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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;NorthKorea, post: 1987397, member: 29643&quot;]Josh, in my opinion, and probably many other numismatic collectors, you are not a coin dealer. You run a website that brokers coins for a B&amp;M store owner.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve always viewed coin dealers as the following:</p><p><br /></p><p>1) Knowledgeable. They know their area of expertise and have enough experience to know when something is outside of their realm.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) Accessible. This works both ways: A dealer is accessible by others in the field and has access to others who have more expertise than they do. On this point, being a member in good standing on CoinTalk would qualify, as we have many members who have a broad wealth of knowledge and experience.</p><p><br /></p><p>3&amp;4) Time &amp; Scale. You don&#039;t become a dealer just because you open a coin shop. A dealer is someone I can turn to knowing they will have reasonable inventory and the ability to find rarer items.</p><p><br /></p><p>5) Trust. A dealer is someone trusted by the community that they are deemed to have expertise in.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, some may argue that there are bad dealers and good dealers. That&#039;s true. However, I do think that many would agree that a coin store owner is not necessarily a dealer, and a dealer may not have a physical storefront. That&#039;s why there *are* online coin dealers. There are also online coin stores. I don&#039;t think a dealer would publicly list severely overgraded coins on their website (AU listed as Gem, for example), as it would significantly hinder their business and reputation.</p><p><br /></p><p>I guess, for me, a dealer should either be recognized by a recognized organization (ANA, PNG, WINS, etc) or forum. Without someone acknowledging you as a dealer, you&#039;re simply an individual selling coins. I could make a living selling coins (I think), but it&#039;d be a pretty crappy living of making only $70k a year. I wouldn&#039;t call myself a coin dealer, in that case. I&#039;d be some guy who sells coins for a living. Now, if I dedicated years in education and networking to develop contacts in the field, maybe I could bump that number up to $200k+. At that point, I&#039;d feel comfortable calling myself a coin dealer, since I&#039;d have enough inventory and volume to ensure I&#039;d stay in business, even if sales slowed down for a year or two.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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