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norcal
Penny Pincher Member
USA
107 Posts |
 Posted - 05/27/2008 : 13:29:48
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I just thought of an idea...maybe it has been talked about before.
You can dump your coins at a Coinstar location in exchange for a gift card then sell the gift card on eBay.
Gift cards often sell for near face value, sometimes right at face value, and even sometimes over face value (believe it or not).
The little you would lose for those times it sold a little less that face would make up for not having to buy a coin counter, wrappers, etc.
Hmm...
Heres an Amazon gift card here...I wont be surprised if it goes for more than face value.
You must be logged in to see this link.
This one is already over face...
You must be logged in to see this link.
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jorhyne
Penny Pincher Member
174 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 13:32:35
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| You would lose anywhere from 7-10% through fees on eBay, more perhaps if you used PayPal. |
Pennies For Sale: http://tiny.cc/jorhynespennies |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 13:36:41
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A few of us have thought of that as a way of bleeding off some extra zincs but there are a few problems with it for large level dumping. Why would someone pay over face for a gift card? The ebay and PayPal cut would probably be equivalant to the CoinStar fee. You have to be careful about which gift card you choose. Right now some CoinStar machines offer a Circuit City ecard. I think I saw recently that Circuit City declared bankruptcy.. So they could actually refuse to honor all those echecks and you have to eat it. Gift cards are OK if you are actually going to use them like Starbucks or Amazon. The feed rate on a Coinstar machine is 600 coins per minute according to their website.. actual tests by members here place the rate at around 300 coins per minute. I don't want to stand there for hours.  |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 14:34:56
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Coinstar gets a % cut on the gift cards because the retailers are happy to sell Coinstar the cards for a discount, it is really good advertising for the retailer, and the retailer gets assured (forced) spending at the retailer by those that remember to actually use the card.
If you were going to use the gift card yourself, and you had a small scale dump, it might be ok. Issues include:
1. Time and effort to list and ship, plus fees selling gift card on ebay might outweigh the benefit of time and effort saved wrapping coin and taking it to the bank when you are going to the bank anyway.
2. 50%+ gift cards never get redeemed for various reasons. Will you really use the cards yourself? Or will it go into a drawer and never see the light of day? If you do use the card, will it replace cash you would have spent anyway, or is this a conviluted way to increase your discretionary spending (take dollar bills to buy and sort pennies, take zincs to coinstar, get gift card, blow "free gift card" on something you would not have spent your dollar bills on.)
3. I guess you could give the gift cards as gifts, but the real gift is to the issuing retailer since 50%+ of the cards will never be used.
4. Printing up and selling gift cards/certificates for face is a pretty profitable enterprise since many don't get exchanged for goods or services. The only real concern is counterfitting. Why do you think Starbucks, and others print up the cards? It's not the conviniance for the customer (got no cash - just carry the Subway card LOL)they state as the benefit.
5. Unattended coinstar machines will tend to fill up with a large single denomination dump. They are designed for people to bring in a jar of mixed coin, not boxes and boxes of pennies. Once it is filled up, now what? Wait till someone to come by and service it and you don't know when that will be because it is unattended.
6. The Coinstar machine in my favorate grocery store is out of order about 50% of the time I look at it. I have never arrived at a bank that was broken and no longer accepting my deposits.
7. Converting the gift card into more pennies (turning over your capital) is going to be a potentially long, involved process almost anyway you do this. Generally you want to reinvest your zincs into more pennies to sort, not tie up your capital in plastic cards. So going the gift card route will mean needing to put much more money into your "unsorted
& zincs to return" float, instead of just having to add money to replace the coppers that went into the stash.
So yes, you could use a Coinstar in certian circumstances, but there are downsides to consider. |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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norcal
Penny Pincher Member
USA
107 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 14:40:26
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>>Why would someone pay over face for a gift card?
I always wondered this too...but the fact is gift cards OFTEN sell for more than face value. I listed a link here to one.
Try buying them during Christmas time on eBay. I couldnt save $1 by buying a gift card on eBay this last Christmas (mainly Amazon cards).
It might be a good way for smaller hoarders to dump zincs...I dont think the ebay/paypal fees would be much of an issue. Im not too up to date on their fees but at most you'd be paying what 5%?
If a person was hand rolling in paper wrappers you'd spend that in wrapper cost.
$200 dumping at Coinstar would probably take about 40-60 minutes though.
I know I'll give it a try just to test it out...then wait to sell the gift cards until Christmas time...and probably make a small profit on the cards themselves.
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norcal
Penny Pincher Member
USA
107 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 14:46:47
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If you do a search on eBay for amazon gift card in the Completed listings only you may be SURPRISED to see how many of the higher dollar cards sold for more than face value.
Probably over half of the cards with $100 or more on the card sold for more than face.
Now wait to see these prices during Christmas time. Probably MOST will get over face value.
Weird how that works...
I think many folks dont know they can buy the cards directly online...or are just lazy or something. |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 14:52:48
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| I didn't know they sold for over face value - learn something new everyday here. But why risk buying a gift card from some smuck on ebay at all? How do I know if it is new or used up plastic? "Here grandma I got you a gift card for Christmas" but later she finds out it is empty! I look like an idiot, seller gets my cash, and as a buyer/giver I might never know. I don't like gift cards, but if I have to have them I'll order direct from the store thank-you. |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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JerrySpringer
Penny Hoarding Member
669 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 15:45:46
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Wouldn't it be great if Coinstar worked with grocers to issue vouchers for the store they are located in? A Kroger Coinstar would give you 100% payout in a food gift card at Kroger for example. We all gotta eat. We don't all shop Amazon. And Ebay fees to sell the gift cards leaves some money on the table. Alternatively, selling a coin on Ebay with an Amazon gift card may be a way to unload both and at least break even after fees are taken into account.
My beef is I am stockpiling zinc pennies and cringe at the banks reaction if I bring in even $25 in coins to them to deposit. The banks around here are weird. Like I have detailed in another post, they act sort of guarding and/or confused when I request pennies from them in those $25 bricks. So, I imagine they will give me some noise if I start bringing in home rolled pennies to dump banks.
If you folks start seeing auctions on Ebay for combos of Amazon gift cards with another item, like a coin or set of steak-knives, you probably have someone dumping at a Coinstar, lol.
I do agree, people overbid on things on Ebay. If you throw in something that is cheap to ship like a book or DVD, you could bundle those Coinstar gift cards. So, pay attention to Ebay and see what Amazon gift cards go for. But let's not flood the market with gift cards :).
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 15:51:59
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| If you do try the CoinStar thing be sure to time it so we can see how long it really takes Coinstar to count a bunch of pennies. I bet it is slower than the 600 coin per minute rate that they advertise on their website. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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JerrySpringer
Penny Hoarding Member
669 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 16:19:31
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| I'll probably bring $10.00 or rolled pennies to measure the accuracy and counting time. By the way, I scanned some Ebay auctions for the Amazon gift cards. They go for 90 to 100+% of face value and I saw some winners were repeat buyers of different card dollar amounts, hence a steady market for the cards. Maybe the winners just like to win. I can not explain for sure why they would add a layer of uncertainty buying a gift card via Ebay, but somehow a 10% discount on a $50 purchase is reason enough possibly. |
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norcal
Penny Pincher Member
USA
107 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 17:27:07
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The market for gift cards on eBay is strong and has been for many years.
If you have perfect or almost perfect feedback on eBay, you can do very good selling gift cards there.
Save your cards for Christmas time though...there is never too many for sell there and you may even turn a profit, however unbelievable that may sound.
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Edited by - norcal on 05/27/2008 17:28:49 |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 18:11:11
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quote:
Originally posted by JerrySpringer
My beef is I am stockpiling zinc pennies and cringe at the banks reaction if I bring in even $25 in coins to them to deposit. The banks around here are weird. Like I have detailed in another post, they act sort of guarding and/or confused when I request pennies from them in those $25 bricks. So, I imagine they will give me some noise if I start bringing in home rolled pennies to dump banks.
I was in a TD Canada Trust asking for coin - they said I cleaned them out last week and that the tellers had to go and roll nickels at home to make up the shortfall. So they could not sell me what they had on hand now. Then it hit me - I offered to swap them sorted coin for what they had in the truck planning to dump elsewhere. They were happy, I got a bunch of pure presorted Ni rolls in the deal, and 4 good boxes of pennies. So now I am going to carry some sorted coin around ready to dump it at any bank that says they can't spare any coin.
Yes I know that you should not dump at your source bank - but I mark every roll I dump - and there is enough coin flow around here that what I dump this week is likely going to be moved out of bank inventory a week later when I come back in.
So the point is, take your dump zinc along with you and dump it wherever they plead coin shortage. The banks will save on fees from thier suppliers, and should be happy. |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 19:09:51
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| Good advice. I do that already. The banks really like my machine wrapped rolls. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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mingusdew
Penny Sorter Member
64 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 00:45:11
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I must be lucky, in that my dump bank offers on site coin sorting machines as a free service, whether you are a member there or not. You drop your coins into the machine, it does its counting business, and you get a receipt which you can then deposit into your account (members) or get converted to cash (members or non members).
I just get it converted to cash, take the cash back to my source bank, and repeat. No silly fees or complicated ebay strategies, just boxes of coin to sort then painless disposal of the zinc waste (or cupronickel, in the case of the quarters and halves I also dump there).
I almost feel as if I should open an account at my dump bank, just to help mitigate whatever I might be costing them by using their coin sorting machines. Unless I'm mistaken in how the coin distribution process works, it seems like I'm a burden on them by dumping all these coins without offering them any real revenue. |
If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Fortune favors the informed. |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 00:56:52
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| Sign me up for your bank! BTW opening a small acct will actually cost the bank more in servicing your acct. A big acct would be better for them. Perhaps the dump bank has a need for coin to serve a major coin user... not sure. |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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Using Coinstar as a dump
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