10 Rules on How to get a Good Deal from a Dealer at a Coin Show

Hey Everyone, I found this to be good advice for beginners going to coin shows. Feel free to share your own ideas! Mine is to get a card from dealers you liked but didn't have what you were looking for. You can always message them later and see what else is in the inventory.

https://www.coinzip.com/articlesPag...qzvf-4N2qW1W3BWx7AAiLGXZ5lZAhrie6XDhUYXcN04YU

 

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# Whatever - Watch something you like and wait until the show is ready to close and all the dealers need to get back their costs and pay the hotel bill. If the piece is still there any reasonable offer may be taken.

 

This works well in Vegas, when a dealer loses big at the craps tables the night before. You can spot them easily - guy hasn't slept all night and is wearing the same clothes as the day before.

 

I mostly agree with these, except for #8 - Buyer's Remorse.

First, you should never buy a coin for which you might feel remorse. You should examine it under lights, magnifiers, ask to take it to another dealer's table with better lights, ask for opinions from other experts at the show.... etc. If you buy a coin at a show, with all these opportunities and still have remorse, you're an idiot.

The premise of the coin in the article is that you bought a coin "close to the grade you want" but then see one that is actually the grade you desire. Why the heck would you do that? If you bought a coin that didn't meet your collecting criteria, just to fill a hole.... you're an idiot. Why would you do that? Buy the coin you want in the grade you want. If you don't see the coin you want, have patience and wait for the right coin to come along. Collectors who buy "hole fillers" just to fill a hole and then wait for a better coin to come along are a special brand of stupid, and sure to lose money.

That being said, if you buy a coin at a show, take it back to your home or hotel, and then have remorse at the same show (you realize that it has a problem, that it doesn't meet your standard, that it isn't exactly what you need).... The dealer should refund you 100%. Sure, you can shop it around before you take it back and see if you might make a profit, but the chances of that are extremely slim. If you take it back to the same dealer you bought it from at the same show, and explain why you are having problems, any quality dealer should offer you 100% refund - this is the best way to retain customers. (If you sell it back to him at a discount, as the article says, "realizing that he needs to make a profit", then you're effectively giving him a double profit on the coin. Clearly, whoever wrote the article doesn't understand math or business.)

 

Depends. If you opened the 2x2, there is the possibility that it may have been damaged. If it has been removed, then a re-stocking fee is acceptable once it has been found to be ok.
He may have lost opportunities to sell the coin while it was not able to be displayed - no different than someone asking you to set a coin aside, then not buying it.

 

Regarding profit margins: don’t forget the dealer has to remit sales taxes in many cases. So, for example, in California, that 10-20% profit margin on a collector coin might need to be more like 20-30% to cover the state and local sales taxes.

 

I wouldn't go that far. It would certainly be a nice gesture, but it shouldn't be necessary. There are quite a few people that would take advantage of such a situation by buying a coin, shopping it around, and then bringing it back at the end. Now the coin has been partially devalued (if it was offered to many buyers) and the original seller has missed the chance to sell it during the show.

To me, it would be a case by case basis. Usually I'd do what it takes to keep someone happy and refund 100%. However, I've run into some where I wouldn't do the refund.

Also, if it is an item sold as bullion, then it would seem fair that the return would be based on whatever the spot price was at the time of return (not the time of sale).