Gold Silver Ratio Discussion Group

[everything1]

I call it the subscription service economy, everybody wants a cut. It's engineered to keep things going and keep people spending. I sometimes wonder if it could keep us recession proof. A few others out here don't even like ebay and prefer craigslist.

BIN is awesome, people do ebay during their Sunday morning coffee / breakfast as well I noticed, getting the hang of the auction/bin style setups. I've been just selling premium types of items, I'm hesitant to put to much bullion out for sale.

What I don't like are offers, I click that option off right away. G/S ratio hovering 65/66.

[everything1]

Thanks Maxwell, Bronkster, Windweaver, you all helped me allot, was able to push almost $1000 in paypal receipts out the door this weekend, unfortunately my ebay bill is $105. The free shipping seems to help. The last bin I did this evening was cheapest I let anything go, a scottsdale, sunshine, and apmex bar trio for 104 out the door, about 28.50/ounce.

G/S ratio fell just under 65 this evening.

[windweaver77]

Thanks Maxwell, Bronkster, Windweaver, you all helped me allot, was able to push almost $1000 in paypal receipts out the door this weekend, unfortunately my ebay bill is $105. The free shipping seems to help. The last bin I did this evening was cheapest I let anything go, a scottsdale, sunshine, and apmex bar trio for 104 out the door, about 28.50/ounce.

G/S ratio fell just under 65 this evening.

May it go to 25:1 in our lifetime.

[bronkster1967]

I call it the subscription service economy, everybody wants a cut. It's engineered to keep things going and keep people spending. I sometimes wonder if it could keep us recession proof. A few others out here don't even like ebay and prefer craigslist.

BIN is awesome, people do ebay during their Sunday morning coffee / breakfast as well I noticed, getting the hang of the auction/bin style setups. I've been just selling premium types of items, I'm hesitant to put to much bullion out for sale.

What I don't like are offers, I click that option off right away. G/S ratio hovering 65/66.

You nailed it on the head! I've noticed it too and that's a really good way to describe it. Anyone who you/we have to recurringly/periodically pay for any reason always strongly suggests that we set up "Auto-Pay" because it'll help us- we won't ever miss a payment or destroy our credit or let our insurance lapse. It's for our benefit, of course! It's soo convenient! Sign up today! Well, I look at it as everyone has their hands in our pockets and is trying to steal our lunch money like some schoolyard bully. I don't like bullies. Lol

It's hard enough to keep your money after paying sizable amounts of taxes in every form possible that TPTB can manage to ensnare us in, yet everyone wants more. Sure, we can set it up so our insurance payments come directly out of our checking accounts each month or quarterly or what have you, but they also charge a fee to do that. They all do, so who's really making out in the end?

BIN sure can work positively for you if you use it right. I have seen some sellers set their BIN price too low when if they'd just checked around a little (like clicking the box on the left for actual sold prices), they could have seen what the exact same item they're selling is going for currently/recently and they could have set the price at or close to that. I'm not saying to gouge buyers. No, not at all. But this is commerce and you're trying to do what's best for you and yours. Your trying to increase your own personal income stream. Maxwellsilverhammer has it down right. He knows to pump up his BIN price to account for the loss of profit due to fees, shipping, etc.. He makes sure that he's going to make money and that's just smart and savvy IMO.

One of the advantages of BIN is also that if you were running an auction (instead of a BIN) and people who had been "watching" your item(s) for whatever reason, missed the end of the auction or missed being able to bid (something came up, they forgot, ran an errand, etc.), if your item is still available, they can go right back and purchase it outright minutes or hours or the next morning after and voila! You sold you item. It happens fairly often in my experience. That's also why if you did an auction but your item didn't sell, relist it as a BIN immediately after it ended and many/most times it will soon after.

On the subject of offers... Where these can help you is if you're selling something that's difficult to estimate a price for and you possibly may have started your item too high. For bullion, this isn't a problem/doesn't apply and would be pointless. If you acquired the item cheaply enough, then sometimes any offer is better than no sale, but seeing as how you can set the parameters of how low of a price you're willing to entertain those offers for, it makes it easier somewhat. Basically, if you've picked up an item that you're no longer interested in and you got it fairly cheap where you can make some money on it, those are the things you could/should possibly have "make an offer" on. Personally, I look at it like this: whatever I sell, I already know what I'm putting the proceeds towards- usually more and better PM's. And anything that gets me closer to that goal, I look at as helpful. Keep it moving... Turnover is key!

[LongDonSilver]

I was using eBay back before it went to the present day format. when I first used it it was more like an online form of a mailing list or a newspaper want ads. They have become greedier and greedier as they've grown. But as long as a seller is happy with what they end up paying I don't think a seller should have any remorse at making a profit too. Just remember that for non-BIN sale items you don't know what the buyer was willing to pay. You just know what the 2nd highest bidder was willing to pay plus one bid step more. The winning buyer may have been willing to pay a lot more than the winning bid!

[bronkster1967]

I was using eBay back before it went to the present day format. when I first used it it was more like an online form of a mailing list or a newspaper want ads. They have become greedier and greedier as they've grown. But as long as a seller is happy with what they end up paying I don't think a seller should have any remorse at making a profit too. Just remember that for non-BIN sale items you don't know what the buyer was willing to pay. You just know what the 2nd highest bidder was willing to pay plus one bid step more. The winning buyer may have been willing to pay a lot more than the winning bid!

Oh yeah, I remember the "old days" too! You could put absolute garbage up there and people would buy it and bid it up. I never did, but it was ridiculous, IMO. You're right, Don. Ebay has become so greedy it's shameful. A lot of people are jumping ship and finding other venues for selling. Ebay did it to themselves. They do still have numbers of buyers on their side, though. Yeah, I don't want to imply that I've only done BIN's; actually most of my sales have been auctions because that's where I have been the most successful and generated the most of my higher price point sales. I probably have only about 30 items or so selling there now on a recurring "list until sold" status because I hate the exorbitant fee structure and everything is weighted in favor of the buyer. Also the fact that the taxes they collect (that the buyer pays) count against you as they add them into your total sales. What BS. And unless you have something like a really scarce or rare antique or collectible or is in demand at the moment (such as PM's), then there's usually 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 other sellers who have the same exact thing you do and they're trying to undercut you all the time. My personal way of selling there (when I do put something new up) is to start an auction at the lowest price I'd want to sell it for, knowing that a certain amount of fees will be taken out, so I always take that into account. Only very rarely do I ever use their suggestion to start everything at 99 cents and let 'er rip. And that's only when I've done my homework and researched and have an extremely good chance of hitting the price point I'm looking for.

[everything1]

I hear you guys on the auctions last night I put a hitler armored car 1 oz. bar up for 52 BIN, and it sold within two minutes, the only other one listed they wanted 247 for. I should made them bid on that thing for a week. I also sold a vince lombardi bar for 55 in an hour. They are just bars I picked at my LCS for spot where the owner hates bars, they all go into the junk bin. I have some nice stuff I got from him that are so rifled away I can't even find them. I'm generally starting auction at 25 oz. price, but doing more auctions now as I learning lessons on bin through experimentation. With that auction, they seem to often fight over stuff last minute, especially if the watchlist # grows.

[Jamesbong]

I hear you guys on the auctions last night I put a hitler armored car 1 oz. bar up for 52 BIN, and it sold within two minutes, the only other one listed they wanted 247 for. I should made them bid on that thing for a week. I also sold a vince lombardi bar for 55 in an hour. They are just bars I picked at my LCS for spot where the owner hates bars, they all go into the junk bin. I have some nice stuff I got from him that are so rifled away I can't even find them. I'm generally starting auction at 25 oz. price, but doing more auctions now as I learning lessons on bin through experimentation. With that auction, they seem to often fight over stuff last minute, especially if the watchlist # grows.

I've noticed on extremely liquid high demand items to just start at 01. or 99 cents. They'll be so many more bidders and interest it's not so much about the price, people just want to win and be a part of something. The watchlist will grow....

[everything1]

Ok, putting a higher BIN on the hitler car art bar, but then adding the offer kicker would have been the way to go on an auction like that then.

$100 eagle for auction right now, I start it at 75 no bids, almost every other auction is bin. It's only been an hour or two, the weekend isn't here yet.

Ungraded ngc binion dollar up and I have three offers on it, within only minutes, silver dollar madness, I forgot to turn that feature off.

I'm pretty much getting rid of slabs, 40%, and art bars. I liked shopping for art bars over the years, always fun. People seem to like them. Why I don't have a standing order with my LCS to just buy all they get, because they get nice old stuff.

[bronkster1967]

Ok, putting a higher BIN on the hitler car art bar, but then adding the offer kicker would have been the way to go on an auction like that then.

$100 eagle for auction right now, I start it at 75 no bids, almost every other auction is bin. It's only been an hour or two, the weekend isn't here yet.

Ungraded ngc binion dollar up and I have three offers on it, within only minutes, silver dollar madness, I forgot to turn that feature off.

I'm pretty much getting rid of slabs, 40%, and art bars. I liked shopping for art bars over the years, always fun. People seem to like them. Why I don't have a standing order with my LCS to just buy all they get, because they get nice old stuff.

Yeah, if you're no longer interested in some of the things you have- turn them into things you do want. Continual culling and/or refining and simplification of your stack only helps you and probably someday, your heir(s).

Sounds like some of the stuff you're selling is desirable to people so that's good. Good luck with all of it. I hope it goes to the moon for you!

I've done pretty well also in finding old pour bars and art bars and the odd things (made of PM's) at pawn shops, we-buy-gold shops and antique stores. Most of the time, they just want spot or close to it and if you have a "good eye" and can spot the scarcer issues that collectors want, you can turn those profits into more of what YOU want. To me, that's success. Sometimes you have to do a lot of searching through so-called junk boxes, but persistence pays off.