AUCTION vs DEALER

Generally people looking to sell their coins / coin collections choose one of 3 ways to sell them:

We have been in business now for over 12 years in this field, and it is fair to say that without the on line auction sites we may well have never got established. This said, the on line auction side of our business ceased in 2008 when the best known auction site changed the rules on payment options which we were not willing to abide by. You know the main one - everybody does (but I do not wish to give them free advertising here !), and we traded on their since we started in 2003 - our id being weightoncoin, and finished in 2008. The first thing we have to point out is that this had not been without its problems - you have all heard the stories, non paying bidders, retaliatory negative feedback, extortionate postage charges, and the list goes on. But here is how it REALLY works

ALL items are charged relatively high listing and selling fees - you will lose at least 10% of the final price in fees - more if you have used multiple selling functions.

EVERYBODY is looking to catch a bargain so automatically prices can be stifled

WITHOUT the feedback history you are likely to achieve lower prices as buyers will be less willing to take a chance on you

TOO MANY on line auction dealers (some would say amateur) trying to buy cheap and sell high to make short term gains

People are often pointed to the various auction houses that have specialist coin sales to sell their collections. The theory is that with several potential bidders, you are likely to get a better price. This theory may well be true on very rare coins, but on the everyday coins and collections NOTHING could be further from the truth.

To sell at the auction house, the commission they will charge to sell for you will be somewhere in the region of 12 - 15% (plus VAT). These auction houses are now full of dealers like ourselves looking to pick up stock. This sounds good but dealers are a canny bunch, and have set limits they are willing to pay on ANY lots that interest them. AHH - and here is the sting in the tale - the dealers buy price will be MINUS the buyers commission they will have to pay - again between 15 - 20% (plus VAT). Here is an example to show you just what we mean:

1987 Gold Proof 3 Coin Set (£2, Sov & 1/2 Sov)

Weighton Coin Wonders would pay ANYBODY TODAY IN CASH - £650.00

We would look to pick up at auction for around the same price including buyers premium & VAT (17.63%), so our bid would be a maximum of £535.00 - £650.00 minus £114.59 (17.63%) = £535.41.

The seller would then receive from that just £441.02 after paying the seller commission & VAT (another 17.63%)

So any seller would be £208.98 better off picking up the phone and selling to us - don't believe it - try us out and see.

Example calculated in June 2015 with gold spot price of £780.00 per oz

As we have already illustrated, we have set prices that we are willing to pay for items. These prices as with any method of purchase, do fluctuate with the metals markets but we will pay the same whether buying at an auction, an online site or from a private seller. Once a deal is agreed, that is what we will pay you, no deductions for commissions, fees etc, so the price we quote is the price you will get. We can pay via a variety of methods and we always aim to settle within 2 working days from inspection.

So there is absolutely no doubt in our mind which is in 99% of cases the best option

SELL TO A REPUTABLE DEALER - you will get a fair price based on the market at the time, and an immediate settlement.