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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tom B, post: 1980914, member: 11854&quot;]I&#039;m not certain I want to enter this thread again, but there are some comments by folks that might show both sides a bit better if a dealer posts his/her take on the observation in question.&nbsp; Also, it appears that there is quite a bit of angst or built up anger from some people toward dealers in general, and/or dealers who do not post prices on their coins in particular, in this thread and I thought I might address that minefield, too.</p><p><br /></p><p>As disclosure, I am a full-time dealer (I do this as my sole source of income) and I do <i>not</i> place prices on the front of my inventory.&nbsp; However, my inventory is always priced on my website and I also place stickers with prices on the <i>back</i> of each slab when at shows.&nbsp; Interestingly, these prices placed on the back of slabs at shows are <i>lower</i> than what I have listed on my website.&nbsp; That is, I engage in what is sometimes called &quot;net pricing&quot; at shows.&nbsp; I do this for two reasons.&nbsp; The first is that if I can sell a coin at a show I do not incur the expense and risk of shipping.&nbsp; The second is that I generally do most of my business with other dealers, which means I do mostly wholesale business instead of retail business.&nbsp; Therefore, the coins are priced at what I consider wholesale levels at shows.&nbsp; Oddly enough, collectors will look at my inventory and often tell me a tough to find, attractive coins is priced too high, but then any number of dealers will come over and buy the coins at the same price only to put them on their websites at higher levels and have them sell fairly quickly.&nbsp; I believe many collectors are willing to pay more from larger dealers with larger reputations than they are willing to pay from others and this could explain why I have noticed this strange occurrence.&nbsp; Also, obviously, the number of eyeballs one has on his/her site can greatly affect the turnover of coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, on to some specific comments in this thread.&nbsp; Please not that I am <i>not</i> slamming anyone, but there are so many similar quotes and ideas that I wanted to address as many as possible in this response.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;dealers are too busy talking to their &quot;buddies&quot;...other dealers&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>The above can and does happen at shows, but many times these conversations are about selling coins to one another or about advice regarding the value of a particular coin.&nbsp; This means they are not simply shooting the breeze discussions, but are work related.&nbsp; Of course, there is also a fair amount of general chatting between dealers to pass the time.&nbsp; It might be good for folks to keep in mind that this dealer-to-dealer talking might actually be <i>business</i> and not simply entertainment.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;stuffing their face with food and don&#039;t want to be bothered&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Believe me, I understand the above statement all too well.&nbsp; I think most folks understand that it is tough to eat when you are part of a one or two person operation at a table.&nbsp; Bourse hours might be as long as 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, thought most are slightly shorter than that, and many times auctions interrupt the days or start just as the bourse closes and can stretch late into the evening (I have been at auctions where they were still calling lots around 1:00 AM and I had to be back on the floor at 9:00 AM).&nbsp; I eat a protein/granola type bar with an Excedrin and a bottle of water just prior to the opening each morning.&nbsp; That is typically followed by four or five more bottles of water during the course of the day along with two more protein/granola bars, as needed, during the day and two or three more Excedrin.&nbsp; The Excedrin are needed due to the hard, concrete floors that we stand and walk on all day since they can really do a number of your back.&nbsp; The food options at most convention centers is limited and oftentimes not very appealing.&nbsp; Since dealers are generally traveling to shows with lots of other items, we cannot often brownbag lunch.&nbsp; There is no private area to eat lunch and I <i>detest</i> eating my lunch or dinner in front of a line of collectors.&nbsp; I do the protein/granola bar thing while others buy the convention center lunch.&nbsp; Obviously, we know it isn&#039;t elegant and we don&#039;t enjoy attempting to eat as quickly as possible in front of anyone; there just aren&#039;t many options.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;Walking by dealers with these coins definitely may be a loss for both parties, but I would think most are overpriced&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t agree with the above thought, but that does not mean it isn&#039;t a valid idea.&nbsp; I net price at shows and extend the courtesy and respect to the buyer that I expect them to have some sort of idea about market value for each coin.&nbsp; Other dealers think similarly.&nbsp; There is also a security concern regarding possibly expensive material in a case where a dealer might not want a sign on a coin saying &quot;I am very expensive and it might be good to steal me or rob this dealer&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;I mean if a coin is greysheeting at 400 and his price marked is 1300, I do not even bother to try negotiating or making an offer&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>This might be an example of damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don&#039;t.&nbsp; In my niche, classic type and better date coins, the <i>Greysheet</i> is often far off of market reality.&nbsp; As an example, a few years ago I purchased a much better date half dollar in a PCGS EF45 holder and paid about $1,900 for it at auction.&nbsp; The coin had a <i>Greysheet</i> value of around $400 in EF40 and $1,000 in AU50 at the time.&nbsp; I paid market value and the <i>Greysheet</i> was out of touch, but if I had that coin marked at $2,200 you might have thought I was either nuts or was trying to rob you blind and you might have walked away. </p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;In an active show why bother with a dealer that makes no effort to price his wares&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>I can understand the above thought process if you are looking to buy easily acquired coins such as newly released ASEs or generic Morgan dollars.&nbsp; If, however, you are looking for tough coins such as original, attractive mid-grade better dates from classic series or would like superb gem coinage with outstanding eye appeal then you man not want to ignore the pieces once found.&nbsp; Even if they have no prices.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;I guess they&#039;re fishing for tourists. Tourist prices are the best, never on display and <b>always changing</b> for no apparent reason&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>There is actually some grain of truth to the above and I have put that part in <b>bold</b>.&nbsp; Truly, I do change my prices at times during a show.&nbsp; My business model dictates that I am always polite to clients and potential clients, I attempt to educate anyone who wants to learn, I am happy to do show-and-tell and I offer many other services.&nbsp; However, if I detect that someone is rude to me then I am less inclined to give them my best price, which I guess means that I change prices during a show. </p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;I hate when when you sell and a dealer says, &quot;what are you looking to get?&quot;&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>When you are attempting to sell a coin at a show then you are now acting as the seller or dealer and the dealer has become the buyer in this transaction.&nbsp; You <i>should</i> know what you want from a sale, just as a dealer should know what they want from a sale.&nbsp; While some dealers might use this information in an attempt to make a score, more often we want to be certain that there is common ground.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope everyone keeps in mind that I am not slamming anyone.&nbsp; It just seemed like the experience of someone who works behind a table might be helpful in this thread.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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