Coin Dealers Love 'em or Hate 'em

I've had a pretty good relationship with my local coin dealer for the past 10 years or so. He is now retiring and moving south in about a month and closing his shop and selling the building. This got me thinking about the next dealer I will be frequenting. There are a couple of shops a little further away that I sometimes use but I got the idea to get Bob's opinion on which one was best before he retired knowing that he is familiar with most of them.
Never have I heard someone so critically describe other members of their own trade with such vitriol and at the end refuse to recommend any of them. I had my own ideas anyway but this situation sort of reinforced my overall opinion of the people that own these coin shops. I've never really liked them but found them a necessary evil and I have loved being able to buy directly from other collectors on eBay as I've learned which ones to trust.
How is your local coin dealer if you have one and is your guy as negative and disparaging towards other deals as mine is/was?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I have a lot of negs for some local dealers.

And a few are great guys.

More of the first than the second.

 

Coin dealers are akin to bankers, attorneys, funeral home directors and finally politicians. There are exceptions to the rule, but generally they are of rather low esteem in my humble opin.

 

i agree with the above. in fact, i have my own little ranking system. there are carnies(circus workers) that are fairly low, then you have gun show dealers and coin dealers tied for next lowest. they are slimey, shady and crooked people(from my experiences) and i dont like buying from them. my favorite line, and i got a few of these this weekend, is the guy selling like 10 dollars of mercury dimes claiming "these were never searched." Really, you are telling me they have NEVER been looked through? then he turned to his partner after i walked to the next table and said " i already pulled out the good ones."

 

Ive had good and bad experiences with my coin dealers, although I would have to say I would not collect coins if I had to only go though these guys. Not enough selection, NEVER enough people in the store to help everyone so a trip takes an hour and a half at the least. just a pita to deal with.

 

LOL! :mouth: Ain't it the truth? I think if you put some of these coin dealers in a room with used car dealers and locked the door, some lower form of life would eventually slither out from under the door and seek out wallets to suck on. Then again I have met a couple of really nice guys in the business.

 

There is a coin shop that is 6 blocks from my home, but I avoid it because of how they have treated me in the past.

I think it is a good idea to get your favorite dealer's opinion and I would respect that until proven otherwise (by the new dealer).

Best of luck!

It seems that dealers with a shop can get complacent whereas I have had much better luck with friendly dealers at coin shows - maybe they are just on their best behavior then?

 

Suppose your coin dealer tried to sell out or sell off to the other dealers and they gave him an offer of face value?

 

And that is sort of the irony of old Bob. He isn't selling off his inventory, he is just going to do coin shows exclusively from now on mostly in the Southwest. I'm not sure Bob has a "best behavior". :whistle:

 

Careful, careful, careful what you guys say around here. There are dealers among us. Sure, all the dealers I know personally are snakes in the grass but once a while back, I made the mistake and compared them to used car dealers and got a good ribbing on this very forum (the comparison wasn't the mistake, the mistake was actually saying it publicly). Apparently, a dealer or two on here are actually used car dealers and didn't like hearing the comparison.

Just be careful what you say boys..at times the dealers out number the normal folks and can certainly out flame the collectors here when they gang up on you ...so ..it's ok to be disgruntled and we all know the truth ..but just be diplomatic in how you all spell it out. Dealer bashing can get you in a heap of trouble around these parts.

Go in peace.

 

There's one I went to as a kid that I don't like going to. The people seem very nice, but they're always trying to be deceptive with what exactly something is (downplaying something you have and trying to buy it on the cheap or tooting the proverbial horn of some junk they have for sale as something it just really isn't).

Then there's another one nearby where the guy (the owner) is great. Exceedingly honest, not a ripoff artist at all. I generally go there to buy & sell silver. He pays spot for silver and sells for a small upcharge. What he sells, generally is similarly priced to what you'd pay on ebay, and he'll tell you more about your own coinage than you know may yourself (if you're not an expert), rather than try to take customers for fools. So I guess it all depends if you find a good one

 

This is where I will tip my hat to my local dealer. He really would not say anything bad about the other local dealer(really only two in my area) when I ask him what they thought. I also know he does not like TPG's, but will still be professional when discussing them. The best part is if he retires one of his sons will take over - I get along real good with both of them. The big difference, to me at least, is they will talk with you and not at you. As a matter of fact everyone in the shop is friendly and will help you understand the coin you are looking at.

 

i am not worried about it. if the dealers conduct honest business then they should either keep out of it or move on. i think that a majority of people have low opinions on "dealers" of any kind, and that has exploded since the internet where i, the consumer, can pull up what the invoice price to the dealer of lets say cars costs them. when i see someone else going "hey, dont lump us all together" i kinda think... why would they go out of their way to say that? i am sure there are good dealers out there, but they are few and far between. morals and honesty have gone down the drain in the last 20 years. i am not old enough to speak what they were like before that. either way, i dont trust them.

i especially love the "free market" guys who come along and anything anyone says about dealers being rip offs, or overcharging/under paying for items is a "commie" or hates the free market. i love the free market, i dont want govt getting involved... however, there is a line that should be understood about treating people fairly and not trying to steal every freakin dollar that person has. example, paying 100 dollars for a 1oz GAE when the person has no idea what it is.

 

I'm gonna step up and speak for myself... being a dealer.

There is SOME truth being spoken here. Some of the biggest slimeballs I know are coin dealers... but there are a lot of decent, fair, and honest people in this buisness as well. I am reading a lot of generalizations in this thread. Generalizing an entire group weather it's by race, belief, or in this case occupation is an ignorant way to make a point. I dont personally take offense to what is being said because I believe that a lot of it is true... but to say that we are ALL bad... well that's just not correct.

 

Hey Duch! I'm sure that you're a great coin dealer going by some of your posts. No offense intended. Like I said, I have met a couple of very nice guys out there. They tend to be so few and far between that they just stand out. I'm glad that there are people like you out there in the biz!

 

No doubt that some of them are sleazy but I think you will find that in all areas. My fav store is my fav because they will occasionally give me a few dollars off and they have fair gold prices. My fav store is also owned by two ppl. There's one guy I enjoy doing business with and the other one I will pass on. It's not even b/c he's sleazy either, he's just a bit different. He's the type of guy who thinks his don't stink.

 

Just think years ago, you really had no alternative to the local coin shop. Now we have the internet. I kind of upset my local dealer when I mention that I also go to the internet to get some coins. They don't seem to like to hear that. I don't care, it's a free market. They seem to always have the upper hand in their business. It's like being in Vegas. They always have the advantage. The one thing I like about the local shop, is I can look and hold the coin. Then if I want it, it's immediate. I recently did a transaction on the internet and had to wait about one week to get the coins. It was fro Arizonia Jack, so I was happy when I got the coins, just did not like the wait. I suppose to the more shops you frequent, the better the chance of having a bad experiance.

I am still laughing my butt off on Moen135's comment about locking them in a room. Now I don't care who you are, that is funny.

 

Actually LD is one of the exceptions I noted in my original post, I have bought several very nice items from him and gotten awesome deals from him. And I still refuse to sell back the 1880 Proof Half he sold me a couple of years ago, not going at most any price

 

I remember that beaut!!! Nice coin!

 

Strongly agree.

If people actually have such low opinions as they're espousing here, why be in the hobby ?

Overall, I have a very positive opinion of the folks I've worked with. The only thing that concerns me a little is, industry-wide, folks play their cards close to the chest, if you know what I mean.

Other than that, all I can say are "Caveat Emptor" !!!