Buy directly from the u.s. mint only

Because it is unethical. Selling scratch and dent merch as new is simply unethical.

 

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On nicer older stuff the spread is much smaller than 25-50% as long as you buy right. Besides, I don't collect modern stuff, it just doesn't do it for me.

Besides, I hoard my stuff, not terribly worried about investment potential, OTOH, I did stock up on $20 gold pieces in 2001/2002 when gold was cheap

 

after listening to all the remark made. i still prefer buy directly from the mint. no wonder just for one product along. the mint can sell several tenth or hundredth of millions dollars. that is mean many people are buying from them.

another thing is that the slab companies and the dealers will be close down in the future. people are buying from the e-bay, on-line stores. or much more advance, collectors will buy or exchange products by them self. no more middlemen. collectors are mature enough. this is modern age.

 

Old stuff

A great portion of old stuff is being counterfeited.
China has no law on this item on coins before 1949.
The bases seem to be covered .

 

so far there are nothing important coins we can buy it from the mint. the platinum, gold and silver coins were limited and not being offer again from the mint. we have to wait and see the mint next move.

 

I don't think coin dealers will be disappearing. There are many people who think they know what they have only to learn later that a dealer would have paid them more than what they got.

I know so many love buying from ebay & think selling on there is a great idea but you can just as easily be robbed via ebay.

By the way US mint is not a coin dealer they just make the coins. When they are out they are out. They do not buy & sell coins. Also it doesn't make sense for some one who needs 1 modern coin to be ordering rolls.

By the way don't think customers are so innocent of that either. We had a lady order $65 of State quarters only to accuse us of sending her circulated ones. *sigh*. Although her shipping was free she wanted us to pay for her to ship them back. In the past we have had customers send circulated ones back to us or not even the coin we sent. Not to mention if it's paid with a credit card the dealer lost a percentage at the time the card was ran & now will pay a fee to refund the buyer. Oh and don't get me started on "American Express"! Grrrrr

Buy the way why would the mint sell coins for less value due to it being returned when they refund all but shipping?

Ok getting off the soap box done ranting.

 

Sorry Elaine but you couldn't be further from the truth on this one.
Dealers aren't going to be closing down because of the internet and "mature" collectors. In fact, the internet has helped many of the "stone age" dealers.

The "mature" collectors know that a good dealer is a great asset to them. A good dealer can find the right buyer for that person's coin in many cases much better than ebay can. Dealers know dealers and dealers know people.

Dealers have also had "dealer to dealer" networks since BEFORE ebay came into being. Believe me they are still very active on these networks.

Ebay itself? Many dealers sell and maintain stores there as well as their own web sites. You also have to realize that no matter how huge the internet is there are still millions of coins sitting in homes owned by those that are totally clueless about them.
They are not going to do a ton of research. They'll look for a local coin shop. It is not uncommon for people to drive 50 miles one way to sell coins to us. To them research is calling more than one shop.

Sure some dealers will go under but that's really nothing new. The established dealers are doing just fine believe me. Experience, knowledge and business sense goes a long way in numismatics.

One also has to think where a lot of the "internet" dealers get their coins. Gonna tell you that dealers supply a lot of those folks as well.

Perfect example happened today at work.
My boss is looking for a few Proof Shield Nickels (can't get those from the mint). He knows a dealer about an hour from here that specializes in older proofs. He has a few and a price is given. Boss calls potential customer and this guy is looking for a "gift" price. Waste of time for both dealers in the long run. Basically, find it yourself pal.
So since the boss is talking with the other dealer he asks if he has anything else he might want to move or need.
Turns out he has a ton of proof and mint sets from the late 50's-90's. Many are in packs of five as they were sent to the original owner from the mint. He packs them up and brings them to us in his car.
I sorted these sets for well over an hour. He also had a killer set of Franklin Half proofs and a bunch of common Mercury dimes. We have ready buyers for all of this stuff.
The boss paid him over $11,000 when it was over. So the other dealer moved it fast and made some money. We'll move it and make some money.

Where will it go? One customer buys Mercury dimes in bulk. Another buys the proof and mint sets. Know why he buys those sets? He has a web site and ebay store and we're his main supplier.

So much for the "no middleman" theory. THREE parties will profit from this scenario.

The point is there are many smart dealers out there that utilize all connections and the internet. My boss has run a shop for 42 years now. He's computer illiterate but certainly no fool. He has two computer literate people working for him.
We sell on ebay and have our own website which does quite well actually.

A great deal of rare coins that "come out of the woodwork" end up in dealer's hands and always will. The mint and internet will never replace that.

 

o.k. i learn from you guys. out there. many dealers are good. but so far i did not met any one treat me honestly in new york city. and no one treat me good like i am a customer.

 

Ok this sounds really wrong for me to say but ummm that's because it's NY!

Many of our customers that spend their winter here in FL but live the rest of the year in the NY area say the same.

Some one correct me if I'm wrong but I believe they also have to charge sales tax on the coins they sell.

 

yes. they did charge taxes.

 

that is why i choose to buy direct from the u.s. mint.

 

Ah I see!

For older stuff you may want to check out companies online.

For example Florida doesn't charge sales tax on US coins so regardless of where you live you don't pay sales tax.

If you do decide to look online Watch out on their shipping & return policies.

UPS & Fed-ex shipping is at a min $14 but via the USPS is a couple dollars on up.

 

thanks jgreenhood. if i retire. i might go to florida. i have a lot to sell.

 

That's really a shame but I believe you having read enough threads from other people that are disgruntled with dealers. At least you are open enough to believe that there ARE good dealers out there. Many good dealers actually.

Hopefully, one day you'll run into one of them.

 

Just don't run them over..... !

 

Elaine, you are in NYC ... don't expect deals from any dealer until you've been royally scammed by them. They're out to make a big profit, in part to pay for their overpriced rent; not so you will be their best friend.

I would stick to doing your own research and buying off eBay instead. You won't be judged by the way you look, the way you talk, your personality, etc.

 

They are really hard to deal with. They tell you your coin is coming week after week then pull the carpet out from under you. They are in fact really terrible.

 

I'm not being offensive here but you know what, if you don't like the dealer then don't do business with them. If they say it's on it's way & you don't get it after a week ask for the tracking number. If there's no tracking number then ask for your money back.

Geez way to many threads turn into trashing dealers. Do you see threads trashing the customers? I haven't seen one yet! Why don't you just go order from Littleton. You get what you want and in a timely manner.

It's fine that you deal directly with the mint. But your only going to get current stuff. Which is fine if that's all you want. If you want Morgans, buffalo nickles or mercury dimes your screwed.

Now quite your belly aching and do something about it!

 

wow.

 

LOL! It's not that all dealers are bad but you know when it becomes topic of thread after thread after thread you get sick of it. I think the worse one was the one were some one was upset that they guy had sent him his coins as timely as usual. Came to find out the guy had been very sick.

If you think about what unrealistic constraints are demanded of you at your job then maybe you can imagine how some of the dealers may feel.