Ok who thinks the doctor in CoinWorld is wrong to be ticked off at Goldline for selling him $140,000 worth of coins only to discover the same day there worth only $85,000? I mean if I have a coin worth a buck and I sell it to you for two your at loss... not me. As long as I am honest about what I am selling there is nothing wrong with charging too much to people.
I'm not familiar with the story, but he's not the first person to be upset about the value of a coin purchase after the fact. Bottom line is it's his own fault for not doing his research first...But...A good business man should realize that if this guy is spending 140k in coins, you want him to be happy and return to you when he wants to buy more coins...why would you want to leave a bad taste in his mouth? You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only skin 'em once. Seems like a lot of dealers/businessmen forget that.
If somebody purchased a new car for $27,000 and then AFTERWARD checked around and found the same car for $5000 less at another dealership........Who`s the dope? My point is that without doing Our homework regarding Our purchases, We set Ourselves up for failure. There is absolutely no reason that the gentleman in question could not have inquired about and researched His investment......I have no sympathy for Him at all. Not only are We in an age where most information is more readily available than ever before.....but it`s 2010.......What part of buyer beware has this guy not heard of?!?
boohoo that he spent too much money. You think with that much cash on the line you would do at least some very basic research and make sure you were getting a deal or at least going even. Shoot, if I don't know a coin that has been offered to me I at least take some time to look it up. Not only is it buyer beware, it should also be buyer do your freaking due diligence.
Worth to whom? To whom and for what? It is a basic fact -- I daresay it is an axiom -- of economics that you cannot both buy and sell the same item in the same market for the same price. Public and parochial education has so degraded our understanding of the market that we think that everyone ought to pay the same price for the same thing at the same time. We think that a thing has a posted price which is unchanged over time. We think that the person who sells at a price also buys at that price. Ignorance knows no limits. If this person were in any way ordinary or disadvantaged it might tug the heartstrings. To be a doctor, you have to master such a huge volume of complex information that it is hard to imagine that one could not get his head around something as simple as buying coins. On the other hand, I just had some complications of my own and at the end of the final post-op interview, the doctor handed me 50 pages of printout and told me to familiarize myself with my condition. Fair enough...
I smell a rat with that guy. Who spends $140k on gold coins without doing some basic research? I'm mean, how hard is it to figure out how much gold you are buying and then multiply it by the spot price? If that guy is that dumb, I'm glad he's not my doctor. The political class is terrified that the price of PM's is going to go parabolic because of a lack of confidence in the dollar. They want to do what they can to keep people from buying PM's. (and they want to know who owns them - thus the 1099 form requirement snuck into the Health Care Reform bill) It is much harder to control the economy if people are invested in PM's. You can't print more gold. You can't debase the gold sitting in someone's safe. The political class, both parties, want control. If they control the money - they control you.
As stated above, the buyer is to blame. Does anyone have his phone #? I have a Bridge for sale in Brooklyn..........
Most of you are right! Its the buyer's fault not the company. Oh how much is that bridge treashunt....?
Money is meaningless...as speech or a store of valyue...when one of the parties involved is coerced into the relationship. Those who would insist GoldLine 'refund" money insist on coercing them into an unreasonable and untennable position...one in which they can not sell the product they offer to the highest bidder ina fair and fuilly informed environment. No rational man can do business in such an environment..nor will he. But hey...our economy is FULL of small and medium sized businesses just WAITING to step into the gap and create more jobs, right?
Your comment makes it sound as if he bought gold bullion that had little or no numismatic value, and that it would have been extremely easy to ascertain a fair price - is that actually the case? If so, I'd be very surprised that Goldline would charge so much above market on bullion coins. And if not, it appears that you have unfairly characterized the situation. Either way, sadly, I have heard of many similar examples over the years - it's not nearly as uncommon as you seem to think. I have a feeling that a number of those who have replied and have no sympathy for the buyer, would feel very differently if a friend or family member had done the same thing. I don't know the particulars of the transaction, and would be curious to know, what representations, if any, were made to the buyer.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. So Goldline took this guy for 55K. It seems to me that with a customer who can spend 140k on coins, you might want to earn his future business. How' bout taking the long term view there...Goldline.
I was wondering the same. With the information so far, there is no way to know what is fair. I also wonder where the buyer got the value he now feels it's worth. Just not enough information.
Another case of doing your homework first! at the end of the day the only one you can trust is yourself!
Nope........I have sympathy for many people......types like this though are not one of them. (family or not)
Absolutely not. I have in the past, and would again, tell them to quit whining and pay their stupid tax. Look...the ONLY thing that happened to this guy is a 55k "loss" over an extremely short term. Simply WAITING (as little as 2-3 years if some investors are to be believed) might cut that to a fraction of its current amount, or even show him a profit. EVEN, however, if we presume he takes the hit right away (mind you, he'd have to A) Buy high B) Sell Low C) Be impatient D) Be ruled by emotion - ALL classic bad investment strategies any high school math geek can tell you) then, let's see where he is: He's out CONSIDERABLY less money than a great many people who... Unwisely bought more house than they could afford... Or unwisely did it by taking on too much debt... Or unwisely invested borrowed money in the market... Or unwisely kept their entire savings in a single 401k... Shoot..let's face it...go buy a $30k new car, and keep it 5-7 years (the AVERAGE length of a car note these days). Figure in interest and depreciation, and you're out nearly as much as this doctor is... And we can say any or ALL of those things about a GREAT MANY people with annual incomes a fraction of this guy's...including, I'd wager, "a friend or family member" of every person in this thread. Guess what. When you throw large sums of money at an investment without doing your research, without accounting for it in your budget, without preparing yourself fo black swan events, then... YOU ARE A FINANCIAL IDIOT And you deserve precisely what you get. "Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it."
I agree and certainly hope that one realizes that even if you are getting the best prices on PM at the moment, that doesn't excuse what gboulton posted above about research , budgeting , and preparation. Almost everyone can make "paper profits" during the up side of a boom/bubble, but many have not prepared for the ride down, whether the bubble is dot.com, real estate, or PM, it WILL happen, and almost no small people will see it coming. It is dangerous out there if you lack preparation.