How to Write Coin Descriptions for Listings

A good coin listing description says what the coin is (year, mint mark, denomination, type, and variety), how it is graded (the service, the grade, any designation, and the cert number), and what the photos show about its condition, including any problem. State only facts you can back up from the coin or its holder, leave out sales talk, and say plainly that the coin pictured is the coin the buyer gets.

The rest of this guide covers what goes in each part, worked examples for a certified coin, a raw coin, a details coin, and an auction lot, and the mistakes that cost dealers returns and bids.

The parts of a coin description

1. What the coin is

Start with the identity a collector searches for, in the order they say it:

• Year and mint mark, written together: 1881-S, 1909-S VDB, 1942/1-D.
• Denomination and type: Morgan Dollar, Walking Liberty Half, Indian Head Cent.
• Variety, with its attribution number if it has one: VAM-3, FS-101, DDO. A variety that is on the holder label is a fact. A variety you attribute yourself is your opinion, so say so.

2. How it is graded

For a certified coin, give the grading service, the grade, and the cert number. Add any designation on the label: PL or DMPL on a Morgan, RD, RB, or BN on copper, FB on a Mercury dime, FBL on a Franklin half. Copy the label exactly. A coin labeled RB is not "nearly red".

For a raw coin, say it is raw, then give your grade as yours. "Raw, we grade it VF-30" is honest. "VF-30" alone reads as a certified grade.

3. What the photos show

Condition notes help most on raw coins and on any coin where the photos leave a question:

• Strike: full or soft, and where. "Soft on the hair above the ear" tells a Morgan buyer more than "weak strike".
• Luster: full, broken on the high points, or gone.
• Surfaces: bag marks, hairlines, spots, rim nicks. Name where they are.
• Eye appeal: one plain sentence. "Even gray color on both sides" is enough.

Describe toning by its color and where it is. Leave the words "rainbow" and "monster" to the buyer.

4. Problems

If the coin is cleaned, scratched, bent, holed, or has environmental damage, say so in the first line, in the words on the holder. A details grade belongs in the title as well. Buyers who search for problem-free coins should not land on this one by accident, and buyers who look for affordable details coins will find it.

5. What the buyer receives

One line: "The coin in the photos is the coin you receive." For a bulk lot sold from stock, say that instead, and say how you pick: "Coins are similar to the photo. You receive one coin from our stock."

What to leave out

• Mintage, rarity, and history you have not checked. One wrong number in a description makes a buyer doubt the rest.
• Population figures from memory. Give a population only from the service's current data, with the grade it applies to.
• Sales talk. "Stunning", "gem", "must-have", "rare opportunity". A gem is a grade (MS-65 and up), so use it only for a coin that grades there.
• Price history and guide values. They change, and they invite a buyer to argue the price.
• Your shop's terms in every listing. Put returns and shipping in the listing settings or your store policy, where the marketplace shows them.

Worked examples

The coins below are examples of the format. The cert numbers are made up.

A certified Morgan dollar on eBay

Title (eBay allows 80 characters):

1881-S Morgan Silver Dollar $1 PCGS MS65

Weak description:

GORGEOUS 1881-S Morgan!!! Blast white, rare in this grade, a must for any collection. Don't miss it!

Better description:

1881-S Morgan Dollar, struck at the San Francisco Mint. Graded MS-65 by PCGS, certification number 12345678.

The coin in the photos is the coin you receive.

The better version is shorter and every word in it can be checked. "Rare in this grade" is false for an 1881-S in MS-65, and a collector who knows Morgans will read it and move on.

A raw coin

Title: 1923 Peace Silver Dollar $1 Raw AU

Description:

1923 Peace Dollar, Philadelphia Mint. Raw. We grade it AU-55.

Light wear on the hair above the ear and on the eagle's wing. Luster is broken on the high points and full in the fields. A few small marks on the cheek, none deep. Even silver-gray color on both sides.

The coin in the photos is the coin you receive.

Each condition note names a place on the coin, so the buyer can check it against the photos.

A details coin

Title: 1893-O Morgan Silver Dollar $1 NGC XF Details Cleaned

Description:

1893-O Morgan Dollar, struck at the New Orleans Mint. Graded XF Details, Improperly Cleaned, by NGC, certification number 1234567-001.

The coin in the photos is the coin you receive.

The problem is in the title and in the first sentence. Do not write around it with "original look" or "nice for the grade".

An auction lot

Auction catalogs are read fast, often lot after lot, so lot descriptions are shorter and follow a fixed order. Many dealers use the catalog style:

1881-S Morgan $1. MS-65 (PCGS). Cert 12345678.

For a raw lot:

1923 Peace $1. Raw, AU-55 by our grade. Light wear on the high points, a few small marks on the cheek.

Keep the same order in every lot. Bidders compare lots side by side and a fixed order makes that easy.

eBay listings and auction lots need different things

On eBay, the title does most of the work. It is what the search matches and what the buyer sees in results. Put the year and mint mark first, then the type and denomination, then the service and grade, then designation and variety if room is left. Fill in the item specifics (certification, grade, year, mint location, denomination, composition), because buyers filter by them. Keep the description in plain paragraphs. Most buyers read it on a phone.

On an auction platform such as HiBid or LiveAuctioneers, the lot title and the first line of the description carry the identity and the grade. Some platforms limit the length of the description, so put the most important facts first.

On your own site or a show list, use the same facts. A buyer who sees the coin in two places should read the same grade and the same notes in both.

Common mistakes

• Grade words that are not grades. "BU", "choice", and "gem" have meanings. Use them only when they fit.
• A service name on a raw coin. "PCGS quality" or "NGC-ready" suggests a certification the coin does not have.
• Photos that do not match. A stock photo for a certified coin makes buyers ask why you did not shoot the real one.
• Missing the cert number. It is the fastest way for a buyer to trust a certified coin.
• Different notes in different places. If you list on eBay and in an auction, use one description and edit it in one place.

A checklist before you list

1. Year, mint mark, denomination, and type, in that order.
2. Variety, with the attribution, and whether it is on the label.
3. Service, grade, designation, and cert number, copied from the holder.
4. For a raw coin: "raw" and your grade as yours.
5. Any problem, in the first line and in the title.
6. Condition notes that name places on the coin.
7. No mintage, rarity, population, or price you have not checked.
8. One line that says what the buyer receives.

How CoinManagerPro drafts coin descriptions

CoinManagerPro drafts a description with AI from the facts on the coin record. On a coin page, click Write with AI in the Description section. The draft uses the coin's title, year, mint mark, denomination, coin type, grading service, grade, certificate number, and attributes. When the coin has a PCGS or NGC cert record from a cert lookup, the draft can give the designation, the variety, and the population, and it gives the population only when it is above zero. After an Assess grade on a raw coin, the draft can describe the strike, surfaces, luster, and eye appeal in the words of the grade notes. Without grade notes it says nothing about them.

The draft is written to the rules in this guide. It states only the facts on the coin and adds no history, rarity, mintage, toning, pedigree, or price. It uses no exclamation marks and no words like stunning or must-have. For a details grade it gives the grade and the problem in words, such as "XF Details, cleaned". With grade notes the draft is two short paragraphs of 40 to 120 words, and without them one paragraph of 20 to 70 words.

The draft opens in a dialog where you edit it. Click Save description to put it on the coin, or Discard. Nothing saves until you click Save, and saving replaces the current description. Each draft costs 3 credits, and you are not charged if the AI returns no draft. To draft many coins at once, the Write descriptions step in a workflow drafts up to 25 coins per step, can save the drafts, and can skip coins that already have a description.

The saved description goes into the coin's eBay listing and into the lots of a platform sale. When you create an eBay listing for a coin with no description, the draft listing starts with a short one built from the title, grade, service, cert number, designation, and variety, and ends with "The coin in the photos is the coin you receive." The listing editor also has a Write with AI button.