Anyone else had this experience?

I'm not sure there's a real distinction between these scenarios - in either case I presently am precluded from buying from this dealer at the going market rate.

Last week, when I made my last purchase, the procedure (as usual) was for the sales associate to jump onto the computer,ascertain the price of silver (to the penny), and add on their premium (which is a match to that of the area coin dealers, and more than silver has dropped over the weekend) to come up with a selling price. Why wasn't that same formula good enough yesterday?

 

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I just guess I don't understand why you feel you're entitled to buy from him at that price. I mean, I get where you're coming from. But if you view it from the perspective that he is an investor as well, doesn't it make sense if he feels the prices are undervalued and he wants to hang on to what he has?

 

Just went to Lcs to pick up a maple with my scrap money. I asked if he was cleaned out yet (nothing on his shelf) He said he had some since he knew I only wanted one but I might not like the price. Raised his premium 5.50 over spot. Had no proplem with it still was cheaper than online prices with shipping

 

He might not have felt entitled. Maybe he was disappointed.

 

Perhaps. Obviously he didn't feel legally entitled. Expected perhaps would have been a better word.

 

This may be getting a bit off-topic, but contrast my initial experience yesterday with the later one at a self-described rare coin dealer.

While I was there, a fellow was looking at a foreign silver coin, which he insisted upon his "expertise" was not authentic. It was tested in front of him and determined to be of the proper composition, and it turned out to be even a few tenths of a gram overweight. He continued to insist it wasn't a real piece, to which the counterman replied that then they really didn't want to sell it to him if he thought it was counterfeit. The owner came out and countermanded that, offering the coin to the guy at yesterday's melt, which I thought was far too generous given his attitude. You know what? The complaining "customer" walked anyway.

In the meantime, a gal came in to actually sell some U.S. silver dollars, et cetera. She was offered what was the current melt.

As all this was going on, I concluded my purchase of a couple of ASE's plus a Maple Leaf for the current ASW value + the typical premium. No fuss or bother whatsoever. But I was the only one there who bought anything at all. Certainly no crowd there waving money in the air for all the silver they could get....

Same thing at another area well established coin dealer. No one there, sales personnel calm and seemingly unfazed by the drop in gold and silver. I was told that they were selling their remaining 2013 ASE's for $29 as long as they lasted, no limit.

 

LOL. I have a very rare transition cent that has a ANACS pop of 4. Mine is one of the higher grades. Someone offered me $1000 for it and I laughed. Told them that sounded like a good price and asked to buy theirs. LMAO Now anything upward of $10,000 I might have considered, but probably not. Just saying that not everyone who follows this is necessarily above board.

 

I don't get it.

 

Thank you for referred this thread. Here's copy and paste from other thread...

Yesterday, I went to three different pawn stores. One said, "All gone." Other two of them said same thing, "We do buy them, but we don't sell them. If you want them, then find your local coin shop to obtain them."

I guess they won't accept the loss. Oh well.

I wonder if bank will offer gold/silver bars or coin shop is only one that would sell them?

 

Maybe I'm missing something. Rather than assuming they aren't willing to accept a loss, isn't it possible or likely that they think the price of silver will rebound and are hanging on to theirs as a short term investment?

And if this was the case, can they be blamed? I'm not saying no is the correct answer; I'm actually curious if someone is of the opinion "Yes they are there to sell silver and therefore should do so according to their usual formula, even if they think the price is aberrantly low."

 

Lord Geoff: If you watch pawn stars and other pawn shows. You notice that they usually making excuse to buy from customers that economy is at fault that they can't pay more than what they offer. Now, we have excuse to buy them at great price, pawns back out. It's not against law for them to do that, but ethical in long run?

 

In my opinion it IS ethical, or at the least it is not unethical. I am not talking about the guys who offer an old lady $60 for $10,000 in coins; that is a different debate.

If I am a shop owner; someone offers to sell me bullion; I make them an offer. They complain it is too low, and I give my reasons. If one of them is the economy is bad, so be it. They can take it, or not.

I don't think anyone would state the above is unethical.

So now I'm the same shop owner and I generally sell silver at spot +10% (I'm just making up numbers here to illustrate the point).

I have $100,000 of silver. Overnight silver drops in half. I say to myself, hmm that's really weird. I don't think I want to sell what was $100,000 yesterday for $55,000. I'm going to pull it off for a few days to see what's up with that 50% drop.

What is unethical about that? Is it because even though I think that huge drop was an aberration, I usually sell at spot + 10% so I always should? Or is it because I sometimes tell people the economy is bad when I'm buying silver? I mean, because I use that as one of my reasons for paying less than they would like I am therefore ethically obligated to use my usual formula even if the market is going crazy?

This just makes no sense to me at all.

 

I agree. I don't blame them at all.

 

You're comparing apples to prunes!

The stock exchanges don't buy and sell for their own account, and the odds are that unless your broker is a market maker in the stock you're transacting, he isn't buying/selling for his own account either. If he is a market maker, he has committed to buy/sell wherever the market goes.

The OP's jeweler "friend" is buying/selling strictly for his own account.

 

All I can say to that is that I've made a consumer's choice on who I'll patronize first on an ongoing basis in the role of brokering my silver purchases - those other coin shops I mentioned above who took the unfavorable (to them) market fluctuation in stride, and were still operating and providing service to their customers as if it were any other Monday morning.

 

That seems fair. I don't think they have an ethical obligation to sell at prices they don't like, but you certainly have the right to downgrade them as a vendor for it.

It's really only unfavorable to them on the selling side. They buy as well.

 

I don't really see this as an ethical issue. It's a business decision. I think a business that says they're choosing not to sell because of the recent plunge is being a lot more honest than those who hide their bullion in the back and claim they're sold out.

I do have to wonder what the businesses who aren't selling at a loss would do if silver went down to $10 and gold down to $500, and stayed there for the next 20 years. Would they just sit on their $30 silver and $1600 gold? Would they treat that bullion separately from any bullion they buy at lower prices? Or would they eventually bite the bullet and sell at a loss?

IMHO - The model that works is to continue buying and selling, and make money off your spread. In the rare circumstances where the market falls faster than you can flip at a profit, then that's just a cost of doing business. Refusing to sell is also costing them, as evidenced by Lucky Cuss' post above.

 

There was a shop by my house that bought 1000 ASE's when silver hit a high of $48+ a few years ago. When silver tanked the next week, they still had them out trying to sell them, but they wanted $50 a piece for them.

The shop probably paid more than what they were going to sell them for at current prices, therefore would have lost money on all transactions. Owner has every right to sit on his product and wait until at least a break-even point. If silver continues to plummet, maybe the owner will want to dump them and get something out of the deal.

 

I'd think it would be different for every shop in your scenario.
Some could not hold it for long and end up selling it soon. While others that are wealthy stores could and would sit for years and years.
And the rest of the stores would be somewhere in the middle of that lol

I would think that the best is a store that has continuous buying and selling but in a down market how many are really selling?

Anyone here selling lol

 

I searched and searched to put my comment in a thread similar to my coin shop experience today. I don't understand why some coin shops when it comes to selling they will give you a fair price and at the same time on coins ( that are graded ) boy are their offers less than fair. Well to me at least. Today I took an UNC Silver Cert Star Note Series 1957 a VF 1928 Series F Red Seal $5.00 Note, a 1963 Red Seal Star note, and a 1929 $5.00 National Central Bank of Baltimore, MD, note. A 1986 statue of liberty half dollar w/ box and coa, the 1989 congressional silver dollar and half coin set w/ original box and coa. 1 1868 3 Cent nickel.

2012 S Proof Sacagawea pf 70 NGC and Also the 2010 S Proof Sac pf 70 NGC, 1992 D Columbus silver dollar, and the 1984 olympic silver dollar. On all but the notes and graded coins, they offered 114.00. Which I was okay with because most of that stuff was given to me from friends who didn't want it, or relatives that once collected but abandoned the hobby. So the cost to me was nothing. On the other hand, they offered 15.00 a piece for my graded Sacs! and 26.00 a piece for the olympic and columbus coins, Almost forgot, both those coins were PCGS MS 69. I thought I'd get at least 30 for those two. Anyways, the shops attendant made a comment that the sacs will never be anything. I also had a 1951 Booker T Washington MS 64 I sold him. He was fair with that one, 25.00 and I paid 20.00 for it. I asked what he gave for pf 70 ASE's he said 65.00! 45.00 for raw OGP Proof ASE's. I was a bit shocked, but not too much. I learned a thing or two today. I kept the Sacs and sold the rest.

I also took in my UNC 1926 P 2 1/2 gold indian head. I took it to the Baltimore coin show and was going to get it graded. The guy took a quick look and said it wouldn't grade because there was a spec at the end of the eagle's tail. He suggested NCS before sending it in to grade. I asked what he thought the grade was if it hadn't had that speck. He told me he wasn't supposed to tell me but he did anyways, and gave it an MS 63. Today the coin shop told me the reverse was all scratched up, but the obverse was GEM. I haven't taken that coin out of it's holder since I bought it up in Michigan. I told him what NGC said and he was surprised. Grading really is subjective.

On the silver cert he gave me ten, on the 1928 he gave me 7 ( i got it for face ) the 1963, 20.00 the 1929 national he offered 30! and the condition, of this note is XF I'd say, though I am no pro. There's no holes or tears. Sure it may be a common National but 30.00? LOL. I kept it. I brought a brochure home with me. They do have some deals going on right now.