becoming a coin dealer

good comments

Thanks for all of the helpful comments guys.... I'll have to keep you updated on my progress.

Elaine, thanks for your optimism..... Yes, anybody can start any business if they dedicate themselves to it. The American dream.

Congratulations Arizona Jack on your first year in business..... a success story!!!!!!!!

Wow, that Lincoln cent sure looks nice..... I take it the "D" wasn't wiped away in PhotoShop!! :goofer:

Steve

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

What I learned trying to sell coins on ebay.

I started selling pennies on ebay and sales were great.
No overhead because pennies or cents are cheap.
I was making a few hundred bucks a month and was giving a third of it to ebay and paypal.
My biggest problem turned out was time.
I could post auctions and have inventory.
But I lived a hour from the post office and had a 40 hour week job and went to college 15 credits a semester.
People would buy up my auctions and then I would not have time to mail 100 packages for sometimes a week or two and I hate to say it a month sometimes. This is embaressing like my spelling.
I hate to blame midterms or finals on my lack of speedyness sending the coins out.
I got bad feedback for it but people allmost allways messaged me telling me how happy they were.
So my advise is if you want to do this make sure you can stick to it.
Make sure you have time to do it and dinner or laundry.
Trying to run a ebay store when you live off the grid in the middle of the forest is not easy.
I started renting a brick and mortar store to house my growing penny collection.
It was better then sitting in the woods in my filled fifthwheel trailor.
Anyway the coin store idea poofed when I decided to double it as a internet cafe for a small mountain community.
16 months later I closed up never making a profit.
I had to scrap the coin side of business because my customers were shady.
I could not leave anyone alone at the business.
So second piece of advice.
Dont tell anyone about your coins (TREASURE) that does not need to know.
The part of northern CA I live in has many meth users.
They would froth at the mouth all the way to change machines at the casino if they ever found my hoard.
So I started a business from a few pennies or cents and got all the way to a brick and mortar retail store with business license and paying taxes and the whole shabang.
Its not that hard.
If you love do it.
And dont stop trying to improve.
Whoever above said customer service is important they were right.
Customers are your ideas lifeline.
It is ten times cheaper to make a customer happy then it is to find a new customer.
Oh and it makes everyones life better by making another person happy.
ANyway good day all enjoyed all the above reading.
I realy like the pennylady's story and the jokes did help keep me reading.
Thanks all

 

Hmmh let me get this dealers contact. I am in the market for bags of UNC morgans.
I wouldnt say I have a basement full of them but I have a little over 30, 7CC, 15S. Some of them would fetch a couple million for the bag.

Regardless referring to the Flying eagle cents bag are you reffering to the $25 bag???


On the dealer note, you need to know what your customers will buy, have a specialty for certain coins (Mine are CC morgans, S morgans, and 3 cent nickels). Also most of your money comes from smaller sales. Dont be afraid to buy some semi key coins, you sell them more often and get them more often with larger margins, than key dates.
Also invest your money wisely.
I started selling coins 8 years ago when I was 12, I started by selling dateless buffaloes and wheat cents, today I own Mint UNC bags of morgans for my own collection. Start small go big. Also dealing is a constantly learning experience, keep reading up, numismatic news occurs quite frequently. Price changes occur, and always keep all the proper equipment.
Dont be afraid to sell to other dealers, if you can liquidate a collection within two-three weeks to other dealers on 10% margin, where as it may take 3 months to regular customers at 15-20%. then obviously go for the quick sale, keep your cash loose and not tied up, you never know hwen you will make that life changing purchase or purchases.

 

YOU be the man! LOL.

 

A Mint-Sewn Bag of Flying Eagle Cents

I would not reveal identity of owner or location of such treasure.

No, I meant a bag of 5,000 uncirculated Flying Eagles.
I have big dreams.

I'm hoping there's a bag to find somewhere, in a wall, a well or a will.

 

Thats no treasure just another business deal for me. The $50 bag is readily plentifuly. I have 2 of the 1857, 1 of the 1858 and know where to get several more if I wanted.
I am looking for the $25 since its supposed to have the 1856...
However I am more interested in Morgan bags

 

Your being serious cerdsalicious?
Wow

 

Yes, I want the 1856 Badly, but from all the $50 bags Ive seen theyre all 1857 or 1858
I was told twice that the 1856 came in a $25 bag. I hope that claim is not a wild goose chase...

 

What I would like to see is one of the original $5 bags. When the Mint first started distributing the FE cents it was from a temporary building on the mint grounds and they exchanged the new cents for coppers on one side and foreign silver on the other in multiples of $5. The had the cent packaged up ahead of time in $5 bags.

I would say that it was since if they did there would have been less than one bag. That would be about the total mintage, and they were struck and distributed on more than one occasion, so there would have never been $25 face of them in one place at the same time.

 

I was thinking the same thing as well Conder. As for the other stuff mentioned... I'll believe it when I see it.

 

Possibly but I am a theorist on this. And this idea is a little off the beaten path. Now this extended family I have purchased the bags off of, used to have had family members working in the mints from the mid 1840's until today. Its like the family job. And while they fight with one another, they seem to hoard coins, specifically that are rare. Now are these coins fake? No, theyre not, did they get these coins from circulation? Unlikely.
So I assume they have had a side business in hoarding these coins. It isnt coincidental that most of their morgan bags are CC, and S. I think that during the late 1850's when the coin was selling at $2 in auction which is 200x face, someone at the mint used the old die, to print smaller but consistent numbers of the 1856. Now I tink this since I have read 2 of the biggest collectors who both had about 1200 pieces at one point found them all in circulation. I ifnd it hard to believe congressmen would throw these coins away, or rpoofs were thrown away at face value after paying up to 200x face.I think they were sold VIA the blackmarket from a mint employee or employees, and that shwy so many were in circulation, or found in ciruclation, I guess finding them in circulation owudl be much harder and couldnt represent most of the population. So when they say they remember a person theyre having a fued with, inheirit a $25 bag, I am inclined to believe them, they've been spot on so far.
So Its just a waiting game at this point.

 

i enjoy my coins to much to sell them

 

Hi I was wondering if anyone had any good pictures of a 1857/8 flying eagle error.
I took some pictures of mine but they came out bad.(If its one)
It appears in person that there is a 7 behind the 8.
But not sure if this infact is what i am looking for.
If anyone has a picture I would love to see them.
Thanks
Oh man I will have to wait on picture until I can post them and attach a link.
Anyway any other photos would be great to compare.

 

Ditto. Plus it usally takes me months and years to actually acquire what I am seeking.

 

There is some good advice in this thread so I thought I would share what I have learned in the short time I have been collecting/selling coins and currency.
I am 26 and have been doing this part time for about 2 years (full time military). I have made some really poor decisions that have cost me a lot of money but I have had some good luck too.

1. Buy the book before the coin! This is great advice I once bought a fake 1942/1 dime for $500. I got my money back after about 2 months of threatening to sue but it sure was a headache. I also learned the hard way on how to spot fake civil war currency, but that lesson only cost me around $50.

2. Learn the difference between wholesale and retail and when to use them. When I first started buying coins I used the "Red book", then I found the "blue book" and thought "wow I am doing good now" and then I started using the CDN and realized I had been losing a lot of money

3. It has been fairly easy for me to spot an honest dealer vs. a shady one after talking to them for a few minutes. This has been a very valuable skill. Always be honest with your customers. I know people who will only deal with certain people because they can trust them, even if it means buying coins over the phone from across the country!

4. If you notice a trend or see a certain item is selling for a higher price than normal... That means you already missed the wagon and don't try to jump on it now. If you don't believe me I have some 2004 D extra leaf quarters I would love to sell you for grey sheet bid and don't get me started on the Washington dollars missing the edge lettering.

5. Quality sells! The only people who are going to buy your junk are hoarders not collectors. Collectors want the best for their money and if you don't have it someone else will. Good quality coins are generally a good investment. Crap is always crap.

6. Know the difference between "hoarders" and collectors", read above.

7. Always grade properly even if you lose a few bucks, people will come back because they know you grade correctly. As mentioned earlier it is 10 times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to keep one.

8. Ebay is great for some products but I would not waste my time listing a bunch of common date BU and proof coins. You will spend too much time and after you pay for envelopes, postage, Ebay fees, PayPal fees, and your time to list, package, and mail the item. Even if I just made a small profit I lost money due to my time and effort. That said, sometimes you need the small stuff to lure in people in for the big stuff. It’s always good to have inventory you just need a good balance that works for you. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

9. You will never know everything, but you should always try too. I know dealers who have been dealing for 50+ years. They have a lot of knowledge and experience but often don’t want to change how they operate or try anything new. Don’t be afraid to try something new, that s a part of the fun. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but the dealers who stay up with the current trends usually do pretty well. I myself made a small fortune selling the Lincoln Coins and chronicles set just because I was prepared for it when they went on sale. (Everyone in my family had one sent to their home)
I think this is long enough so my last bit of advice will be… always type your responses into word first, then cut and paste. That will keep most of your spelling mistakes to a minimum.
Joseph Hinton

 

Very sage advice Joseph.

 

I want to be a coin dealer, I'm working my way up with cash and I make some nice profit every now and then.

Good luck with it, let us know how it goes.