Coin show negotiating experience

Well, after reading excerpts of The Art of the Deal, my negotiating skills did not pay off and the result was not a win-win situation.

At a table at a show, I saw a 1928 standing liberty quarter in MS63. It was a beautiful coin - shiny, appealing, a nice specimen for the grade. I thought it would be a nice coin to have, so I asked for a price, which was $215. My reaction was of sad surprise. I looked at my gray sheet and I see $155 for this coin. A heckuva delta indeed! I thought $180 was fair and he would not budge. This coin is not all that rare, and he was giving me the lecture that "nice coins cost money, the gray sheet is not accurate, I have $180 invested on this", etc. Here is the thing - if I sold this coin, he would go to his gray sheet and offer $140 at best.

My question is - generally speaking, for this coin that looks nice for the grade, is $215 a little steep of a price?

 

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Probably.......walk away. You did your homework. Let him choke on it.........

 

MS-63 ain't that lovely.

 

Probably. He paid retail but still wants to make a profit which means he'll own it for quite a while unless someone just has to have it.

 

One of the reasons I don't pay much attention to what I paid for coins is that it just isn't relevant. You can sell it for what you can sell it for, no matter what you paid for it. We all try to buy low and sell high, but that doesn't always work out. The best deals I have gotten is where a dealer has a coin for so long he is sick of looking at it and just wants to get some money moving.

 

well it is a common SLQ date.

 

You should have asked him why he paid $180 for it ;-)

 

Smart move to walk away. TC

 

Too bad he would not negotiate - it was nice but there are many out there

 

I don't understand some dealers. I saw a set of a certain date graded American gold eagles on ebay, and the $5 one was toned. I asked what he would sell just the $5 for, and he said he would not break them up. I told him I would pay more for the $5 than it was worth, and he could buy another graded one to complete the set again, but he still would not break them up. Oh well.

 

I have had the same puzzling experiences with dealers and ebay people. There was a coin recently that did not sell at auction with a starting price near $500. I send the person a message asking if they could do $475. They say no. The next day I had an ebay bucks bonus and told them I could now offer the full $500 via a buy-it-now. I never even received a reply!

@Dimedude2 you have the right strategy. Your offer seemed fair. The dealer wasn't in a dealing mood. You gave it your best try and now you can move on to the next coin.

 

As others have said, walking away was the right move. It sounds like the dealer attempted to play hard ball with you, perhaps to see how much you really wanted the coin. Of course he wants to make maximum profit, especially if he sees an interested party. In such cases, walking away remains the only weapon for the price tag shocked. Never get embroiled in a business deal that you don't see yourself potentially walking away from, because you'll likely lose.

Coincidentally, this weekend I paid under $100 for a pretty decent 1928-D Standing Liberty Quarter. I probably overpaid, but this hobby sadly seems to require overpaying once in a while if one wants to get what one wants. Expect often to pay AU prices for XF coins, or VF prices for F coins. Years ago, I purchased a silver 3 cent piece at an XF price and the piece actually looked XF. This rarely happens, at least to me. The dealer looked surprised at the price, written in his own handwriting, then laughed and said "oh yeah, I bought this as a VF."

 

You do realize that "rare" and "nice" are not synonymous, yes? And the guy is right; nice coins often do cost more and the CDN isn't always an accurate or absolute determiner of value, especially for high end for the grade or particularly pleasing examples. It's also perfectly possible that he did have $180 into it, but without being able to see the coin in question, it's impossible to say one way or the other if his expectations were too high or yours possibly too low.

And you know this as unquestionable fact, or is it an assumption? It's all too easy to assume the worst of others, especially when things don't work out as we would've liked. In cases like this where a dealer claims to have X amount into a coin, sometimes it pays to simply ask if he'll stand by said amount as a buyback price if you buy and ever decide to resell (within reason, of course). It's not foolproof, obviously, but you may be surprised at the result.

 

Yeah. They sure are funny. Was watching a coin that ended last night with no bids for $100, forgot about it,they relisted the coin today and I sent a message asking if he would do add a buy it now. He responded with a yes it's a nice coin and he'd put a buy it now of $125 up for me(lucky me, right?)

I relied and said it hadn't sold the last 2 times he's listed it for $100 and would just wait and bid on it next week. He replied with good luck.

 

That is an interesting tactic. I might have to try it at a show at some point. I'd also like to hear if anyone has had success with this. How would you hold the dealer accountable? Written contract or just word of mouth?

 

thanks 5d - the dealer acted as if I was new to this.

 

Yep some dealers are class acts while others can be less than stellar. Most are decent and might just be having a bad day or not selling too many items. I have experienced some that act differently depending on the situation. Sometimes when spot is rising or they have sold a bunch of items, they are in a good mood and ready to deal. Other times the shop might be void of customers and the dealer doesn't want to negotiate. There are plenty of dealers and coins out there that you can always move along and find something else to buy.

 

go Blackhawks!!!

 

I'm not a collector of SLQs but $180 seems to a bit low compared to recent completed sales online. The coin could be nice for the grade, perhaps an upgrade candidate, and the dealer really could have that much already invested. Remember that not all MS63s are created equal.

 

If you didn't think it was a good deal for you, you did the right thing.