Today's coin dealer experience..Warning..long winded!!

Philly:
Interesting, is there something about the 2000 & 2003 silver sets that you'd like to share with us?
(Why are you hoarding them? Simple feeling that they are under-priced?)

 

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I second that thought. This forum and the friendly informative members are the main reason I resurrected my coin collecting hobby.

Don't underestimate the power of the internet to continue to shape this oldest of collecting hobbies. Not only through sales, but more importantly by providing free and equal access to information.

Andy

 

i can't agree more w/ the cave troll's comment as that is exactly how i feel. i do not care what grade we are going to call it..offer me a price and if it acceptable, then the trade is made. there is no need to comment further. ESPECIALLY when those morgan s he is looking at are for me to show him the characteristics of ones which I AM GIVING HIM A WANT LIST FOR!!! if he calls me w/ the 02-s and an 04-s , he is going to need to back up his commentary of how much better his fine grade is as compared to what the graders at anacs call fine. strange that the only coin he picked out in unc condition to comment on changed to a grade he agreed with once he noticed it was in an pcgs slab. he really had a prejudice against anacs. here is an example attached which i guess i should expect to be his grade of fine.....thank you all for your comments. Bless you all on this site as i feel this is the best forum around. it has friendly, well -informed members, and courteous members. i am so glad i found this site. thanks all again for the commentary!

 

The Cave Troll,

I fully agree with your statements. When I was selling the error coins, I had dealers give me stories about how hard they will be to sell, how they weren't worth what I was asking, etc...

The funny part is, I gave the exact same story to each and every dealer. I told them how I got the coins, and that I felt it was fair for them to only pay half what they expected to sell them for. The problem I had was that most flat out lied to me about the difficulty in moving them and how little they were worth. Then when my wife called, the most dishonest ones were looking for $200 for a raw washington dollar with a missing edge inscription (for a coin they just paid $30 to $40 for).

While the two I would recommend (Jim's Coins in Madison, WI and Harbor Coins in Winthrop Harbor, IL) gave me about half what they were trying to sell them for. I felt that was more than fair given the potential uncertainty and the costs associated with running a shop.

 

Only on one occasion. I took the piece to a local jeweler that my wife and I have bought from before and since. I had a relatively recent appraisal [from another service]. The treated us with respect, examined the piece, no arguing about how the other appraiser was wrong, or the market was down, or the piece was out of date, etc. They offered us about 80% of appraised value of the stone, nothing for the setting [which was a small gold setting], and paid us. It's a delight to do business with them on both sides of the transaction.

I'm talking about a free-standing privately owned local fine jeweler, not a mall chain store. Coin dealers have a lot to learn. Maybe they should apprentice with jewelers to learn a little bit about customer service.

 

I worked in a retail jewelry store from 1985-1989. i would do sales, some goldsmithing, running the account books for store- financed customers, and was also able to be a part-time coin dealer and appraiser while working there. the majority of our customers was due to service and hospitality. we were able to do repairs on jewelry as well as having a watchmaker (repairer) on staff. we were able also to handle estate appraisals due to having a GIA (gemological institute of america) graduates. people could maybe buy a ring cheaper at a major chain jewelry of dept store, but they couldn't get the service and education. incidentally, the store is celebrating 49 yrs of operation w/ sons as owners. the main store is still at its same location and the second store in a nearby, larger town is celebrating close to 28 yrs. All of this simply due to treating every customer the respect, honesty, courtesy, and excellent customer service. if only more businesses would be like that.

 

Great post. I have learned this since I entered the business. Seems like people try to sell you coins and want you to pay full Red Book or Trends. Then, when you are selling a coin, they quibble because you aren't selling the coin at Bid.

I have learned that often, people just need to "agree to disagree," rather than argue over the grading or price of a coin (when the two parties are not close).

 

In a little defense of coin dealers. You all must remember that people that are professional coin dealers and that is their only or main income are dependant on a fairly large profit from each sale. Giving people, customers, a great deal is just not going to put food on the table, pay the electric bills, phone bills, buy cloths for the kids, etc. Just as a person that has a food store, hardware store, gas station, all must make a profit in order to stay in buisness. Coin dealers as well as many other professions have to deal with people and that is really the pits when it comes to wanting to earn a living. People are always trying to chew down the prices of a coin, car, book or work done by a carpenter. No one wants to pay full price. Everyone says the same thing. I want a great deal but let everyone else pay full price to make up for it.
I'm not a dealer but I know many of them. As with many of these long ranting posts of a lousy experience with a coin dealer, that same dealer could probably fill thousands of even longer posts about lousy customers.
Alls far in love and war.
I go to coin shows about 2 to 4 times a Month. I treat dealers the same as any ordinary person tryingto make a living and so far in many, many, many years I've no complaint about any dealers. Yes there are some but then that is why we have feet so we can walk away.

 

keep in mind...i had NO complaint on the saint price. it was very fair for selling to a dealer and i made a good profit as i purchased for close to bullion also. i had my morgan dollars with me to help him see what i liked in a fine-very fine grade of morgan (tone and appearance). because i was planning on getting a 1902-S and a 1904-S FROM him. i was not there to sell my morgans!!!! there is a saying " if you can't say anything good......."

 

What we have here is failure to communicate.

 

One of the reasons I like the dealer I use is that I have watched how he works. It does not matter what slab the coin is in - they look at the coin before making an offer. They quote bid prices for the coins - I have asked a couple of times what they would give for various graded coins for others. They always pull out grey sheets - they even showed me when I asked about the 4 coin smithsonian set. I know at times I could beat their prices if I spent enough time on ebay, but I do not mind paying them the extra because I know what I am getting. The shop does get crowded and I do not mind waiting - they will answer any question I have. They do not try justifing the prices and personally I do not try argue them down. I know in some cases I probably could, but on occasions they do give me a 1 to 10% discount. I like them and they are fun to chat with. I know I will never know as much as they do and I do not mind them making money off me.