Want to know how to sell coins? You may have found yourself considering a wide variety of options for potential buyers, including selling coins in-person and online. You want to understand the selling process and how to get the most money for your coins.

But there seem to be almost too many answers out there, and none may seem like they quite fit your particular situation. What do you do? Hopefully, this article helps. We’ll give you the rundown on the best ways and places to sell coins. You’ll also find five of our top tips for selling coins, and finding out what they’re worth, among other important things.

5 Top Tips for Selling Coins

Whether you decide to sell your coins in-person or online, there are several helpful hints to make your transaction go more smoothly while also the most money for your coins. These include the following five tips for selling coins:

I. Don’t clean your coins

Many people seem to think they should clean their coins to make them “look pretty” before selling them. This is done with the motive of trying to make more money on the sale. Yet this actually makes the coins worth less. It’s incalculable how much numismatic value goes down the drain each year with people cleaning their coins before selling them. Don’t clean your coins! Not only does this cut their value by as much as half (or possibly even more), but it will be an immediate deal-breaker for many dealers who would’ve otherwise wanted to buy your coins if only they were left in their original condition.

II. Know what you have

Some people who sell their coins do so because they inherited them and otherwise have no interest in the coins themselves. This lack of knowledge can be a significant disadvantage to the seller. You might know when you are getting a good offer (or not) by simply understanding what it is you’re selling. Do you have slabbed coins (i.e. graded coins)? Do you have a large collection of mint sets or proof sets? There are many great resources to help you gain more knowledge about your coins, including the informative coin articles on this website and publications such as A Guide Book of United States Coins, a popular annual release by Whitman Publishing.

III. Find out the approximate value of your coins

You’ll want to know approximately how much your coins are worth before selling them. But before you do this, remember that most coin price guides out there are giving you a retail value. The retail value is how much the coins are worth if you’re buying them from a dealer. The amount you’ll earn for selling those same coins could be anywhere from 20% to 50% less than the prices listed in those guides, depending on the given coin and its condition. Why? This is because dealers buy at wholesale prices, which allows them to pay for business operating costs such as overhead and wages. Don’t expect to receive the prices listed in any retail coin price guides. Also keep in mind that coins or paper money in poor condition may only be worth their face value.

IV. Get a fix on current bullion prices

If you’re selling gold or silver coins, you’re most likely going to receive an offer pegged at or around the spot metal value of your material. The spot price is an amount of money equivalent to the value of the bullion metal in your coins. In other words, the melt value. For example, if your coin contains a one-half ounce of gold in metal content, its spot value is 50% of the value for an ounce of gold, the unit of measure most often cited for gold (and silver) prices. This is where it behooves you to find out the current metals prices. You’ll know roughly what to expect for an offer when you go to sell coins with precious metals in them.

V. Minimize risks to you and your coins when selling them

There are a few precautions you should take to keep you and your coins safe before and after selling them. Make sure you aren’t being followed around by someone else while coins are in your possession. Many dealers and collectors are robbed this way after being tailed by a thief on the road. For similar safety reasons, keep your transactions discreet. There’s no need to flaunt what you’ve got and are soon selling. And if shipping your coins in the mail for an online transaction, keep words like “coin,” “bullion,” “gold,” “silver,” etc., off the outer packaging; envelopes and boxes decorated with words like these simply invite thieves to open and steal its contents.