How To Sell Coin On Ebay

How To Sell Coins On Ebay

(And get the most out of them)

Posted

By Daniel Malone

Selling coins on ebay can be rewarding and exciting, not to mention profitable. With advice from other coin sellers, not just any seller's advice either, you can circumvent many of the initial problems novice sellers encounter. In the beginning, you need advice from a seller who sells coins, knows about coins, and has a good reputation on ebay, and a good reputation among other coin collectors.

Also, You will want a seller who can help you in all aspects of coin selling. It wouldn't hurt to choose a seller who writes ebay coin guides, is a member of ebay coin groups and posts at coin forums on the Internet, this way you can gain valuable incite on what the seller is about, and not just rely on feedback that might or might not reflect their integrity.

You can't gain enough information on selling coins just by viewing seller's feedback and ebay seller's auctions, and just taking pictures or scans and listing coins on ebay. You must find a mentor or mentors who have online experience buying and selling coins, and these type people are easy to find on coin forums and groups. Why should you seek such people? Because... the more you know about coins, the better the description, and the more money you will sell them for and the more respect you will gain!". Because the idea is to sell your coins in a manner that pleases the collectors who buy them so they return for business and give you great ratings.

"I wrote this article to help people sell their coins. It's not a sales pitch because I'm not selling anything. I just see a huge problem at ebay, watched if for years, and decided to do something about it; Too many people don't know much about coins, coin grading, or taking coin pictures, while others just don't care, and are greedy. I can't do anything about dishonest, greedy and unscrupulous sellers, except report them to ebay. However, I can help people, who are honest, to properly represent, take good pictures, and get the most out of their coins.

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Daniel Malone and I have sold coins online since 2002 to 2005 under the user id coinscollectibleauctions. I have sold coins at ebay since 2005 under the user ID danieldoncoins and now under coinauctionshelp. I pride myself in providing the bidder with the best coin pictures, honest descriptions, good communication and fast delivery.

I also write ebay coin guides, to help buyers on ebay, and began this website to further help coin collectors, buyers and sellers alike. My website coinauctionshelp.com boast a coin help forum for coin grading and third party grading services, among other ebay help topics, and a coin help blog that places an emphasis on scams and frauds. You can click on these links to see what I'm talking about, and know how serious I am.

I'm also a member of several Internet coin forums like Collectors Universe, Coin Talk, CoinForum.com, among other forums. And with this knowledge and experience I'm well qualified to help anyone become an ebay coin seller, and an honest and reputable seller at that. As a matter of fact, I accept nothing less than ebay sellers being honest and sell with utmost integrity.

Notice: One thing before we get started - if you do not intend to be an honest seller, learn about your coins, grade them properly, take the best pics of your coins, and learn the true value of your coins, then stop reading and close out this page! I have no use for people who would not learn about coins and then lie about them, and mislead collectors, just to make an extra buck!

Now let's get started, if you don't already have one, you will need a free ebay account. You can register by clicking here.

If you just signed up or already have an ebay account you will need a valid credit card or bank account in order to sell items. This is required so ebay can collect their fees from you, and it's a completely secure and easy verification process. I would use a credit card or open another bank account just to use for ebay selling.

The next thing you need is a paypal account. Most sellers and buyers use paypal, and its use will attract more bidders to your coin auctions. You can get one for free by clicking here paypal. (Paypal will charge you 3% of what a winning bidder pays you when they use paypal, all other transactions are free).

Now that you have an ebay sellers account and a paypal account, you're ready to sell!

If you know what type of coins you have and how to take crisp, clear coin photographs then skip the rest. If you don't I encourage you to keep reading because the following information will help you make the most money from your coins.

Pictures:

Pictures are the most important aspect of coin selling on ebay. You need to properly represent each coin with photos so the bidders can determine the condition or grade of each coin. You can write an essay on how honest and trustworthy you are, but if the coin pics are poor, then the final value fee will be less. Besides that, most ebay buyers have learned not to buy into a seller's hype on the coins they are trying to sell. You just don't want any important aspect, of a coin's condition, masked by poor photography techniques.

If your coin is cleaned, or damaged in any way; make sure you put this in the description, and that your pictures don't hide the details of the problem. If you need to learn what damaged or cleaned coins look like then click on these articles Damaged Coins (Non-errors) or Detecting Cleaned Coins.

Look at it another way, put yourself in a buyers shoes, and walk into a coin shop. The first thing you will do, after you see a coin you like, is ask the dealer if you can see the coin. You will carefully hold the coin, turn it in your hand, and inspect the coin closely for any problems that say "Don't buy me". But what if the seller said, "No, I can't remove the coin from the case. If you like how you see it there, feel free to buy it, or go someplace else."

If your like me, you would immediately leave the coin shop angered by the dealers attitude. It's the same on ebay, and even more so because the buyer can't actually touch or closely inspect the coin(s) you’re selling. So, the nearest they can come to looking closely at your coins is your pictures. I can't say this enough, you must take clear and detailed pictures of your coins. You will get more bids, and happy buyers. Ebay has too many sellers that either can't take decent coin pictures or just don't care. Please don't add yourself to that list!

Taking pictures is not difficult, and to learn, read this article I prepared Taking Coin Pictures and Taking Pictures Of Proof Coins.

Descriptions:

Descriptions are not as important as pictures, but they're a close second. It's your only way of telling your buyer what you know about the coin you're selling. In this, you must be honest, concise and upfront with any information about the date, mint mark, and condition of the coin. You must list any problems you think the coin might have i.e. cleaned, scratched, bent, etc. You don't want buyers to be unhappy with a misrepresented coin.

Also, try to stay away from phrases like "I don't know anything about coins" or "I'm not a coin dealer" or "Grading is just an opinion". You want to sound knowledgeable and professional about the coins you're selling. The only opinion a buyers cares about is their opinion of the coin when they receive it. The buyer will trust you more and feel safe bidding higher on your items, if you know what you're selling and what your talking about.

Remember, make sure the description includes the following information: date, mint mark, coin type, denomination, the problems (as outlined above) or the lack thereof. Don't offer a grade (your clear pictures is enough) or hype the coins condition or rarity, because as sure as the coin is metal, a buyer will soon disagree with your "opinion" grade.

Also, please don't use huge letters and bright colors in your auction description. I have seen many auctions descriptions that had huge letters, and was nothing but a bunch of winded hype. These auctions not worth my time, or yours, and I hope you don't do this. I want to buy a coins, not the hype. It's just unbelievable how some ebay sellers will use up page after page of hype to tell you what others found, and what you might get, and when your finished reading their description, you have a headache and already forgot why you where on ebay in the first place.

In reality, these sellers have thousands of coins, and most are common (some might be damaged or cleaned), and they want to sell them for book value and above. So they create interesting estate stories, make sure 1 in 1,000 bidders get something good, and hype the hell out of the coin lots, collections and rolls they have. Because they know that these same coins would not make them much money if people just bought them for what they are, common, cleaned, and junk coins.

In reality, that's it! At least, the above is all you need to know to get you started and be a successful seller. Of course, you will need to learn more to continue as a credible seller that is trusted and draws repeat buyers. At the top left of this article is FREE TOOLS, and these will help in all aspects of identifying coins, their value, mintages, specifications, grading, identifying cleaned or damaged coins, etc. I hope you take advantage of these tool and the advice provided in this article.

It will help people trust coin sellers at ebay, and make it a better place to buy coins. I guarantee you will sell your coins for more money if your pictures are good, your description sounds accurate, honest and professional. I'm here to help. Feel free to email any questions you might have!

I wish you the best of luck in selling coins and visit our forum if you have any questions. Coin Fourm