Has anyone ever had any luck making offers on coins at David Lawrence? Do you go a little lower in your bid hoping they meet you somewhere in the middle or do you come out better if you stick to their "suggestion": We are happy to receive any reasonable offer. The majority of successful offers fall within 5-10% of our asking price. If your offer falls well below our cost, the system will automatically reject your offer and you may offer again. All 'pending' offers are examined by one of our numismatists. Does it matter on the coin in question? Thanks.
Every coin I've ever bought from them on their site or on eBay was an offer. They have accepted 60% of my offers, and countered on the other 40%. If you make a reasonable offer, they will get back to you quickly with either an acceptance or a counter. If you low-ball them, they probably will just decline.
All my coins purchased at David Lawrence was on a best offer--I have never paid their list, or I have won an auction from them. I would agree with the above comment that more than half of my offers were accepted immediately. The others were countered within a day. I don't lowball, so I don't get rejected---the offer I make is reasonable for both parties.
OK, now actually answer the guys question and tell him what % of their ask you offered ? Was it 5% below ask, 10% below ? What ?
I've made a few offers before. I'm just trying to figure out if it is better to come in with higher offers than my low-ball hail-mary-type numbers. 1878-S Trade$ PCGS AU53 List price: $450.00 My Offer: $350.00 (22.2% discount) Counter-offer: $415.00 Result: 7.8% less than original asking price ----------------------------------------- 1942 50c PCGS MS65 List price: $120.00 My Offer: $80.00 (33.3% discount) Counter-offer: $110.00 Net Result: 8.3% less ----------------------------------------- 1942 50c PCGS MS65 List price: $120.00 My Offer: $80.00 (33.3% discount) Counter-offer: $110.00 Net Result: 8.3% less ----------------------------------------- 1875-S 20c PCGS F12 List price: $165.00 My Offer: $135.00 (18.2% discount) Counter-offer: $155.00 Net Result: 6.1% less I *think* this shows me that it's better to go in low?
In my opinion, lowball offers are incredibly insulting. Imagine yourself the seller--what would you think of the lowballing buyer? On E-bay, when I have had best offers that were lowballs, I rejected them across the board immediately, and tried my best NOT to deal with that buyer. Make an offer that is respectful of the dealer (David Lawrence), and yourself. Why waste time?
Coming from a seller's point of view, I agree. I received some very valuable advice earlier today that it is better to make a fair offer and build a relationship with the dealer. I wish that my experience was different; that making extremely low offers did NOT produce a lower net price. It is the "flea market" mentality where people are expecting to haggle, so they set the price high to start with. If my bank account will handle it, I will be taking the advice on making a fair offer. I hope that it doesn't bite me in the butt.
Your bank account did not benefit--David Lawrence doesn't inflate prices. Don't be so stubborn, and make a fair offer--if you got it for a lowball, then they were desperate on that particular coin. I generally look at how long the coin has been in their inventory, and make my offer accordingly (but NEVER a lowball). Personally, I'd rather NOT buy the coin than make a lowball, and the dealers with whom I deal feel the same way--so when it comes to selling, I have never been lowballed, as I treat them the way I'd like to be treated.
I didn't think your offers were low. Your offers on the Trade Dollar and 20 Cent Piece were quite a bit higher than items sold recently in Heritage Auction Archives. Assuming the coins didn't have superb eye appeal, the offers on those two coins were quite fair.
All I meant by that was that this is going to be a huge purchase for me; the largest I have ever made. So I'm just a bit nervous, that's all.
I understood that. You may want to call them if this is a large purchase. Let them know you are very serious about the coin but that your reasonable first offer is also your max offer, and to please be thoughtful in their deliberations. Let them know you are interested in establishing a long term relationship based off this purchase, it may help.
They also run coins on consignment so you have to take that into consideration on how low they will go. 13% is the lowest I've had accepted, and some where they could only come down 3%.
I've gotten 10% off. offers on coins that have been sitting in inventory a bit obviously are more apt to get to 10%. most weekends at DLRC are already 5% off, so my 10% is really only 5% off what I can get the coin for alot of days in a given month.
Here is this first offer I ever made at DLRC: 1930 25c PCGS/CAC AU58 Standing quarter type coin. CAC approved for quality and eye appeal. List price: $125.00 Your Offer: $110.00 You saved 12.0%! And #2: 1912 5c NGC/CAC MS63 - Colorful Toning CAC approved for quality and eye appeal. List price: $160.00 Your Offer: $135.00 You saved 15.6%! an offer I DIDNT take, but should probably have: 1852 3cS PCGS/CAC AU58 CAC approved for quality and eye appeal. List price: $235.00 Your Offer: $180.00 Our Counter-offer: $220.00 That's a savings of 6.4%! Another one I DIDNT take: 1860 1c PCGS/CAC AU53 (Pointed Bust) Scarce Variety Scarce variety. CAC approved for quality and eye appeal. List price: $250.00 Discounted Price: $232.50 Your Offer: $185.00 Our Counter-offer: $225.00 That's a savings of 10.0%!
I have been happy with all my DLRC coins. There are a few quirks I've found though. More often than not, if I make an offer at 10% off list I will get an immediate approval or get approved within a few hours. Mostly. Their photos are scans and don't always do the coins justice. I've called for clarification on photo questions and they seem to be fairly honest when talking to them. They will tell you what they have in it and if they've had it a while they will settle for a minor profit. The only quirk I've seen is if I find one of their coins on ebay then look at their web site for the same coin. Example might be a coin on ebay at $225 with a regular price of $250 on their site with it discounted to $237.50 on their site. I see that they will take $225 on ebay and knowing they have to pay a seller fee I will offer $215 on their site. They will reject and counter at $230. That's more than the ebay buy it now. I either just opt out or wait till after the weekend to call them if I still want it. I think the most I've ever gotten is about a 13-15% reduction on a coin in their inventory for a while. I am always happy with their service and their coins look better in hand than in the photos. Keep in mind that they offer free shipping and a return policy. When you compare to heritage prices I don't think they accept returns on auctions but I may be wrong. They also have shipping charges that average about $10-15 dollars and it can take weeks to get your coins from HA where DLRC ships very fast.
I have made offers twice on David Lawrence - both were accepted. I found the record on one and I saved 19.1%. I think both my offers were fair for the coins. I use this on Northeast also.
I've only looked at the gold coins they have on ebay. from the pics they all look from low end for the grade to crappy. maybe it's the photos? with the return policy maybe I'll try an offer and see what I get. I just hate having to send coins back.
There photos are bad, but they have coins that range from low-end to extremely high-end, with prices to match. They are a very good company, don't be fooled by mediocre photos. A lot of companies have way worse pics.
