The "Deal Shopping" Mentality - Helpful Insights for the New Collectors

BNB, slow down so people can respond before you post again and again! I like to contemplate my response before I hit send, so please give us/me a chance before you keep posting.

So is everyone ok now - are we all happy debating campers again?

 

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Fair enough.

Please go back and look at my amended comments -- I edited my post while you were responding with a few thoughts I think you may be interested in.

 

Kiss

 

:hug:

 

Actually, I never even thought about whether one customer haggles more than another, and that has never entered my mind when I come across a particular coin.

The only time I think about it that way is if I know a dealer wants a particular date that I just bought because I don't usually make as much off a coin when I sell it to a dealer, for obvious reasons.

I have several customers that I already know what they are looking for in a coin or date, so when I come across a coin I think they might like, I do contact them first, whether they are a haggler or not. Again, it never crosses my mind, only whether he'll like the coin or not. And if he likes the coin, of course, then the negotiations begin.

 

YEAAAAH! :high5:

 

Wrong answer.

 

Wow, I step away to do some actual work for an hour or two so I can make money to buy more coins and you guys post 15-20 posts for me to read I just can't keep up!!!!!!

 

Lol shush! You know you love it

 

Me NEITHER!

 

Huh?

 

I am starting to detect dissociative identity disorder (us/me?) LOL:rolling:

 

Being a novice, it is nice to know what is considered part of the buying process. When I was in the Navy back in the day and we visited foreign ports, I was surprised at how much was subject to negotiations. For instance, I enjoy a soda now and then, one place in Greece, I do not think I ever paid the same price twice for one. How different from home, when you went to the store, the price marked is the price you paid, you do not go to the grocers and ask for a better price on the ground beef or the hamburger buns.

But when buying a car, I always negotiate, except for the time we bought my daughters hybrid honda, it was advertised for 15k, I just insisted that they honor their ad.

I try to avoid my natural impulse to wring the last cent out of any deal, other people need to live also, if it seems all one way to me, well then there is no law saying I have to part with my money, so far no dealer I have gone to has pulled a gun on me and demanded my money.

So far I have not become so enamored with my hobby that I have dropped a ton of money for a coin, maybe after a few years I will have better knowledge of what is really worth good money and what is not and then I may take the plunge, in the meantime I am merely testing the waters with my toes.

 

The standard is set by the owner so, in my mind, there is no such thing.

However, there are usually differences in quality between one coin and another. Many collectors have taken the time to learn those differences, trained their eye, and have decided that what they once owned is no longer satisfying. With that additional perspective, they may judge their own or others collections as being "sub standard".

 

I started out in $20 Saints as a price shopper. I did not buy coins with obvious problems and, helped by the rising market, I never had trouble reselling my purchases for a profit. A few years ago, I was persuaded to pay a premium for coins from a high profile dealer who represents his coins as PQ. I submitted these and other Saints to CAC at Coinfest last weekend and was surprised that none of the coins from this dealer came back with the sticker. If I understand correctly, CAC is telling me that they considered these coins to be below average for the grade, if not overgraded. This experience will make me less trusting of dealers' representations in the future.

 

I don't think it would be appropriate to reveal the dealer's name on this forum. I will say that he deals primarily in Saints and other gold, has a well-established business and held a very high office in the ANA in the summer of 2007 when I made the purchases. His prices were not rock bottom, but fair assuming the coins were as advertised. Based on all of these factors, I considered him a good person to deal with. I contacted him regarding my experience with CAC and politely asked for his thoughts on CAC standards vs. the standards he uses in identifying Saints as PQ. His reply was not really responsive to the issue of why CAC might have found these 4 coins wanting.

 

I've been buying/selling coins for over 50 years. Coins don't grow on trees for us dealers to replenish our stock for free. Most all dealers I have been associated with, including many of the majors, will pay a fair price for a coin close to grey sheet. If it's a fast seller we pay higher, a slow seller we pay less 'cause we know we will have it for a while. Now, think of some of the coin dealers expenses:

1. Gas and travel expenses to a show including hotel rooms.
2. Table rent at the show.
3. Insurance on the coins.
4. Risk of robbery (and it does happen).
5. Coin thieves at shows.
6. Supplies like lamps, boxes, cases, showcases, extension cords, pens, bags & envelopes for the coins and a myriad of other seemingly unnoticed expenses.
7. Website server fees & hours and hours updating prices on a weekly basis.
8. Greysheet subscription, CW subscription and others.
9. Tons of reading to know your professions ins and outs.
10. + probably some unknown expenses. :-((

Now, factor all that into what a dealer buys a VF20 1914D cent and what he sells it for is what pays for all of the above stuff.

I personally mark my coins between 10% and 15% above grey sheet to compensate for all the above ... AND, most of all to make a profit to support my family.

Remember, coin dealers are not in this to kill time before our next Nigerian $10 million inheritance gets processed. This is our livlihood.

Do grocery stores make money? Drug stores? Hardwares? WELL, get used to coin dealers and accept the fact that they have to make money also. It's a fact you will have to live with and accept, or, get out of coin collecting. Start collecting something else ... but you will find that field has to make money also.

No offense but it's time to accept the coin business as it is.

Lastly, if you think coin dealers all drive Rolls Royces, and have big boats then my suggestion is to gather up several 100 thousand $$$$'s and open up a coin shop and live the high life.

Just my simple old timer opinion.