MA-Shops

What MA-Shops does

MA-Shops (MA-Shops GmbH) is a privately held online multi-vendor marketplace founded in 2005 by Joachim Schwiening and headquartered in Bocholt, Germany, with a US regional office in Sarasota, Florida. The platform aggregates hundreds of certified dealers offering nearly one million numismatic and collectible items spanning ancient, medieval, and modern coins; world and US paper money; stamps; militaria; watches; jewelry; antiques; and historical documents. The company operates with a small team of 1-10 employees and maintains offices in both Europe and the United States.

The underlying platform is a multi-vendor marketplace architecture with integrated seller management, multi-language support (English, French, Dutch, German), and multi-currency pricing across eleven currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, and several Asian and emerging-market currencies. Proprietary trust features include a certified dealer screening process, the MA-Cert trust badge, a percentage-based seller rating system with detailed reviews, and direct integrations with major third-party grading services (NGC, PCGS, PMG, NCS) that allow buyers to filter authenticated inventory. The platform also provides buyer protection mechanisms including money-back guarantees and insured shipping options.

MA-Shops generates revenue through marketplace transaction commissions on sales completed via the platform, supplemented by seller subscription or listing fees that dealers pay to maintain branded storefronts within the marketplace. Pricing of individual items is set entirely by dealers, ranging from under $100 to over $68,000 based on rarity and condition. The company serves two primary customer segments: coin and collectibles collectors (individuals/hobbyists) and numismatic dealers (professional and semi-professional sellers), with no enterprise or institutional customers identified. Marketing is conducted primarily through SEO, content marketing via the MA-Shops blog, organic social media, and email communications.

Name

MA-Shops

Legal name

MA-Shops GmbH

Website

https://ma-shops.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MA-Shops is a privately held online marketplace founded in 2005 that connects certified numismatic dealers with global collectors. The platform offers nearly one million coins, banknotes, stamps, and collectibles, earning revenue via transaction commissions and seller listing fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Collectibles Marketplace

NAICS

Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (45912), Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, Book, and Miscellaneous Retailers (459)

SIC

Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)

akta.pro primary industry

Coins, Currency & Bullion Collectibles Retail (Numismatics) (CRALAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Online Collectibles Marketplaces & Auction Retail (CRALAGAO), Collectibles, Trading Cards & Memorabilia Marketplaces (CRAFAGAE), Historical & Military Collectibles Retail (CRALAGAM)

Keywords

• Numismatic marketplace
• Coin collecting
• Banknote trading
• Rare collectibles
• Certified dealers

Headquarters

HQ city

Bocholt

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Marketplace Transaction Commission: MA-Shops charges dealers a commission or listing fee for each sale completed through the platform. Individual sellers like Lecoincollection, Numistro, and Germania Inferior Numismatics operate their own shops within the marketplace, with the platform taking a percentage of each transaction.
2. Seller Subscription/Listing Fees: Dealers maintain shops on MA-Shops with their own branding, inventory management, and customer feedback systems, paying for their presence on the trusted marketplace.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

MA-Shops operates a multi-vendor online marketplace where certified numismatic dealers list and sell ancient and modern coins, paper money, medals, stamps, militaria, and other collectibles to collectors worldwide. The platform aggregates nearly 1 million items across hundreds of certified dealers, offering buyer protection through authenticity guarantees, MA-Cert badges, and integration with major grading services such as NGC, PCGS, and PMG.

Product overview

MA-Shops is a multi-vendor online marketplace for numismatic and collectible items, founded in 2005 by Joachim Schwiening. The platform aggregates hundreds of certified dealers offering nearly 1 million items across six main product categories: Coins (Ancient, Medieval, World, USA, Canada, Europe, Euro, Germany, Islamic, Holy Roman Empire, Error, Motif, Emergency), Paper Money (USA, World, Germany, France, Europe, Regional), Stamps (by region and era), Antiques & Accessories (Jewellery, Watches, Militaria, Coin Accessories), and Certified items (NGC, PCGS, PMG graded). The marketplace provides buyer protection, authenticity guarantees, insured shipping, and multi-currency support through its dealer network.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MA-Shops Marketplace Online multi-vendor numismatic marketplace connecting certified coin and collectibles dealers with collectors worldwide. Offers nearly 1 million items including ancient and modern coins, paper money, medals, stamps, militaria, and other collectibles, with buyer protection, authenticity guarantees, MA-Cert badges, money-back guarantees, and insured shipping.
• Certified Coins & Banknotes Marketplace category allowing collectors to browse and purchase coins and banknotes authenticated by the major third-party grading services NGC, PCGS, and PMG. Designed for collectors who require professional third-party grading as a condition of purchase.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 1 million collectibles available for purchase
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration allowing buyers to filter and purchase NGC-certified coins. NGC certification badge and logo displayed on the platform with link to ngccoin.com.
• PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration allowing buyers to filter and purchase PCGS-certified coins. PCGS certification badge and logo displayed on the platform with link to pcgs.com.
• PMG (Paper Money Grading)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration allowing buyers to filter and purchase PMG-certified banknotes. PMG certification badge and logo displayed on the platform with link to pmgnotes.com.
• American Numismatic Association (ANA)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerANA logo displayed on the platform footer indicating membership/partnership with the American Numismatic Association. Link to money.org.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Numisbids: Numisbids is an aggregator listing upcoming and past numismatic auctions worldwide, serving the same collector audience that browses MA-Shops for certified and ancient coins.
• VCoins.com: VCoins is a direct peer: a multi-vendor online marketplace for ancient, world, and modern coins operated by a network of professional numismatic dealers with similar listing and certification mechanisms.
• Heritage Auctions: Heritage Auctions is one of the world's largest numismatic auction houses, with fixed-price and timed-auction formats that overlap directly with MA-Shops' certified-dealer marketplace for rare coins.
• Stack's Bowers Galleries: Stack's Bowers is a major US-based rare coin auctioneer and dealer, competing for the same high-AOV certified-coin listings and collector buyers that MA-Shops serves.
• CoinArchives: CoinArchives is an online database and marketplace for ancient and world coins sold by professional dealers, directly comparable to MA-Shops' ancient and medieval coin verticals.

Emerging players

• Catawiki: Catawiki is a European curated online auction platform with dedicated coins and banknotes verticals, comparable to MA-Shops' multi-vendor marketplace model for collectibles dealers across Europe.
• LiveAuctioneers: LiveAuctioneers is an online auction aggregator for antiques and collectibles including coins and militaria, serving comparable SMB collectors who shop both auction and fixed-price marketplaces.
• WorthPoint: WorthPoint is a collectibles pricing and marketplace platform that overlaps with MA-Shops on coins, antiques, and militaria categories, providing price reference data to similar collector audiences.

Broad incumbents

• APMEX: APMEX is a large online retailer of precious metals and certified coins, overlapping with MA-Shops on the gold/silver/platinum bullion and certified-coin segments but operating a retail rather than multi-vendor marketplace model.
• eBay (Collectibles / Coins category): eBay operates a broad incumbent marketplace with a large coins and paper-money vertical; it shares MA-Shops' multi-seller collectibles model but offers far less numismatic-specific certification and trust infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses6 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mashops

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MA-Shops