Message to dealers!!!

I agree this is how it should be in an ideal world. And though you say you treat every customer the same no matter how they look, I know better. If you saw a couple of gang banger looking guys walk into your shop with hoods on and heads down, you can't honestly tell me you wouldn't be prepared to grab that gun under the counter if they made a move you didn't like, and you'd be watching them more closely. I've spent enough time in coin shops to know the feeling. 99% of the time they turn out to be lookers, but that other 1% they turn out to be just what they look like.

As far as the guy walking in wearing flip flops and a tank top stained 36 different colors, they may be a customer indeed, but in reality, most business people won't take someone seriously who doesn't take themselves seriously enough to at least change their shirt once a week. Thats not stereotyping, thats I don't want you touching my stuff after you just ate that fifth corn dog and wiped your hands on table of the dealer next to you. If customers expect professional courtesy from dealers, maybe customers need to show a bit more professional business relations when they're in an atmosphere of that business.
Just a thought.
Guy~

 

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For the local commercial show I went to last weekend I was dressed in my usual summer wardrobe. Chino shorts and a polo shirt, no socks and deck shoes. The first dealer I walked up to said hi and asked if I had found that 2 cent piece I'm looking for. He didn't care how I was dressed just wanted to talk coins.

Get some face time with dealers, greet them, don't wait for them to speak up, friendly eye contact, all these things say something about you even if you don't buy that day.

 

Nope - but then I'm in a suit and tie most of the times these days so it is almost more comfortable for me to wear that then jeans and t-shirt. I don't think the problem here is dress, but rather how THEY are treating the DEALER. If you walk up to a dealer like a know-at-all it shows on your face, the way you walk and the way you talk. At the same time, there are times when dress does come into a factor, and I think you really only have 2 options - don't use the dealer, or don't wear those clothes.

Speedy

 

AMEN!

That is why I pack.

Speedy

 

Ok well all I did was ask for a price and this how was outside in 90 degree weather so I was wearing a black beater with nice black plaid shorts and some jordans. Hygiene wasn't an issue either. I to be honest the one guy knew absolutely nothing. I watched him weigh a california gold piece and it was off a gram, it also had a R stamped on it. The guy selling it said it meant repeat. Id be willing to bet it meant Replica. SO anyways he bought it for gold price. Not all dealers are smart about coins. I mean why would it be stamped to Repeat?

 

Stores and shops are always dangerous places to work. We even had a guy working alone remodeling a house here that got robbed a while back. Although I would not want to kill someone over a few dollars or a few tools, robbers sometimes hurt you even if you give them all you have. Taking someone out to protect yourself or others requires no thought process at all, just the action. IMHO

 

So help me out here - what is wrong with paying spot price for a gold piece even if it is a replica? I mean, gold is gold...

 

and if its doesn't weigh right then do you think it is gold? He said himself that he will have to get it checked to see if it was gold. As a dealer are you going to make money taking chances like that?

 

The guy at the coin in hand - I don't. That being said - if I had a coin in hand that, while a copy, felt and looked to be gold, and I could afford it, then yeah, I'd take a chance. Granted - I'm not going to take a $1200 chance, but $100, yeah.

As for weight - yeah again - those things don't all weigh RIGHT on the DOT to what the book says in every case. There is wear, and of course, I doubt all of the planchets started out the same weight either.

Speedy

 

OK well ill just drop it. until anybody can tell me why a coin would have a "R" on it than Ill always be convinced it bought a counterfeit. It was one of those that are the size of a pea. so putting replica on it would be quite hard

 

by the way it was over weight so wear wasnt a factor

 

Probably because I only know of one or two California gold replicas that are actually gold. 99% of the them are gold plated lead.

No I wouldn't expect it to be right on the dot either, but it wouldn't be a gram off. When it came to precious metals they tended to be VERY precise. Under weight planchets would have been rejected (they had reputations and people back then kept track of such things. If you shorted weight or fineness it was discovered VERY quickly and your product would only be accepted at a discount and possibly not at all.) Overweight planchets would have been adjusted downward. In most cases your coins contain within just a few cents of the face value in precious metal. Just slightly heavy and they wold be melted down. Look at the US gold coins of the time. Weight tolerance for an eagle back then was just .016 grams. That is 1/10 of 1% off the legal weight.

 

I'm not saying it WASN'T a fake...but sometimes people will make copies with gold as well. I'm just saying....

 

Sometimes you get poor service not because of what you look like but for reasons not even related to you.

Yes it is unfortunately true, the world does not revolve around us, (regardless of what mom told me).

Have fun with it, if the dealer tells you a coin is expensive tell him you have some very rare coins to trade, then pull out a roll of bicentennial halves and ask him if he ever saw a whole roll of them before.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That just made my day

 

Actually Guy I did admit that I'm guilty of it at times and it is just the type you described that I would most frequently be guilty of this behavior on.
We do have to be on our toes.

Today I actually wish we had done some stereotyping. This involved a jewelry purchase.
A younger guy comes in with some sterling silver. Obviously knows a bit about jewelry and wants to sell.
Rather long and unkept hair to me and I wouldn't say nervous but "jumpy". We bought the jewelry and when he left I said he seemed high to me. Not pot but something.

About 4 hours later he's in with 2 more bracelets and much calmer. We bought those.

About a half hour later a regular buyer comes in and guess what he's asking about? Some bracelets amongst other things.

Yup, we got them and he asks what the seller looked like. Gee whiz it's his son. Then he says he must be on drugs again. I told him that was MY next question and sure enough his son has had a crack problem.

He would prefer to keep the police out of this as would we. Makes us look bad quite honestly although we did everything by the book.

Now the father, as I mentioned, is a regular customer and a reasonable guy. We just want to resolve the situation. Problem is we PAID for the stuff and why should we take a loss?
I advised him to get some money off his thief of a kid BEFORE he tossed his butt out of the house and I believe he went home to do just that.
I figure we'll have this situation resolved tomorrow.

So I stereotyped in my mind I suppose and wish I had gone a step further. What really bugs me is that I should have figured crack. I ran a truck stop in a rough neighborhood and seen my share of "crack heads". Should have been fairly obvious to me.

We do have the right to not buy. I shall remember this and will, most likely, tell more people we're not interested. Not worth the trouble.

As for people buying it remains the same. I try not to stereotype as one person's money is as good as anothers and a collector is a collector.

 

I find most places I go hunting at first show me little interest or trust and hover when I look, but after just a few visits the owner leaves expensive things in my presence and walks away knowing that I will make sure they are locked up before I walk away. I have had shops hire new people that when caught hovering on me, the owners will say he is fine and the workers will go back to what they are doing. Just be patient, honest, and persistent.. sooner or later you can warm anyone up to you.

 

Clembo, I feel ya . I have to go to court tomorrow to testify about a kid who stole stuff & sold it to me. I had him on tape & he gave me his ID when I took all the info on my invoice. The actual owner had just picked up his stuff last week that I have been holding for months. It felt 'crappy" having to have him write me a check for stuff that was stolen from him. Im sure it will take the kid a bit of time to work off the restitution to pay the owner back. Just a "crappy" situation to have to deal with.

 

No reason to be edgy. I have many Russians usually in my store so I have no problem letting a thug in and look around. And if he wants to buy jewelery but looks stoned. Oh well how he got his money is his issue, If he spends it at my store then that's great. If he wants a look around, that's fine as well. It's all part of the biz.
We have purchased stolen items twice but we regularly ask questions, if the theif is smart they'll say it's theirs, mist however have some cooky story.

 

I dont know..........I just think every 24 and younger is going to look weird and not right in the eyes of a different generation.........All I want is a couple of dealers to reach out to a YN and show him the right way to do things. you cant blame me for worrying about future profit, I mean have you looked around at a coin show?