Report from Ebay-26 Jun 2012

[neilgin1]

real quick, its predawn, i just wanted to share my scan and read of what the market in US silver coin rolls look like:

the market on Ebay sure has gone thru several evolutions, here's some observations:

1. the number of those who are offering "poss silver unsearched rolls" have proliferated like cockroaches in a slum apt, boy, money must be tight to engage in that practice.

2. a lot of guys wont fool around with listing open auctions, and let the market trade where it will, i see now a LOT of 'buy it nows" for good rolls, but these BIN offers are way above market, seeing a lot of nice 90's in the 34X's plus area, and Morgans in the $900 to 1000 plus range, ASE rolls, $1000-1200

3. i RARELY see anymore 40% Kennedy's offered open bid. the last half of 2011, i was buying a LOT of them at or below, what was then melt...the reason i got hot about them was coz they're .15 toz Ag, whereas the dime, which is .07 toz Ag was trading higher...dont see many 65-70 Kennedy halves offer in open auction...same thing with silver Ikes.

4. the 'cappers' are out in force...you know, those bottomfeeders that put a bait coin on top, and inside is metal suet.

5. now the good stuff is still there, out of lets say 580 rolls offered, they'll be 30 plus rolls offered, BU 90%'ers, roosie's, Washington's Franklins, Peace dollars, Standing lib halves, Merc's, 64 Kenn's, etc, but even at 4 , 5 days out, guys already got them bid at 19 to 22 times, and a lot of the rolls i was looking at, got a vet, with 1427 stars, as top bid...same thing with the very few ASE rolls and Morgans, pre-1900 offered.(of yeh, one note, BU merc's....wow boy, they trade high)

all that said, it lets me know one thing, stacking is the way to go, this is a bull market, coiling up, ready to run...time frame?

i dunno....i do know, i dont have margin calls. Best to all of you, neil

[beauanderos]

Neil, thanks for the update and keeping an eye on ebay listings for us. Your insights are interesting.

[JobIII]

It's really turning into a sellers market. Which is great for anyone that can find cheap silver locally.

[JerrySpringer]

I don't check Ebay much anymore. I just don't think deals for lower priced items can be had unless you are lucky or have a great amount of time to keep tabs on the bargain-priced,gotta sell-it-fast BIN's and the mis-worded/spelling error and category error placements. Used to be the Canadian coins were under-priced but that has changed as people are turning over every stone looking for silver IMHO. The funny thing is that the physical silver pricing on Ebay I swear has leveled out to where a troy ounce goes for just about the exact cost one would experience if they bought from an online dealer and had to cover overhead of Ebay fees. In other words, per an ounce, I would maybe break even buying silver from an outfit like Provident and reselling on Ebay. In a price declining market where premiums get sticky on the way down, it is not very enticing to lock up funds in silver if you want to flip it. My guess is many sellers want to try their hand at flipping. I am skeptical in this market if it would be rewarding. Every time I lament the thought about buying a silver coin or SAE or such at spot+ pricing off of Ebay, I figure I can buy a few boxes of cents or nickels at face and just lose some gas money and time for the roll search.

[RTPMarine]

I can't wrap my head around why people are buying this crap on ebay. Local coin shops have smaller premiums. I refuse to believe that someone intelligent enough to purchase precious metals wouldn't think to look around and find a community like realcent or bullionstacker. Usually even apmex is cheaper!

[Numis Pam]

Ebay is going to destroy itself before too much longer in my opinon. It is making it sooo hard on sellers that many are leaving.
Lots of my favorite sellers from the past in coins are no longer even registered users.

People can even use Facebook type social media's to buy and sell on now. Just in my small rural area I am subscribed to 7 different auction or bin, or make me an offer pages that are rapidly growing in members and buy sell activites.
I am not sure ebay has factored that into their thinking yet... I do believe they will need to change back to some of the better ways of operating their business if they are going to survive... JMHO

[JerrySpringer]

People can even use Facebook type social media's to buy and sell on now. Just in my small rural area I am subscribed to 7 different auction or bin, or make me an offer pages that are rapidly growing in members and buy sell activites.
I am not sure ebay has factored that into their thinking yet... I do believe they will need to change back to some of the better ways of operating their business if they are going to survive... JMHO

Interesting.

I am not on Facebook but it is a behooving idea that they could draw away the Ebay sellers and buyers almost overnight if they could create a seamless platform change for them. They certainly have enough money to fund such a venture.

[John Reich]

I've pretty much given up on buying anything from ebay. I have to bid on 10-20 items to win one at a reasonable price--by which I mean equal to or less than I would pay at my LCS. It just isn't worth the hassle and the work to track down a reasonable deal. That being said, i still surf ebay just to see what the "real" prices for the more common numismatic items are. For those items, Ebay is better that any price guide out there.