Picked up some 1964 Kennedy's and why feedback is important

It was the middle of the night and I just finished buying some strategy guides on ebay for some classic snes games for my kids to enjoy. I started looking at coins and then felt like checking the prices of '64 half dollars. It's funny where random thoughts take you. I only bothered to search for these because I saw an image while looking at gold coins and remembered something from 2019, before the Global Engagement center started to do its thing on the domestic propoganda front. It was an interaction at work. A young lady wants to buy a cigar after her shift ended, no doubt to medicate. She was fourteen cents short. She had an emergency half dollar in her purse. When she handed it to me I noticed it was a '64. I was suddenly filled with excitement, because I always told myself the first one that I owned I wanted to find in circulation and not buy from a dealer. Here it as, finally came through, and then I did not have the heart to take it without first explaining the current value.

I gave it a thorough look and based on my going experience, it would be graded very fine - AU. Not bad for a circulated coin. I quoted her that this coin at that time maybe August to December of 2019 was actually worth upwards of ten dollars. She checked on her internet connected device right there and lo and behold, listings about between 9-10$ . However it was the only cash she had to close the fourteen cents. Like the sucker I am, I wished her well and said I got the .14 for you, but cherish that. And if you want to sell it, I will give you a fair price. She thanked me and I never saw it or her again. I sincerely doubt I will find another in circulation now at any point after all the his madness.

But whatever, just remembering that made me realise my folley so I figured aww he'll let me park some of my cash on this nice sized coin. I found a handful of 20 coin lots ranging around 230-250 each depending on how many rolls you bought. I settled on two listings. One had a bulk discount of 216$ per roll for average circulated, another claimed BU for 244$ with two or more roll discount. Then I got to remembering some coin people do not always describe honestly on ebay. I check mister BU's feedback and saw a list of complaints in the last twelve months, many even in the last month basically saying exactly what I suspected.

So i did some math figuring if I went with this boldly claimed one for a bit more, I am more than likely simply going to end up with cleaned circulated coins in varying grades, whereas the more honestly listed lot even says that maybe some will be cleaned and could have circulation wear. I figure, since I am clearly going to get the same types of circulated coins, I will go with the more honest listing. I bought 100 coins giving me a per coin price only $10.81 , barely a dollar above two years ago. Compared to the other listings I saw this lot had most of them beat by 200$ for the full set. Plus the payment I used gave me 5% back so it's closer to 10.25-.30 a coin.

The only real point I was making is that the reviews helped me avoid an item which would have been of identical grade but for like 20% more money. And the disappointment of thinking I was getting a deal on a large volume of BU silver.

I still have about four hundred bucks before the cashback limit hits (coin ppl know every penny counts), but am looking towards a single good coin for that. Hopefully I win one I am watching to end at 930am. It's really good luster and àppears alot closer to high AU.

Anybody else have other stories about reviews helping them make better purchasing decisions?? I also got a cordless grass trimmer years ago that continues to reliably serve because the reviews reccomended I go with 40v over the 20v. My neighbour and I actually had a funny conversation on that last week as his 20v cheaper buy has left something more to be desired.

Even the mop bucket i bought for here four years ago I purchased after watching a review of four different models in action. It stills serves us faithfully and efficiently to this day, the same damn mop bucket.

I'd love to hear some good stories about reviews from my peers on ATS.

Coin lingo:
BU = brilliant uncirculated
AU = almost uncirculated

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I know nothing about coins, but a few months ago I pulled up a website to figure which coins I shouldn't run through Coinstar. Sorted through about 1000 various coins to about 50.

They've been pulling all the coins with real silver and copper out if circulation for years now. I know you used to be able to go to the bank and swap dollars for coin rolls and get at least 1 good quarter in each roll, but now you're lucky to get 1 in 100 rolls.

a reply to: rounda
Well I still collect wheat cents and bicentennial quarters, as they were the first coins that got me into collecting when I was about eight years old. And the same coin shop is still in the same spot run by the same gentleman. He loves it when I bring my kids, I always remind him that I was their age when I first walked into this shop. I am really going to miss that shop. He is getting older I cannot imagine that my grandkids will have the opportunity whenever they are born. I'm going to visit him today to see how he's doing.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

There's a trick to evaluating a product based on reviews. Many people ignore reviews and miss out on critical information because they don't know how to use reviews properly.

The first thing you have to understand is, there are people out there who will complain about absolutely anything. There are also shills out there who will rave about absolutely anything (for a variety of reasons, but getting the items free in return for a review is a big one). That said, in a 5 star review system (which most are), you can't just ignore the 5's and the 1's and look only at the 2's, 3's and 4's. You could be missing out on critical info. You also have to understand that vendors like Amazon and Ebay will present the highest ratings first in a search (usually, depending on your search string).

2 star through 4 stars are usually the fewest of the reviews (with 4's being the most common), and there's a reason. Many people will award 4 stars just out of principle (they never give 5's, "just because"). 2 and 3 star reviews are generally pretty accurate, but they also represent only about 10% of reviews, simply because people think...all or nothing. I try to look at all of these, but there aren't many in most cases. So, what to do?

The first thing to look for is to look at the 1 star reviews and see if there's a trend. Are people just saying it's "crap", or are they listing a reason also, and is there a trend in the reasons like "part 'x' breaks immediately", or "widget 'y' doesn't fit at all", or "poor shipping, broken, DOA", etc. These are all good clues. You'll see right away, some people just complain to complain, whereas others actually have some reason.

Next spend a minute (but not too long) looking at some of the 5 star reviews. You can pretty much ignore what people write in these reviews because they'll all be these glowing reviews like..."It's better than the invention of the wheel!", etc. But rather look at the people who write them. Are they all 'certified buyers'? Are they all random anonymous names like "John", or "Bill" or "Anonymous" (ad nauseum)? You have to remember, there are people who get paid to skew review results to get higher search results (i.e. shills). Also, look at the nationality of the reviewers. Are they all from the country of the product's origin, or are they from all over. Pay close attention to reviews who actually list "Pro" and "Con" elements, and..."None! Greatest product EVAR, since sliced bread!!", is NOT a "Con"! (LOL!)

Then look at some reviews of both the vendor and the product on other websites than the one you wish to buy from. Do these reviews say similar things, or are they completely different? The biggest takeaway here is to look for trends, both good and bad. Stars don't really mean a lot, and you shouldn't base your opinion only on stars. If there's a negative trend which would bother you also, then spend more time researching how big of an issue this really is. Reviews which have at least one criticism in a generally favorable review are always ones to pay close attention to. They're probably being honest for the most part.

Remember that highly popular online retailers like Amazon and Ebay are notorious for having skewed reviews, and it's getting harder and harder to find truly objective reviews on products. For some vendors, skewing review results is actually part of their business plan (it really is). But if you know how to take reviews as an aggregate, rather than dwelling on only selected areas, you'll get much better results.

Just my .02

I’ve learned one thing.
There are a lot of fake Kennedy’s floating around.
Buyer beware....
I know someone who bought a whole bag of fake Morgans on E-Bay. One hundred coins. By the time it was discovered the seller was gone.
Turned out, the coins came from China. Go figure.
He never admitted how much money he lost.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

first, cheers for your honesty.

I don't collect much. when I do its strictly on silver value. grading is for serious collectors; I'm thinking emergency cash, in which case grade won't matter.

as mentioned above China is faking a lot of coins, esp silver, so there's that. I try to buy local / in person. don't trust internet stuffs. (being a pirate I'm sure you know your silver!)

I think the mint sells some silver directly. pricey.

I stopped buying for quality years ago.
On a side note.
I recently placed a Morgan in my grandsons hand the day he was born, the same coin my grandfather placed in my hand the day I was born.
That was so cool!!’


a reply to: ElGoobero

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
I only shop ebay online. I don't shop Amazon or Walmart and even avoid Target for the most part since the madness began last year. My money ain't welcome where my face ain't, and I carry that over to online transactions.

In any case, the seller I chose had over 99% positive over the seller I passed at over 96% with both logging thousands of transactions. In that situation, i study strictly the negatives with a focus on the last 30 days . The 96 had about a half dozen just in the last thirty. 99 had none, and only like four in the last six months. Most of that was impatient buyers and one was not even familiar with toning and thought he was sent a burner coin from a fire. He replied to all of them.

96 replied to none of them, and the common theme between most was false advertisement of BU's arriving as regular circulated or even junk grade.
I had an account since '99 when I was a freshman in highschool and could still buy real human skulls. I was a disturbed #ty teen, but besides the point.

a reply to: PiratesCut
Don't worry, buyer knows how to buy on ebay. I see plenty of those coins pretending to be graded in those Chinese NCC slabs. I am familiar with fine print and not buying from brand new accounts with feedback and transactions you can count on two hands. In some ways, they are too obvious and one would kind of have to be ignorant and naive to fall for fake ones.

Plus, I get my coins verified by master coin man at my childhood coin shop. 🧐
My favorite part of any visit is busting out the massive encyclopaedias of coins from a vast library they have amassed. Nothing like studying together over fine print on paper about the latest purchase.

I got the gold coin I was bidding on too, so my entire purchase has just been discounted an additional 5% with no taxes owed. Ironically, the gold coin (foreign mint) hit the tax exemption threshold of $500 by fifty cents! That was some sweet synchronicity considering the face value of the Kennedy's.

I'd love to hear some good stories about reviews from my peers on ATS.

Back when I had my studio/ retail establishment, I used to buy roman coins by the pound, they were all stuck together with oxidation from being buried so long. A few hours in the ultrasonic and they cleaned up shiny and nice. Often there were gold and silver in the mix of bronze and copper. My ex got it all in the settlement, that was cheap to get out of that hellish situation. C'est la vie !

I honestly know nothing of tradable coins, but I have a bit of junk silver and silver eagles and a few kugerands. I'm sure the junk silver doesn't have any truly valuable coins since I got it off ebay, but there are a few walking liberties and interesting old coins in there

As far as using reviews for making smart purchases, last used car I bought i looked through popular review sites for every car I was thinking of, but I look at the top 20 or so reviews to see what the best I can expect is, then look at the worst 20 reviews to learn what will most likely go wrong. If you can afford the things that will go wrong and like the best features then there's your car. BTW I ended up with a civic

originally posted by: visitedbythem

:drool

originally posted by: ElGoobero

originally posted by: visitedbythem

:drool

They have a machine at my local coin shop that can determine, by weight and diameter, if the coins are legit. Thats just a few in the picture. Ive got sacks of them. Mercury dimes, quarters, halves, Morgans, and peace dollars

a reply to: visitedbythem
Absolutley lovely. I used to have 100oz RCM as well, but they have been subsequently liquidated for varying reasons. I guess supporting the family on one income for a couple years was a valid reason to liquidate, but it always felt so good having a chunk of money in hand that can bash someones skull in.

Or maybe just their teeth...

Gold price has been stable in the 1750 - 1800 for most the year, yea?? Still got time to get more. I love those Mexican 50 pesos, but damn they are so much more expensive these days then when i first got one for only 1500. Its going to be years before prices get low enough for good quantity purchases again. For now, i just shop the best deals. But never stop allocating real money, thats my motto. Just slow it down when it gets inflated.

Holy smokes, this order from Washington State is already out for delivery today! Amazing fast for free shipping. I'll post some picks tomorrow as I will be working tonight.