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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 4906614, member: 27832&quot;]You must absolutely <i>hate</i> the idea of buying a new car. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Mint&#039;s pricing structure is perfectly clear. They make no claim whatsoever that items they sell will appreciate in value, either in the short term or the long term. They charge for shipping (on small orders of non-PM coins), they charge a premium to cover production and operational costs, and for some issues they add a surcharge that gets passed on to another organization (commemoratives, for example).</p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, when they produce something that <i>does</i> go up in the short term (because supply doesn&#039;t meet demand), there are howls of outrage from collectors who didn&#039;t get in on the &quot;deal&quot;!</p><p><br /></p><p>So, why do people sell Mint products for less than the Mint&#039;s original price?</p><p><br /></p><p>1) They didn&#039;t pay the Mint&#039;s original price in the first place. They inherited the products, or bought them at an estate sale or a storage auction or whatever.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) They no longer want the products, and would rather have a smaller amount of money than keep the items they don&#039;t want.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) They need money more than they &quot;need&quot; to keep the products.</p><p><br /></p><p>And, since there are plenty of people who fall into one of these three categories, there&#039;s no need for <i>buyers</i> to <i>pay</i> the full Mint price. People who ask that price will be sitting on their products for a very long time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Besides all this, &quot;I need to at least get back what I paid for it&quot; is fundamentally wrong-headed, because it <i>ignores inflation</i>. Put that into the mix, and you have <i>no hope</i> of getting back what you paid for almost <i>any</i> coin, whether you bought it directly from the Mint, from a dealer, or from another collector.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve probably still got a clad proof set or two I bought as a YN in the early 1970s. I probably paid less than the Mint&#039;s $5 price, and thought I was getting a steal. I might get a dollar or two more for the set than I paid back then -- but even if I only paid $3, that&#039;s the equivalent of almost $20 today! Unless you&#039;ve got a super-high-quality set or a rare variety/error (which I surely don&#039;t), you stand <b>no</b> chance of &quot;getting back what you paid&quot; in <i>real</i> value.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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