Original mint packaging yes or no?

Hey Folks, I wanted to ask for your opinion on purchasing bullion coins. I'm a long time coin collector/investor and I've gotten into purchasing bullion products that are collectible (IMHO) and some bullion that's just precious metal. I recently purchased some Scottsdale Mint silver coins that come shrink wrapped on a cardboard placard (coins are in capsules) with the Scottsdale mint logo if you buy multiples of 5 coins. Wanting to get a fully intact sheet, I ordered 5 coins and received the coins shrink wrapped to the placard but, the shipping dept cut the placard into 3 pieces so, it would fit into a smaller padded envelope. The cardboard placard is 12" long. I contacted customer service and complained that they had intentionally damaged the product before shipping as they had cut the original packaging to fit into the envelope. They told me that the packaging has no intrinsic value and it' s just for protection during shipping.
My question is if you're purchasing a sheet of coins do you consider the sheet being intact to be valuable or do you consider the coins as only having value? Thanks for your opinions.

 

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Each different mint will have different original packaging values. For example, if you were selling a SMS set with OGP, the packaging will lend to authenticity.

For less well-known mints like Franklin, Scottsdale and Danbury the packaging may not matter…imo…Spark

 

Spark, have you ever shopped for or bought any Scottsdale mint products? When you said "For less well-known mints like Franklin, Scottsdale and Danbury..." you're implying that these 3 mints are essentially selling the same products. I consider the Franklin and Danbury mints as companies that sell souvenir items and may or may not contain precious metal, especially when it comes to their coin products. The Scottsdale mint produces coin and bullion products in pure silver and gold. They even mint coins for many countries around the world, that are legal tender bullion coins. However, I agree that someone shopping for an SMS set in OGP may not know about Scottsdale mint coins in the original mint packaging. However, someone shopping for Scottsdale mint silver coins in a complete mint sheet is expecting a full intact sheet, whereas a buyer looking for Scottsdale mint silver coins, probably won't expect them in the mint packaging if they're not listed as such. The difference is, if you list it as a full sheet of 5 coins and the buyer receives 5 coins not in the original packaging, I would expect an angry communication from the buyer.

 

I would imagine at some point in the future people would prefer them to be intact. I may be inclined to demand one the way I ordered it.

 

I think it for sure hurts value and I would simply return it and tell them to give you the advertised item as is, I know allot of people that collect scottsdale products
so its a pretty popular mint, at one time I wanted to collect the tombstone bars
but in my opinion they were over priced so never did complete the trans action.

 

Well, I agree you have a valid gripe, but, honestly, if the Scottsdale mint doesn’t place a value on their packaging…?

The crux here is not knowing how it was to be shipped and not having the choice to keep the packaging intact. They don’t look amenable to a return for a replacement with packaging not adulterated. These kinds of snafus dictate future business and that path is up to you.

I didn’t imply anything. I stated factually that they are lesser known, which is a true statement. I’ve owned (and still own) items from at least 20 different mints and/or businesses, so I am well acquainted with these 3 mentioned.

As far as their packaging goes…I usually keep US OGP, but the many others I discard and put into alternative, read that : “superior” forms of protection for storage or future shipping; all done with the preservation of the item foremost.
…Spark

 

In this case I doubt the packaging makes a difference. I would be inclined to keep them but never buy from them in the future. It’s not like buying a mint set from the US Mint.

 

I didn't purchase these coins from Scottsdale Mint directly. It was from a dealer that sells a lot of Scottsdale Mint products.
The dealer said I could exchange, return or get a $5 coupon, however the first two options require me to ship it back at my cost. It's obvious that they just think I'm being a 'Karen' making noise over nothing but, they're willing to give me $5 in store credit.

 

Thats nice of them...LOL

 

Yeah...I know. Wouldn't want to put them in the red for the year. One of the things that really frustrates me about having to engage customer service is that most of the people that work for these major coin dealers, whether it's customer service or fulfillment, don't know a thing about coins or precious metals. I ordered a roll of silver eagles from this same dealer and they shipped it without securing the tube with tape so, all of the coins came out of the tube during shipping and got scratched and dinged up. When I called customer service to tell them what happened, their response was "You did receive all 20 coins that you ordered, right? Even though the coins might have cosmetic damage, you still have 20 ounces of silver and that's what you ordered." In the end, I was able to get it exchanged for an unopened roll but, it took lots of back and forth communication and two more tries as they sent me another roll that opened during shipping. The third roll came with lots of tape keeping it sealed and the roll wrapped in bubble-wrapped and sealed with lots of tape. I think if the same thing happened today, I'd have a difficult time getting them to exchange it without incurring additional cost.

 

United health care hires out of state representatives and I hate itnthey are very hard to understand and they are always screwing things up from a corporation that
makes billions each year couldn't they give people here in the states and pay them $25 an hour that won't screw thing up

 

In my experience, the packaging does not add any additional value and the coins can be sold at the same rate - with or without the packaging.

 

For me anyway I would prefer correct packaging all day long at that I would get the exact items purchased.