For profit, do dealers mark up their prices by percentage or dollar amount? as in, do they sell coins for say 15% over true value or just add a certain amount for each series?
Now thats a good question. But from what i have seen. Its both a percentage for some of there stock and other times its just a little more then the dealer paid for the item they are selling. It pretty much comes down to a mix of what they spend and what it costs them. I mean there is not a set standerd. From what i have seen at my local dealer do. I do know he marks things up knowning that a lot of people will talk him down. He told me once, that it all comes down to cost and worth.
Most dealers around me try and make a 10% profit but that is getting tougher. I offered a guy 940 per 20 lib today as I was going to sell them for 953. I would of spent over 14k and made 195 but some other dealer that the guy didn't tell me and I didn't ask offered him about 50 dollars more then me. With prices of gold and silver at these very high levels dealers are spending more and more but not making as much as the used to. I use to make 50 to 60k a year 15 years ago. Now I still make that but I have to work twice as hard and my money is worth half of what it use to be.
It depends upon the dealer, the type of coin and whether the dealer bought the coin cheaply or not, among other factors. For example, some dealers typically work on much smaller (or larger) mark-ups than others. And certain coins, such as generic gold type coins often trade at smaller margins than other more esoteric and/or less frequently traded and/or rarer coins. Also, if a dealer buys a coin cheaply he might justifiably mark it up more than if he had to stretch to buy it. The (edited for spelling) important thing for a collector shouldn't be the dealer's mark-up, but rather, whether the collector is getting the coin at a reasonable price or not. One dealer might mark up his coin by only 10%, but if he paid too much for it, the price could be higher than from another dealer who bought the same coin at a low price and marked it up 20%.
Now that, that I should blow up to 20 point type and make it a sticky ! Who cares what the dealer makes off the coin ? The above is all that matters !
PLEASE don't do that.....I see that I had a typo in my (mis)spelling of "important":whistle: :desk: :hammer: :headbang:
dealers need to pay for tables, parking, lunch, and carry an inventory. if they have a coin i'm interested in buying and the price is fair, then i'm fine with them making a profit - i'd prefer it wasn't a 200% profit, but sometimes dealers get lucky and find high value coins for next to nothing... i know i have. -Steve
Actually in reality that is so true. Regardless of how much a dealer makes on a sale, if you as a collector got a great or good deal, so what if he charged even 10 times what he paid for that coin. Many professional dealers have codes on the 2x2's or slabs to let them know what they paid. Imagine if a dealer purchsed a coin 10 years ago for $1 and sold it to you for $10 but the coin is now worth $100. Should you complain he is making to much profit?
Its gets really tough for dealers as collectors want nice coin at a fair price to purchase. Well dealers have to get that coin somewhere and they have to pay some thing. More and more collectors are using grey sheet numbers which is what dealers pay. So dealers start to pay less and no one sells them any thing. It is a real balancing act of paying strong and selling cheap.
Why do coin collectors seem to have it in for their dealers? This thread is pretty levelheaded, but I've seen enough posts where dealers are expected to live in shacks and eat lentils.
I agree. I have learned this over the past six months. Collectors come in with coins to see and want to sell them at Trends money. Then when I go to shows, the collectors pull out their greysheets and want to pay bid for the coins. One major problem with price buyers is that some collectors (and dealers for that matter) do not understand that some coins cannot be purchased at Greysheet levels. Look at the wholesale greysheet levels for MPL Lincolns, for example, and tell me where I can purchase coins at those prices.
