She got a chippendale style dining room table and long cupboard and vitrine with extra bar and TV cupboard in real oak hand sculpted and retouched for drying shrinkage after a year In other words a perfect specimen which in 1970 was worht like 15 000 dollars in the last surviving shops of our furniture city When she died last december I tried to sell this on ebay hoping for 2000-3000 dollars Instead I got deleted with three very strong warnings I was spamming the word style is forbidden After three hopeless trials to discuss with the hopeless hollandisch ebay fellow I gave up and paid my brother 1000 dollars and kept the dining room for myself Thank you ebay I was able to sell a 5000 $ Astrakan new mink coat for about 100 $ and has you know when I got no response to 100 year old crucifixes I was read to sell them for copper value In the meantime my brother left all the garbage with me to try and sell but I think that I will never brake even on unsold items and fees I like to buy on ebay because the desperate and innocent give me an endless flow of cheap materials to buy from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerOldDan Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Complete and up front honesty in all areas. Be fast and efficient with some system of double checking all phases of your sale. Make and keep notes of all conversation and agreements. Records and start developing a reputation that others can rely on. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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