The nature of an auction is that the person willing to pay the most for an item, is the one it is sold to. The buyer hopes to get an item for opening bid and the seller dreads the idea. Normally, auctions run where the market price is realized for the item. Occasionally however, the item may sell for way more than its market value, or much less. It all depends on who’s there and how badly they want the coin.
eBay is set up for either auctioning items, or buy-it-now fixed price items. Generally fixed price is higher than auction, but not always. Sometimes fixed price items are very reasonable. Occasionally fixed price items are downright bargains.
eBay is set up to promote the lowest prices, but then encourages you to keep placing higher bids to raise the price of the rare coin for the most money to the seller. Auctions are set up for automatic bidding for you, up to your set limit.1-click bidding makes it possible to outbid other bidders to get an item for the highest price possible.
Buyer protection, feedback and seller ratings are all designed to make eBay a safe place for a purchaser to confidently shop. eBay fees are charged to the seller, saving the buyer money.
Most sellers are honest and not trying to deceive buyers. eBay has policies regarding accuracy of listings and revealing flaws in the listed item. A seller selling counterfeit rare American coins, or having deceptive practices won’t last long on eBay.
The US Post office is pretty good about delivering your coin, especially if there’s a tracking number on it. Loss rate is probably half of 1%. I think I’ve only had 2 or 3 items lost out of 1,000 shipments.