OK this has made me wonder for a while. Why do dealers dislike cherrypicking? I can understand if a show is crowded and you're taking table space and time when other potential customers want to look at the inventory but, if not much is happening and you are going to buy something why the disdain. The dealer is going to sell coins that otherwise he wouldn't.
Hmmm. I'm not sure I understand what you're meaning? Or maybe we have different definitions of cherry picking. As I understand it - I go to a dealer. I'm looking at some 1972 Ikes in Unc. conditiion - normal price is oh, $4 or $5. Well, I examine closely and see that one of them is a Type 2!!! I quickly buy the coin and then put it in the dealer's face and show him he just sold me a Type 2 that is worth $200. Why do they not like it? Why WOULD they like it? (And if you don't show them, there would be no "disdain". - So I don't get the question)
I think PocketChange addressed it pretty well and it's not "disdain". Dealers don't have a huge problem with cherrypicking as long as you don't tell them about it later. Most people don't want to know that they could have sold anything for a few hundred dollars more once it's gone. Last week my boss bought "more stuff" as he puts it. In the stuff was a book of Memorial Lincolns. Not something he's real interested in. Probably gave the guy a few bucks just to help the guy out. A few days later he's looking at it a bit closer. Sure enough the 1972 is a double die. Was it intentional? No. Did we call the guy up and offer him $100 more? No. It's a done deal.
I'm not talking about waving it in the dealers face after the fact. I went to a show a few months back walked up to a table and started to look through the book of Jefferson nickels and I wasn't there more than 2 minutes and the dealer asks if I was looking for varieties and I replied yes, he says please move on so I moved on. But I'm thinking there hardly anyone here (there was no one at his table) and I most likely would have bought something so why the diss?
The guy was a jerk Nick, or maybe he was having a bad day. Either way you're better off for having moved on.
I agree. There is no reason to kick you from his table when it's not busy. It almost seems like he was insulted that you were looking for varieties, as if you intended to rip him off. Oh well, I guess he blew a possible sale. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't give a dealer like that your business anyway.
Some dealers apparently don't want to do business with anyone who knows more than they do. It's okay to sell a coin for much less than it's worth to someone who doesn't know it's worth more than he paid. But it is psychologically damaging to sell the same coin for the same price to someone who knows it is worth more. I think it's just part of human nature.
cherrypicking.................. i guess some dealers just don't want or need to be reminded of letting a coin go to someone that cherrypicked it then rubs it in his nose. it has to be pretty tough to be a dealer at times, needing to know each and every variety coin or vam or whatever. they know they would find that impossible even though customers think they DO KNOW EVERYTHING!
Right you are Grizz. If I cherried someone I'd never rub it in his/her nose; bad form indeed. Reas the back of the cherry pickers guide...there's a whole section on coin ettiqutte.
Yes, I try to follow most the etiquette as discribed it the cherry pickers guide plus a few of my own practices. Maybe some or most don't and some dealers have had bad experiences. i was hoping for some dealers to respond to their feelings on the subject.
Gotcha Nickleman. He was either having a bad day, is a jerk or both. If he doesn't want to risk being picked he shouldn't have them out. Sorry I misunderstood your original question. clembo
There are dealers that don't care much for those that cherrypick varieties. If a dealer ask me if I'm looking for varieties I just say I'm looking for something nice to add to my collection. That's the easy way to get around the loaded question. If he ask me to leave at that point, he is a jerk.
I am a dealer and I give props to any one that can remember all the varieties. If I miss something and you find it go ahead and ask for a price. Don't tell me after the fact that you purchased something rare for three dollars though. Don't tell me before you buy it either or I might have to adjust the price. Just remember loose lips sink ships.
What do you mean you "give props to anyone that can remember all the varieties". What props do you provide? Lights and loupes?
Things that make dealers love you or hate you A few months ago I was at a show that was fairly slow too. I was sitting at a dealers table looking through a box of raw Morgans checking for VAMS. However, in respect of the dealers, the fees they pay for tables and knowing they need to maximize that space just like any other retailer, I take the box and set off to the side (this is a dealer who knows and trusts me) out of the way, not blocking other business because I may be there an hour or longer depending on how much inventory he has new since the last show. My stuff (bags, books, etc) are on the floor. The dealer also knows at any given time if he has another buyer interested in the Morgans he can take the box out of my hands. That's just the relationship we have. He doesn't care about me cherry picking VAMs. I respect he's there to sell. He respects that I'm there to hunt and will not get in the way of him selling. ON the other hand, another collector walked up, camps out at the vantage point of the table, starts looking at the dealers books of tokens (he usually carries 2-3 notebooks of tokens w/probably 30 pages each notebook). This collector stacks her stuff on top of the display cases, and goes token by token through every single book, writing them down, flipping them upside down in the holder, making a list of type and price. She was literally there 4 hours (I'd since left and passed back by on a few rounds) and only spent $10. During this time she would engage in conversations with other collectors and even referred a couple to her husband ((who was setting behind a table with another dealer across the room)) basically driving business away from the dealer's table. I was amazed he hadn't shot her or hit her in the head with a bag of buffalo nickels. So - this dealer at your show - either he is just a jerk or had just dealt with someone like the token collector and was out of patience. Hard to know w/o being there. Hope you try again somewhere else.
Cherry Picking ......... My response, as a dealer .......... I never did send anyone away but from many years of experience I learned a LOT. People that "cherry pick", that is pick the best, better dates and better condition coins, leave nothing for the next guy to find. After a while the dealer (me ) was left with many THOUSAND of unselling coins that nobody wanted, even other dealers or or new starting collectors - believe it or not I coudn't give 'em away at FACE VALUE!! But, I do as well - at shows I LOVE to poke through a dealer's "junk" box and I have found many coins more valuable than the "junk" price. And, I agree - the guy is a jerk and should be avoided the next time you attend a show he is at.
