Where can I get coins to sell?

[Sterling in Va]

i have always been interested in old coins and collecting them, but I am short on cash (what 14 year old isn't), and want a way of generating cash. That is why i thought maybe I could buy and sell coins online. The only problem is where do I get coins at blue-book prices? I've looked on ebay and those coins are going for way over even red book prices.
1st off, is this a relevant way of making money, and second, where can I get coins cheap to sell?

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[usandthem]

Try coin roll searching. Sometimes you can find valuable coins for face value. Good luck.

[Iron Patch]

Yes you can make money and knowledge is the key. Whether it's coins or anything else there's only one question that matters, and you have to be good at answering, and that is.... What's the most someone would pay for that? If you don't know the answer it makes buying and making money in a competitive environment quite challenging.

[poftravel]

The Blue book is a poor choice to what a coin is worth it is published months ago and can't adjust to the constant changes in coin prices. The greysheet is where you get current prices, but what things sell for on Ebay is the best indicator of the market overall. I buy and sell coins daily and it is hard to make $$$ without ripping people off when you buy their coins.

[Red James cash]

A much cheaper way to make money is to go to thrift stores or salvation army stores and look for collectibles and antiques. Buy and resell.But once again you have to know what to look for so knowledge is the key.Get a hold of a few books on collectibles and antiques,go to websites. Open them often,go to the stores,and sooner or later you will be rewarded.It also helps if the people that own the stores do not know what they have when they put it up for sale.

[GAOldsman]

I say use good old fashion manual labor such as yard work for neighbors and such to use to fund your purchases. Buying online and having the item shipped usually makes the item not worthwhile due to shipping charges. And when selling online don't forget to add shipping costs. Some items will need insurance which is not too costly but it adds up and most certainly get delivery conformation every time. I also agree with getting coin rolls from the bank as a great means of finding old coins and silver. You have to be careful and not become a collector or you'll end up saving all the good stuff (like me) instead of selling it

[sagittarius98]

I say use good old fashion manual labor such as yard work for neighbors and such to use to fund your purchases. Buying online and having the item shipped usually makes the item not worthwhile due to shipping charges. And when selling online don't forget to add shipping costs. Some items will need insurance which is not too costly but it adds up and most certainly get delivery conformation every time. I also agree with getting coin rolls from the bank as a great means of finding old coins and silver. You have to be careful and not become a collector or you'll end up saving all the good stuff (like me) instead of selling it

Well, you have to add those things to the cost the buyer pays.

[Iron Patch]

Well, you have to add those things to the cost the buyer pays.

But the more you add to the price the more likely you'll have to tie up money, and there's no question if you're just getting started your rate of buying will probably be much greater than what you sell.... meaning you will run out of cash and have to start deciding what to drop the price on to move first.

For someone who is 14 a "real job" is probably the way go and use that as a base, and dabble with the coins for fun.

[Arizona Bob]

i have always been interested in old coins and collecting them, but I am short on cash (what 14 year old isn't), and want a way of generating cash. That is why i thought maybe I could buy and sell coins online. The only problem is where do I get coins at blue-book prices? I've looked on ebay and those coins are going for way over even red book prices. 1st off, is this a relevant way of making money, and second, where can I get coins cheap to sell?

This is just my opinion, but I don't care if you are 14 or 84- it is getting too difficult to sell coins online. If I did sell online again, it would not be thru eBay. Why? The chances of you getting ripped-off by: 1. ebay, 2. paypal and 3. the customer, are very likely. What I mean is, you can be ripped-off by the TOS (terms of service) that you agreed to just as easily as with a gun. But this doesn't really answer your question. You've looked at eBay coin prices. The majority of eBay sellers coins are higher than most pricing guides/books. See below for why eBay prices are higher.

How would I sell coins online? First, I would sell coins thru my own website with email address. Then you need to decide how to get maximum exposure for your website. You need to decide how you will handle monetary transactions- credit card? personal check? bank/cashiers check? money order? Next, I would determine what kind of coins I wanted to sell- new? used? slabbed? The biggest issue with coins now is counterfeiting. Your customers will want some kind of guarantee or assurance that the coin you sold them is genuine. After that, I would begin looking for several supply sources- banks, yard sales, coin shops, flea markets, etc. Remember, you want to BUY low and SELL high(er). You will need a camera to take pictures of your coins for sale on your website. You really need a phone so your customers can ask you questions. You need to decide how you will ship your orders- Post Office? UPS? FedEx? You need to determine shipping rates- Exact or Flat rate? Insured? Signature Receipt? You want to ship like a pro- don't ever ship a coin in a standard envelope with just a stamp. All of these options add more cost to your (potential) sale. Finally, you need to decide how to handle Returns. No Returns? Returns under certain conditions?

If you still want to sell coins after reading this, I wish you well in your endeavor!

[ivan salis]

ok how to start off -- junk thats right trash and junk -- to start getting cash up to get things rolling along fiscally speaking -- walk or ride your bike around your neighborhood gathering up aluminum cans and other scrap metals in a trash bag --as you get them sell em for scrap value to a metal scrapper * -- you will gain money via this (plus your doing a good deed as well for the planet) think of it as the slobs of the world paying you to do the right thing -- now once you get up some cash * say $50 bucks its time to start coin roll hunting --go to the bank and ask for say $50 in quarters or dimes -- look thru them culling out any that are 1964 or earlier (90% silver) - keep the silver coins and replace them with coins made after 1964 (clad - copper cores * that are not silver ) now you got silver coins for free * - (just a bit off time and labor on your part) see how you can make money for free ? once enough clad is genertated you can the buy a detector with it and they you can hunt for coins at playgrounds and such .

if one has a bit of 'hustle' in them one can "make' something from nothing if one just gets out there and 'hustles' -- some folks sit on their butts and beg for 'free stuff" , real men get theirs by "hustling and working smart" not always working hard mind you ( theres nothing wrong with working hard for a living , but why work hard if you can work smart instead? ) normally working smart generally beats working hard payoff wize $$$$$ in the long haul (sometimes to be successful in life requires a fair bit of hard work but not always)

[williamsingr]

Start you a lawn cutting service, at your age in a few years you will have built enough clients up to buy a new truck a new trailer to haul your new lawn cutters with then you get a plow and do snow removal in the winter or if you have no snow then make sure you set your company up right and pay into the unemployment fund then during winter file unemployment against your own company and collect unemployment until spring then go back to work cutting lawns. By the time your 21 you will be a very wealthy man. That is if you dont get stupid and start doing drugs or start drinking like an idiot then you will never have nothing if that happens.

[Iron Patch]

This is just my opinion, but I don't care if you are 14 or 84- it is getting too difficult to sell coins online. If I did sell online again, it would not be thru eBay. Why? The chances of you getting ripped-off by: 1. ebay, 2. paypal and 3. the customer, are very likely. What I mean is, you can be ripped-off by the TOS (terms of service) that you agreed to just as easily as with a gun. But this doesn't really answer your question. You've looked at eBay coin prices. The majority of eBay sellers coins are higher than most pricing guides/books. See below for why eBay prices are higher.

How would I sell coins online? First, I would sell coins thru my own website with email address. Then you need to decide how to get maximum exposure for your website. You need to decide how you will handle monetary transactions- credit card? personal check? bank/cashiers check? money order? Next, I would determine what kind of coins I wanted to sell- new? used? slabbed? The biggest issue with coins now is counterfeiting. Your customers will want some kind of guarantee or assurance that the coin you sold them is genuine. After that, I would begin looking for several supply sources- banks, yard sales, coin shops, flea markets, etc. Remember, you want to BUY low and SELL high(er). You will need a camera to take pictures of your coins for sale on your website. You really need a phone so your customers can ask you questions. You need to decide how you will ship your orders- Post Office? UPS? FedEx? You need to determine shipping rates- Exact or Flat rate? Insured? Signature Receipt? You want to ship like a pro- don't ever ship a coin in a standard envelope with just a stamp. All of these options add more cost to your (potential) sale. Finally, you need to decide how to handle Returns. No Returns? Returns under certain conditions?

If you still want to sell coins after reading this, I wish you well in your endeavor!

A website is a great idea but definitely won't work unless you're only doing it for fun to make a few bucks, because you'd never get the traffic to sell any amount. Unless you plan to keep tying up thousands upon thousands of dollars you need cash flow to give you buying power, and If there's no balance you're done.

[Iron Patch]

Start you a lawn cutting service, at your age in a few years you will have built enough clients up to buy a new truck a new trailer to haul your new lawn cutters with then you get a plow and do snow removal in the winter or if you have no snow then make sure you set your company up right and pay into the unemployment fund then during winter file unemployment against your own company and collect unemployment until spring then go back to work cutting lawns. By the time your 21 you will be a very wealthy man. That is if you dont get stupid and start doing drugs or start drinking like an idiot then you will never have nothing if that happens.

Yep, and stay hungry and believe in yourself.

I went the other path and believe me once the party is over IT'S OVER.

[testing123]

It can be a challenge to make money with coins. You need to have the knowledge on what to pay, and to pick out counterfeits. Also remember that if selling through eBay, that fees may add up to 15% or more. Also you will need to pay taxes on your gains.

Maybe you should just be a hotel buyer! I hear they make good money buying gold and silver from the public, haha.

[Generic_Lad]

The key like others have mentioned is knowledge. ESPECIALLY with foreign coins. They can make you (or break you) first, learn which coins are silver and which ones aren't focus especially on Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and India. Learn how to read Arabic coins or Chinese/Japanese coins too (keep in mind though that the Chinese coin market is FILLED with fakes!) the key is knowing something that dealers/auctioneers don't know. Sometimes it just takes a good eye to snipe some silver half dollars in a lot of "no silver here" halves or find the silver in a lot of junk foreign coins. CRH is a great way to get coins, also, invest in a good loupe and look for die varieties! Spending an extra half an hour looking for some rare die varieties may pay off big!

[SilverForBrains]

Well said Ivan! I hustle in very way possible, metal detecting, coin roll hunting, scrapping, garage sale-ing, it goes on and on. There are lots of ways to make money but they all require intelligence, the more you know the better you will do.