Can someone teach me how to make money coin collecting?

Title says it all. Thanks for any info!

 

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I guess the best way is to read, learn and get lucky.

 

Study, study, study. Making any sort of money the good old fashioned, honest way with coins comes with lots of knowledge, careful purchases, and a touch of luck. If I knew how to make honest money in coins, I wouldn't be doing what I do... okay maybe I would, but I'd have a lot more coins and money.

 

Probably not the type of answer your looking for, but someone told me recently that buying a coin from a reputable dealer and then turning right around and selling it the next day is very very rarely profitable, but buying a coin from a reputable dealer, then selling it 30 years later can often bring in the money.

You couldn't run a business that way... just some food for thought.

There are also some people with enough knowledge of things like rarity of die varieties who are able to find underpriced coins on ebay or wherever for sale by less knowledgeable sellers, buy them, then take those coins to their lcs for profit.

 

I will. I have a formula that I use. Buy coin for X, sell coin for Y. Make sure Y>X

 

"It's easy to make a small fortune coin collecting. Just start with a large fortune."

You can just search change or rolls of coins, pulling out ones that are more valuable, once you have the knowledge to recognize them. But the effective "pay rate" ($/hr) is way, way below minimum wage.

Beyond that, you have a few basic choices:

1) Be very, very knowledgeable -- know more than the people you buy from and sell to. That lets you recognize coins that are undervalued.

2) Be very patient -- many coins go up over time. Not all, though; some actually go down. Almost none outperform stocks for any significant period.

3) Be very unethical. Lots of people make a living lying to the people who sell to or buy from them, and from taking advantage of the ignorant or desperate.

4). Be very lucky. Lightning sometimes does strike.

You'll get farthest with a combination of these. I hope you'll stay away from number 3.

 

The honest way or the easy way?

 

That either gets you a balance of Y - X, or a balance of -X and a coin you can't sell.

 

That's generally the way that I function in all of my numismatic endeavors.

 

You can try to get a few dealers to let you market some coins for them. I did it for a while and made some pretty descent scratch off of the deals. I don't know you, so I don't know how knowledgeable you are, but you will need to add something of value to the deal.

 

OP if it really was that fast and easy everyone would do it and negate the whole process.

 

Can someone teach me how to make money coin collecting?

By definition, if you're collecting coins, you are acquiring them, not selling them.

I think your title was supposed to be "Can someone teach me how to make money as a coin dealer/flipper?" In which case I can't offer much advice.

 

You could pickup every coin you see in the parking lot. 100% profit.

 

One thing you can do today, free -- start a list of coins/categories NOT to buy, it will zoom to a hundred items in no time.

 

You mean there's not a radio show telling you how to get rich quick with coins?

 

Lots of good advice in the thread you have already started.
http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=32574&hilit=sully#p275272

Personally I think trying to find a job at a coin shop is probably the easiest route since you would have a mentor and the experience would be bankrolled by someone else. It's hard to get knowledgeable enough to make money off of a skillset if it is just a hobby that you devote a few hours to per week, but if you are doing it 20-30 hours a week it will become second nature. Also buy the book before the coin. Maybe the members here can recommend good books for the series you want to collect.

 

Something else useful - go onto eBay and look at unsold (coin) lots in your favorite categories, and see if you can figure out why they didn't sell. Every "unsold" lot is a mistake, ranging from overpriced, overgraded, lousy photos, sky-high postage, no consideration of the competition, mis-identified, lack of demand, poor Feedback, etc., etc.

 

To paraphrase Mr. Edison......the endeavor you are attempting to embark upon requires 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. You will need to do a lot of reading, studying and observing.......not necessarily in that order. The ability to buy and sell successfully requires years of experience.......it doesn't happen overnight and it certainly can't be packaged in an 'How To' volume.........

 

Buy the latest fad coin offering from the U.S. Mint and when they screw up on the ordering process sell the item on eBay as people get desperate to have it.

 

If reading and observing makes one perspire, then one should seek medical aproval before attempting this venture.