don't greysheet me pal

I recently put a small collection of stuff I gathered to sell, nothing fancy. Just wanting to upgrade, and clean house. I know I wouldn't get a dime for it at a coin shop, so I took out an add, or two, responed to a couple of adds, and had a friend of a friend of a friend come over, and its all the same!!!!

"I only go by greysheet price's" when I say I have some star notes, they say let me call a friend about those" ( they have all been calling the same person!)when the last guy that came over and said this, I said " he has a stack of hundered he paid one ten for", he was like, "how did you know that?" Because the last 15 people that came here called the same dude.

If I wanted to give them away I would have taken them to coin shop, it seems the coin shop has come to me.

One guy was a real classic, " you waste money on a lock box? I use to that till I got smart."

"Where do you keep your coins now ? " I said.

He said, " I don't, I sold them all."

 

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Take a table at a local show and try to sell at retail, or even thru Ebay.

 

or post it here in the open section.

 

i second the motion

 

And I give it a third!!!!

 

Dealers are running a business not a charity. They exert considerable time and effort and deserve a reasonable profit. Earlier this year I sold a LOT of stuff. The local dealer I worked with was open and honest with information. I had done my homework in advance and knew what I was selling was worth. Fortunately I had acquired my coins many years ago, and saw a nice profit over what I had paid, maybe not condsidering inflation, etc. And I made a friend.

I saw the prices he was asking for my coins at shows, yes he made a profit, some sold quickly, he still has others in his inventory.

All in all, kinda like buying and selling anything... :smile

 

Very nicely put Doug.

 

Agreed. Searching "completed listings" you can get an idea of what you can get for them on Ebay.

 

Looks like I should become a dealer, then.

A few years ago, when I was out of work and needed money I sold a coin to a "dealer" who only goes by the greysheet, for $540, and a week later, go in his "shop" and he wants $780 and only goes by the redsheet.

Yes we all have to make a living.

But the coins I'm selling now, I was trying to find collectors, not "on the run dealers", all 15 on them? wow! somebody out there has to be a collector, right? (I want my own little piece of the redsheet action)

All I asking for is that dealers quit blowing up my frontdoor, and then walk away mad, because I wont sell them, for the little they offer, remember, they are coming to MY FRONT DOOR.
and a dealer did tell me, "well, you can try to sell them for what ever you want for them"

Yes I'm unemployed again,( but in better condition then before) and some of these kind souls said, if you cant find work this year, and get more desperate to sell for what I'm asking, let me know.

and I can't count how many emails I got at the first of the year, about" if you will buy the new high relief gold eagle and sell it to me, I'll give you a hundred more on it," (so they can try to sell it for 2600)

I think my next gig should be a coin dealer, I like the sound of that.
sad there seems to be more dealers then collectors.

 

And thanks Arizona jack and Sholom, I might try Ebay for the stuff I have.

 

Goodl uck -- and let us know how it works out. (Most of the buyers on eBay don't know about greysheets!)

 

I'm not familiar with the Red Sheet. Do you mean the Red Book?

 

yep

 

Excuse my ignorance as I'm sorta new at coins, but learning fast. I have a 2010 Red Book so I obviously know what that is; but what in the world is "The Greysheet."

Thanks.

 

The greysheet is a price list that most dealers go by to buy and sell coins.

 

read "similar treads" at the very bottom of this page.

 

I am genuinely surprised by some of the earlier replies to this thread from some of our seasoned numismatists.

To answer your question, the Greysheet is published by CDN, Inc. based in Torrance, California. They have been in the numismatic information business since 1963 with the purpose of reflecting accurate bid and ask levels of coins in the wholesale market. They utilize any and all information on the market they can acquire to make their bid/ask speculations, including teletype and computerized trading networks, actual dealer trades, "buy" lists, auction realizations, etc.

Their bid/ask prices are their reflection of the current wholesale market. When referring to the wholesale market, the following is assumed:

• the transactions are dealer to dealer
• the bid levels are for items actually needed in inventory
• the ask levels are for items actually in inventory

That is to say, the market is specified to dealer-to-dealer transactions with actual market supply and demand, and not speculation, taken into consideration.

It is quite unfortunate that there are speculators, investors, and even collectors who feel that they are somehow a part of this wholesale market, or deserve the bid benefits of said market, when, in fact, they are part of the retail and secondary markets.

Supply and demand on the wholesale market is quite a different subject than supply and demand on the retail and secondary markets. On the wholesale market, items are in actual inventory and taking up valuable capital that could be used for newer inventory that may have a higher demand on the retail market. Stagnant inventory is never a good thing for a dealer. If a dealer can offload stagnant inventory (sometimes in bulk) to recover capital for newer inventory that is in higher demand on the retail market, the dealer will often take the opportunity.

This opportunity, however, may require the dealer to offer the stagnant inventory near cost. This is, for the most part, where the Greysheet ask is derived. Usually, the dealer placing a bid for such inventory is in immediate need of such inventory (as stagnant inventory never makes a dealer money). So, it is not surprising that, when trying to sell to a dealer, they will only offer you Greysheet bid, or even lower.

When they have the opportunity to obtain inventory as needed on the wholesale market for a slight cost above published wholesale bid pricing, why would they give a retail customer more for possibly stagnant inventory?

That is quite understandable, however, the OP has a problem with this same attitude from what are supposed collectors. I personally have no real problem with opportunism. Why, that's what "cherry-picking" is all about. Seeking that opportunity to obtain a desired piece at that unbelievably low price.

Yet, I do not believe this is even what the OP has a gripe with. I have for quite a while now seen many proclaiming to be "collectors" with the attitude that they somehow "deserve" the same pricing as dealer-to-dealer transactions. The attitude puts anybody, even dealers, who try to charge any semblance of retail pricing into the mold of being, for lack of a better word, evil.

Those who try to charge a retail price are proclaimed by many of these people to be scam artists, rip-offs, underhanded, etc. And I'm not talking about the sellers who obviously are, trying to sell circulated coin as BU, selling counterfeits, etc..

I believe this is the attitude the OP has encountered and become overwhelmed by. And a place like eBay very well may get a better price for the coins, yet, keep in mind that eBay is not free. By the time the closing fees are said and done between eBay and PayPal, each coin will cost 15%+ in fees.

So, while the peer-to-peer market may indeed get you 20% or more higher than a wholesale price may, it still may be better to just sell to the local dealer at wholesale levels. But, I certainly would think twice about giving someone with an "I deserve it" attitude wholesale pricing when the hard working dealer would give me the same and have the opportunity to profit, and thus continue to stay in business.

 

Very eleqoent and articulate Np, and right on the money. Kudos.

I have develpoed a solution to this , I just tell them to order it from the greysheet. What? They don't sell coins? Ouch, Well then I guess you have to learn the market.

 

thanks. Great post.