Selling

What do we buy?

Pretty much anything coins related! Whether it be a single coin or a lifetime’s collection – we are interested. We buy coins from all periods, ancient to modern, and from all countries, regardless of value and condition.

We buy specialised collections through to the modern limited-edition sets produced by various mints from around the world.

We are also keen buyers of silver and gold coins especially sovereigns and Krugerands, bullion coins, American Eagles and Canadian Maple leaves.

Running alongside our coin business, we also actively seek banknotes, from single examples to extensive collections and from all periods and countries, including errors, and additionally share certificates and associated material.

Medals are also eagerly sought including military, gallantry, and civilian awards, plus sporting honours – especially football, cricket, rugby and Olympics. If you also have supporting paperwork, photos, newspaper cuttings, service books etc they can sometimes increase the value – so don’t throw anything away!!!!

Why sell to webuycoins?

Whatever type of collection you have, the chances are that in most cases, it took a great deal of time, effort and money to accumulate it. With that in mind, it is very important to make sure you are going to get the best price to reward the collectors’ efforts. Webuycoins have the experience and track record of paying the best prices for all types of coin collections backed up by immediate payment.

Sell through auction, a coin dealer or eBay?

This is a valid question and one we get asked quite often. To a certain extent it does depend on the contents of the collection but in most cases a direct sale to a dealer like webuycoins will be preferable and better for you financially. The bottom line is the final amount you receive is the most important factor that you should be considering.

Let’s start with auctions. Auction houses are expensive to run – they normally have big premises requiring large staffing, coupled with regular advertising and costly catalogue production. Hence, they need to charge a commission for their services. Most auction houses charge a 15-20% commission to the seller and they charge the buyer a premium of 20% (all commissions are subject to 20% VAT) therefore on average the auction house takes a whopping 35-40% from your final sale figures.

hand-holding-american-coin

We do get asked why should the buyer’s premium matter to us, the seller?

Well, let’s take a more detailed look at a typical example: –

Like most dealers, we attend many auctions and in fact if you took a poll of a typical auction room, most customers will be dealers. As a dealer it is vital that the total price we pay for a collection is accurately calculated factoring in the buyer’s premium.

For example, let’s say we want to pay a maximum of £500 for a collection – we cannot pay £500 + the premium because that will cost in total £600 (£500 + 20%), so we must absorb the 20% by bidding a maximum of £420 which with the 20% added will = £504. However, for you the vendor the collection was knocked down at £420 which is then subject to the 15/20% vendor’s commission leaving you with approximately £350. A long way off the £500 that we would have offered to pay in the first place!!

Points to consider selling by auction?

1 Is time important to you? Most auction houses work a least 3 months ahead leaving them time to prepare and distribute catalogues and to advertise the event. Once the sale is completed, pay-outs to the vendor usually take another 30 days to give the buyers time to settle their bills.

2 No matter how good an auction house is, no auction can guarantee a successful result. It is wholly dependent on who is interested in your coins on that given day and what other similar collections may be offered at the same time vying for the buyers’ attention.

3 In this day and age, security unfortunately is always an issue – public auctions are as they say – public, which means anyone can attend without background checks being made beforehand.

Coins are very portable and thus can be easily stolen, lost or damaged.

Selling to webuycoins is quick, easy and the quoted price is what you receive.

Selling by Online auctions

In the last 20 years or so, there has been another alternative – the online auction – for example eBay. Let’s face it, the online auction is very convenient, more so for the buyer than the seller, and I am sure we have all spent a happy hour buying bits and pieces from the comfort of our own home. Selling household goods, clothes, books etc has become easy – easy that is if you have the time to photograph/scan the items, write an accurate description, answer inevitable questions, and then if successfully sold, package the item up and go to the post office. The worry then is firstly, will the package arrive, (especially if it’s going overseas) and secondly will the buyer be happy with it. If not, you will have to refund them. Finally after all that if you do manage a successful sale, you must pay eBay a commission!

This is all well and good if things run smoothly but with a niche market like coins or stamps, accurate descriptions and high-quality photos are essential. Careful packaging/insurance is also a must. Given that most coin collections will contain hundreds or thousands of coins the task of selling them on eBay will be immense.

On the subject of online auctions, we must issue a warning on spending time researching coins.

As we all know, anyone can try and sell anything online, no one has to be an expert or a registered business which results in the much-repeated warning – ‘buyer beware’. Collecting coins is a very technical hobby with correct identification and condition grading of the utmost importance. It can be very exciting to discover similar coins to yours online being priced at eye-watering levels, but you must take ‘buy it now’ prices with a pinch of salt. Firstly, the coin may have been mis identified or graded incorrectly, which renders the asking price unreliable. Secondly, if it is a ‘buy it now’ offer and it is still ‘live’ then that means no one has bought it – probably for the above reasons, or it is just simply overpriced. The easiest solution is to sell to ‘webuycoins’ who will examine the coins and pay the best price immediately, without any fuss.

How to sell to webuycoins?

We endeavour to make the process as easy as possible.

Firstly, make initial contact by phone or email so we can establish the type of coins you have. If you can upload some photos via our Valuations page, that can be very useful. We will then assess the best way of providing you with a free, no obligation valuation. With large and potentially valuable collections, we can arrange for a valuation to be carried out at our office or at your home. As we travel all over the country, visiting you at home can be organised if the value warrants it or if it is too large, bulky or heavy to transport safely. Whenever we carry out our valuation you can rest assured it will be done with the utmost care, respect, and diligence.

We look forward to hearing from you!

What types of Coins could be valuable?

A very common question that is asked and one that would take many hours to thoroughly answer and explain. However, the much-used quote “you get out what you put in” can often be applied to coins, stamps or indeed any collectable. The value of a coin does not necessarily depend on its age for you can find Roman coins that may only be worth a few pounds each. Nor does the value depend on the coin’s origin, most countries have issued valuable coins at some point. But what is important, and invariably is the key to a coin’s value, is how much did it cost the collector in the first place? Generally speaking there are two ways to collect coins – either the collector can build up a collection of hundreds, if not thousands of coins from all over the world by buying bags or boxes of assorted coins from small auctions or charity shops and have many hours of fun sorting them out. The other method is to specialise in a country or a particular period of history and build up a collection by buying individual coins of merit or sets of coins from reputable dealers. With the first method, whilst the collector is having lots of fun sorting out the coins, the chances are that he/she is not acquiring coins of any great individual value as auctions and charity shops have already sifted through for any “better” items. These types of collections are what we call “entertainment collections” being formed to provide hours of enjoyment rather than having an eye on future investment.

The second method involves identifying and sourcing more valuable coins to fill gaps in the buyer’s collection. Here the collector needs to have a good understanding of the market and appreciate the differences in condition and coin grading which is so important. Rather than buying numerous coins for a few pounds the collector here, depending on their financial situation, may buy individual coins for £50, £100, £500, £1000 each and upwards. As long as they are buying from reputable dealers, they will certainly get a large amount of their money back, or even make a profit depending on when they purchased the coins.

Modern coins and sets of coins offered for sale by the Royal Mint, and indeed Official Mints from around the world, are extremely popular with collectors because the products are brand new and usually come in “Proof” form, and invariably are minted in a precious metal like Silver or Gold. They are also often presented in an attractive case and are accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. The prices charged by the Mints however will have to reflect several considerations. Firstly the metal itself. Precious metals trade on the commodities markets every minute of every day, and prices fluctuate continually, so when producing a new coin the pricing will have to take into account the current market price of the metal at that time. The design and production of the coin is very expensive as will be the advertising and promotion through the printed media and online, therefore when buying modern coins one must consider that you will be paying a big premium and if you wish to sell them within a few years of purchase you are more than likely going to lose money, unless the metal itself has increased in value significantly.

We get many enquiries from people who typically have an old tin of coins that has been handed down through generations containing a real mixture of coins from various eras and countries. Whilst they may look very interesting the chance of them being of any commercial value is remote. It is only human not to throw money away and so it is quite common to find old pennies, holiday money or a commemorative Crown, lurking around in a cupboard, but remembering what we said earlier about “you get out what you put in”, it is highly unlikely that someone bought a coin for a reasonable sum and left it in a tin where it can be damaged by “rubbing” against other loose coins or even mislaid. From our experiences you just don’t get “Antique Roadshow” moments with coins. In fact generally speaking, looking at coins from say the last 150 years or so, whether they are UK or from another country, the only ones that will likely be of value are silver or gold coins, or specific coins of merit bought individually from dealers or from an auction.

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Customer testimonials

Join the many satisfied customers who have all benefitted from our experience and detailed knowledge of the coin, banknote and medal markets.

Many thanks “webuycoins” for your quick and efficient service in handling the sale of my late husband’s coin collection. It was his pride and joy for over 40 years and I feel so pleased that it can now be enjoyed by other collectors around the world. A good friend of mine “found” your company on the internet and within 2 days of contacting you, a valuer came to my home to assess the collection. Your valuation and offer exceeded my husband’s insurance cover on the collection, so I was very pleased!

Mrs R., Stratford On Avon

Just a quick email to thank you for your quick and courteous service. Although my coin collection was not particularly large and valuable I found your kind and attentive attitude most acceptable.

Mr S., Islington

Superb service!! As we were emigrating time was of the essence. Your rapid response and valuation, backed up with fast payment was just the job!

Mr A., Lincoln

I know it was a long way for you to travel but I hope you think that it was worth it. I was very happy with your valuation of my sovereigns and the “on the spot” payment. Thank you.

Mrs C., Darlington

Thank you very much for buying my medal collection. I found your valuation and offer very fair. Your extensive knowledge of the market left me in no doubt that I was dealing with the experts !

Mr W., Norwich