Do you haggle with coin dealers?

What I have just recently started doing is paying full price for bulk low value items and ask for 1 higher grade item at a specific reduced price.

 

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I always haggel unless I feel the grade is right then I dont. When ever Im around coins. I always go to the same two dealers and after many years of knowing the two they just mark everything down when buying. I only visit the dealers every couple months and a show once a month but when I do I always make large purchases. So that helps me.

Steve

 

I do not haggle with my of my local coin dealers at all. I have never haggled with any of my local coin dealers. If I walk into a coin shop and see something that I want and the price is much more than I am willing to pay for an item, then I do not buy it and I will either 1.) Look around his store to see if there is anything else that I see that I am looking for or 2.) I will just leave but will come back at a future date to check out what he has in my price range.

Since I know most of my local coin dealers and I have been a long time customer with a couple of them, then most of the time, they usually give me a low premium over spot anyway and I usually walk away happy.

When I am at a coin show, I also do not haggle at all. If there is a silver bar or round that I have on my "wish list" and it is way out of my price range, then I just move on and hope to find that same silver art bar or round at a lower premium elsewhere at the coin show.

I usually end up finding and getting the silver art bar or silver round that is in my price range by doing it this way but it does take a lot of patience.

 

My experience is that it depends on the dealer. I used to haggle all the time, until I met a local dealer, who would always quote me a higher price if I attempted to haggle. If I just aksed him what he could do for me, or said "I'll take these coins." He'd always cut me a break on price. So the answer is it depends on the dealer, and you have to figure it out by going out into the marketplace.

The best thing you can do going in is to arm yourself with information. Know specifically which coins you want, and know retail (Redbook) and wholesale (Greysheet) prices for those coins. I usually try to get coins for between greysheet bid and ask. But if there's a coin I really like/want, and I think it's premium quality for the grade, I'll pay up to RedBook prices sometimes. You get what you pay for.

 

If I am breathing, I am haggling.


I usually say something like: So much for the tourist prices, how much do you want for it?

 

Nope, I don't haggle.
Why?
Because it's not in my nature (read that as I'm not good at it).

I look at a coin, grade it and determine eye appeal.
Then I consult my pricing sources (the greysheet and Coin Values).
If I feel the price is fair, then I consider buying it.
BUT
I generally wait a bit and let the whole transaction settle in my mind.
That helps avoid impulse buying.

 

Here is a "No, but". I do not haggle - if the price tag next to a coin says something that is too high in my opinion, I do not buy that coin from that dealer. If I see an interesting coin without a price tag, I will either do the same thing, or - in case I really want that piece and/or believe it should be inexpensive anyway - ask for the price. If that price is too high, I'm gone. What I may do at a coin show, however, is this: At one booth I see, say, three coins that I plan to buy, and the total would be €108. In such a case I ask what the total would be if I bought all three ...

Christian

 

how much for a penny bag with all the years and mintmarks thrown in

 

do they ever sell after you have told them that?

 

i haggle if i can tell the dealer is willing to haggle. i would say with all the dealers ive been to its somewhere around 70% will haggle and 30% wont.

 

I usually ask for a price. Once the dealer states the price, I typically ask for his/her best price. There is always room for negotiation especially if you buy more than one coin. TC

 

And it's not unusual to find a coin priced so high that even haggling wouldn't get it down to a reasonable price.
There's a particular coin that's caught my eye at two different Whitman shows (same dealer; same coin).
For some reason I have yet to understand why the dealer thinks a lot of this coin.
The asking price is somewhere between 5-10x catalog.

I understand dealers need to make a living so they can't sell at a loss.
But if they don't sell at all isn't that about as bad.

 

I haggle a lot. That's how I get some good deals.

 

I try to haggle, some places are good with it, others arent

 

see that all too often with common date morgans and walking liberty halves. you put 2 almost identical coins next to eachother. 1 will be 50 while the other will be 150. i might like that one for 150 better but unless its 50% off chances are i wont even make an offer.

 

But you won't know if you can get the price down without some haggling.

 

I hate haggling, but there are definitely some situations where it is necessary, like when I was in Morocco and I got a $140 euro djellaba for $40 euros.

 

I hate the haggling side of the biz. I try hard not to, if the price is good I buy. If it isnt I have to really want the coin to haggle. If the coin is what I want and a good example I would rather not loose the coin and just buy it.

 

I don't haggle. I will ask "What is your best price" and then I will either take it or pass. I never counteroffer. I asked for his best and if he didn't give it to me then I'll look elsewhere. Further lowering his price after I have passed will not get me to buy. I worked the same way when I had a table at shows. I gave customers my best price and if they tried to haggle me lower I just put the coins away.

 

Just remember that if it is a really good buy do not try to haggle. If you haggle you are disputing the price and gives the dealer to spot the error as well. Most dealers will sell it to you at the listed price, but if you don't they will take it back and reprice it. I have heard stories of old inventory priced below melt and the customer asking if he would take less. The dealer just took the coin and put it in his pocket. End of transaction. I have had this done too, where I pulled out coins from pick boxes and asked the dealer about it. He put the coin in his pocket. When I asked if I could buy it, he said he would sell it to me at the box price, but you know if I didn't buy it he was going to reprice it.