How do I become a coin dealer

Start out with a pleasant, sanguine disposition and lots of money. Buy collections @ ridiculously high price levels so that your reputation will spread like wildfire. Set up at coin shows, flea markets, graduating to the bigger ones. Wait for the high value collections to be offered to you, the extremely rare overdates and varieties. Have an express mail account and an active collector club membership with a grading service. Get a gun permit, with a 45 caliber magnum, and be ready for action should undesirables try to rob you. In the end, you may become an ornery cuss, as we see too often, with short temper and deep suspicions like I saw earlier in the week, who keep their store locked and you have to ring the buzzer to get in.

Why not take up a less troublesome hobby like chess or fishing? Why not work a less aggravating job like yard work services?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I started out with an inventory of $10 K investment doing shows. I did not quit my day job in financial until near retirement and have expanded the business. My primary focus was buying low and selling high so I could quickly increase inventory.

You will need:
1. A glass Allstate display case and light (Architect lamp from Target will do). Be sure and get some C clamps to secure the light to the table. Consider a chain and padlock to chain up your cases to your table at night along with any brief cases. Eventually you will expand to two cases or more.
2. Grey Sheet subscription and some grading books along with a blue book, red book professional, and Catalogs for your specialty area like if its Currency. Be able to make a buy offer quickly.
3. Price Stickers used for the cost code which is in letters on the back of the holder or slab. You can use an excel sheet to price your inventory.
4. Set a $1000 fixed cost budget for publications, subscriptions, supplies, etc. Everything else can be variable selling expense or allocated to the cost of inventory. You want to keep variable costs in the range of no greater than 15% of sales. Your table fee and show costs are to be allocated between sales (selling expense) and purchases (allocated show costs added to cost of inventory).
5. Generally, it takes cost plus around 40% or more to make it in the coin business. Anyone saying it takes less is either lying to you or never been there.
6. At a show you are there to sell it and make money or buy it right. Don't waste your time with people who may block this mission. Other dealers will try to rip you - you don't owe them anything as your there to buy and sell at your price.
7. Don't let junk box people block your cases or take an inordinate amount of time at your table unless buying. Don't let someone else looking at another dealers coins put their books, price guides, etc on your table or block your customers. Tell them to remove their stuff or do like I did on a couple of occasions simply knock it off your table like its an accident "Oh so sorry."
8. Have fun, afterall your spending your weekend at a coin show. When I travel to out of town shows I like to go to strip clubs in that city after the show to unwind.
9. Limit junk box material to stuff which you sell at 50-100% profit or more and that they can quickly go thru. Sometimes its better not to have a junk box period. When I have one, I have a custom one that fits inside my display case. If someone who is not buying is taking too long to go thru it, I simply pick it up and put it back in my case then locking it say "Gotta go to lunch." Never let JB customers look at something out of your line of sight - they will try to steal from you. JB can help pay your expenses but can be a pain to manage.
10. Dream of traveling the country doing the show circuit full time - It will take 250-500 K at least investment.
11. Always keep a significant percentage of your investment in cash ready to take advantage of deals where you can buy it right. At a slow show I won't buy anything unless its a steal.
12. Setting up at shows is not the gravy train many imagine. It can be demoralizing considering all the competetion you have from other dealers. Many of these guys like me have shops where we are buying stuff at 60% of bid or less that walks into the shop and then flipping it at the show around bid. If the show circuit does not really work for you an Ebay store is not that expensive.
13. Don't let anyone take a coin from your table to show another dealer for an opinion. If they can't make their own decision they are not worth fooling with; coin shows are for adults, not children. Treat sight seen sales as final; your not there to fund buyers remorse. If they are not a serious buyer or seller and their BS starts, its time for them to leave your table. Be as polite to everyone as possible, your an ambassador for your business and Numismatics.
14. Arm yourself. I carry a 45 pistol, brass knucks, mace, and baseball bat. Never had to use them at a coin show but no one is going to mess with me. I don't fight fair, I fight to win LOL.

 

The advice given here is absolutely top notch. Don't give up and work the hardest you possibly can. If you are serious start working 10 hours a day, minimum. You need money to make money, and time is money. Be prepared for good times, and be prepared for extremely bad times. The first time you lose big money on a deal can be extremely mentally anguishing, but it happens and is something you have to be prepared for. While a 250k investment would be great and get a full time business rolling immediately, I started out with less than 3 grand- anything with enough dedication can be accomplished.

Learn your competition, beat their prices and take full advantage of their lack of knowledge. You wouldn't believe some of the looks I got at 18 trying to sell high dollar coins and watches at local shops to get a feel of the market. Most of the offers I recieved were beyond lowball, and often values given to me were completely false, and I knew it. People out there can be extremely ignorant or are downright looking to give you pennies on the dollar. Don't be swayed by them and move forward, you'd be amazed how differently they'll look at you after realizing you're stealing their customers and making good money doing it.

Also, as previously mentioned, get yourself a concealed carry permit if necessary and buy a pistol, at the very least carry a tazer or mace.

 

Good advice i can't give any since i am not a coin dealer, but one thing i can say as a collector is i have passed on so many great coins because i didn't have $$, cash is king!!! and take it slow build your up experiance before you are willing to spend a lot of money on coins.

 

Cash is king is right.... losing the ability to make a 5000$ auction purchase that you know will bring 12-15 grand because you only have 4500$ in your pocket will quickly teach you the importance of quick turnarounds and having a lump of money set aside for these rare instances.

 

You're a coin dealer.


Now think of the alternative if you don't do your homework........

 

LOL... too funny green

 

Was at a coin show over the weekend. One "nice guy" coin dealer had been robbed a few weeks before coming back from a show--he stopped at a restaurant afterwards, a thief smashed his back window when he was inside, and lost $8-$10K.

I did not see any really successful dealers at that show but their overhead was around $50 there to do it. Many of the dealers have had the same inventory for many months. They all had nice displays but the sales are not what they used to be.

The biggest problems in this business are having good customers, security, security, security, the problems with traveling long distances; and the challenges of competing successfully with other dealers.

The dealers who set up at this show, many have other side businesses that they are able to promote by being there. It always takes a good long time to develop a self-employed business. Dealers who are one man bands may not be doing themselves any favors like the guy cited previously. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

 

Player you are a comedian. I got a real kick out of #7-#8. You are so serious about the bottom dollar that you do not allow low end buyers to mingle around your table? Then you proceed to spend your profit at the strip clubs? It sounds to me like this is more of a hobby to you than an serious business venture. Some good advice in there, but I can see flaws in your overall business strategy.

 

Seriously... I'd love to see Players' material, it has to be amazing for people to put up with that kind of treatment and still patronize him.

 

I'm not a dealer nor do I want to be. There is just no way that I could afford it. Also, the risks are to great. As we have scene with the silver market over the past few months. If your just starting out just 1 mistake could be the end of your business. Of course none of us want to see you lose everything. I think I would just start out in the internet. Little or no overhead other than your inventory. Best of luck to you if you do become a dealer.

There is some really good advice in this thread! I'm sure everyone here would like to see you in business. Its just SO risky, that the people who have posted their thoughts are looking out for you.

 

Good points. I like to interact with principled people; those who go to strip clubs or hire prostitutes when they are at convention centers are damaging their reputations. To travel around the country doing coin shows brings a lot of temptations, it is why we need support groups of ethical people around.

The reason I got into hard assets was because of the problematic nature of the alternatives; because of Aristotle and Biblical discussions of hard assets. For me stocks and bonds are properly named; a couple hundred years ago only bad people were put in the "stocks" and "bonds".

 

I know this is an old post but I feel like adding my 2¢.

I was born into it. ;D

 

It would be easier to do a cash for gold and buy coins and jewelry at scrap prices. From there you could resell the nice ones. Then you only really need to worry about knowing if it's really silver/gold, not necessarily a genuine coin. If it's a 1932 quarter with a D soldered on, it's still worth scrap.
Cash for gold guys get all kinds of cool coins at RIDICULOUS prices. That's what I would do if I wasn't getting my doctorate.

 

This thread gives new meaning to the phrase "talk amongst yourselves." I note that the OP joined in Feb 2012 and was last seen around these parts in Mar 2012. Looks like she had her baby and found other things to occupy her time ...

Best Regards,

George

 

Yeah, I noticed that. Someone brought this thread back fro. The dead for Halloween! Lol