So discouraged

Hey all. So, today was the day that I finally decided I have to sell most of my collection. I have bills due and money is short.

edited and a few other odds and ends. Retail is about 3k in total.

I did my due diligence. I researched local coin places and investors, read reviews, checked the BBB and so forth. I’ve be n doing that for about five months now.

Going into it, I know when you sell a collection, you will never get retail value. I was realistic in realizing that I would likely get $1500-2k at absolute best. Everyone needs room to make money. So I picked a place and made an appointment.

What I wasn’t expecting is the well known, well established, and recognized coin expert to examine everything… and offer $650. My jaw hit the floor. I politely told him we aren’t even in the same neighborhood… thank you for your time. He then says “lemme look to see if I missed anything”. He starts looking again and says laughing “oh… I didn’t even notice the edited”. I was literally shaking at this point. His offer went up to 1k….. but by this time, I realized i had picked the wrong company. I was hoping for a little respect. I was hoping for realistic numbers that both put money in my pocket that is desperately needed…. And let them make money too.

sadly…. I just walked away. Discouraged… disappointed…. And disgusted.

 

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Sadly this happens A LOT at LCS and dealer tables at shows especially if youre younger or they think youre just selling an inherited collection type thing. Theres a reason why auction houses and places like eBay are so popular, even with the fees you often end up with higher prices.

That said if youre going to sell to a shop dont bring everything at once like that. Do the wheats on their own, the bigger items like the edited on its own etc. The more you bring the more they try and discount it usually.

 

“oh… I didn’t even notice the edited” Yeah, right...
Have you considered selling them individually here?

 

I wouldn't sell coins to any coin dealers or companies because they won't buy for anywhere near retail price, which you found out the hard way. I would sell on eBay or even the "For Sale" forum on cointalk... Or both. That way you don't get ripped off.

 

With a retail estimate of $3000, what do folks here think a fair offer would be? $2000 - $2500?

 

The least they pay you, the more they will make in profit when they flip it. Sorry to hear about the situation. Society has become so greedy it's sickening actually. I've gone through this myself with my other hobby (radio controlled aircraft). I've had a few little goodies to sell and can't sell them for hardly anything. It's actually worth it for me to just save these things and in the future I can use them when I need to replace components that go bad or get damaged in aircraft that I currently fly.

 

I have to agree with others here. Sadly, the business model for most coin shops is that their profit margin comes mainly from how low they can buy. Coins to a large degree are worth what they are worth, with some selling expenses. Its how low can they acquire them will dictate their profit margins, so they concentrate on getting that input as low as possible.

I just went over this with my wife, telling her who to ship my collection to if something happens to me. Mine is large enough I am sure most auction firms would handle, so I just told her who to contact and ship to, and then wait a year or so for a check.

If I were you, I would research prices and post here. No fees, and you can always check references. You could decide if you wanted to split the edited up or not. There are more people than you think who buy here who have more than a couple of nickels to rub together. I have bought multiple thousands here, (mainly for the kids).

 

You did the right thing by walking away. The less the buyer will give you means more money in their pocket at a later date. I don’t know your situation but I’d do everything I could to keep the coins and find money elsewhere. I’ve been there once, it’s not nice but I never sold a single coin. It was worth the effort. Best wishes and don’t have anything to do with this dealer. I might add that he may have sensed your situation and tried to take advantage. There is a buy, sell or trade forum on CT. Think about what is happening in your life and view all options before making a decision.

 

There's a guy at our local shows who is my go-to guy when I want to sell common Morgans. Here's why.

I take him batches, with some culls, some circulated problem-free, some low MS, and occasionally a nicer MS, all raw. He classifies them and offers a price for each class. It's low enough that he can still make some profit selling them, but consistently higher than anybody else I've tried to sell to.

At one show, when silver was pretty low, he was going through a roll or two stating how much he'd offer for each -- $18, $18, $16 (wire-brushed), $20, $160, $18... "Hang on, back up", I said, "what was that $160?" He handed me a circulated 1881-CC that I'd mistakenly put in with the others. It was still a fair price, but I wanted to hang on to that one.

THAT's the guy I go to, and that's the guy I direct friends to.

Now, having said that, if by $3000 "retail" you mean "Red Book prices", I'm guessing $1.5K is probably the ceiling for what you could expect to get. I don't know your experience level, but if you haven't been buying and selling for a while, you're likely to get some bad surprises where a coin you thought was MS-63 is actually cleaned and ungradeable -- or even surprises in the opposite direction, where something you thought was nothing special is actually highly desirable.

You've got your first experience now trying to sell the collection. You've also learned something important about that dealer -- at my most generous, I'd say he has very poor attention to detail, at least when it comes to making honest offers. Try some others. Try shopping the coins around at a show, where dealers know they're competing with one another. DON'T bother with pawn shops (I'm sure you already knew that). Do consider using the BST forum here.

 

It would perhaps draw more attention if there were some photos of the different groups. I would not be interested in Lincoln cents other than specific varieties myself but many would. You get one post a week in For Sale forum or one a day if you are a sponsor . Jim

 

There's no one answer to that. Fair would be a lot higher for 1 3k coin then 100 30 dollar coins. In this case hes probably going to just have to spend the wheats but without knowing what else is there and what grades whether theyd be details or not etc its impossible to say. What can be said for sure though is no matter what is in the collection $650 is way to low if it really is a 3k value

Any offer less than half of somethings value is just someone trying to rip you off. The only real exception would be is if they explain they have no interest in the item and could make an offer if you wanted but that it would be really low. Better dealers will generally just pass on making an offer in such cases instead of making an insultingly low offer

 

The work in finding a retail buyer for coins like that is great. Who would do the work to sell that stuff "retail"? You? eBay awaits.

Most dealers do not have customers who want loads of essentially uncollectible stuff. Hoarders want to do their own hoarding, not pay above 1 cent for a wheat cent. So any dealer is thinking "Can I flip it for more?" I doubt any dealer is expecting to sell it retail (Who buys what you have retail? Did you?). I hope you enjoyed assembling it. That is where the most of the value lies--your past enjoyment.

CT has a large group of potential buyers. Describe it well, add some photos, and try selling it on the "For sale" forum. If you get bites, I bet they are wondering if they can flip it at a profit. Almost no one wants that stuff for what it is. They want it for potential profit. That's why "retail" is close to meaningless because everyone realizes they can't make a profit if they buy it at retail. If you can get $1000 for $3000 "retail" of low-value stuff I think you should be very happy that the burden of possession of that stuff has become someone else's problem.

 

Always deal with a reputable company, I have only deal with a couple companies
that I know are honest and have always treated me fairly, my LCS I have been with
for about 15 years my go to guy for 1 OZ GOLD KRUGERRANDS, unfortunately the
past few months he hasn't had the years I ve been looking for but is always good
for AGE,S of buffaloes, when he doest have what I need or looking for something
special will always turn to APMEX excellent selection and pretty good prices to Boot !

 

Coin shops are the absolute worst place to sell coins to, don't forget that, it's the absolute truth! And if you're looking for respect, don't look for it when you're selling coins bcoz you're not gonna get any unless you sell really low! Post some pics right here on this forum, I've sold more than I wanted to right here on Cointalk!

 

you need to have a connection with who your selling to, remember there prime goal is to make money off of you ! so expect a low ball offer such as you just got, thats
why I try and buy raw bullion the price is the price and you can always shop around

 

Took 2 Peace dollars to a high end "reputable" shop in the Houston area. They said one had been cleaned and the other might make AU. A good friend of mine who is in the grading business declared one to be MS 63 and the other to be MS 61. When I want something evaluated, I go directly to CT.

 

Exactly why the TPGs came into existence. Funny how MS things turn AU when a shop is buying and AU turns MS when they're selling

 

When I was young, the formula for the collector was: buy red book price, sell blue book price.

 

I’m told the money is made when you buy, not when you sell.
Not a dealer myself

 

Its both but yes that is a pretty common saying and many will try everything possible to convince you what you have isnt worth much.