About the grade guarantee. We have a thread about mentors here, and I used my ace in the hole on this one. A gentleman whom I will not name, but considered as one of the finest dealers there is. Decades of experience as a buyer, seller, a grader at NGC, his list of accomplishments in the industry is a long one. He has posted here on occasion, and I have bought coins from him. I called him this morning for advise. I'll paraphrase " While the intentions are honerable and great, I am against it period " Too many risks with no potential upside. In a nutshell, this has been tried before and failed quickly. Your coins that grade out go unnoticed, they sell. You only get the losers back, and keep in mind, you are NOT in control of the graders, the graders moods, the graders whims. Even if you KNOW a coin is solid, that means NOTHING to the graders. Another prominent HUGE dealer tried this and had to stop it after about 3 months when the company started to hemmorage cash. Thats top of the line folks, it didn't work for him, and it won't be any different for me. The advise I received today was this: Sell great stuff and offer a great return, thats the best you can do. Anything else would be financial suicide. Therefore, I will learn from " Ace's" experience and retract my new policy before it starts. Oh, yeah folks, the banners have to chage too , we need to leave that part off.
I have to say I think you are making a wise decision. I read your original post on this and I had doubts from the beginning. There are sellers on ebay that get higher prices for their coins because of there reputation and standing behind what they sell. If you're not one of those this is the avenue to head for in my opinion. Easy to do , just takes time. Maybe your already there, I don't know your site. I think another option you could consider(maybe you do this already) is to guarentee return postage (postage only) if a buyer is unsatisfied and the buyer did not tamper with or remove from the flip or whatever you sent it in.
Jack, I have to agree with your decision. It's pretty much common and accepted for stamp dealers to do this with regards to PF Certificates, but that's more of a guarantee against faults or the stamp/cover/etc coming back other than Genuine. The PF does not specify a grade. But selling with a grade guarantee, you're asking for it, plus you'll have people taking serious advantage of you. They'll cherrypick your inventory, send it all to NGC or PCGS, and know that whatever they don't make out on they can return to you. (Insert bad word here) that.
I have no problem with the retraction. I think it is the right decision and you gave very good reasons.
Remember that grade guarentee he was going to do offer with his coin business? To help set him apart from the rest? That is what he is talking about retracting, lol. Phoenix
I think you are making a good decision, Jack. I think I was the first to question your grade guarantee when you asked for opinions. I think there are too many risks and very, very little to gain by going down that road.
In my opinion Jack does not need this guarantee - he meets my definition of an honest dealer. Reasonable prices, good communication - plus he does his best to give honest descriptions of coins. I have bought coins from dealers that I do not think are cleaned, the dealer does not think is cleaned and NGC or PCGS does think are cleaned. I don't blame the dealer(these are not ebay dealers - respectable dealers) for the TPG's opinion. Too me others want to blame the dealer and that is not always the case, nor is it fair. Again, this is just my opinion.
It did sound like a good deal at the time, but your dealer friend makes a lot of sense. From what I have seen your coin will do fine without the guarantee. And I think you will try your best to make buters happy with or without the guarantee.
Jack, That sounds like good advice and you are wise to take it! On your Banners, you could use "Mesa Coin where you receive quality Lincolns at bargain prices". Frank
I concur. Jack, you have always strived and succeeded in doing the right thing with your coin sites and sales. You've made the right decision so proceed ahead and all will work out OK for you. Bruce
Jack, Did you see the thread about your ace in the hole on the NGC forum. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the title of the thread claiming he died. Then I realized Victor was having a little fun with everyone with that thread. FWIW, I didn't think you ever needed such a guarantee. As long as you sell quality material and stand behind your coins, you will be fine. That type of gimmick won't attract honest buyers but it will invite the scammers and grifters.
Yes Paul, there was a similar thread at PCGS today, funny, because I had just hung up with him, he was at the airport, kind of freaked me out.
