1st year in the " coin biz"

Arizona Jack · 03-09-2009, 02:24 AM

Tonight markes the first year anniversary of Mesa Coin. ( mid year name change aside)

Boy, there is so much to say, I cannot find a good starting point, I"ll ty not to ramble. There have been many a thread here on how to get started, so I'll share my experience the best I can.

I am a 5 year powerseller on Ebay, and have a 100% feedback rating, I guess I just got tired of the garbage and trash I had to compete with to sell decent coins at the market price.

I set up my website March 8th last year as a total web newbie, zero experience at " building a website " personally, but I have owned and sold two other web based business, my problem was, with coins, I had to be able to update, add, etc etc on my own pace and not depend on another to do it for me. The host and E-commerce package I selected made it easy, "so easy a Caveman could do it", lol. That was the simple part. It gets better.

The coin biz:

Like many of you, I was an in and out collector for about 30-35 years, always the Lincolns with a side interest in Morgans and key dates in all the main series. I just had too many coins accumulated.

Selling coins was an easy way to improve and upgrade my collection and my addictive nature made it easy. I lived, ate and breathed it. Ever dream about coins? I did regularly.

I found the most difficult part of coin selling was refreshing the inventory, I had no idea what it was like to buy coins with the intention of selling, rather than admire them and keep them. It is genuinely difficult to let some good ones go, BUT, that is a learned skill, one that I am still working on.

I started attending more coin shows with " a pocket full of money " and little buying skill, I got hurt alot. Buying from emotion can really hurt financially, buying from a business perspective is also a learned skill.

I later started setting up my own tables at coin shows after buying 4 Allstate cases and the lights, etc etc. Then it became even more of an addiction, I was a "COIN DEALER" , yeeee hawwww. Little did I know.

The amount of skill and " eye for coins " required to succeed is great, the amount I had was little. What kept me safe was I stuck to what I know, Lincolns. I KNOW Lincolns, I feel I am in safe territory there, and never strayed to far from the neighborhood.

My worst loss? $700 on a single coin I bought " wrong " and on emotion, without paying attention to eye appeal. I bought some plastic with a grade on it, coin be darned, I wanted that SLAB !!!!!! OUCH !!!!

My best profit? There have been several, but one sticks out. My favorite. I bought a 1909-S VDB in the morning from a dealer for $3500, a sweet PCGS 64-RD and sold it in an hour to another dealer for $4100.....that was sweet, lol. This was in Long Beach as a floor walker, not a table of my own. The coin was CAC stickered.

The first year was slow getting started, cost alot of overhead money, IE advertising, cases, equiptment, and ALOT of travel expenses. I had all my flips printed, invoices, shirts, you name it, and then I found that my website name was conflicting with another established seller. Start over.

Rule #1 : Learn to buy right. Dont let emotion dictate your purchases. Develops a network of dealers that trust your word and handshake. They are your feeders. Dont bite them. EVER.

#2: Think like a collector ( this is an obvious contradiction to rule #1)
As a collector, you know what you like, and what others will like. Develope that " radar eye " for nice coins, pass on the rest. Average is for the other guy. Don't be average. when you offer average, offer them at average prices, don't expect more.

#3:
Know a quick flip when you see it. I do not hold out for that 20-30% profit very often, a quick 5% is ok with me if you keep the money moving.

#4
Learn the TPG grading and learn it well. Spot the undergraded and possible upgrades, I have mentioned this in another thread. BUY THE COIN !!! NOT the label.

This is getting long, I will speed it up.

OK
Coin shows will be your bread and butter. I did 16-20 shows this year as a dealer, maybe 30-40 in total if you include just walking a show. Travel expenses will be costly, but sometimes you have to go to where the coins are at. As a web based biz, I do not get walkin traffic, and no over the counter opportunities like a brick and morter would. I do get some at my tables, but searching for coins is best done at shows.

You must advertise. I find the weekly's barely working but web ads are working, including my ad here. Print media is " so last millenium " lol.

Also, the biggest and main concern of mine is just plain old father time. With a day job, and a wife, and a home to maintain, kids, cars, etc, it gets to be precious when you get an hour alone to get something done. Website's don't run themselves, they take time and effort.

We hit sale # 94 this week, yep, only 94 in one year ( not including email sales and shows ) but #94 on my site tracker. 20 countries or more have hit my site, some I wonder how they even have the internet, I credit Peter and this great site for that as I am able to track the traffic and see who they found me.

I have 3 consignors as well as my personal inventory. One of them is a cointalker you all know and like, Rlm, he has been a great asset to my inventory. I have 3 wholesalers I buy from, one is also a cointalker and feeds me anything I ask for, in the quantitys I need.

Getting late. More to come, but I did promise this update on my anniversary.

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