Buying Coins Online

     You would expect two thousand year old items to be hard to find, right? Well, that is not necessarily true when it comes to coins. The internet has revolutionized the coin buying process.

     Before the internet it was much harder to track down ancient coins. Basically you had to have access to someone who had them for sale. Coin shops and auctions where the main sources.

     Today, you have the ability to browse thousands of different coins located all around the globe that are for sale online. You can find coins for less than a dollar and some that may require taking out a mortgage on your house (not recommended). There also hundreds of coin dealers online from all around the world.

     Even though the internet is a wonderful tool to find coins, it is also a haven for con artists. Some people claim that up to 75% of ancient coins for sale on Ebay are fakes. Though I am still new to this I have seen auctions on Ebay trying to peddle obvious fakes as authentic.

     The best thing to do when buying coins online is to deal only with reputable dealers. There are a number of them online and even on Ebay. Look around a little and see who serious collectors recommend.

     The biggest key to avoiding being ripped off is to know your stuff. There is a rule of thumb in coin collecting that says to buy the book before buying the coin.

     I love Ebay. I haven't bought a lot of stuff there over the years, but I have done a lot of looking. Ebay has become a fantastic source for low to medium quality coins. I wouldn't expect to strike it rich there, but you can get superb deals if you are lucky.

     Here's a few tips to remember when looking on ancient coins on Ebay:

1. Buy from reputable dealers. As I said before, that are some very high quality dealers there. You can usually tell this by their reviews. Someone with 10,000 reviews and 99.9% positive ones is usually safe. A few that I watch are "amphoracoins" (that's David Hendin) and "ancientauctionhouse.com". There are many more out there besides these. Usually a more reputable dealer receives more bids and their coins tend to sell for higher prices.
2. Look for the guarantee. Does the seller stand by their coins? Usually a reputable dealer will have offer a full refund if a coin is proven to be a fake. One stipulation that you will often see is that for the refund a recognized expert, such as David Sear or David Hendin, must prove the coin as a fake. You'll see guarantees that are good for a few weeks up to even lifetime guarantees. Not having a guarantee may not a deal breaker to me, but I am not usually comfortable spending more than five or ten dollars on the coin.
3. Check the shipping costs and location. Winning a coin with a bid of two dollars may not be a great deal if the coin is located in Indonesia and the shipping is thirty five dollars. I only look for coins in the U.S. to avoid this, but still you will see people with exuberant shipping fees. There is really no reason for shipping one coin through the Post Office to cost more than three or four dollars unless it is sen Priority Mail or the like. I understand that the packaging costs something, but many times I have received coins taped to a piece of cardboard inside a regular envelope with a couple of stamps on it. Remember also to factor in the cost of shipping into your bidding.
4. Don't believe the stories around the coins. "I bought this coin at an estate sale and I have no idea what it is." Yeah right. Almost every time I have seen a line like that on a listing it has been an obvious fake. Disregard terms like "rare" and "unknown" also. I saw one "extremely rare" coin once that had six almost identical coins listed at the same time also.
5. More info is better. A good dealer will put a lot of information about the coin. I'm not talking about copying Wikipedia. I want measurements on the coin, like the diameter and weight. I want to know the material. I really like to see references given. I also like good quality pictures.
6. Avoid uncleaned coin scams and the like. Someone trying to sell you something on the basis that you could strike it rich is out to scam you. Many worthless coins are sold this way, no matter how many gold ones they claim people found. Similarly, don't buy coins unless the actual coin is shown on the page. You'll see that scam quite a bit with Widow's Mites. If it is too good to be true, than it probably is.

     There are many good dealers online. Don't expect to get bargains from them as they usually sell coins at market price. However, you get a lot of peace of mind with the purchase knowing it came from a reliable source.

     A good marketplace for coins is VCoins. There are many dealers here and from I have seen I think all of them are reputable. It is also a great reference tool to see what particular coins are listing for.

     There are also a few very good dealer sites. Amphora Coins is the website for David Hendin's company and is very good. Sign up for his catalog, too. I bought a book from Guy Clark (who also sells coins) and had a great buying experience.