Published Price Guides

I traveled almost 2 hours from where I live purposely to a more affluent town with presumably deeper pockets in hopes of getting a more generous offer, knowing their clientele would be more apt to pay their ask price without dickering. Wasn't quite the case.

 

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If you can get a coin at the Coin World price, more power to you.

I use the other two as advisory. Check the auctions. Check what good dealers are asking. I think you’ll get a mental range of a doable price.

And be ready to pay more — not less — for a truly outstanding coin.

 

I never worry about paying an extra 5 or 10% over market for a coin that is somewhat unique (i.e., non-bullion). As long as I'm not paying 20-30% over market.

 

Really ? I don't see it on expensive stuff like gold coins and Saints, and not even on cheaper stuff like MSD's. Markups are there, but not 30% coming and going.

Sure, but 30% on BOTH the bid and ask ? Whatever happened to making it up on volume ?

Hey, my LCS charges much more for 1/10th and 1/4 oz. gold than 1/2 and full-ounce coins, and I expect that. But he's pretty liquid and fair on 1 oz. coins and I wouldn't expect him to be discounting 30% on Walking Liberty's or Franklins if I collected them and needed to sell, and then also charging ME a huge premium if I was buying.

I get it, Doug, but isn't 30% on BOTH the bid and ask excessive ?

Jewelry is kind of unique and there isn't a liquid market beyond the melt or gem value of items. If a Franklin quarter is $200 I would think a dealer should not have to buy it from me at $140 and then resell it at $260.

 

Remember, this was one of my criteria for using the pricing sources I mentioned.
Coins with a value below $100 don't often show up in the results of the major auction houses.
THAT'S when I use the published sources at about the 80% level.
I'll trust them more than eBay results.

 

That makes sense. When something doesn't trade that frequently, a published quote that isn't too dated is a decent approximation of fair value, assuming nothing material has changed in market conditions since.

 

Recently I sold a Mexico 20 peso gold piece. Being this is a commodity bullion item I thought that the buying price would be the same anywhere. I couldn’t have been more wrong. First I tried a couple of shops in downtown Boston while my kids were skating at the Common. The first offered me about 10 percent below melt which I thought was shockingly low. Then the guy at the second shop started with “how much are you expecting to get for it” and then offered a price that was over 100 bucks (!!!) below melt on a half ounce coin. Later I called another shop and got just as low of an offer. To get what I was expecting I ended up having to mail it to a precious metals dealer.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised or upset considering that renting a store in Boston isn’t cheap and these guys need to make a living somehow. Even with the markups they are charging it’s amazing that they can stay in business when comparing with markups in other brick and mortar stores like jewelry, clothing etc.

 

Hello Louis,
I'm a relatively new member too.
Although I'm generally happy to sit on the sidelines and learn from the knowledgeable members of this forum, I thought it might be useful to point out that paying 30% less than Greysheet and selling 30% above will give a profit margin of almost 86%, not 60%.
Just thought you should know.​

 

Price guides are of value if and only if you are buying and selling commodity coins. By that I mean slabbed Morgans and Saints. Maybe you can add slabbed Longacre double eagles, Peace dollars and late date Walkers to this list.

Pretty much anything else - what I would call collector coins - are worth one increment more than the person who wants it second most at the time is willing to pay.

 

This is very, very true.

However, I still use guides and auction archives to guess what the other person might be willing to pay.

 

This is a truism that many collectors just don't understand. And probably most that don't understand it work for someone else and don't have their own business.

It all depends on what the coin is. If it is a key date in a popular series and I have difficulty keeping it in stock and will sell in a few days, then yes it would be excessive.

If it is a coin I already have several of and it is going to sit in my case for a year or more before it finally moves along then my money, which I could be using to buy faster moving more profitable items, is going to be tied up for a long time and I need that much larger spread to justify it.

 

In my opinion the publications are generally a joke, as I follow the "real market" based on actual sales, regardless of who's negotiating (i.e. dealers versus collectors).

I believe you'll generally find the the majority of dealers have a copy with them, hoping to locate that uninformed individual who might sell his coins based upon believed hyperbole.

I have yet to locate a "quality Gold coin" even close to CDN pricing, and the CAC pricing is almost ludicrous relative to actual published sales I've seen for MS scarce Gold coins.

They should be sellers, as I know of many who'd purchase at their published pricing. I may be incorrect, but, SIGN ME UP!!

JMHO

 

Happy new year, folks!

In my opinion most of you are too focused on the price guides. I usually pay close to or even slightly above price guide for a premium quality classic US coin. And guess what, I am happy with my purchases

 

I generally offer 80-85 pct of CDN bid on slabbed material offered me at my table at shows which is generous after auction juice if u blow out at auction.

Many sellers like deer in headlights when it comes to selling. With the bids in the sheet dropping or stagnant (this has been going for a long time) there is no incentive for me pay more. Everybody knows the US Coin market stalled and could drop further.

 

Anybody who thinks selling is as quick and easy as walking into a dealers shop and getting a nice fair offer is delusional. You buy things on ebay and there is a large markup to cover the sellers costs of using ebay. You go to trade or sell to a dealer, (assuming its a highly desirable piece their even willing to purchase from you), the offer will be much less than you're expecting.

If you want remotely close to what you bought at, you need to sell to the public yourself and WAIT. That doesn't mean you get to decide to sell something tomorrow and walk away with your cash. It may take all year for someone to come along that wants what you have at your asking price! Maybe even after a little negotiating. People are cheap! Dealers have over head! You're always fighting a current buying and selling. Most smart sellers are doing what you have to do and sitting on product until they get what they want. Very few collectors appreciate what coins are actually worth and are able to pay.

I will say ebay is expensive because people don't want to eat the fees. They want what they want after the sale and you pay the extra fees. I bought a type coin at a show recently that a dealer had listed on ebay for $800. In person at the show, he let it go for $600. It was a barber and absolute bottom dollar. I saved a screen shot on my phone.
I bought another coin off ebay a couple years ago for $1525. Highly desirable. Had a dealer offer me $1k for it. Passed. Ended up selling on ebay for $1375. So I lost fees out of that too. Still more than the dealer, (but not a lot more) and obviously less than I had in it. To buy it, the original seller wouldn't budge off price. So what's the value of the coin? They'd probably still have it for sale at the same price if I hadn't bought it originally. If you want it you pay. If not, no sale. No way to know what the value is other than a "range".

I've found I can usually break even or close if I need to. Shows is where it's at. Auction sites are convenient but you pay for that convenience and don't expect to get it all back if you need to sell. For most it's a hobby. To some it's a business. The motives and ambitions of the two parties are not the same. I never buy anything with the intention of selling later and rarely do. But it doesn't hurt to sell once in a while just to find out what people are willing to pay to help guide your buying. Happy new year all.