Bulk coins prices

Hi all.

I'm a relatively newbie collector, just started buying bulk bins of coins (world coins).

Just wondering what sort of price I should be looking for? per kg / or per lb

I bought 3.8kg for £35, which seemed a lot, but I ended up getting quite a nice mix of countries.
And just bought 10kg for £55.. which is better deal, but who knows what the quality will be like.

What sort of prices, if you do, do you pay? I've seen that the bulk lots on eBay tend to be a lot more than the deals I'm getting from local businesses.

Hello what3ver and welcome to Numista. The last bulk lot I bought on eBay was in November last year and I got approx 7kg for £56 plus postage. I was quite happy with the price I paid and I had been watching quite a few lots and let several go before I won this particular one. As it happens, when I went through the coins when they arrived, I found a VF 1958 Italy 2 Lire which books at about £60 so I was quite happy about that  

So I think as a rule of thumb you should avoid paying more than £10 per kilo including postage but the key is really to do some careful research and investigate the sellers. If the seller is regularly auctioning small to medium sized bulk lots you can guess that they know exactly what is in the lot and it has probably been picked through for anything choice or valuable. However, if the seller normally sells completely unrelated items and the bulk lot seems like it might be a "one-off" then there is a better chance that is genuinely a random selection of whatever piece of coin shaped items they had to hand.

To be honest, it can be a bit of a crap shoot but a little bit of research and diligent watching and you will get a feel for what is hot and what is not. Best of luck and happy collecting!

Thanks for the share of wisdom. The place I'm currently buying it from is an online collectibles shop (bulkcoins.co.uk, and lockdales.com if you are interested), so I know there isn't going to be anything too valuable, I was hoping for a nice base set (lots of coins from lots of countries) before I go for the more valuable coins. That being said, I did find a silver 1897 2 shillings South African coin from one of my bulk lots. Probably not worth that much but not sure how the seller missed it. Beginners luck I guess.

Will wait and see how this lockdales bulk lot turns out. Because it is by far the best price I have found, including all the lots I've seen on eBay. I just hope it's not 90% 1 pfennig  coins, like I've had before. lol. Good idea looking for inexperienced sellers, I guess I'm looking for bad quality pictures, typos, etc.

I know its entirely a gamble, especially the blind bulk lots I've been buying, but it's really fun sorting them out!

Thank you for replying. So I guess price-wise I am getting a good deal.

Edit; Very nice collection you have by the way. Jealous of the range of coins you have !

I just bought 3 pounds of coins from a local coin shop in California for $20

Mr. John ?

I put an add in some classified adds, I only found one bulk lot for $200 for 50 pounds but that was worth it.
 I found a couple other small lots but ended up paying about what they were worth which I think is not a good idea. I am not a good bargainer.
  I would recommend looking for individuals to buy from, not internet.

Bargaining is the key to getting a good deal. There are some people that never buy at the asking price.