Coin grading idea!

I have this idea for maybe starting a coin grading submission service. I'm member of NGC. anyone wanting to have a coin graded can send to me with a fee I charge for sending them in which would be less than they would pay to have to join NGC and pay fee. I send in the coin and get it graded and send back to customer. Thoughts?

 

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I would be up for that. Guess they would have to be a strong trust issue. Right?


Dusty

 

So they would have to pay to ship the coin to you, pay you a fee for handling the coin, pay the NGC fee, pay a portion of the shipping fee from you to NGC and then back to you, pay to ship the coin back from you to them and then trust you to do all of this? It's generally easier and faster, as well as perhaps more secure, to bring the coin(s) to a local dealer and have it done that way.

 

Exactly, and if you are a member of ANA you can also submit to NGC directly. An ANA membership does not cost that much when you consider the sense of control you have by eliminating the middle man.

 

Yea I would have to come up with set fee for each coin you want to submit. You just pay to ship to me that's all.

 

Ponderossa, Please keep this discussion to a theoretical level only . Any intrusion into soliciting business doesn't belong in this forum area, and with the posts couldn't be moved to the B/S/T forum as is, so would be deleted. Any post requesting information on submissions, or actual fees, etc. is not allowed.

Thanks ,
Jim

 

This is likely a violation of your membership agreement with NGC. I know PCGS clearly states that you cannot submit coins for others. I assume NGC would have a similar policy. Also, as others have pointed out, the cost of shipping to/from you plus your fee would likely be higher than the ANA membership fee.

 

Just idea wanted thoughts yes didn't think about that being violation just theoretical idea that's all

 

Might be a good idea for those living outside USA and without US citizenship. Not sure if foreigners can register at ANA/NGC/PCGS but for a coin or two it would be a good idea to just send them to a trusted fellow, without any memberships mess.

 

I'd recommend finding your local PCGS or NGC authorized dealer. They can and will do the same thing.

 

Who handles the "return shipping" costs?

 

it's not good idea after thinking bout it. wouldn't work lol

 

Actually there have been many threads in the past by members with a similar idea of starting their own grading service, but I think most realize that they didn't have the numismatic reputation ( especially in grading) to justify their needed prices. Then there was the liability, insurance, and legal concerns. When well known and respected individuals charge as low as $3-5 for authentication or grading, you realize what the market is ~ mainly to justify for selling, so PCGS or NGC. IMO.

 

My LCS does it at no extra cost, as a courtesy.

 

Do you mean they'll authenticate coins they sold to you at no extra cost?

 

They submit coins to NGC for its customers.

 

I think you are even better off going through ANA. Thats the route I went. I know you guys say to go to your LCS and use them, well here was my experience.

I had a group of 5 coins to send off, so i trundled on down to my Local guy and ask him to ship these off for me. Granted I dont believe he does much for sending coins in, as he usually buys raw and sells raw, or buys graded and sells graded. I have never heard of him talking about shooting for better grades on anything, or cracking out and resubmitting. Plus his coin store is also a small antique store (i assume most coin store operators double in other fields like comics, stamps, antiques, etc), so i believe he just doesnt have time to focus exclusively on his coins when hes settling estates and finding coins, and antiques, and coordinating auctions, etc. Well when he sent these off to NGC i ended up with a final bill on 5 coins in the range of about $230. I was shocked, kept my mouth shut, paid my bill, and have never used him again for submitting. I thought coins were about $30 each to submit and didnt really have any sticker shock over that, but i did start researching a little bit when i got home. I then realized that i was completely ripped off and started looking for my own methods of submitting coins.

I submitted 5 more coins over at ANACS about 6 month later, and i was happy with their service for what it was. No membership fees and at least my coins were authenticated. That total was about $115 or so with a variety requested on a single coin. I didnt like the slabs though and so that was my last time submitting to ANACS.

After that, i remembered someone mentioning you could send to NGC with an ANA membership. So i paid my $30 or $40 to ANA and again submitted 5 more coins. This time it only cost me the membership fee (which is a basic membership to ANA and sort of a basic membership to NGC, a 2-for-1 if you ask me) + about $120 for the submitting fee. This time I was happy with the price and the coins when they came back. Saved me $100 too for another coin.

I dont know why my LCS took advantage me of that way, seems he tries to make money on EVERYTHING he does and just got me on my first time. But he also lost any of my future business too when it comes to submitting coins. I wouldve paid a convenience fee of $20 on my final bill, but nearly $100? I couldnt do it again. I still go to him for my silver or raw coin needs if im filling a Dansco, but I typically leave him alone on any real purchases. His prices are just too out of whack for me sometimes.

 

Point taken Doug,

And I never really complained about it until i found out i was over charged (ripped off is too harsh, because I do trust the guy on coins for the most part, and i realize he does have a B&M store so I can make allowances). However I do believe he should NOT be able to charge me more than the actual service costs itself. I just had 5 coins returned to me for under $130, actually i rechecked and my invoice says $117. So in my eyes it is not OK for him profit more than what the service itself costs, that is just unacceptable and not how a reputable dealer should be conducting business. Your mantra of find a dealer, trust a dealer sort of failed on this one. He is the only dealer within 50 miles, and offers the best store you can find in the area. As a budding collector and faithful client, i felt he should have taken a little better care of one of his future sources of income, not to mention ive been going there for years and thought i could trust him. I have been in and out of his coin store since I was at least 10, that was over 15 years ago now, and with my more serious turn to numismatics you would think he wouldve done a little better than that.

I did however learn my lesson and have thus chosen to not 'throw my money away' at him anymore for grading services. For all i know he used his 5 vouchers on me and simply profited from all that i spent on that grading. Thats his right to make money, but i still feel a little betrayed for paying double. Like you said, we have no authority or right to say how much money he should make and the methods to go about doing it. My wallet can and will speak for me on this matter and I have chosen to be more responsible on a personal level and to take care of the problem of submitting coins myself.

At the back of my mind it does make me wonder though. Would he sell me that slightly cleaned coin that I may have overlooked its cleaning on as a problem-free coin just to make a buck? Would he sell it to me knowing i didnt know any better? Cause thats all he did when he submitted those coins to NGC for me, he knew I didnt know what the service costed and seen an opportunity to take advantage of me instead of helping me. Did he shoot himself in the foot by not offering a reasonable price on submitting for grades, if I wouldve returned repeatedly to have him do just that for my entire collection?

Lots of questions, but in the end they dont matter much as I have already learned the lesson and am taking care of my business instead of letting someone else do it for me