Ethical Question

Here is an ethical question for the group to debate.
First, many of you may know what a Cherrypicker is. For those of you who don't....a Cherrypicker is someone who looks for coins that may have an error or variety and buys them at regular price unbeknownst to the seller because the seller does not know what it is. Pretty simple.

But here is the question......what if you cherrypicked a well known variety from the dealer. It is so well known that it is not only in the Cherrypickers Guide, but in the Red Book. It wasn't marked or noted that it was a variety on the 2x2. When checking out, the dealer picks up the coin and looks it over so as to give you a fair price. Then proceeds to ask if this is the "so called" variety. You respond no (but secretly know that it is), knowing full well that if you said yes, that they would charge you for the variety. But even after they look over the coin and know that a variety exists for the coin, they obviously don't know where to look to determine if it is the variety in question.

Should you have said something?

 

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my response would probably be "You are the dealer, you tell me...I just like the coin"
If he knows about the variety and didn't take the time to educate himself it is not your job to educate him.

 

The answer is that you never let yourself get in this type of situation. If you find a nice cherry pick, you add in a few other unrelated items and talk about one of them and not the pick. Also, once you find a pick you do not haggle or give actual possession of the cherry pick back to the dealer. If the 2x2 says $10, hold it up to the dealer and hand over the cash. A quick exit is always good. Think of buying condoms when you were a teenager. You add in other unrelated items, pay the stated amount, and get the heck on out of there. TC

 

Good answers guys..........especially you TC.

 

Tough question Joe , if the question isn't asked, to me it's still a hard place to be in . If the price is more than a couple hundred I think he should be told as I'd want to be told . But if he asks the question it would be lying to not tell him what it is , I'd hope I'd answer yes .

 

This was done.

There was nothing on the 2x2s. Therefore, you have to give them the coins to determine price. No way around that one. The dealer acutally overgraded the coin a bit. But I still didn't mind paying the small uplift.

 

Put the shoe on the other foot. What if I was selling a coin to a dealer and asked if the coin was a certain variety or what not. Are they ethically obligated to tell me? I would think so and in stating that I think it should work the other way around.

 

Looking at about a $40-60 difference in value. But like Ziggy said, its not my job to educate them.

Here is another tidbit to the story......several years ago I cherrypicked a gem of a coin from them....but being honest I told them about it. They then didn't want to sell me the coin because they wanted to put it into their auction and told me to bid on it there. The coin was a Mercury dime 45 micro S in Gem UNC with FBs. The coin ended up selling for close to $300. I was going to buy it for $15. If I kept my mouth shut, I would have owned the coin. Was that ethical? And for who?

 

Don't ask don't tell..........

 

Joe . you're one of the most honest people I know . I don't have an answer to you're question as I can see both sides , all I can say is what I feel and would hope to do if the situation arises . The dealer who refused to sell you the coin was a real horses patuit . And in my opinion should have sold you the coin at a discount . I definitely wouldn't tell him a 2nd time . Sorry you lost the coin because of the greed of the dealer .

 

There are two dealers in town. This first dealer doesn't mind you cherrypicking him. He knew what I was doing - we even talked about it. But he doesn't like you throwing in his face after you do so I just never say anything. The second dealer I deal with also doesn't mind that I cherrypick him. We have an agreement that I will tell him what I found but he still charges me the regular price. We both agree....I worked for it, I get it.

 

Its the same dealer Rusty.

 

Haha, I had a local dealer say that I was cherrypicking his inventory.I was buying bust halves, I told him if he wanted me to, I would bring my Overton next time and attribute his bust halves for 30 bucks an hour, He declined my offer, I asked about tokens and picked one out of his 1 buck box, he refused to sell it to me, thinking it was a rarity that I was finding, I told him that the reason I picked it because I liked washington, and had not seen one like his before, but I would research it and get back to him, so I did and told him that the medal was from the 1880s, that the hole and ribbon were original and that ones without ribbons had sold for 20 dollars, which I offered, he did not sell, since then the poor guy cant hardly sell anything, for the fear that he is getting cherrypicked, bout all he ever has for sale now are junque silver I just go through pick out all the 1942s and hope to hit the 42/41 someday

 

But in answer to your question if asked I would honestly tell him I don't know since I check those things usually after the fact, maybe in a few more years I will be able to tell without references at hand, then I will remember the advice about bundling a group of coins. Which seems fair, if you are going to grab a plum you might as well clean out a few pieces of coal for him.

 

LOL! When you're from a small area like I am you may end up with that reputation. There are a few of us that when we start bidding on items in the local auctions, everyone knows something is up. There are two guys in my local coin club that are contributors to the CPG! Yes siree.....the big league there baby! Usually, they don't mess with the little guys like me. I actually went over to one of these guys houses one day to see what they had. They had some nice cherrypicks! I actually picked them and they never knew it. I never said a word. Hehe. I have actually posted that coin on CT before.

 

If the dealer asked, and you said no, than you lied.

Do you really need to ask this question? LYING IS UNETHICAL!!!!!

 

Like vlaha said...Lying is unethical. I always see ethics as a simple "right or wrong" scenario. There's no gray area for me. If it's wrong, it's wrong...SIMPLE!

Bruce

 

So if I didn't know at the time, but later got home and saw that it was the variety then is that ok?

 

I once picked up a set of coins in a mom and pop "we but gold and silver" shop. They mainly deal in junk coins but every now and the he will put some under the counter. I paid the price marked on the coins, which was about half of what it was really worth. I also purchased a few Morgan dollars at close to melt. A couple of months later I ran into the owner. He mentioned the coins that I had purchased and said that he had seen another like it priced at what it was really worth. He asked me if I knew what it was worth when I bought it. I asked him if he knew what it was worth when he bought it and did the seller know the value. He replied that the seller only wanted what he was paying for junk silver. He paid melt for the coins and I paid his price. Do I feel guilty? Not really. The original seller was happy with what he got, the dealer was happy with what he sold the coins for, and I was happy with the price I paid. Since the owner is a businessman, he was actually happy that I found a bargain. I still do business with this dealer and we are still friends. I later found a silver medal he had priced at $30 and went home and researched it. I found that it was worth $150. I called him and told him he needed to reprice the coin, which he did. I also send him business whenever I can.