Travelling Coin Buyer Offers vs B&M Offers

A reporter went undercover and took several coins to a travelling coin buyer set up at a local motel. The travelling coin buyer - International Coin Collectors Association (I'm not making that up) - had advertised in the local paper. We've all seen similar ads. "Top dollar paid! Up to $10,000 for this coin. Up to $5,000 for that coin." etc. In reality they usually pay a fraction of the true value and often much less than melt value. They take advantage of the fact that most people do not know the value of their coins.

First the reporter took several coins to a local coin dealer to find out what the dealer would pay for the coins. Then the reporter took the coins to the motel to find out what ICCA would offer.

Fair Deal at Coin Sales? Lynchburg Prices Compared

According to an ICCA employee:

We'll see about that.

How did the offers compare?

That sounds par for the course.

Hmmmm.

Well, that makes me feel much better.

No surprises here.

 

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I see this at established dealers as well.

 

In my opinion, the way to get the most value out of selling a particular coin is a collector-to-collector transaction, not collector-dealer.

 

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I think that's a fair point; a real cost-to-benefit question you have to weigh with any large collection. Yes, you will absolutely make more money selling your coins on ebay, but with the time to post a large collection (and a typical decrease in sale price with coins sold in lots) often means that if you pay yourself a hypothetical minimum wage you're going to come out negative- remember, your leisure time is valuable too! For relatively small lots, I have found craigslist to be a decent place to meet other collectors, but only if you already know your stuff. For every 1 honest collector I probably communicate with 10 people trying to indiscriminately buy for far less than melt value at a low enough price that THEY can then sell to a dealer for a profit; a real scourge of rural areas. On items that typically sell for less than 3 or 4 dollars, an honest gray-sheet toting dealer is typically your best bet, but in ANY of these scenarios you should arm yourself with as much information as possible, with the most valuable information coming from experienced collectors who are NOT interested in buying your coins.

 

You're right in that situation, yes. I was thinking more of a scenario where you're slowly selling off your collection one coin at a time over an extended period of time, not one where you need cash right now. In a case where you are slowly selling off, getting an extra 10, 20, 50% for each coin you sell adds up at the end if you have a high-dollar value collection. At the end of the day, it depends on the situation and whether we have the luxury of time :thumb:

 

I don't mean to cast aspersions on the B&M dealer in this story, but I wonder if that dealer recognized the reporter, and whether the prospect of being featured on a TV news segment had any influence on the offered prices.

 

If you have dealers near you try it and see what offers you get compared to something like the greysheet. You might find one dealer paying stronger for something they need, etc. Then when one of these people come through your town stop in and visit them - get their offer. My dealer works off greysheet - but I am not 100% positive if at times they are a percentage behind bid.

 

Get the best of both worlds and work with an excellent dealer like 900fine.

 

Coin auction houses have always yeilded the highest return for me... And i only list with auction houses that do online and in person or just online bidding. Reason for that is:
1. I can watch the auction and see what my coins are bringing in.
2. With an online auction the sky is the limit to the amount of people watching and or bidding.
3. Most auction houses charge 10% or so (i've cosigned at 5% before) and then the buyer has to pay a slight buyers premium. But most auction especially here lately have brought higher than normal prices. One example a 1964 half dollar is auctioned, and it's melt is worth about $10 or so and it sells for $12... Not sure why but it's been very common in the past month or two.
4. They have the ability to sell houndreads to thousands of coins in one night.
5. If they need to they can split up a large collection into multiple days...

Just my opinion but all dealers are there to make a profit alnog with these "traveling" companies (especially these guys with the large overhead), where as an auctioneer makes his money, but at the same time they are selling direct to the collector, and not using a middleman such as a coin dealer. And they have less overhead, because they might only store your coins for a few days or weeks before selling them rather than sitting on them for a few months or years before they sell.

Just my 2 cents worth...

 

Sadly, the OP's post is not all that shocking as I have become a bit desensitized to these type of scams. Yet it is still disappointing in that it gives our hobby a black eye. I guess seller beware, in this case.

As for the discussion that followed the OP's post... There is no "one size fits all" selling venue. The best place to sell any coin (or group of coins), varies greatly by coin (or group of coins).

All IMO, of course.

 

What a bunch of scam artists.

 

My mom told me that she sold some gold to a dealer that was introduced in her church. Many elderly members sold their gold to this scam artist. He gave about %20 of melt value. I told her to let me know before she sells any more jewelry as I'm sure I can find a better buyer. Just about any local jeweler would give her a fairer offer.

Bruce

 

I think both of your comments underscore the big, grey area that selling is. For some people it's worth it to sell piecemeal if the situation is right (the right coins, e.g.) and they have the luxury of time. But not everybody wants the hassle, such as myself. For the kind of low-end coins I get rid of, I'd rather sell to a dealer, get a little less and save myself a whole lot of time (and possible hassles).

But Doug, I have a question: where are you getting the "20% less than retail" figure? Or are you massaging the figure to make your point? I read not too long ago, on CT I believe, that most dealers pay, on average, 65% of what they can sell a coin for. I know a few dealers who sell at right around bid; they certainly are not buying at 20% back of retail.

 

I'm still skeptical of your "20% less than retail" figure (as a guide to what a dealer will pay for a coin) at least when talking about lower-end material. And let's face it, lower-end material is what most collectors want to cull from their collections and what you mostly see at shows.

Let's use your example of a $200 threshold. I've bought PQ slabbed coins in that range from local dealers (at shows) who, as I said earlier, consistently sell around Greysheet bid. If you're saying that "retail" is 10-20% above Greysheet (I'm assuming you mean ask or between bid and ask)—and I totally agree that that's a useful definition of retail—that means that these dealers should be buying back at between bid and ask (20% less than retail).

But I'm buying coins at bid from them. And I think auction prices are consistent with this: on ebay and Heritage, I see a lot of common stuff (such as gem Morgans or Walkers) going for around bid.

So If coins are selling for bid, dealers are going to offer less than bid—maybe 80%—and therefore much less than retail for them, again, we're back to 60 or 65%. This seems to be, in my experience, also consistent with the Bluesheet.

I'm just playing devil's advocate here because I've also considered selling off some coins on ebay. I still don't want the hassle of doing that and would rather sell to a dealer, but Rhino does have an argument that you can recoup more selling collector to collector.

 

There is nothing like a good rip they say. Travelling coin buyer does not travel the country for sight seeing. A guy in my local coin club has advertised "private collector paying top dollar" in newspapers in the area. He has got some great deals. I see him at shows flipping the stuff around the bourse.