Thinking of setting up

[Mat 2]

Hi All

Sorry for my absence from the forum, I have been busy trying to sort jobs however Mr Cameron does not seem to think that we need many trading standards officers any more :-(

So... I have finally bit the bullet and started to put together a plan for a small coin business. There are lots of questions I would like to ask, however I realise many of you that have a business may not want to divulge such information, so opposed to asking you directly, I thought I would leave it open in the forum for anyone to add at their own will.

As some of you know I have been trading (as a hobby) since 2002 on ebay, word of mouth and through the larger auctions for the super rare ones.

My plan is to set up my own site to eliminate the ghastly selling fees, operate from the box room at home and hold around £30k of stock at any one time. Have not decided whether to specialise or hold all types. I have been particularly successful with the top shelf hammered crowns, however £30k will not go very far at all if I was to specialise in them.

Ebay has been such a powerful tool for me and I know it is going to generate the biggest audience, but as you all know the total fees from a £3k crown will be around £180 if paid with paypal and that really must be eliminated. My biggest concern is getting traffic and shifting the stock as fast as I have been doing, I wanted to ask if any of you with sites have a week or even weeks go by without a sale?

What insurance would you recommend for operating stock of this value from home?

Do you use your home address of set up a PO Box?

Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wife’s concern)

How do you combat customs charges when you are buying in if the seller declares the full value?

Would you advise to voluntarily register for VAT if your under the threshold?

Any other useful hints and tips?

Again I would not expect anyone to start sharing the above information freely, please just feel free to add anything you wish.

Thanks

Mat

[azda 979]

What i would say to this question ( Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wife’s concern)

Limit yourself to how much time a day you're going to be behind a computer, think of it as a working day, 8-10hrs a day and be done, perhaps 12hrs initially sorting things out and setting up the small business. Perhaps also involve the wife from time to time, ie going to coin fairs and taking her along.

There's aslo a thread on the forum that red riley started, he now has a new website up and running, think it took all in all 2-3 months.

[Red Riley 2]

Snap!

I'm not very far into this so take everything I say with a pinch of salt. Other more experienced dealers' views may be of more help.

1)What insurance would you recommend for operating stock of this value from home? I use these people: info@stampinsurance.co.uk. Recommended by somebody on the forum. They seem to know what they're doing but only operate in the mornings. A major difference between insuring as a dealer and a collector is that the sum insured is based on the total purchase price of the coins rather than the replacement value.

Do you use your home address of set up a PO Box? I set up a P.O.Box No. Safer. I don't mind regular forum members knowing my home address but can get a bit dicey with Joe Public. I put a paragraph on my website to say why I use a P.O. Box no.

Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wifes concern) I'm not currently otherwise gainfully employed, but I think once you have set up the website (my wife actually set up mine!) you could probably get away with it. Don't underestimate how long it will take to photograph and catalogue everything.

How do you combat customs charges when you are buying in if the seller declares the full value? I haven't bought from abroad so really can't comment.

Would you advise to voluntarily register for VAT if your under the threshold? I haven't even looked at this, bur buying and selling coins (which are not subject to VAT) or books (ditto) your involvement with VAT should be minimal.

Any other useful hints and tips? Due to the charges British banks make (they charge a teener every time you have to go and get one out), for most dealers it is not feasible to keep your coins at the bank, so invest in a bloody great safe!

If I think of anything else, I will let you know.

Edited December 4, 2010 by Red Riley

[£400 for a Penny ? 0]

I ran a business a few years ago - it wasn't coins.

Website traffic is everything these days. Are you familiar with Google Adwords ? If not, these are the results which come up on the right hand side of the page when you google something. You have to pay based on an open market system, e.g if you want to appear as the first result when someone google's 'wreath crowns' you bid for it. Now that may cost you as little as 5p a hit, but if I'm also out there competeing with you to be first, I might be prepared to pay 6p and on it goes. You can restrict the amount of physical spend a day - e.g. on this day I want to spend no more than £20. £20 might last until 10.00am or you might go all the way to midnight having only spent 50p, it depends on the number of hits you get.

It's a very effective tool and I got to the stage where I could pretty much make the telephone ring at will.

The other big challenge is to get an effective checkout and payment system.

[Peter 615]

Unless you are going to sell big money spinner coins don't bother...I could earn more at my trade(Quantity Surveyor) as I could as coin dealer in a day...We are lucky to have inherited a load of cash/property...must get back to the QSing as coins don't pay...I treat it as a hobby and that is what it will stay as. unless my 6 numbers come in tonight.

[Peckris 579]

DO NOT volunteer for VAT unless or until you have to!!! Keep your head below the parapet is a good operating motto. That's one agency you don't want to arouse.

I have just one other piece of advice. If you've already decided on the value of your operating stock, then don't deal in low-value items. Yes, the profit margins can be good (after all you can buy such things for very low prices), but you will spend so much time cataloguing, photographing / describing, packing up and posting off, in the end it's just not cost-effective. I speak from experience! Better to make £200 profit on one coin you sell for £1200, than £200 profit on 50 coins you sell for £400.

[Mat 2]

Hi all

Thanks for all the advice and comments you have provided I have read them all and taken them all in.

I have considered the adwords, I set it up for an environmental consultancy I occasionally do work for. Never really thought about it for coins? Would have thought it would get wasted by people trawling the net for coin values but have no interested in buying. I guess I would have to ensure it is targeted correctly.

The payment system is something I have been mulling over quite a lot. If the coins are a higher value niche as peckris recommends which would probably be the case, would a add to basket and checkout system be appropriate for that or would sales of this value usually be negotiated by the buyer and the sale occurs through contacting the seller through email or phone like on Rasmussen's site...

As mentioned VAT should preferably be avoided at all coins, just would want to ensure that I am not missing out on claiming back from possible sources such as the VAT charged on auction sale commissions and ebay fees etc...

Red Riley thank you for the insurance company, I have been struggling to find a suitable provider in this field. I will seek a quotation!

All very interesting and exciting!

[Rob 3,152]

Hi All

Sorry for my absence from the forum, I have been busy trying to sort jobs however Mr Cameron does not seem to think that we need many trading standards officers any more :-(

So... I have finally bit the bullet and started to put together a plan for a small coin business. There are lots of questions I would like to ask, however I realise many of you that have a business may not want to divulge such information, so opposed to asking you directly, I thought I would leave it open in the forum for anyone to add at their own will.

As some of you know I have been trading (as a hobby) since 2002 on ebay, word of mouth and through the larger auctions for the super rare ones.

My plan is to set up my own site to eliminate the ghastly selling fees, operate from the box room at home and hold around £30k of stock at any one time. Have not decided whether to specialise or hold all types. I have been particularly successful with the top shelf hammered crowns, however £30k will not go very far at all if I was to specialise in them.

Ebay has been such a powerful tool for me and I know it is going to generate the biggest audience, but as you all know the total fees from a £3k crown will be around £180 if paid with paypal and that really must be eliminated. My biggest concern is getting traffic and shifting the stock as fast as I have been doing, I wanted to ask if any of you with sites have a week or even weeks go by without a sale?

What insurance would you recommend for operating stock of this value from home?

Do you use your home address of set up a PO Box?

Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wife’s concern)

How do you combat customs charges when you are buying in if the seller declares the full value?

Would you advise to voluntarily register for VAT if your under the threshold?

Any other useful hints and tips?

Again I would not expect anyone to start sharing the above information freely, please just feel free to add anything you wish.

Thanks

Mat

Unquestionably ebay is the quickest way to offload stock, but this has to be set against the lottery of the price you wil receive. Another drawback with ebay is that the buyer will invariably use Paypal because it is the easiest option for them. However, if things go wrong and they block your account as they did with mine when I tried to get funds out then your working capital is tied up for the 3 months period you have to allow for resolution before you can pass the case to the ombudsman. Paypal don't offer a one to one for sorting problems, requiring you to communicate by email. Any means of avoiding Paypal is therefore preferable.

Yes, a week or weeks can go by without a sale. This is why it is really only feasible to do it as a full time job if you have a guaranteed supply of and customers for large value items. The return on low grade mixed material is greater if you melt it, and much easier to realise. Ebay has a monopoly on crap.

Red has covered the insurance question.

Just about everyone has a PO Box for the reasons outlined, but that still doesn't stop people being mugged. There have been at least 4 instances of attacks on dealers where stock has been lost in the last two or three years. You have to keep your wits about you.

Maintaining a website requires an undue amount of time if you want to photograph as much material as possible. People will always buy what they can see rather than what they can't, that's human nature. I think the trend will be that only high value items will end up on websites. Ebay has such a prolific supply of low grade/value items that frankly, it is not easy to compete and it always offer the chance of picking up a bargain. Conversely you would be an idiot to list high value items on ebay without a reserve, at which point costs become a major issue and so a website offers continuous listing until such time as an item is sold - which can quite literally be years. You can get a lot of traffic onto a website, but how many are different people is open to question and whether they buy anything is in the lap of the gods. I've had about 17000 visits in the first 4 years that the site has been up and running, but that could just as easily be 170 visits from 100 individuals as 17 visits from 1000 people. Most sites don't have a visitor counter, so I can't offer a comparison.

You can have as much or as little family time as you decide. Any business at the beginning requires long hours until established.

Always assume you will have to pay import vat on coins bought abroad. You can only have a profitable business if you can determine your costs in advance of actually purchasing an item. If the sums don't add up, don't buy. It's always much easier to buy than to sell.

My business was already VAT registered before I diversified into coins, so I simply incorporated it into an existing structure, but if you don't have to be registered then I wouldn't bother.

Would I want to do it as my sole means of income? No. If you say you want to earn a UK average salary which is in the region of £25K at the moment and you make a 10% return after overheads, you obviously have to sell £250Ks worth to provide the income. You will make more margin sometimes, less on others, but the overheads will always be there. That's a lot of well heeled customers that you have to sell to annually and on a recurring basis.

Do I enjoy it? Yes, but it helps to have a laid back disposition.

[Peter 615]

I was VAT registered until the end of November..I wound up the company and now seek a PAYE job...my blood pressure was too high...my kids hated my temper.

My wife has just told me to chill until the new year....bless

[£400 for a Penny ? 0]

I ran my own business for 3 years.

We had 5 staff and one day I got carried out feet first into an ambulance.

It is enjoyable working for yourself, planting your standard in the ground and saying, I fight from here.

Looking back on the experience from a distance now, the one thing that I took from it and would pass on is this:

Never go into any enterprise unless you can visualise the ending.

[Peckris 579]

Hi All

Sorry for my absence from the forum, I have been busy trying to sort jobs however Mr Cameron does not seem to think that we need many trading standards officers any more :-(

So... I have finally bit the bullet and started to put together a plan for a small coin business. There are lots of questions I would like to ask, however I realise many of you that have a business may not want to divulge such information, so opposed to asking you directly, I thought I would leave it open in the forum for anyone to add at their own will.

As some of you know I have been trading (as a hobby) since 2002 on ebay, word of mouth and through the larger auctions for the super rare ones.

My plan is to set up my own site to eliminate the ghastly selling fees, operate from the box room at home and hold around £30k of stock at any one time. Have not decided whether to specialise or hold all types. I have been particularly successful with the top shelf hammered crowns, however £30k will not go very far at all if I was to specialise in them.

Ebay has been such a powerful tool for me and I know it is going to generate the biggest audience, but as you all know the total fees from a £3k crown will be around £180 if paid with paypal and that really must be eliminated. My biggest concern is getting traffic and shifting the stock as fast as I have been doing, I wanted to ask if any of you with sites have a week or even weeks go by without a sale?

What insurance would you recommend for operating stock of this value from home?

Do you use your home address of set up a PO Box?

Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wife’s concern)

How do you combat customs charges when you are buying in if the seller declares the full value?

Would you advise to voluntarily register for VAT if your under the threshold?

Any other useful hints and tips?

Again I would not expect anyone to start sharing the above information freely, please just feel free to add anything you wish.

Thanks

Mat

Unquestionably ebay is the quickest way to offload stock, but this has to be set against the lottery of the price you wil receive. Another drawback with ebay is that the buyer will invariably use Paypal because it is the easiest option for them. However, if things go wrong and they block your account as they did with mine when I tried to get funds out then your working capital is tied up for the 3 months period you have to allow for resolution before you can pass the case to the ombudsman. Paypal don't offer a one to one for sorting problems, requiring you to communicate by email. Any means of avoiding Paypal is therefore preferable.

Yes, a week or weeks can go by without a sale. This is why it is really only feasible to do it as a full time job if you have a guaranteed supply of and customers for large value items. The return on low grade mixed material is greater if you melt it, and much easier to realise. Ebay has a monopoly on crap.

Red has covered the insurance question.

Just about everyone has a PO Box for the reasons outlined, but that still doesn't stop people being mugged. There have been at least 4 instances of attacks on dealers where stock has been lost in the last two or three years. You have to keep your wits about you.

Maintaining a website requires an undue amount of time if you want to photograph as much material as possible. People will always buy what they can see rather than what they can't, that's human nature. I think the trend will be that only high value items will end up on websites. Ebay has such a prolific supply of low grade/value items that frankly, it is not easy to compete and it always offer the chance of picking up a bargain. Conversely you would be an idiot to list high value items on ebay without a reserve, at which point costs become a major issue and so a website offers continuous listing until such time as an item is sold - which can quite literally be years. You can get a lot of traffic onto a website, but how many are different people is open to question and whether they buy anything is in the lap of the gods. I've had about 17000 visits in the first 4 years that the site has been up and running, but that could just as easily be 170 visits from 100 individuals as 17 visits from 1000 people. Most sites don't have a visitor counter, so I can't offer a comparison.

You can have as much or as little family time as you decide. Any business at the beginning requires long hours until established.

Always assume you will have to pay import vat on coins bought abroad. You can only have a profitable business if you can determine your costs in advance of actually purchasing an item. If the sums don't add up, don't buy. It's always much easier to buy than to sell.

My business was already VAT registered before I diversified into coins, so I simply incorporated it into an existing structure, but if you don't have to be registered then I wouldn't bother.

Would I want to do it as my sole means of income? No. If you say you want to earn a UK average salary which is in the region of £25K at the moment and you make a 10% return after overheads, you obviously have to sell £250Ks worth to provide the income. You will make more margin sometimes, less on others, but the overheads will always be there. That's a lot of well heeled customers that you have to sell to annually and on a recurring basis.

Do I enjoy it? Yes, but it helps to have a laid back disposition.

It's probably worth pointing out that plenty of people have a hassle-free experience with PayPal - I have so far (touch wood). I appreciate that doesn't make Rob feel any happier about them, but it might be worth canvassing a wider opinion? Then make your decision.

[azda 979]

Hi All

Sorry for my absence from the forum, I have been busy trying to sort jobs however Mr Cameron does not seem to think that we need many trading standards officers any more :-(

So... I have finally bit the bullet and started to put together a plan for a small coin business. There are lots of questions I would like to ask, however I realise many of you that have a business may not want to divulge such information, so opposed to asking you directly, I thought I would leave it open in the forum for anyone to add at their own will.

As some of you know I have been trading (as a hobby) since 2002 on ebay, word of mouth and through the larger auctions for the super rare ones.

My plan is to set up my own site to eliminate the ghastly selling fees, operate from the box room at home and hold around £30k of stock at any one time. Have not decided whether to specialise or hold all types. I have been particularly successful with the top shelf hammered crowns, however £30k will not go very far at all if I was to specialise in them.

Ebay has been such a powerful tool for me and I know it is going to generate the biggest audience, but as you all know the total fees from a £3k crown will be around £180 if paid with paypal and that really must be eliminated. My biggest concern is getting traffic and shifting the stock as fast as I have been doing, I wanted to ask if any of you with sites have a week or even weeks go by without a sale?

What insurance would you recommend for operating stock of this value from home?

Do you use your home address of set up a PO Box?

Do you have much family time left if you are doing this as well as your day job? (Wife’s concern)

How do you combat customs charges when you are buying in if the seller declares the full value?

Would you advise to voluntarily register for VAT if your under the threshold?

Any other useful hints and tips?

Again I would not expect anyone to start sharing the above information freely, please just feel free to add anything you wish.

Thanks

Mat

Unquestionably ebay is the quickest way to offload stock, but this has to be set against the lottery of the price you wil receive. Another drawback with ebay is that the buyer will invariably use Paypal because it is the easiest option for them. However, if things go wrong and they block your account as they did with mine when I tried to get funds out then your working capital is tied up for the 3 months period you have to allow for resolution before you can pass the case to the ombudsman. Paypal don't offer a one to one for sorting problems, requiring you to communicate by email. Any means of avoiding Paypal is therefore preferable.

Yes, a week or weeks can go by without a sale. This is why it is really only feasible to do it as a full time job if you have a guaranteed supply of and customers for large value items. The return on low grade mixed material is greater if you melt it, and much easier to realise. Ebay has a monopoly on crap.

Red has covered the insurance question.

Just about everyone has a PO Box for the reasons outlined, but that still doesn't stop people being mugged. There have been at least 4 instances of attacks on dealers where stock has been lost in the last two or three years. You have to keep your wits about you.

Maintaining a website requires an undue amount of time if you want to photograph as much material as possible. People will always buy what they can see rather than what they can't, that's human nature. I think the trend will be that only high value items will end up on websites. Ebay has such a prolific supply of low grade/value items that frankly, it is not easy to compete and it always offer the chance of picking up a bargain. Conversely you would be an idiot to list high value items on ebay without a reserve, at which point costs become a major issue and so a website offers continuous listing until such time as an item is sold - which can quite literally be years. You can get a lot of traffic onto a website, but how many are different people is open to question and whether they buy anything is in the lap of the gods. I've had about 17000 visits in the first 4 years that the site has been up and running, but that could just as easily be 170 visits from 100 individuals as 17 visits from 1000 people. Most sites don't have a visitor counter, so I can't offer a comparison.

You can have as much or as little family time as you decide. Any business at the beginning requires long hours until established.

Always assume you will have to pay import vat on coins bought abroad. You can only have a profitable business if you can determine your costs in advance of actually purchasing an item. If the sums don't add up, don't buy. It's always much easier to buy than to sell.

My business was already VAT registered before I diversified into coins, so I simply incorporated it into an existing structure, but if you don't have to be registered then I wouldn't bother.

Would I want to do it as my sole means of income? No. If you say you want to earn a UK average salary which is in the region of £25K at the moment and you make a 10% return after overheads, you obviously have to sell £250Ks worth to provide the income. You will make more margin sometimes, less on others, but the overheads will always be there. That's a lot of well heeled customers that you have to sell to annually and on a recurring basis.

Do I enjoy it? Yes, but it helps to have a laid back disposition.

It's probably worth pointing out that plenty of people have a hassle-free experience with PayPal - I have so far (touch wood). I appreciate that doesn't make Rob feel any happier about them, but it might be worth canvassing a wider opinion? Then make your decision.

Paypal will always have its problems because Ebay owns paypal. I've only had 1 problem where a buyer said he never received a coin i sent, they stopped all transactions until it was sorted. The only way to go around any negativity with PP is to send funds direct to your bank account when they come in.

[Rob 3,152]

Nobody sets up an unworkable business model, so the only thorough test of a system's quality is its ability to sort out problems when they arise. All Paypal would have to do is make a human being available (not in Bombay) for meaningful discussion and who has sufficient authority to instigate corrective action. Their insistence on email communication means you have no named person to provide continuity. They can and do ignore inbound emails. When I posted off the relevant documentation to the ombudsman including transcripts of all the emails, the postage cost was over £7. Do your own sums for the weight of paper involved. That they transferred the entire blocked amount to my allegedly dodgy bank account before informing me they had done so and twenty minutes later phoned to say that they had transferred a sum in compensation to the same dodgy account without me asking is a clear indication that the problem lay in their actions. All that only happened because I had waited the three or four months before you are allowed to refer cases to the ombudsman. In the interim, they are sitting on your money which any business needs to use for working capital. Claims that mistakes sometimes happen I cannot disagree with, but multiplied thirtyfold is indicative of something endemic. That's their real policy when things go wrong.

On the plus side, the compensation paid for this pattern halfpenny in full, a P1258 ex Boulton.

[argentumandcoins 70]

Pay pal are a total pain the a**e but unfortunately a necessary evil in my case.

I move quite a bit of stuff on ebay and if you don't take paypal you can't play ball.

Last month they stopped sending me buyer payment emails and it caused a lot of hassle. I averaged 17 sales a day and the inevitable result was customer complaints about non-receipt. It cost me a small amount of spare stock as freebies to cut-off the negative cherry on my feedback.

I phoned Ireland direct (paypal europe HQ) and got some very unhelpful person in Mumbai or Bombay or wherever. The questions were pretty pathetic as they read off their cutomer faults checklist... do you have the correct email address on your account? YES, I'VE BEEN A MEMBER ON THIS ADDRESS FOR 8 YEARS. do you have a working phone line... I'M ON IT NOW, do you have your email address attached to your ebay and paypal accounts... LISTEN, I'M PRETTY SICK OF ANSWERING YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS, JUST PUT ME ONTO SOMEBODY WHOSE FIRST LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH AND WHO HAS THE ABILITY TO SORT MY PROBLEM OUT. please Sir I will help you just let me help you Sir.. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS NOISE IS, (click as he hangs up). The conversation was longer and bits were repeated several times by me but I'm sure you get the drift.

In the end after another 2 phone calls I was told it wasn't their fault it was my ISPN's. I phoned Sky and they told me it wasn't their fault, I phoned Ghost Busters but they were busy trying to track down the Ghost of Newcastle managers past!

In the end the fault cleared, the emails came and 3 more Johnny Foreigners ripped me off with the ME NO GET MY COIN claim. Paypal froze the funds,,,,,, oh sod it I'm off for a cigar and a Whisky.

[Peter 615]

A cigar and whiskey sounds like a good idea however the pantry is empty...there is last nights red wine in the kitchen

[moneyer12 0]

i sold coins and banknotes for 10 years on e-bay, and had one or two problems, as one poster has alrady said paypal are overly quick to dtop any transactions on your acount if they get 1 complaint, some people expect uncirculated standard coins even though you advertise them as "stained" or worn through circulation. i sold a william III sipence for £27 and my description clearly stated that the coin had 2 stains on the obverse. the buyer lodged a complaint because "the coin had marks on the heads side" without arbitration paypal upheld his complaint even though i had clearly stated in my reply that the coin was accurately described in my listing. i mean this chap must have wanted an £80 coin for £27.....i had a perfect 100 feedback rating and had many returning customers but thos one instance really pee'd me off som much that i closed down my account and never intend to reopen it. incidentally one of my coins has been listed by the buyer, it is an alexander III scottish penny which i sold cheaply because there was a cut halfway across the coin, the seller has crudely repaired the cut and has listed it as "a detector find" i could have done the same but i am too honest for my own good.

Edited December 31, 2010 by cartwheel

[SionGilbey 1]

All this talk of being mugged and scammed and hiding from the authorities sounds more like drug dealing than coin dealing lol

[Red Riley 2]

i sold coins and banknotes for 10 years on e-bay, and had one or two problems, as one poster has alrady said paypal are overly quick to dtop any transactions on your acount if they get 1 complaint, some people expect uncirculated standard coins even though you advertise them as "stained" or worn through circulation. i sold a william III sipence for £27 and my description clearly stated that the coin had 2 stains on the obverse. the buyer lodged a complaint because "the coin had marks on the heads side" without arbitration paypal upheld his complaint even though i had clearly stated in my reply that the coin was accurately described in my listing. i mean this chap must have wanted an £80 coin for £27.....i had a perfect 100 feedback rating and had many returning customers but thos one instance really pee'd me off som much that i closed down my account and never intend to reopen it. incidentally one of my coins has been listed by the buyer, it is an alexander III scottish penny which i sold cheaply because there was a cut halfway across the coin, the seller has crudely repaired the cut and has listed it as "a detector find" i could have done the same but i am too honest for my own good.

I think you just have to bite the bullet and accept returns in all circumstances. May hurt your pride occasionally but should prevent negative feedback, and to be fair, most buyers are honest so shouldn't cause a disproportionate amount of hassle.

[£400 for a Penny ? 0]

All this talk of being mugged and scammed and hiding from the authorities sounds more like drug dealing than coin dealing lol

There is a national tendency to concentrate on the negative...

[Peckris 579]

All this talk of being mugged and scammed and hiding from the authorities sounds more like drug dealing than coin dealing lol

There is a national tendency to concentrate on the negative...

But let's win the Sydney Test first before diving into clouds of despair

[moneyer12 0]

i sold coins and banknotes for 10 years on e-bay, and had one or two problems, as one poster has alrady said paypal are overly quick to dtop any transactions on your acount if they get 1 complaint, some people expect uncirculated standard coins even though you advertise them as "stained" or worn through circulation. i sold a william III sipence for £27 and my description clearly stated that the coin had 2 stains on the obverse. the buyer lodged a complaint because "the coin had marks on the heads side" without arbitration paypal upheld his complaint even though i had clearly stated in my reply that the coin was accurately described in my listing. i mean this chap must have wanted an £80 coin for £27.....i had a perfect 100 feedback rating and had many returning customers but thos one instance really pee'd me off som much that i closed down my account and never intend to reopen it. incidentally one of my coins has been listed by the buyer, it is an alexander III scottish penny which i sold cheaply because there was a cut halfway across the coin, the seller has crudely repaired the cut and has listed it as "a detector find" i could have done the same but i am too honest for my own good.

I think you just have to bite the bullet and accept returns in all circumstances. May hurt your pride occasionally but should prevent negative feedback, and to be fair, most buyers are honest so shouldn't cause a disproportionate amount of hassle.

i think in all honesty i had just come to the end of my trading, and wanted to pack it in, and this incident was the straw that broke the camels back. i was left with a lot of stock which i have since sold or given away.............just a collector these days and loving it.

[Peter 615]

i sold coins and banknotes for 10 years on e-bay, and had one or two problems, as one poster has alrady said paypal are overly quick to dtop any transactions on your acount if they get 1 complaint, some people expect uncirculated standard coins even though you advertise them as "stained" or worn through circulation. i sold a william III sipence for £27 and my description clearly stated that the coin had 2 stains on the obverse. the buyer lodged a complaint because "the coin had marks on the heads side" without arbitration paypal upheld his complaint even though i had clearly stated in my reply that the coin was accurately described in my listing. i mean this chap must have wanted an £80 coin for £27.....i had a perfect 100 feedback rating and had many returning customers but thos one instance really pee'd me off som much that i closed down my account and never intend to reopen it. incidentally one of my coins has been listed by the buyer, it is an alexander III scottish penny which i sold cheaply because there was a cut halfway across the coin, the seller has crudely repaired the cut and has listed it as "a detector find" i could have done the same but i am too honest for my own good.

I think you just have to bite the bullet and accept returns in all circumstances. May hurt your pride occasionally but should prevent negative feedback, and to be fair, most buyers are honest so shouldn't cause a disproportionate amount of hassle.

i think in all honesty i had just come to the end of my trading, and wanted to pack it in, and this incident was the straw that broke the camels back. i was left with a lot of stock which i have since sold or given away.............just a collector these days and loving it.

I had illusions of dealing but have now resorted to be a collector and doing the occasional deal...I've just bought 3 coins to sell on but this won't pay the mortgage....I find selling emotionally difficult

[Rob 3,152]

I had illusions of dealing but have now resorted to be a collector and doing the occasional deal...I've just bought 3 coins to sell on but this won't pay the mortgage....I find selling emotionally difficult

The problem with combining dealing and collecting is that you have or want the same items that your customers want. The very nice rare piece you can't bear to part with is the same desirable object in their eyes too. The easy to get pieces that you wouldn't mind parting with on the grounds that you can always replace them with another are consequently difficult to sell because as common items there is always a chance they can pick one up on ebay for 99p instead of wasting £2 by purchasing from a dealer.

[Red Riley 2]

The problem with combining dealing and collecting is that you have or want the same items that your customers want. The very nice rare piece you can't bear to part with is the same desirable object in their eyes too. The easy to get pieces that you wouldn't mind parting with on the grounds that you can always replace them with another are consequently difficult to sell because as common items there is always a chance they can pick one up on ebay for 99p instead of wasting £2 by purchasing from a dealer.

Agree 100% Rob. I simply had to make a choice, I couldn't afford to collect the coins that I was now hankering after, so I had to bite the bullet and put everything up for sale as the core of a business.

[Rob 3,152]

The problem with combining dealing and collecting is that you have or want the same items that your customers want. The very nice rare piece you can't bear to part with is the same desirable object in their eyes too. The easy to get pieces that you wouldn't mind parting with on the grounds that you can always replace them with another are consequently difficult to sell because as common items there is always a chance they can pick one up on ebay for 99p instead of wasting £2 by purchasing from a dealer.

Agree 100% Rob. I simply had to make a choice, I couldn't afford to collect the coins that I was now hankering after, so I had to bite the bullet and put everything up for sale as the core of a business.

Unless you are willing to sell high value choice items that you would as a collector keep, you will struggle to make a living. Those are the customers which have to be concentrated on.

Collectors of low grade material will automatically migrate to ebay and overpay - but they are in the right place. Collectors of high grade material need to be weaned off ebay where the risk and cost of mistakes is high, and use lists, fairs, websites and any other means which offer the opportunity to examine the piece in question before a commitment to purchase is made. They might not get the bargain they automatically expect from ebay, but using knowledge and physically handling the coins before purchase will lead to a better understanding of what's available, what it costs and a greater level of overall satisfaction. For the vendor, that means repeat business which is the key to any form of business success.