Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 2783046, member: 39084&quot;]I think that some auction houses (not all) give dealers a percentage of the buyer&#039;s premium as a dealer&#039;s commission, since if the dealer is bidding for a client, that dealer is bringing additional business to the auction.&nbsp; But I don&#039;t think this discount/commission is very high (maybe a few percent?) so it probably doesn&#039;t affect the dealer&#039;s bidding very much.</p><p><br /></p><p>Your illustration above is really excellent, by the way, and it&#039;s helpful for experienced collectors to know that they may find the best prices by being diligent about pursuing coins at auctions.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>But I&#039;m going to swim against the tide here, and argue that the <i>asking</i> prices listed in your examples don&#039;t really strike me as being outrageous.&nbsp; Buyers can always make a lower offer than the asking price, and I suspect that the dealer you cited expects offers to come in at 10% - 25% below the asking price.</p><p><br /></p><p>Further, markups of 50% - 100% (calculated based on purchase prices) are common in every industry, even those that sell common commodities; markups in apparel are much, much higher.&nbsp;&nbsp; So I personally don&#039;t find the asking prices to be &quot;greedy,&quot; although I&#039;m comfortable negotiating prices and that comfort may skew my thinking on this topic.</p><p><br /></p><p>The bottom line is: never hesitate to negotiate with a dealer.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in