Craigslist?

[wildturkey44]

On Friday I posted a 'wanted' ad on Craigslist asking to buy people's loose change. I've had one response so far; someone offered a 5 gallon bucket full of pennies. He apparently has yet to find my response in his spam box. Anyhoo, does anyone have any success stories doing something similar, or do you have any better ideas on how to get those old buckets of change that have been sitting around for a while? I figured this would be a better way of getting large quantities of coins. The only hard part seems to be in estimating the value of a bucket full of mixed coins.

 

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[skeeterd]

Yesterday, while I was in Walmart, I stopped to check the Coin Star machine but there was a guy dumping into it. He had a five gallon water jug that was completely full and was having a hard time getting the coins to dump out the little spout. I watched for a little while because I wanted to check the reject tray when he was done, but it was taking him so long that I left. I stopped by a couple hours later and got one canadian dime. I don't know if it came from his dump or not. Thats when I realized I should have offered to buy the entire jug from him. But I have no idea how to guess the amount of change there might be in one of those big jugs.

 

[Joe777Cool]

Coinstar has got that market cornered. What incentive does someone have to sell to you? You cant even tell them how much they have! Plus coinstar is FREE if they get a giftcard, you or I cant beat that and it would be foolish to pay even one cent over what they have.

 

[SilverForBrains]

The only way to do it is like a member did on here about a year ago, he went home to home with a change counter. he took 10% as well, so made out like a bandit on silver and overall cash. I think he got at least one morgan too.

Anyways, craigslist is a bad idea. Think of how man CRHers will jump at the chance to sell to you. plus we already know how much we have and can charge the right amount! i've got $5000 in halves if you want 'em!

 

[sack0silver]

I have halves to sell to you, perfect $500 increments.

 

[wildturkey44]

Good points, fellas. I didn't think about other CR hunters pawning their coins off on me. I guess I was thinking that the old man with the precious old change would be more willing to sell me their coins rather than cart them to the coinstar. I suppose I will abandon the idea; thanks everyone for posting your insight. Back to the bank I go!

 

[SilverForBrains]

Good points, fellas. I didn't think about other CR hunters pawning their coins off on me. I guess I was thinking that the old man with the precious old change would be more willing to sell me their coins rather than cart them to the coinstar. I suppose I will abandon the idea; thanks everyone for posting your insight. Back to the bank I go!

hey who knows maybe you can put a spin on it and get it to work, I think it's actually a great idea. if the other guys success was any indication you'd do pretty well. getting good at sniffing out the coin roll hunters might be all it takes. With boxes there is a skunk rate anyway, so having 1 out of 3 people be coin roll hunters won't kill ya, and if you can get that down to 1/10 after some practice you'd be better off than searching teller trays or CWR.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I see a lot of local ads on Craigslist from people seeking places to search - the same ads over and over. And, also people selling MD's at just below what they paid for them - mostly the entry level toys.

 

[wildturkey44]

As it turns out, the Craigslist ad was successful. A gentleman contacted me and wanted to sell some Morgan and Peace Dollars for $10 each. I told him I could not rob him, and offered the $18.25 they are actually worth based on today's Coinflation.com prices. They are nice coins, and I know I could get at least a few bucks more than I paid him for each one (he sent me a scanned image of some of the coins). I would have loved buying them for $10 each, but I had to give him an honest deal. I will complete the transaction sometime this week and let you all know how it goes.

 

[rpg25]

Don't buy off Craigslist soo flippantly. It's also been known as fencelist because of the amount of thieves on their hawking stolen merch. Also gotta think that someone who is computer Savy enough to create a craigslist ad is probably capable of figuring out their silver coin's true value via google. If they're offering you a steal, think twice because it may be fake, stolen, and too good to be true.

 

[SilverForBrains]

As it turns out, the Craigslist ad was successful. A gentleman contacted me and wanted to sell some Morgan and Peace Dollars for $10 each. I told him I could not rob him, and offered the $18.25 they are actually worth based on today's Coinflation.com prices. They are nice coins, and I know I could get at least a few bucks more than I paid him for each one (he sent me a scanned image of some of the coins). I would have loved buying them for $10 each, but I had to give him an honest deal. I will complete the transaction sometime this week and let you all know how it goes.

I'm a pretty ethical guy myself, and I commend you for it. But something I've learned over the years is that the only way to wheel and deal is to get things for as cheaply as possible. as long as you're paying at least 50% of the value, you're not robbing the person you're just leaving some meat on the bone so to speak for yourself. If he's happy with $10 and you're happy with $10, who's to say anyone's getting shafted

 

[SilverForBrains]

Don't buy off Craigslist soo flippantly. It's also been known as fencelist because of the amount of thieves on their hawking stolen merch. Also gotta think that someone who is computer Savy enough to create a craigslist ad is probably capable of figuring out their silver coin's true value via google. If they're offering you a steal, think twice because it may be fake, stolen, and too good to be true.

Good point but I don't have so much faith in people. I sell clad coins around here all the time on craigslist, kennedys and eisenhowers. some people just like them, but every now and then I will get someone who buys them off me thinking they're silver and I don't know what I'm selling. One guy was even using the internet on his phone and a scale right there in front of me, and still bought a lot of kennedys for over face thinking they were silver. The internet is only useful to those who know how to use it

 

[baddbluff]

As it turns out, the Craigslist ad was successful. A gentleman contacted me and wanted to sell some Morgan and Peace Dollars for $10 each. I told him I could not rob him, and offered the $18.25 they are actually worth based on today's Coinflation.com prices. They are nice coins, and I know I could get at least a few bucks more than I paid him for each one (he sent me a scanned image of some of the coins). I would have loved buying them for $10 each, but I had to give him an honest deal. I will complete the transaction sometime this week and let you all know how it goes.

Be sure to bring a magnet with you! $10 each has Chinese counterfeit written all over it!

Also, don't abandon the change idea yet. There are a lot of people who save pennies in large quantities. You could bring a digital bathroom scale & weigh them & get a fairly good estimate of the face value (145 copper/lb & 181 zinc/lb). Pull a random handful & if it looks like there's more of one type than the other, skew your estimate accordingly. I'd love to buy a huge hoard of old pennies like that from someone!

 

[GlenDronach]

Be sure to bring a magnet with you! $10 each has Chinese counterfeit written all over it!

Also, don't abandon the change idea yet. There are a lot of people who save pennies in large quantities. You could bring a digital bathroom scale & weigh them & get a fairly good estimate of the face value (145 copper/lb & 181 zinc/lb). Pull a random handful & if it looks like there's more of one type than the other, skew your estimate accordingly. I'd love to buy a huge hoard of old pennies like that from someone!

A magnet doesn't matter. They can just make it out of a non-ferrous metal and it still isn't silver. THat's the basic test but doesn't solve all problems. Bring either the measurements or an authentic dollar to compare size and thickness, then measure on a PRECISE (.1 or .01 gram) scale. Don't forget to account for any wear.

 

[GlenDronach]

I personally wouldn't buy dollar coins or any coins of more numismatic value on craigslist or ebay, but that's just me.

 

[capt-zero]

CL has become so filled up with spammers, I offhand flag almost every coin ad I see. I also would have flagged yours if it was posted anywhere other than in the wanted section. The only use I have for CL anymore is for garage sale locations, and even there, there are two or three bogus ads(for nonexistant sales) every week. I don't know how CL is in your town, but where I live, it's become a favorite hangout for spammers and ripoff acts.

 

[CoinFetcher]

I have great luck selling legit Morgan and peace dollars on Craigslist.

I also have good luck buying. Just not a lot comes around.

Do you want to know the best secret I have for CL? I do my search in the 'for sale' sections for: "coins" once the search is complete, I add it my Website Favorites.
'
I just click it in my favs, and it does a new updated search automatically. I then just take the 'S' off' coins', and then I get another search, 'coin' - - - sometimes they just have 1 silver coin, ect, it pays to add it to your favs, and then to do the plural, and singular searches of your item.

Garage sales too, coin, and coins.

I also search the "lost and found" for people posting about loosing chunky gold jewelry, and then I go look for it...<-- never found any, yet!

 

[wildturkey44]

I do agree that Craigslist is overrun with scams. I learned that last summer when I was looking for side jobs. However, I think I would be able to tell a fake coin from a real one, based on the wear that is shown on old coins. I do not buy any bullion rounds or bars though, due to the sophisticated counterfeits that are out there. Has anyone heard of (or seen) any counterfeits of older coins? I think it would be difficult to replicate natural wear to a coin as old as the Morgans, but I could also be mistaken. I've bought quite a few silver coins off ebay and always weigh them to be sure.

Also, with regards to paying $10 for the coins, I suppose I should have taken the deal. However, I am in this for the silver value (I'm not much of a numismatist by any means, although I do appreciate the beauty of some of the coins). I am confident that if I hold on to them throughout my lifetime, $18 apiece will still be a bargain. At least I am avoiding the 10% premiums at the coin shop

 

[wildturkey44]

Don't buy off Craigslist soo flippantly. It's also been known as fencelist because of the amount of thieves on their hawking stolen merch. Also gotta think that someone who is computer Savy enough to create a craigslist ad is probably capable of figuring out their silver coin's true value via google. If they're offering you a steal, think twice because it may be fake, stolen, and too good to be true.

All good points! It is sad that we have to worry about such dishonest individuals.

 

[GlenDronach]

CL has become so filled up with spammers, I offhand flag almost every coin ad I see. I also would have flagged yours if it was posted anywhere other than in the wanted section. The only use I have for CL anymore is for garage sale locations, and even there, there are two or three bogus ads(for nonexistant sales) every week. I don't know how CL is in your town, but where I live, it's become a favorite hangout for spammers and ripoff acts.

Great, are you the guy that had my ad removed when I wanted to buy $5 face value of silver coins for $100?

Because the craigslist help forum said I was not only a scammer, but I was also ripping people off (even though melt value was within a dollar or two of that number). Apparently, if I offer to buy silver coins on CL, that's a "business".