It is obvious to any coin buyer on e-bay that graded coins achieve far better auction prices than ungraded coins. Even an exceptional coin that is ungraded will freguently sell for far less than their true value due to the risk discount buyers place on ungraded coins. This risk discount is the risk that the coin is a lesser grade than advertised or the risk of a cleaned coin or the risk the coin is a fake. These risks are magnified if the pictures of the coin are poor, but cleaned coins can not always be spotted even with excellent photos.

SELLERS GIVE GOOD PHOTOS OF YOUR COINS. Most middle to better quality computer scanners will do a good job if you set the brightness settings for shiney coins.

Also, sellers of ungraded coins do not always accurately describe their coins. For example, I recently found a 1925 D Peace Dollar listed for sale on e-bay. I naturally bid on this coin since the Denver mint did not mint Peace Dollars in 1925 therefore it must be a "one of a kind" worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Ha, Ha. Whether due to ignorance or malice some sellers of ungraded coins, do not accurately describe their coins.

For inexperienced sellers or sellers who have received coins from an inheritence or gift, you should consider having your coins graded before selling on e-bay. However, this investment is only justified, if you have an MS60 quality or better coin or a coin that is a  better (key) date.

AT A MINIMUM, you should attempt to familiarize yourself with the key dates of the coin types being sold. Recently I purchased a lot of 6 circulated ungraded morgan dollars for basically silver melt price (approx $68.73 including S&H). I was very pleased to find an 1891 CC that graded as MS61 by ANACS in this lot. I sold the coin for $245.00 buy now (the listing lasted about 4 hours before it was bought) which was a great deal for the buyer, and since my total cost including grading was under $32.00 for the coin I was very satisfied.

The prices that are frequently shown as trends on e-bay are usually taken from pcgs.com, the website for one of the top four grading services (PCGS - Professional Coin Grading Service - website pcgs.com). The other three services are NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America - website ngccoin.com), ANACS (American Numismatic Association Certification Service - website anacs.com), and ICG (Independent Coin Grading Co - website icgcoin.com). All four have websites and show price trends for various grades. While ANACS accepts coins from the general public, PCGS and NGC require that you submit coins through one of their authorized dealers or that you join collectors clubs they sponsor, which involves a membership fee. ICG requires a collectors kit which is only $15.00.  Grading fees vary based on the turn around time required (time between shipment and return of the coin) and the value of the coin being graded. Fees for a 30 day turn around, economy service can cost from $12.00 per coin to over $100.00 for the expedited walk through service where the coin is hand carried to the grading service.

You can search the completed listings under the advanced search button. You should always check to see what similar coins with the same date and mint mark have sold for in the past and compare the prices graded coins by various grading services bring versus ungraded coins.

PCGS price trends are used by most e-bay advertisers because PCGS graded coins generally bring the highest retail prices for a particular grade with NGC , ANACS, or ICG graded coins, usually very close in price trends. However the market discounts coins for other grading services. The amount of such discounts varies depending on the markets perception of the quality of the grading of the service. The website for the Coin Dealers Newsletter (also called the greysheet) gives a ranking of grading services. Please see my guide on "All Grading Services are not Equal". Serious collectors generally prefer these four services due to the reliability of the grading.

If you are inexperienced in coin collecting you should visit a local coin dealer and ask to see Gem BU coins similar to the ones you have for sale.  You should also asked to see several Cleaned coins. Inexperienced collectors frequently mistake the shine of a cleaned coin for Mint Luster. Cleaned coins are very difficult to spot from most e-bay pictures. There are some second tier grading services that will grade coins that have been cleaned and not note it on the slab.

If you feel your coin is Gem BU uncirculated you should compare your coin with some your local coin shop has and review the grade assigned and the price being asked. It is important to know before submitting a coin for grading whether it has been cleaned or has Mint Luster.  PCGS and NGC do not grade cleaned coins. If you submit a cleaned coin to PCGS or NGC you will have paid for a grading but will only receive a notification that the coin can not be graded.

Please Beware of Buying Rare Date Coins that are suppose to be Gem BU AND ARE UNGRADED! You should always ask why the seller has not had the coin graded?  If you are going to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a rare date at least buy a coin slabbed by a first tier grading service (See my guide All Grading Services are not Equal). Many of the second tier grading services will grade cleaned coins and grade AU coins as Gem BU.

FOR EXAMPLE: Recently I saw an ungraded 1934 S Peace Dollar that the seller said was an MS62 or MS63 coin. Like so many pictures on e-bay the grade was difficult to tell. A PCGS graded MS63 1934 S Peace Dollar would bring over $2,700.00 wholesale. Why would the seller sell such a valuable coin UNGRADED??????BEWARE!!!!!!DO NOT think that e-bay coin dealers are so stupid to let a valuable coin like that go ungraded. They have their reasons, which usually involve a defect that will greatly reduce the value of the coin.

Sellers frequently overstate the grade and condition of their coins, but many sellers who do this will give the buyer pictures of sufficient quality for the buyer to know the seller is overstating the coins grade. WATCH FOR THIS, many sellers will sell Gem BU coins that are clearly CULL COINS. This means that there are visible flaws in the coin (scratches, holes, rim damage, etc) that greatly reduces the value of the coin regardless of its overall condition. These cull coins are sold as great rarities, even though they are barely worth more than melt.

ANACS will grade cleaned coins and issue a grade but the slab (holder) will be noted as cleaned. Another reason for the e-bay market's significant discount of ungraded coins is due to the number of Cleaned Coins on e-bay. In the case of very rare dates and mint marks, grading a cleaned coin may be cost effective. However, the Four Major Coin Grading Services will not grade coins that have PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) residue on the coins. This frequently appears as a milky haze on coins. This residue comes from storing coins in PVC flips. Acetone will remove the PVC, but will not repair the damage if the PVC residue has been on the coin to long. You can find an article at pcgs.com on removing PVC residue from coins without harming (showing signs of cleaning) the coin.  PVC residue is a problem with many ungraded coins on e-bay.

If you are selling a complete set of Peace Dollars or Morgan Dollar, you will usually achieve a better sale price if you sell the coins individually versus selling as a complete set, particularly if the collection has high quality coins. Bidders on complete sets have a tendency to average down the estimated grade of the total collection to avoid overbidding. Also, by selling each coin individually you can better show the grade of the coin by showing a picture for each coin. If the collection contains  Key Dates for the coin type, selling the Key Dates separately seems to yield a better price. Where you see dealers selling complete collections they are usually dealing with large volume of coins and do not have the time to sell separately. 

When dealing with particularly rare dates, i.e. 1893 S Morgan Dollar, 1928 Peace Dollar, etc., it may be cost effective to have the coin graded even if it is less than GEM BU. Other key dates for Peace Dollars are 1921, 1924S, 1927D, 1927S, 1928S, and 1934S. For the Morgan series other key dates include the 1879 CC, 1880 CC, 1881 CC, 1885 CC, 1889 CC (Super Key Valuable in any grade), 1890 CC, 1892 CC, 1893 P, 1893 CC, 1893 O, 1893 S, 1894 (Super Key Valuable in any grade), 1895 O, 1895 S, 1895 P (The King of Morgans if you find one it is probably a fake and should be graded immediately), 1901 O, and 1903 S (micro s).

The following is the contact information for the big three grading services:

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), P. O. Box 9458, Newport Beach, CA. 92658, Toll Free Number 1-800-447-8848, see website at pcgs.com.

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC), P. O. Box 4776, Sarasota, FL. 34230, Toll Free Number 1-800-NGC-COIN, see website at ngccoin.com.

America Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS), ANACS, 6555 S. Kenton St., Suite 303, Englewood, CO 80111, Toll Free Number 1-800-888-1861, see website at anacs.com.

Independent Coin Grading Company (ICG), ICG, 7901 East Bellview Ave., Suite 50, Englewood, CO. 80111, Toll Free Number 1-877-221-4424, see website at icgcoin.com.

American Numismatic Association's Grading Guidelines are as follows:

MS-65 - Choice Uncirculated - No trace of wear, full mint luster, minute surface marks.

MS-60 - Uncirculated - No trace of wear, full mint luster but may be noticeably marred by skuff marks.

MS-50 - About Uncirculated - Slight trace of wear. Most of mint luster is present although marred by bag marks.

EF-40 - Extremely Fine and VF - 20 Very Fine. The descriptions for these grades are unigue to each coin type.

Please see also my guide "All Coin Grading Services are Not Equal", "Cleaned Coins on E-Bay", and "Buying and Selling coins on e-bay". While I recommend that ungraded coins should be graded if pratical, I am pleased that sellers continue to sell ungraded coins for far less than the price I would have paid for the same coin if it was graded. With the disadvantage that I end up with no small quantity of cleaned coins as well. When evaluating grading services the website for the Coin Dealers Newsletter (search for greysheet) provides a ranking of grading services. If this guide was helpful please click Yes below.