U.S. Mint updates return policy

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by Garlicus, Mar 13, 2018.

  1. Garlicus

    Garlicus Debt is dumb, cash is king.

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  3. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Guess the guys fishin' for 70's have been put on notice....... devil.gif
     
  4. Gilbert

    Gilbert Part time collector Supporter

    Like most things, a small percentage of people take advantage.
     
    Garlicus likes this.
  5. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    It's just going to be small collectors that get hit with it. They won't risk losing the sales to anyone whose buying 6/7 figures or more in sales from them a year
     
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  6. tommyc03

    tommyc03 Senior Member

    I don't have my copy of NN handy but I can imagine this has come about recently due the excessive returns of one of the newer issues, not sure, maybe one of the medals? It was a huge departure from normal returns. There was mention of this in the stats in NN in the past couple of week.
     
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  7. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    I'm small time and I've only had to return two items in all of the years that I've been dealing with the mint. The OCD types are gonna be unhappy as the devil........
     
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  8. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    I stopped ordering from them at all because I had to return so many things. I get not everything is going to be a 70, but with the premiums they charge it shouldn't show up spotted already or with huge gashes either
     
  9. Garlicus

    Garlicus Debt is dumb, cash is king.

    I only received one shipment where I thought a coins was "unacceptable", but it was a golden dollar in an annual set and I was more interested in the ASE anyways, so I didn't even bother.
     
  10. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    As someone who probably won't order as many as 50 items from the US Mint over a lifetime, I find this a rather high bar.

    Well, that certainly doesn't beg any questions at all.

    I get it, I really do; I'm sure there are big dealers that return a lot of stuff, and I'm sure there have also been episodes where lots of individual buyers returned things when an expected flipping opportunity didn't pan out. I also get it that many would view a detailed non-discretionary policy as a target for what they can get away with.

    But the gold Kennedys I ordered were all obviously flawed even to my not-especially-well-trained eye, and half the silver anniversary Kennedys I got were flawed. Even the one platinum eagle I talked myself into buying had a big ol' spot on the reverse; I kept it anyhow, but I really should've sent it back.

    Pretty sure that for me this policy will just mean I'm less likely to buy. I'm small-time, though; they won't miss me.
     
  11. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    Lol 2 percent is going to be the first return for most people
     
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  12. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    That's the two I had to send back. Horrible.
     
  13. TONYBRONX

    TONYBRONX Well-Known Member

    They don't want you to return their garbage just eat it!
     
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  14. Speedbump

    Speedbump Not a New Member

    The actual return policy section of their site is rather vague, so I'm sure that its up to the discretion of mint staff on who the 2% threshold applies to, probably volume buyers with purchases over $x's. I cant see them going after someone who returns one thing out of 5, twice.
     
    tommyc03 likes this.
  15. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    That's exactly who I believe they'll go after if they go after anyone and aren't just trying to scare people into not returning things. The customer that orders 10 things and returns 2 is a problem for them. They NEED the volume buyers
     
  16. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Yeah, I'm betting that I'm already flagged as a "problem customer", because I've returned six items out of probably less than two dozen I've purchased in my life.
     
  17. Speedbump

    Speedbump Not a New Member

    What they don't need is volume buyers that return millions of dollars of product each year. One volume buyer like MCM or SilverTowne will return more than 1,000's of small buyers combined. The mint does not survive on volume buyers. They are better off selling to someone that is not going to return something just because it wont grade 70 or because the immediate secondary flipping market didn't materialize for the 1,000's of whatever they just bought. Denying returns to a small handful of large volume buyers would likely eliminate most of their returns each year saving huge amounts of money. They would need to cut off 1,000's of other buyers to accomplish the same things. How well would that go over? If this means volume buyers buy less, awesome. That means the mint will just make less. Special mint issues will actually be special and not just something to sit in inventory in larger dealer warehouses.

    If the mint needed large volume buyers so badly, they would just become a whole sale manufacturer like they are with bullion.
     
  18. Blissskr

    Blissskr Well-Known Member

    So basically it's going to be 'accept our off quality or don't buy from us'. While I can see that some people probably took advantage hunting for 70's. In all honesty based on the quality I've received from the mint on personal purchases I bet even though the mint probably considered the returns excessive they were likely totally justified. Why not work on the Q&A standards instead of blaming customers.
     
    baseball21 likes this.
  19. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    Yes they do. You have it completely backwards. Without volume buyers they'd be in trouble. Those buyers are also the ones who hype up the products that get other people interested in them. They are also the buyers that generally don't return things, they just dump the stuff and move on.

    If they were allowed too they very likely would. Why do you think dealers get discounted pricing and that they have started to incorporate more bulk volume product offerings like the proof ASE bundle?
     
  20. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    FYI, 1 out of 5 (and 2 out of 10) is 20% not 2%. Or did I miss your point?
     
  21. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    That was part of the point, how insanely easy it is to get over their threshold. Basically any return will put a normal collector over their threshold.
     
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