Experiences of Ebay Coin Buying

Experiences of buying coins on Ebay

We all know Ebay and for those of us (like myself) without a local coin shop, online purchasing becomes almost compulsory for all but the simples collections from your pocket change. Ebay is certainly the biggest and widest ranging source of coins on the web. But should we use it? I have put together a list of bullet point for and against buying coins on ebay based on my own personal experience.

For

 1.       Unrivalled number of coins for sale

-          I find that at any one time there are usually between 100,000 and 200,000 listings on ebay.co.uk alone! Remember, many of these contain more than one coin each!

2.       Buyer protection

-          Ebay provides a degree of protection to buyers who are treated unfairly. I have only had to test this once so far and found it to be fairly robust.

-          Pay with PayPal and there is even more security and protection

3.       Global availability

-          Ebay certainly does open up the world to you as anyone with a computer and internet connection can add an item for sale. This potentially allows you to obtain interesting and exotic coins from place you may otherwise struggle to find.

4.       Bargains

-          Granted there are less amazing bargains out there than I anticipated (probably because there are a lot of very knowledgeable numismatists out there!) but once in a while I find a coin that has slipped through the net of eagle eyed ebay watchers!

Against

1.       Fakes

-        Unfortunately there seem to be a worrying number of forgeries out there on Ebay. There is no fool proof way to avoid them really but you can take some steps to reduce the likelihood of being duped and again Ebay does offer some degree of protection.

2.       It’s all digital!

-          The technology that allows us to physically touch things through our PC monitors has yet to be developed! There is no substitute for feeling and seeing ‘in person’ the coin you are thinking of purchasing. Without this you cannot inspect under magnification, weigh or measure the coin. I’m sure if we could, there would be a lot less forgeries on Ebay!

3.       Global availability

-          Being global isn’t all good! I have seen a fair few coins that even to my amateur eye are clearly fakes on Ebay. I have to concur with a lot of other websites’ opinions that the majority appear to originate in China – for this reason, I tend to restrict my browsing to EU or US only.

4.       Postage costs

-          Particularly for small inexpensive lots, the p&p charges add substantially to the overall cost. One way round this is to find a seller who has listed a number of lots that interest you and enquire about combined post and packing charges. Often they are able to send 6 coins for the same or similar cost as 1!