Years ago I was at one of my first coin shows (a little local one with 40 tables), I showed a friend my Dansco 7070 set and he asked me right there how much I would charge for a couple of the large cents... I shot him a price and as he was thinking about it, the head of the show came over and kindly and calmly taught us both that we couldn't do that... that dealers pay to set up and it wasn't fair for me to make money off the customers without having bought a table. Made sense to me and I apologized, thanked him, and we all moved on. He was pleasant and not upset. I think he could tell that I was clueless, so there were no hard feelings. Lesson learned!
Incidentally, how ethical is it to "flip" coins at coin shows? I sometimes buy from one dealer, then take it over to another dealer and sell it for profit. Easy as pie! I made over $500 doing that one day at the FUN show with about 8 coins. One major dealer (who dominates PCGS collector's corner) actually encouraged me to do this! He said, "If you find something you know I'll buy, then buy it and bring it to me and I'll pay you your "'finder's fee.'" On the other hand, I would think it might **** off some dealers to know that I was buying their coins and making $ off of them a few tables down.
Nothing wrong in the least there. I have done the same. Blaubart i am with you. I hate those hotel buyers who lie, but i cannot save the world. I bet every day thousands of non coins are sold way too cheap as well.
The ones I know deal with the dealers at the dealers table and not between each other. Now I can think of one time to of them knew each other and met but it was not at another dealers table but at the concession stand.
I don't think there's any problem in doing this the way you described. Like you said, your "profit" is basically a "finder's fee", and you're doing business with people who have paid for tables, not other attendees.
I have seen this at a local shop where a person had tried to do this more then once. The shop owner had enough and told him to leave and not come back. It is understandable as the shop owner pay's thousands per month to transact business. Would you go to Friday's and walk around selling your burgers for cheaper and expect to not get in trouble lol.
Totally fair game to buy from one dealer at his table and sell to another dealer at his table and make some money in the process. More power to you there.
IMHO - In a perfect world, this should also be acceptable, especially between two people who already know each other. What should be frowned upon are the people attending a show who are obviously there for the sole purpose of buying or selling stuff to other attendees without buying a table. i.e. The guy walking around with a sign that reads: "Junk Silver For Sale @ 22x Face", or the guy selling out of his trunk in the parking lot.
#1 Being a little unethical is like being a little pregnant. #2 If I am walking into a pawn shop carrying gold & silver, I would not look kindly at a stranger approaching me in the parking lot. #3 I would recommend taking an ad & being security conscious.
And remember dealers network so you may find yourself banned from a lot of stores. Mostly they deal with the dealers that have tables. If they deal with each other or with the attending public and get caught, out they go. Perfectly ethical.
Whoa!! ...so you're saying you want to hang out in front of Pawn Shops and offer people money in the parking lot?! ARE YOU CRAZY!!! :goofer:
I always worry about them poor devils who stand outside, along the roadside, wearing that sign that says 'we buy gold'. Be it rain or snow, these stalwart fellows persist. And they ain't got a clue as to what goes on inside the shop. Most could care less, I suppose. Just another vagrant picking up some chooch change to feed his habit. Sad........
Whenever I go to coin shows, I wear a t-shirt that reads: "I buy silver for 20x face. Ask me for details." I get some strange looks but I also get approached often, inside and outside shows and stores. The seller initiates contact and decides for him/herself if he wants to consider my offer. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with warning an uniformed seller that he is about to get ripped off. A lot of folks don't realize that they are about to get lowballed in a Brick & Mortar or a show. Dealers look for fear in the eyes of their prey.
Sometimes I feel like people like you are what's wrong with our hobby. I mean really...do you go to a car dealership wearing a T shirt with the wholesale cost of a car? Or to a bank with the lower loan rate of another bank. And so 20x is the fair rate, period eh? and 19x is "get ripped off" but not 18x or 17x. Maybe I'll follow you around and wear a shirt that say's I buy at 20.5x and YOU are ripping people off. But I'd like to think that we can all act as grown ups and realize there is more to life and espically collecting then every cent of cost/profit we can squeeze out of people.
Why not buy a table, and post a sign? That is what I would call fair competition. Listen, these dealers, by buying tables, have provided a place for collectors to meet and buy/sell. Its their venue. They have a right to conduct business there, since they have paid for the meeting place. You want that right? Pony up the money and pay for a table. THEN, I would LOVE it if you provide competition. I only posted about a few times I politely waited for someone wanting to sell something, the dealer turning him down, and I approached the seller. After reading all of this, even that is starting to make me feel bad a little now. I thought it was alright since I was helping out the seller who wanted X but was unable to sell it for that at the show, but I was willing to pay X for his coins, but I may have to rethink that. Nothing is stopping anyone from walking down the street, or going to a coin club meeting with such a shirt. Why, though, are you wearing it at the show? Oh yeah, because the DEALERS have PAID MONEY to attract all of these collectors to come buy and sell, and are paying the venue for a place to be able to do it. Why don't all dealers simply walk around shows with shirts and placards advertising what they want to buy and sell? Oh yeah, because then we would have no shows.
Here's yet another perspective: We don't have coin shows around here, but we do have gun shows where people also sell coins. I called about a month out to get a table at the next gun show, but they're all sold out. If I attend the show, I still have to pay an entrance fee to get in. Tables are $50 each, entrance tickets are $5 each. Medoraman points out that without people paying for tables, there would be no show. I would like to also point out that without attendees, there would be no show. If everyone is paying to be there, IMHO the difference is the permission to set up a table. Especially for people like me who are willing to pay for a table, but there are no more tables available. In such a situation, should an attendee be able to conduct a small amount of business at the show with other attendees?
Heck, half the time I think about doing just that. Not that I wish to SELL anything, heaven forbid. But, to be able to be offered stuff to buy, to have room to sit stuff down behind the table, and to have a chair, it might be worth it.
medoraman, it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, maybe just a bit of a grey area but I'd think it was find. Now for Andrew289, it just sounds like he wants shops and shows to disappear. Not me. I love my local shops. They pay fair (whatever that "fair" is) and pass on good deals. And the guys and the local shows seem good too. I'm not saying all dealers, shops and shows pay the utmost they could pay. But I would not want them to go away because of someone trying to compete unfairly i.e. poaching deals off of their turf.
