Do they really sell out when they say they do? (We only have 400 sets, and they're 60% gone! ... and then I watch as the ticker tick its way toward their magic "sellout" number) Goodness they're full of crap.. heh. (No, I'm not about to buy anything from HSN Just watching for the heck of it..) And 2007 Uncirculated Mint Sets being sold already, "First Day Of Issue." They had "thousands!" of sets graded, 297 sets graded "SP69". These are ICG graded. There're 28 coins in a set, let's say 1500 sets, or 42,000 coins. How is it humanly possible for ICG to have competently graded 42,000 coins in ONE DAY? That seems rather excessive... Even at 10 seconds per coin (pulled that number out of my rear. I've no clue how long it takes to grade a coin), that's almost 117 hours, or about 15 people grading for 8 hours nonstop. And Presidential dollars? PF70 sets! Buy now! There's a 99% chance they're going to move the edge lettering off the edge next year! 99%! ... I was under the impression they already decided to keep the edge lettering? Was I imagining things when I heard this? See, this is what happens when no sports are on -- I end up watching HSN. Yikes...
vwap: Well, you have found the major fault with HSN (Honestly Stupid Numbskulls) -- the problem is that they are on the air.
That show is the modern day 3 Stooges...except that the Big Guy has shaved his head! My wife knows nothing of collecting and even laughs at the show!! His voice is like an alarm clock she says!! RickieB
I know it's very popular to bash HSN around here, but I think they probably do more good than harm. It's true that their coins are overpriced, usually by a factor of 2. But somewhat offsetting that is the fact that it is nicely packaged, they put sets together that the average viewer would have trouble accumulating, and they introduce people to collecting. So while they overcharge, that isn't always the most serious problem with collecting. Keep in mind who the audience is, that most HSN viewers are not serious hobbyists, and probably don't know how else to buy the coins. I think they would probably get ripped off worse by walking into many coin shops than they do buying from HSN.
How long do you think a coin shop ripping people off that much would stay in business? The majority of brick and mortar shop customers are far more knowledgeable than the folks who become victims of the TV shopping networks.
All I can say is I am extremely disappointed in the Coin Vault Show. I kind of had a bet with myself on who would get the Liberty Spouse coins on their Show first. HSN or The Coin Vault. I just knew chambers would come through. Not only did laurel and Hardy of HSN get the Liberty Spouse coin first but they beat The big guy (no socks) and friends of The Coin Vault with the mint set. Now that I try not to think about it, I have not seen the liberty spouse on The Coin Vault. What a bummer
Just the other night, they were selling a group of 10 pre-21 Morgans in what they guaranteed to me MS-62 or better for $399. I was surpised beacause $40.00 each is actually not too bad for Unc Morgans.......it's not a bargain, but it's about the retail price I would expect to see for pre 21 coins. Now, whether or not the coins the customers will receive will be Unc or not is a whole different story.
So you get a bunch of commons for $40 each? That's $800 per roll! I think I can do much better than that and slabbed to boot (by a real grading service).
Around me, apparently decades. I have to admit that my experience has been that certain coin dealers rank right up there with the most dishonest people that I've ever run into in any line of work or profession. As a result, I now do most of my buying through a few internet dealers that operate with integrity. That's just the way it is. I'm not saying that HSN doesn't overcharge. I'm saying that the average HSN viewer purchasing a gift or just making a single purchase very possibly won't be able to do any better.
There is one dealer in my area who consistantly overcharges for all of his coins, and everyone is overgraded by at least one grade. We had an arguement at a coin show one day, a friend asked me to look at a coin for him. The dealer started to yell at me that I wasn't allowed to look at his stuff. So, I offered to remove his front teeth. By the way, this same guy was thrown out of one show necasue he ripped off a little kid, and another for cheating a customer. Now most of his sales are from advertising in Coin World and (possibly) selling on eBay. I did manage to get him baned form another coin show, I know the show's owner, and explained what happened. So, sometimes the bad guys lose, sometimes they win.
I must say that HSN lured me into buying the Westward Nickel collection for about double the price of its real worth. I enjoy watching the show but haven't bought anything since. They really do make coin collecting sound so interesting. I love collecting but a lot of my friends would find it boring. I give them an A for marketing and a D for price. I've seen worse pricing at auctions from the really uninformed.
At least Littleton grades accurately the majority of the time...you can't say the same thing for HSN. But, both are grossly overpriced.
I use to watch those shows a lot. At one time these shows were really good at putting me to sleep. Not to long ago I was watching HSN coin show and went into what they call sleep paralysis. You are kind of in a hypnotic dream state where you are half sleep and half way awake and you are aware of things around you but really can not do anything about it. Kind of like the people who think they were abducted by aliens. Anyhow while in this semi conscious state, I dreamed I bought a bunch of gold plated state quarter sets. I have not watched the show since. What a nightmare.
:rolling: They have a sale on The Obama collector coins. The coins have plastic stickers on them. Geez, their not even painted on. What a rip. I think I'll buy me a few sets before the inauguration day (early releases):goofer: Bruce
All I can say is I have lost any respect I had for ANACS. Last night on HSN they were selling 2009 Silver Eagles graded MS70 limited to 11,000. The ANACS holder showed the 2009 ASE as being coin number 5 of 11,000. It was a 2008 coin in the 2009 holder. So ANACS knows they are going to grade 11,000 MS70 ASE's in less than a weeks time and before they are even submitted? Ridiculous.