Haggling at coin shows and beyond

That's pretty much what I do. I sometime also try to bundle items (purchase more than one item, sometimes several) and ask for an overall price for the group. I have often receive great deals that way. TC

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

This is the way I invision the Baltimore Expo. I really have two coins that I am looking for. I plan on going with a buddy of mine who is more experienced in numismatics, shadowing him a while, and jotting down notes on any possibles. Possibly ask a question or two and then part ways. 30 minutes later I'd like to make a 2nd pass, approach by myself, state my purpose, and ask him/her for their bottom line. If it seems fair there is no need to negotiate. Otherwise I'd likely get right to the point, "how would you feel about 325?" We'll see what happens. Honestly my only fear is haggling with some of these big time dealers.

 

The worst any dealer can say is no, right? So it wouldn't hurt to pass along an offer and see what happens. You do it enough times it will pay off in the end. In the end, isn't a "great deal" the perception of the buyer and his/her need for the coin or currency?

 

He has a right to TRY and make a profit, but not to have me pay for his bad business decisions.

 

Not any more in this country, no... (I'd put a laughing smiley here, but that's too sad...and too close to accurate...)

This is probably nothing more than one of those "internet arguments" that nobody ever wins...but i can't let this one go. :too-funny:

Any man willing to do so has the right to make a profit.

I chose those words carefully and precisely, since the issue is one I think extremely important.

What he doesn't have a right to is a profit.

No...I didn't just say the same thing.

A man with the motivation to do so has every right in the world to go create wealth...to, quite literally, make money. When we give money its accurate definition...that of a storage unit for value...then a man absolutely has a right to create that through his work, effort, intelligence, wisdom, and action.

He has a right to create value, and to offer it in exchange for something else of value, such as a house, or a car, or an apple, or..in this case...a pile of money. If his product and his smarts deserve it, then he shall amass more money than he parted with to create his product...he shall profit.

His right to do so should be, in an ideal world, as sacrosanct as his right to life. How else, bluntly, can he continue to live? He may either make a profit, and exchange that profit for the resources he needs to survive...or he can die.

He does not, however, have a right to profit. There is, as you said CG, no divide right to simply be handed profit. He must make the right decisions (grading a coin correctly), he must correctly anticipate the market, he must avoid counterfeits. He has no right to claim profit simply because he is in business, he must compete, and be better at it than others.

I suspect, CG, we're saying the same thing...but the distinction in wording matters, I think.

I will absolutely defend a man's right to create wealth through the power of his body and brain.

I will also absolutely defend your right to make him deserve it.

 

Even in retail you can haggle. The retail mark-up on furniture and bedding can be as much as 500%.
The retail mark-up on TV's and appliances can be as much as 100%. Why pay retail? Even at big
box stores like Best Buy and Walmart, if you speak with the manager of the department, you can
walk away with great deals. The sales people will try not to haggle, as lowering the price eats into
commission and they hate to give that money up, but any money beats no money at all. It works
best at the end of the month when they are hungriest. It works for me.

 

I'm a YN, so I have no need to haggle. I get good prices most often, or don't buy it. At my first and last(so far) coin show I was looking at an error cent that was literally 50% off(only half of the design was there). I had looked over the place's lot and liked that one. It was labeled $5. I held it up and asked "How about this 50% off?" as in his best price, not literally 50% off $5. He said after looking at it, "Yeah, you can have it for 2.50" I said, "Wow, I wasn't expecting half off the price" and he said, "we can do even better. It's yours for 2 dollars." though all the words are not necessarily correct, I got that thing for 2 bucks. pretty good, I think

 

The best time to haggle for a car is the last day of the month. Worked for me in 2006. I got a 17,000 - 19,000 dollar vehicle for just over 12,000. Bottom line was that the dealers get a kickback from the parent corporation each month, and the amount of vehicles sold can and does determine what kind and how many that dealership will be able to have to sell the next month or so. If a dealership doesn't make sales, then the parent corporation basically lets them suffer by not having good inventory. So having one more sale really can be the difference in making or breaking a month for the dealership. The dealership I got mine from recognised this, routed me through their business sales (for company vehicles) and pulled a truck I wanted from another dealership to get it to me. Because one of my terms was that I did not want my truck built on a Friday, or Monday, or the 15th of the month or the end of the month. I wanted to maximise the fact that workers were attentive and awake when my vehicle was built. They made the sale and the other dealership didn't. Funny thing was the lot the truck came from was one I had visited and who did not want to deal with me for lower prices, and whose salesmen were actively trying to get me into something I didn't want. Their loss, my gain. I still have that truck which is so fine to me. Plus it had a free bedliner in it. I love it.

 

i have set up many times at antique shows and with coins. I don't haggle unless someone is going to buy a bunch of stuff. I go around and see what others are selling for ( mostly they start high and haggle) and then price my things fair and stick to it. with coins I know a fair price and that's what i mark them at. got no time for lowballers or hagglers. I can always point them to someone who wants more. that's how i do it anyway.

 

The only problem I see with this strategy is that you're assuming you're going to be the only one there that wants the coin. Maybe with a $325 coin, the odds are in your favor that it will be there when you come back 30 min. later, but it's not a guarantee.

On more than one occasion, I've circled around to come back and buy something but it was already gone! Just a word of warning. If it's something nice and there are few examples of it at the show, there's no guarantee it will be there when you come back. I've learned this lesson the hard way. If it's a must have, I'd advise not walking away, personally. If you're happy with the price of course.

I fully expect somebody to come along and say "nothing is a must have" now that I've posted this. But I know others will agree with me.

 

I haggle all the time.

The two phrases I hate are "I need to get "X" for that" and "I'd rather just throw it into the garbage if I don't get what I want for it."

 

Good point. I tell people this all of the time, that what you really want to collect is what most dealers don't have. What I mean is nice, pretty, problem free rare coins. Its seriously not as easy as you think, looking around a coin show at the tens of thousands of coins. However, so many of these are "old stock", meaning they have been picked through forever, many coins are either horribly common, or have issues, and the like.

You have a dealer who brings to a show nice, original, higher grade SL, CB, DB, Barbers, or similar, fairly priced, and they will sell without a discount. There is a very strong market for nice original pieces, and dealers know they don't have to haggle, the pieces will sell. If you are a buyer and see such pieces for sale, and they are fairly priced, you would be best advised to get them.

I have a weird little story that I witnessed once. A dealer had just bought earlier in the show an old collection. A collector saw them and was wishing to buy some. This collector was a "classic" haggler, meaning he tried to work evey angle. He would ask the price each, then put it back and ask again, sometimes he acted like he misheard the price and told the dealer a lower price, etc. Then, when the dealer thought he had a deal for a few coins, the guy tries to pull the whole "hey I am buying quite a few, what price do I get on these?". At that point the dealer silently pulled all of the coins back and put them behind his table, refusing to sell anything to him. I know this wasn't the nature of your post OP, but sometimes hagglers can get shut out. Maybe it was me witnessing this when I was about 13 that makes me nervous about trying to dicker. I ask for a best price, and either buy or not.

Chris

 

I love those two phrases.

Any phrase like that is, to me, the first admission of doubt. The seller might as well be saying "Maybe you're right, this _____ isn't worth what I'm asking, so I'm going to try to intimidate you by sounding tough and firm." out loud. He's said, essentially, "I've lost control of this conversation, and am trying to take it back."

That's the time to get MORE aggressive.

"Really? Doesn't seem like throwing it away's going to do much for you bottom line. Look...my offer of ____ is a fair price, and I'm standing here with cash in my hand right now. Now, if you want to toss it in the trash, or take your chances someone else thinks it's better than it is, go ahead. I bet I have better luck finding another seller than you do finding another buyer though."

 

For every one of those at a show, there's another private collector getting out of the hobby, or another fool being soon parted from his money on e-bay, or another local dealer with exposure to hundreds of times the coins you have...

There's ALWAYS a way to find something for less money.

It just takes patience and hard work is all.

 

I just quit

your the kind of guy where i just put the coins away, see earlier post. and when I have set up to sell coins I always sell a bunch. I price fair and just stay with it. have to do the same thing at my glass business. but then i don't put a "hope for" price on mine in the firsat place.

 

Totally agree with this. I noticed it yesterday at the small show I went to. When you first start going to shows, everything looks impressive. After you've been to shows of all sizes over the years and get to know what real quality is, you tend to look at everything differently. You start to realize almost everything has some type of problem to it.
Eventually, you are rarely impressed by much. Or I should say, it takes quite a bit more for something to jump out at you and you end up passing on most. About as best as I can explain it. I think most people who are new will eventually experience this and understand what we're talking about. Depending on how serious of collectors they become I suppose.

 

And you're the kind of guy I don't buy things from.

Works out well, huh? :too-funny:

 

Haggling is mentally taxing on my brain. Which would explain why after spending a whole day at a show, I feel like I've been shoveling concrete all day. It's exhausting, and its a part of these events I don't particularly look forward to.

 

The skill of haggling reminds of an old Role Playing game I used to play. The main skill required was Personality and Charisma. I wonder if people haggling still have these?

 

I generally agree with these comments, as usual the nuances and variations on these issues demand everyone play by the rules of fair play, not lie, not have a side kick trying to play games, manipulate, etc..

"A man's word is his bond". Yes true, but if there is any deceit or fraud in the deal, the contract is null and void. People have called me on "my word" when they misunderstood what the deal was. Talking to a good lawyer to thoroughly hash out the five figure deal would have been really smart instead of being intimidated into "honoring" my word.

Reasonable profit may not be a "right" but it is an aim. If the market weakens, the dealer has no right or desire usually in defiance of common sense.

I contacted a major dealer who puts out a price list of coins. I said why are you asking for a $500 profit on a $2000 transaction, based on what he offered me for nice certified coins. He said he wasn't, but to all appearances he was.

Who was the world class buyer at auctions that would get up and intimidate the crowd into not bidding on PQ coins at shows? Pittman? Or you look at the Bobby Fischer syndrome of gamesmanship, which enabled him to score major Phyrric victories but did not do much for the game.

I want win/win deals where both the dealer and myself come off the situation being satisfied.