Thoughts about selling out.

Dozer D

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Feb 12, 2012
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Time is drawing near (age 71) for me about selling out my entire coin collection, silver stacks, old type coins, albums, proofs/mint sets, etc. Need some insight thoughts from those of you that HAVE SOLD ITEMS or full collections, as to what route I should take, to get the best buck. Yes mods, I know that I'm not allowed to sell on this site, but I'm just looking for the best ideas so I don't get SCREWED in the long run.
 

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Tpmetal

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Time is drawing near (age 71) for me about selling out my entire coin collection, silver stacks, old type coins, albums, proofs/mint sets, etc. Need some insight thoughts from those of you that HAVE SOLD ITEMS or full collections, as to what route I should take, to get the best buck. Yes mods, I know that I'm not allowed to sell on this site, but I'm just looking for the best ideas so I don't get SCREWED in the long run.

Depends on if you want a quick sell as a whole or go through the drawn out process of getting top dollar for each item.
 

Mackaydon

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If I were a buyer, I'd want to bid on only those types I'm interested in; though I would consider entire collections if the discount was sufficient for me to unload--at a small profit--those types I have little interest in.
Don.....
 

digging440yrs

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If the price is right I'm interested :icon_thumleft:
 

smokeythecat

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You can become a charter member very cheaply then sell here direct. Here's what I do. I stacked some silver I had got from CRH. Those went to the "better" coin dealer in the area, and full rolls of silvers went on you know what bay. I did ok since I had found them, but take in the cost of gas, etc. It tends to even out. My slabbed coins went on ebay. Still have some but most I had graded myself through one of the big firms, and so was able to sell something people wouldn't hassle me over. The rest got dumped at a coin dealer.

With Ebay and paypal, you can figure in their fees, so it will cost to sell there. It does work, buyers these days can be less than scrupulous, so you have to ship with a tracking number and expect some amount of flak from time to time, and unless its coins in a roll of like coins or slabbed, expect some hassle.

The proof and mint sets are so plentiful you can sell them, but they are not extremely popular right now. You can sell rolls of silvers on the net easily, and get a decent price for them. Even rolls of newer coins, uncirculated, sell ok on the net. People are looking for errors. Individual good coins I generally keep. But these are the few and far between $100 and up each type. Most everything else, I'd dump at the most reputable dealer around. Selling on the net takes a lot of time, energy and comes with the commission prices.

A truly rare coin, go with one of the big auction houses. I dumped a few very old shipwreck coins today and some foreign coins. Went to the local dealer I know and did ok. Not great, but ok. If you purchased the mint sets, you will probably lose on them. Same thing will bills, unless they are mint. I'd put them on the net. Hope this helped some.

What I do is look on the net to see what one just like mine sold for, then judge from there. I have been downsizing purchased items for years, so fortunately, have a very small collection right now.
 

trdking

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You can become a charter member very cheaply then sell here direct. Here's what I do. I stacked some silver I had got from CRH. Those went to the "better" coin dealer in the area, and full rolls of silvers went on you know what bay. I did ok since I had found them, but take in the cost of gas, etc. It tends to even out. My slabbed coins went on ebay. Still have some but most I had graded myself through one of the big firms, and so was able to sell something people wouldn't hassle me over. The rest got dumped at a coin dealer.

With Ebay and paypal, you can figure in their fees, so it will cost to sell there. It does work, buyers these days can be less than scrupulous, so you have to ship with a tracking number and expect some amount of flak from time to time, and unless its coins in a roll of like coins or slabbed, expect some hassle.

The proof and mint sets are so plentiful you can sell them, but they are not extremely popular right now. You can sell rolls of silvers on the net easily, and get a decent price for them. Even rolls of newer coins, uncirculated, sell ok on the net. People are looking for errors. Individual good coins I generally keep. But these are the few and far between $100 and up each type. Most everything else, I'd dump at the most reputable dealer around. Selling on the net takes a lot of time, energy and comes with the commission prices.

A truly rare coin, go with one of the big auction houses. I dumped a few very old shipwreck coins today and some foreign coins. Went to the local dealer I know and did ok. Not great, but ok. If you purchased the mint sets, you will probably lose on them. Same thing will bills, unless they are mint. I'd put them on the net. Hope this helped some.

What I do is look on the net to see what one just like mine sold for, then judge from there. I have been downsizing purchased items for years, so fortunately, have a very small collection right now.
Its not as easy as you think. I have paid my money twice and still am not a charter member! I gave up.
 

smokeythecat

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trdking, you should have the paypal receipt in your account activity. I'd bring that to the mods attention. Maybe you used a different email address than what you have on this site. My charter memberships have never been a problem.
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Its not as easy as you think. I have paid my money twice and still am not a charter member! I gave up.

Why didn't you contact a mod to see what the issue was or is, we have never had a charter member problem we couldn't fix.
 

Diver_Down

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Smokey has some good advice and I would add that you look into local auction houses. Because of the simplicity of selling on eBay, many local auction houses are willing to get your consignments by lowering their fees. Because coins put bodies in the gallery, the auctioneer needs your business. Local auction houses offer a flat consignment rate of 10% for all coins which is lower than eBay/PayPal fees. Often times, the coin lots will realize a higher price than if you sold it on your own via eBay.
 

dts52

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Hello, DozerD. I'm with you, agewise. I don't know squat about coins (especially since I hardly ever find any LOL) but when my dad died a few years back, my wife and I tried to get values on his coin collection which was really mostly jars of heavily circulated buffs, wheats, IHs and some silver. The local coin guy contacted my wife and told her it wasn't worth much more than face value. I'm not calling him dishonest, but I strongly disagreed with him. We split the coins evenly between the 4 children. I still have mine. My Dad also played trumpet professionally before he enlisted in the AAF in WW2. He had 3 or 4 horns and the local music guy told us the same thing - worth $50 or so apiece. Again, I disagreed with him and we donated them to the high school where my Dad attended since his children's musical talent was limited to playing a radio.
I'm just saying be careful. And as far as eBay is concerned, my wife used to have a very active side business selling on eBay. She was burned so many times by their "The buyer is never wrong" policy that she quit. Buyers would return merchandise which WASN'T what they were sold and eBay backed them everytime.
I hope it all works out well for you.
HH
dts
 

GlenDronach

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I'd sell locally (craigslist meeting in a public and secure spot) or eBay for the most return.

I don't know what your financial situation is, but I'd wait if I could. I think the market is way overextended and with the instability around the world we'll see it go up before it goes down.
 

bertmaster2000

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Whenever I think of selling, I realize I’d be trading tangible silver for intangible electronic money, which I have enough of, if you know what I mean. I sell only the junk silver I don’t want, and only sell if I can sell for a premium. I typically use cl, but fb is also effective.

Yesterday I sold about 200 silver dimes for $2 each, 40 90% silver halves for $8 each, and 60 40% halves for $3 each...I sweetened the pot by selling 60 silver quarters for melt. In my mind these prices qualify as premium. I already bought .999 ASEs and some vintage 1 toz bars with my profit. The principal goes back into my $2K CRHing fund.

Good luck with your decision.
 

GlenDronach

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Whenever I think of selling, I realize I’d be trading tangible silver for intangible electronic money, which I have enough of, if you know what I mean. I sell only the junk silver I don’t want, and only sell if I can sell for a premium. I typically use cl, but fb is also effective.

Yesterday I sold about 200 silver dimes for $2 each, 40 90% silver halves for $8 each, and 60 40% halves for $3 each...I sweetened the pot by selling 60 silver quarters for melt. In my mind these prices qualify as premium. I already bought .999 ASEs and some vintage 1 toz bars with my profit. The principal goes back into my $2K CRHing fund.

Good luck with your decision.

Wow, you got a really good price!

I was BUYING silver at 13x face from a shop this week.
 

Styfflin

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Time is drawing near (age 71) for me about selling out my entire coin collection, silver stacks, old type coins, albums, proofs/mint sets, etc. Need some insight thoughts from those of you that HAVE SOLD ITEMS or full collections, as to what route I should take, to get the best buck. Yes mods, I know that I'm not allowed to sell on this site, but I'm just looking for the best ideas so I don't get SCREWED in the long run.

I have it all planned out in my head how I want to hand down my entire collection to one of my children. I know there are a lot things I need to take into account regarding a fair and equitable split of my stuff (not that I have much value in my collection after five years of coin roll hunting, right? right.). The only way I see selling the collection instead of handing it down is in a situation where I absolutely need the money in an emergency situation. If I didn't have children, I'd probably hand it down to a nephew/niece. If I didn't have any descendants, I'd just sell and add it to the nest egg and enjoy a carefree retirement. Or if money isn't a concern at all, you can be epic - bury it and make it an elaborate treasure hunt with one thousand really vague clues and a very awesome treasure map that can be found after five hundred clues.
 

corvettebill

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I"m not far from you in age, and I have sold both slabbed coins and silver. A dealer will give you about 1/3 to 1/2 of their value, because he can only sell them for their value, and he has to make money. If you have any slabbed coins or rare coins, go on ebay and see what they are selling for. If a dealer offers you close to what they list for, sell them. Don't let a dealer look at your collection and then tell you he doesn't want all of it, just part. He will cherry pick your best coins and leave you with the rest, which will be hard to sell. If I were you, I would hold on to my silver coins that are valued based on silver content. I feel that silver is going to go up this year,especially since the large commercial traders are slowly getting out of their short positions in the market and going long. Silver bullion is easy to sell, but make sure you call around. Some dealers pay more than others. good luck.
 

fistfulladirt

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I honestly dont think it will make any difference whether you sell today or five years from now. The PM market is so swamped with paper and the price smackdowns are routine now.
 

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