Quit Your Day Job to be a Coin Dealer?

I dont think, i know....
I do it (not 4 a living) but in my spare time.
I sell just as much paper $, comics books and sports cards as i do coins. Why? Because there are just as many comic and sport card collectors as there are coin collectors. Granted, i see your point about finding dreck at yard sales and flea markets. If you ONLY looking 4 coins then yes, 99.9% of the time not worth the gas $ or time. It really all depends on what part of the country you live, what the collector demographics are, and what the yard sales are like in your neighborhood. Like Beverly Hills, CA vs Trashville Ohio for example

To quit my dayjob and go do that> a resounding NO !! I work a seasonal job, and in the wintertime when i go on unemployment THIS is how i supplement my income so i can keep feeding my expensive habit

 

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There's a few Multi-Collectible shops near me that do coins also. Comic books and antiques together sounds interesting. Usually it's Coins, Sports Stuff, Comic books and collectible toys like old Star Wars and GI Joe action figures.

 

Yea old video games are becoming more popular as well. You could easily throw that in there too. Guys my age and older wanna play the old Atari and Nintendo games we had as kids. Im not saying i would quit my dayjob, but if i opened a store then this woild be MY business model. You would be surprised how many people you can influence to start collecting coins, i can think of 3 right off top of my head that i got started, and are now pretty astute collectors.

 

I got started collecting coins from a Coins, Cards, and Comics shop. I have since then found dealers that are much less expensive but every once in awhile I stop by and buy something from where it all began for me.

 

Indeed. In fact, there is (or at least used to be) one very proud of his PNG membership, that also has a bad habit of selling raw dreck no longer wearing the labels identifying them as such. If one paid attention, they could find coins that were offered on Heritage, residing contently in their tombs, and the next week magically appear on eBay freed from them. Being a PNG member, though, I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding. Perhaps they simply have butter fingers.... (roll eyes here).

A good dealer will be a good dealer because of who he or she is, and not because some organization, any organization, says so or gives them the okay.

 

The downside to diversification is the dilution of time, expertise and capital across a broad spectrum.

 

I agree, and nothing made me more antsy, than sitting on a semi-valuable baseball card for 6 months at a time. You just hafta hang tight, because walking a sports card into a card shop, youre gonna take a bath.

Edit:
Thats where knowing your local market comes into play, 'round here we have these dilusional collectors called Buck-Nuts (u may have heard of them) that will gobble up Ohio State collectibles like theres no tommorow

 

I am not expert in this area and I concentrate mainly on grading and collecting. The PNG would be a good source of information for you. Their website is pngdealers.org. Good luck and if I can help you just message me ED

 

PNG has a three tier membership, with one of them requiring no net worth at all! You just have to fork over $100 for the application fees and $300 annual dues... lol

 

Heh. I may have a thing or two appropriate for consignment, among them a complete team set of individual signed player pics from - I think - 2004. I went to high school in Cleveland, and have been a Buckeyes fan for 40+ years.

 

Well, i never would of guessed that. So you pretty much know what im talking about.
If you ever wanna consign that stuff.......

Sidenote:
Being born and raised in Ohio, i too have been a buckeye fan my whole life. The difference is, i dont expect them to win every game, and realize that they sometimes get favorable calls from the refs. At home especially....

 

Lemme see what I still got, and I'll PM you over the next few days.

 

For sure

 

I've heard they offer great health insurance at a low rate.

 

I think if you want to be a dealer these days ur just better off selling on EBay. Get a good rep and 100% ,or near feedback and you will start getting 100% or more for what the coin is worth. Many times you get 125% or more of its real value.

If by a coin dealer you mean actually having a coin shop I would say no way. Its dangerous and you will have to spend a lot of money in security. Even so I'm going to guarantee you that you will have the barrel of s gun at ur head at least once probably twice or 3 times. You will have inventory loss in fact a lot. You are going to have a lot of desperate people bringing in garbage like 1950s and 1960s nickels in thinking they are worth something big cause they are old and you get to tell them the good news that they are all valuable ….. 5 cents each valuable. For every ounce of silver you sell you are gonna buy 10 ounces and they expect over spot since its just about to be $40 an ounce why can't you pay them $20. But the best you can offer is $15 since you already have a ton in stock ur gonna have to ship it to jmbullion or apmex and cover the shipping which means you might break even buying it at $15. He agrees sinces he's desperate for cash but he acts like ur scum ripping him off of his highly valuable silver. You would rather he never came in. Most of ur clientele will be old men, tweekers, and the desperate. You might go a month without ever seeing an even moderately attractive female. If a piece of gold ever comes in the door you better enjoy the beauty fast cause it will be gone real fast. Everyone who is trying to sell you a numismatic piece will think its MS and if the book says its worth $400 then you should pay them $400 or more. They don't realize you have overhead, have to make money, and probably wont get the $400 when you sell. You will grow to hate silver like the cancerous tumor on the coin industry that it is. I promise you will. There is nothing about being a coin dealer that is even close to a dream job.

 

Too much work being a full time dealer. Building any strong business is tough.

 

I know three dealers that work at grocery stores to have medical benefits. Don't know how they manage that time wise. One has his own B&M and the other two just do shows.