My video review of littleton coin.

I see a well-circulated frankie, not a cleaned one. Sorry, gonna disagree with you here.

 

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You are absolutely right Tim, education is key and is why buying the book before the coin is important. I would suggest to those new collectors to buy a red book, I think Littleton has them on sale for only $49.95.

 

I do not think the owners of CT have anything to worry about. The video depicts an item number for the Franklin half so they can easily track down the OP if they wish.

 

Now get over here and clean my keyboard!

 

I find it ironic that littleton sells the redbook. Imagine one's surprise when they find out what their coins are actually worth.

 

What the OP needs to understand is that not everyone who buys from Littleton is uneducated and/or does not realize that they likely are overpaying. While I doubt anyone would argue that their offerings are not overpriced, the fact remains is that Littleton does run an honest business. People who buy from them can be confident in knowing that they will receive what they pay for. The same cannot always be said when/if buying elsewhere, including the places the OP advised (ebay, B&M). Not everyone just has to have the cheapest price, and it is possible, even likely, that there are those who simply enjoy buying/collecting the Littleton way, so who is the OP to argue against this? If he has had some personal dealing with Littleton (other than buying to make this video) that he is unhappy with, he should come right out and say so. Otherwise, this may look to be nothing more than a continuation of his personal crusade against this and other companies, at least to many here who are familiar with his past anti-Littleton, anti-Franklin Mint, etc rants.

Even though the OP claims that his intent was not to bash Littleton, the way the video was put together heavily implies this is exactly what he is doing. His speaking of regrets while showing a photo of a man with head in hands makes a rather clear statement IMO. I also saw little reason for him to have used their logo for most of the video, but to each his own. I do hope that one of these days the OP will learn that he cannot save everyone from themselves, and hopefully, this lesson does not come at any personal expense. Choose your battles wisely.

 

That's the truth. My grandpa was a lifelong coin collector and bought from Littleton on occasion because he trusted them. He also addressed some of those coins to me, which sparked my interest in coins at a young age.

 

Littleton has been around for over 60 years, but I think "back in the day" they were fairly priced, however greed is the ruin of their company.

 

Truth is a defense to a claim of slander/libel.

 

I knew Littleton was over priced, I just din't know how bad. I guess a hefty marketing campaign pays off in this case. Now I'd like to see what they offer for coins when they buy them, so give that a try and report back. I see them doing deals at coin shows, maybe they buy through the mail too.

I would state that for the most part many dealers would make several times their initial investment on a coin deal if they could and not have any problem with it. Saying what a company gets to make is not for you to say IMO. Thanks for the video

Matt

 

I am not defending Littleton, per se, but I find myself repeating what I have said about Littleton in the past. Littleton has been in business for 60 years and hasn't significantly changed their methods of doing business in that time. If anything has changed it is their clientelle. It used to be that if you didn't want their approval service, which you DID sign up for by placing an order, you would send back the coins along with the cancellation card that Littleton supplies. What happens today (and I've had several collectors state this at local coin clubs) is that people order the special offer and then when the approval coins show up they keep them as a "gift". They may recieve 2 or 3 months worth before Littleton catches on that they aren't going to pay up. This results in a loss for Littleton, who is NOT in business to lose money. These losses are covered by increasing the prices across the board.

Basically what this means is that the collectors that didn't return the "unwanted" coins have caused the prices to go up for all of us.

 

People here, and on other forums talk about how Littleton's coins are overpriced all the time.

 

Yes, I am sure. This is something that generally is probably seen as someone expressing an opinion, which is fine. However, if you take it too far, you might bring trouble on yourself.

 

You know me Tim, I like to inject a little humor into a tenuous subject. But it is also a stark example of the obvious over inflation over real world valuations. There are other companies that are just as guilty of overpricing goods in relation to the marketplace.

 

Yes sir! That'll be 5 bucks :yes:

 

I could not agree more. Detecto, just because you feel that they could get by just fine only marking up their coins 5-10-15% does not make it so. Also many of the other national dealers that you say get by without marking up their coins probably don't sell too many circulated Franklin halves and bu state quarters.

This is the key reason that you cannot compare Littleton's markup to other dealers. Greedy buyers. But I don't see many people making youtube videos bashing those evil customers who take all those free coins that Littleton so foolishly sent them that they didn't ask for and resell them on ebay. Many dealers can get by on lower margins, but they also don't take the losses that Littleton exposes themselves to.
I do agree that the prices Littleton charges are excessive, but I also think you are way to misinformed about life to try and make the rules about who gets to sell what or what a company is allowed to profit.

 

Never bought from them and probably never will but this is a free market. Are you all for limiting/capping the profits of companies? Because that is basically what you are crying about, they make 'absurd profits" in your opinion? It's not up to you, it's up to the market. If demand dries up, then so will the customers and the profits! They would either have to adjust to the market or go under. If people are dumb enough to pay 3x what something is 'worth' then they deserve whatever they get. Obviously, it was worth it to them when they purchased it. It's not up to the rest of the world to protect them from themselves.

Statements like this, regarding any company in our society is absolutely 'absurd' and un-American in my opinion....

"There is absolutely no need to double or triple your money selling coins, and that is what littleton does. Even the biggest coin dealers in the nation have stayed afloat for decades by making a small amount on each coin.

For example, littleton buys a silver dollar for $32, then they sell it for $76.50. They make $44.50 on each silver dollar sold. That is an absurd profit."

This wouldn't be much different than me saying you should make less profit at your job...you clearly make too much since you can afford to buy coins! You must be ripping off your employer...

 

From what I have seen over the years, it's not smart to start threads just to bash something. They don't ever seem to end well for the op.

 

There are tons of companies out there that do the same thing. Stamps on approval, coins on approval, steak of the month, fruit of the month.... They all provide a service. If you are inexperienced or perhaps a shut-in or you just fall for advertizing hype, you are the customer that keeps these companies in business. A lot of them have been around for decades which just goes to show how many people use their services.

None of these companies force you to buy from them, so I don't see what the big deal is.

 

Very good piece, just a reminder to all of us here and those reading in to be vigilant from who we are buying our coins from.