How are sellers able to sell a TPG coin for way less than it would cost someone to send it in to be graded?
Person A sends something in to be graded. It comes back less than they hoped for. Person A is forced to sell it for a loss to Person B, because that's all it's worth. Person B lists it for lower than the cost to slab, because Person B paid less. Or you could be buying from Person A directly.
And that is why folks, if you can find the coin you want already graded in a slab of your choice, you buy it graded as opposed to sending one in.........saves a whole bunch of jing.
You just summed up my buying strategy... If you look hard enough on EBay you can find practically any coin slabbed at any grade level, even 20 or 30 dollar coins.
Bulk submissions save dealers some on the coins that do not meet their minimum grade besides the lower fee on those that do grade. Let's suppose that 25% of the coins that grade are 70's and the rest are 69's. The 70's sell for a substantial profit that is considerably more than the acquisition cost of all of the coins and the total costs associated with grading. That means that everything else is gravy, so it doesn't matter how much the 69's earn. Chris
Someone is getting a super deal on TPGed coins. Example, I bought some Presidential Dollar coins PR69 PCGC for less than $5 to give to friends for Christmas. And free shipping.
You paid about what they are worth. The other thing to consider with these moderns: the wholesalers will submit a very large number of coins, hoping for 70's. The 69's aren't really worth much, but if they can make one 70 for every few 69's, it works out in their favor.
I am sure my friends will enjoy them. I don't think most people including myself could tell the difference between a PR69 and a PR70.
Nope, they can't. Even the TPG's can't. Get a whole bunch of 69's and 70's, crack them out, and resubmit them - and I'll bet at least some of them will come back differently. That's why its silly to pay such a high premium for a 70.
TPG's negotiate pricing with their large customers. First off, you can get bulk coins (100+ of moderns typically >65) for less than $10 each. Big dealers can negotiate that for even less. I am pretty sure they did not make a profit at $5 each, but I will also bet they did not lose much either.
And then you also have all of the private individuals, who are absolutely certain that their coins "should" grade higher than they actually end up grading, and end up with coins that are worth less than they paid to have them graded. And there are a LOT of these people ! And it's not just the 70 grades, but virtually all grades.
I know a couple folks with deals like that. There's also random coins being submitted to round out a bulk submission, and a sizable plurality of folks who hear about a TPG and throw all sorts of trash at them before they even know how to grade. How often does someone wander in here to brag about all the money they just wasted?
There are definitely some certified coins out there that wouldn't even have been worth including in a bulk submission. For example, I have a 1936 quarter in a PCGS AU-53 holder that I paid $10 for at an LCS. It's a nice white coin but has obvious wear, enough so that any person with rudimentary grading skills would see that it is AU. It's beyond me why anyone would have spent even $5 to send it in. The only explanation is that they didn't know what they were doing. And this doesn't just apply to coins. In that same LCS they had a common series $5 US note in a PCGS F12 holder that sat in the case for months. No fancy serial numbers or autographs, just a note worth 2X face on a good day.
I've seen two Cold War era military trade tokens graded so far - neither one is worth the costs associated with grading and neither one was being offered near the cost of grading. A $10 token submitted to NGC then after grading is being offered at $25.
