My Success Reselling Coins from the U.S. Mint on eBay

It’s been a while since I wrote about reselling. In the past, I’ve sold concert tickets and items using Amazon FBA. The main reason I try different reselling techniques is to help meet spending requirements on credit cards. Sometimes, you can make a nice profit too. A few months ago, I got extremely lucky reselling coins purchased from the U.S. Mint. Here’s the story of how I made over $8,500 selling two coins.

Finding Out About the Deal

I’ve seen Doctor of Credit post about coin deals in the past. Before this deal, I tried to buy coins from the Mint on release day for other deals with no success. You have to get lucky since their servers get severely overwhelmed and it’s difficult to successfully complete your purchase. In November, the U.S. Mint released two “End of World War II 75th Anniversary coins:

• American Gold Eagle ($2,600 price)
• American Silver Eagle ($83 price)

With only 1,945 minted for the gold coin compared to 75,000 for the silver coin, I knew it would be competitive. I was a little apprehensive about potentially spending $2,600 on a coin, but with that low of a mintage, I knew it would be valuable. People were already listing the coin on eBay for several thousand dollars.

Buying the Coins

Of course the U.S. Mint website was a real cluster on the day the coins were released. I was one of the lucky 1,945 buyers who got a gold coin. After securing the gold, I went for silver and was able to snag one of those two. I spent $4.95 to ship each coin so my total costs at this point were $2692.90.

Finding a Buyer

Now that I had a confirmation of my purchase from the U.S. Mint, it was time to find a buyer. Bullion Exchange was offering a payout of $6,200 for the gold coin and $300 for silver for a total profit of close to $3,800. At the time, this sounded great and I almost went for it. One last look at eBay made me think twice. Both coins were priced much higher than this and already had bidders. While eBay has high fees and the potential for buyer fraud, I decided to list on eBay.

I listed both as seven day auctions with no buy it now price. The gold coin started at $8,000 and the silver coin at $350. I actually had to contact eBay to increase my monthly selling limit so I could start the gold coin auction at a price above $5,000. By the end of the day, I had bids on both. I couldn’t believe it when the gold coin closed at $12,151 and silver closed at $493.

While I paid for standard shipping from the U.S. Mint, given the high value of the gold coin, it was upgraded to UPS shipping and required my signature. The silver coin was mailed USPS First Class. Both arrived the day the auction ended. Perfect timing!

My Payout

Here’s the final breakdown for each coin:

Silver Coin:

• Cost: -$87.95
• eBay and PayPal fees: -$49.30 (eBay) + -$14.60 (PayPal)
• Shipping cost:– $11.67
• Payout from eBay: +$493
• Total profit: $329.48

Gold Coin:

• Cost: -$2604.95
• eBay and PayPal fees: -$750 (eBay) + -352.68 (PayPal)
• Shipping cost: -$223.12 (next day UPS plus insured for $12,000)
• Payout from eBay: +$12,151
• Total profit: $8,220.25

Grand total profit: $8549.73

The eBay, PayPal, and shipping costs were painful, but at the end of the day, I’m super happy with this profit.

Final Thoughts

My husband was skeptical when I told him I bought a coin from the U.S. Mint for $2,600. As my first coin purchase, I was a bit nervous too. After doing some research, this seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. I feel lucky to have snagged one of the gold coins and to have had success flipping it on eBay. I don’t think I’ll make reselling coins a regular thing, but if there are future coin deals, I might try my luck again.