scared of buyer scam advice before I list.

[srod8712]

Hi there.

So I have this eBay account since I was YOUNG.. I’m 37 now. My grandmother passed way, she was like a mother to me. She was 95 when she passed. She had left a small box with a bunch of coins in it for me. I don’t know much about coins just what I looked up by their year print. There’s a few wheat pennies(yes she has the 1943 penny that doesn’t stick to magnets), handful of silver coins and 2 older older older coins from 1794 that passed down from her side of the family. What I’m trying to get at is if I put this up for auction/buy it now. It sells let’s say for 20k or 50k or 100k. What is there to PROTECT ME if the buyer is scamming me? I see all this stuff to protect buyers but nothing on protecting sellers. I’m just worried someone buys and then says oh this isn’t real when it is and whatever it is after it comes back graded lower not to his grade liking and then says he wants refund. Or replaced my grandmothers coins with fake and keeps the real. I have no money to grade all the coins and I heard it gets realllly expensive on coin worth 200k+ I unfortunately can’t afford it so I’ll take the bullet and sell it for cheaper price to someone who can afford the fees. Hence the reason why I’m here to sell it. If not I would grade it myself haha.

Any tips or thoughts on this would be great.

thanks for the reply and sorry for any misspelled words. I’m on my phone.

[powell-memorabilia]

If you really think that the collection is worth $100,000 or more, or even considerably less, just sell off a couple of pieces to get money to grade the really expensive items. Just sell a little bit at a time, regardless – no reason to put it into one gigantic lot of $100,000. If there is an actual individual piece that is worth a significant amount of money, I would not sell it on eBay. I’d probably go to an auction house. 

[hartungcards]

Take them to a reputable coin dealer.  You're in way over your head on this one, and you will get fleeced here.

[12345jamesstamps]

I would suggest auctions starting at .99 for 7 days.

However, you haven't sold anything so this is not going to be fast cash....there is usually a hold of funds for 30 days...so you will be using your own money to ship out items in a timely manner.

I wouldn't grade the coin(s)...since you are no expert on the auctions.

If it's a gold coin maybe I would go to a store to get an appraisal. 

You can also look at other sellers on eBay by checking your item compared to their item for sale or on auction to get an idea of a price range.

Condition is so important...even if it's 1794.

[kensgiftshop]

I wouldn't sell it online.

Something like that, I'd take it to someone that deals in those kind of coins and have them sell them for you.

[dnasilver]

If the coins carry that type of value you claim it would be in your best interest to have them graded. There are many reputable coin dealers that would look at pictures and they would know if the coins hold values anywhere near what you believe. Why give a coin away for 50K when it could be worth a million? How many scammers do you think can come up with 20K let alone 100K or more?

[ckimodog]

@srod8712 

If you are that uneasy about selling here on eBay and given what you're selling I don't blame you, there are jewelry stores and pawn shops that will buy from you.  You may want to get them apraised and graded first, but that's the route I would take.  You'll get cash and don't have worry about INR's SNAD's and CC chargebacks.  

Good luck what ever you decide

PS  Sorry about grandma...she appeared to live a long & hopefully happy life.   God bless you & her memory you have of her in your heart. 😊

[44012]

My opinion only....if this was me...I would get these graded a bit at a time (it does cost money for grading) with professional grader since you do not know what exactly you are selling.

Take a picture and google search....take the one that appears to be the most valued and get it graded then list it graded.  It is a gamble always with the cost of grading.  

Things can go wrong very quickly here if you do not know what you are doing....even sometimes even when you know what you are doing .  

[dbfolks166mt]

     Others have already provided some good advice. Remember the #1 rule as a seller on eBay. Never list anything you are not prepared to take the financial loss on. Also if the items are worth that much you need to talk to a financial advisor to keep from having to pay an excessive amount of income taxes on the sale. 

     There are far better ways to sell the coins with less risk than listing them on eBay.

[tinsoldierunderground]

Absolutely agree with those saying don't sell on here... I would do as others suggest, seek out a local numismatic dealer and let them have a look.   The scenarios you've outlined in your post are all too real on this site.  An unscrupulous buyer could receive your valuable coin(s), open a SNAD case, return to you a half eaten oatmeal cookie with tracking, and ebay would side with them.  

[12345jamesstamps]

Thank you..."others have already provided good advice"...nice to heard that instead of those who knock others who disagree and some are mentors.

[albertabrightalberta]

As a new seller with low feedback and little history of any kind, I wouldn't sell those items on ebay. You will be a magnet for scammers. 

I have no idea what it costs to have your collection graded (appraised?) but if the items are worth what you believe they are, it'll be a small investment. 

Then with a grading certificate, I would think you'd have a lot more credibility when it comes to coin negotiating with dealers. 

[trip98]

General rule: The evaluator (of the coins) and the buyer (of the coins) should not be the same person.

[annadryl]

You can post clear pictures on the ebay U.S. Coin Collectors  board to get an idea of what to get graded and what probably needn't be. Then you can get a better idea on what you have because the grading is expensive. Or stop by a coin shop if you can. I'm curious what the real old ones are, are they money or other coins etc.

If it were me, I'd probably keep some inexpensive ones as keepsakes from Grandma. If I had the copper '43 cent I could feed all the hungry people in my state. So, fingers crossed I guess. But don't just throw it all out there on the internet. Good luck~