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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JCro57, post: 3267463, member: 92083&quot;]1. In my experience growing up in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, I have never known a coin or jewelry dealer with a family-owned business who wasn&#039;t armed and didn&#039;t have other security measures as well. When you are in the business of precious metals, not being armed makes you a vulnerable fool.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. You have every right to refuse to buy a customer&#039;s coin or piece of jewelry, nor do you have to provide a reason as to why you aren&#039;t buying it. No one would be stupid enough to say it is because of how you look. And I do not say nor advocate people to do so simply based on appearance. But I do say to surmise people and their surroundings in their totality with people you come across, (especially as a dealer) which includes their appearance, behavior, body language, spoken words, etc. Ask questions. Listen and watch. Then use your instincts. When you have worked a job where your life depends on making judgements about how a person can pose a threat, it becomes second-nature and are skills that should be taught to everyone. That also includes watching what you say and write to people as well to avoid escalting situations and to be mindful of potential lawsuits.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. You have the burden of proving I refused to buy your item based on what you <b><i>look like</i></b>. Good luck with that. You would then also have to prove there was a <b><i>pattern</i></b> of me doing so over time with other people similar to what you look like. Good luck with that, too. Then you can pay my lawyer&#039;s fees and court costs after you lose. Worried about bad press and social media uproar? Then don&#039;t go into business, or start your business and toss your instincts out the window and be prepared to be victimized.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. I mentioned that these two punks did not know it wasn&#039;t supposed to come out of a slab, didn&#039;t know it wasn&#039;t a full ounce of gold, didn&#039;t know if it was a U.S. coin or not, and appeared to be teenagers (turns out he was 19). I&#039;d say any reasonable person could assume these articulable facts in their totality give cause to the possibility they were acquired under suspicious circumstances, and at the very least warrant questions about how they were acquired. That is also a question commonly asked to other people looking to sell an item at a coin shop (and on Pawn Stars and Antiques Road Show), so to say it points to possible discrimination is laughable as they are &quot;industry standard&quot; questions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anybody can sue you for anything. The same thing can happen when renting apartments as I don&#039;t have to accept Section 8/Welfare recipients and can refuse people who have pets. Businesses can legally refuse to hire felons. Doctors aren&#039;t required to accept Medicaid patients. Airlines can force fat people to purchase 2 seats. Restaurants can refuse entry to those with &quot;therapy&quot; dogs. But they can all still try and sue you for discrimination and plaster your face and/or plaster you and your business with negative social media posts and comments.</p><p><br /></p><p>And a coin patron can sue you because they feel you didn&#039;t like the way they look and thus didn&#039;t buy their gold coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Afraid of all those possibilities? Then don&#039;t go into business. Posting on your store door and other places inside your store that items you purchase from customers may be forwarded to law enforcement, requiring a thumbprint and/or a copy of your license for all purchases of jewelry or coins over $X and/or photographing patrons at the time of sale can help prevent this and word gets around out on the streets. I know a guy in Niagara Falls who does all those things if you want to pawn things or sell items to him over $300.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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