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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;stldanceartist, post: 1247717, member: 13307&quot;]I feel this is a great question, and you&#039;re right, Chris, one that repeatedly pops up.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;How good of a deal does it have to be for you to feel guilty about it?&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>I thought it was an easy question at first.&nbsp; MORALS, MORALS, REPUTATION, MORALS is what my brain was shouting at me...MRAAAARRRRR!</p><p><br /></p><p>But then I thought...</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve never had to RUN a B&amp;M.&nbsp; I&#039;ve never depended on good deals (and the occasional great one) to keep my business and my livelihood afloat.&nbsp; Now, I&#039;ve <i>sort of</i> had to do this by finding profitable buys at flea markets, auctions and the like...to pay bills...so I understand the mindset of &quot;I have two days to get enough cash to pay my credit card bill...what am I going to sell?&quot;&nbsp; (Keep in mind that, at the time, I was unemployed through no fault of my own.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve gotten some pretty sweet deals in the past.&nbsp; I bought about ten modern commemorative halves from my local coin shop for $3.50 each...got home, discovered that one of them was a $100 coin.&nbsp; Felt REALLY guilty about it.&nbsp; Didn&#039;t feel quite so guilty about the one that was only worth $35.&nbsp; But overall...felt really guilty.&nbsp; While the coin shop is a business, these are guys that always let me come in, hang out, look through their coins (of course, I always sort them for them and pick out anything really expensive for them...like the time I found a 1930 S SLQ in their junk quarters bin that was better than the coin in his personal collection...)&nbsp; These are people that I consider friends.&nbsp; So obviously I called them to say, &quot;Hey, I just realized that a few of the coins I bought today were worth WAY more than I paid...would you like me to bring them back?&quot;&nbsp; Yes, I actually did this.&nbsp; And their response was, &quot;Consider it a welcome home gift.&quot;&nbsp; Conscience cleared.&nbsp; I don&#039;t think I&#039;d be able to walk into their store again with a clear conscience if I hadn&#039;t called....and felt like I&#039;d taken advantage of them.</p><p><br /></p><p>But would I feel bad about cherrypicking a 1945 micro S Mercury Dime in AU from the junk dimes?&nbsp; Probably not.&nbsp; I know they seed them...and the value of the dime isn&#039;t really THAT high...so again...how much of a good deal does it have to be for me to feel guilty?</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been asked to be a coin buyer...one of those guys that sets up in a hotel conference room and buys collections from people who seem to have no idea what their coins are worth (and have no idea where libraries are, or how to use the Internet for anything but naked pictures and Facebook.)&nbsp; I&#039;ve witnessed buyers straight up LIE to people...saying the price of silver was about $10 lower than it was...and THAT I have a problem with.&nbsp; I could never be that kind of buyer.&nbsp; But they exist.&nbsp; I would have to be the buyer that says, &quot;This what I think you have.&nbsp; This is its current market value.&nbsp; This is what it costs me to operate, to buy, appraise, and sell your coins for you.&nbsp; This is an adjustment for my taking the risk that your coins may be counterfeit, cleaned, or in some way undesirable.&nbsp; Here is a fair offer...are you interested?&quot;&nbsp; I think that would be the only way I could live with myself in that job.</p><p><br /></p><p>So that&#039;s how I feel about the issue.&nbsp; I can&#039;t judge someone who has much different responsibilities than I do.&nbsp; However, to respond to what others have said:</p><p><br /></p><p>If a friend of mine told me they&#039;d sold an 09SVDB for $20, I&#039;d be ****ed at that dealer and probably go in there feeling hostile.&nbsp; I would try to cherrypick the heck out of their stock.&nbsp; (Which raises the question, is &quot;revenge&quot; moral?)</p><p><br /></p><p>If a friend of mine told me they&#039;d asked for $20, and the dealer gave them $470 after explaining what it was, I&#039;d feel better.&nbsp; I&#039;d say, &quot;I would have told you what it was worth&quot; and give them slack for not contacting me...but I wouldn&#039;t be mad at the dealer...because my friend at least was told what he/she HAD, what it could be worth if genuine, and what the dealer thought was a fair offer.&nbsp; I would say positive things about this dealer.&nbsp; THIS is how my local coin shop operates (at least in the countless transactions I&#039;ve witnessed.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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