Visit To A "We Buy Gold" Type Of Establishment

Over the past few years I've been wanting to visit some of these gold/silver buyer establishments to see what kind of coins they were offering and at what prices. The first few I tried didn't have any coins for sale and looked at me like an alien when I asked if they sell to the general public. Another shop had jewelry and cheap dvds and other electronics but no coins or bullion. Today I went into a shop after seeing them mention on Facebook that they had plenty of junk silver for sale and to come on in and see what they had.

Well their junk silver was priced the same as the local coin shop so I didn't purchase any but they had some numismatic coins that I looked over. As usual with these types of establishments some were priced to high while others looked decent for the price. They had Morgan dollars for $23, Peace dollars for $20, Stone Mountain commems for $40, junk silver for 13X, steel cents for 10 cents each, and so on.

Here is what I purchased at fair prices, probabily 20-30% less then what some of the local coin shops here are asking. Nothing too great but I'll have to put it on my list to stop back in. They were not very busy. I was looking at what they had for 30 minutes and they didn't have any other customers. I wonder if the people in my area that would consider selling at these types of places are out of things to sell. I would have thought that the Christmas rush would bring out some sellers.

As always your thoughts are welcome. Tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

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Trime is a little rough around the edges, but the two busties sure look nice.

Dime looks like it might be recovering from an old-ish cleaning. Can't tell on the half.

 

You didn't post what you paid for them along with the pics - hard to tell that way if the deal was "good,bad,or ugly"

 

Well I paid $70 for the half, $20 for the dime, and $16 for the 3 cent silver. Thinking if I could do it over again I wouldn't have purchased the 3 cent silver.

 

I think you over paid by a small amount but that's only my opinion.

 

I do this all the time, what you should have said, 75% of their asking cost. They bought at 50%....so often ill offer 75%, and if they say no... i start walking 90% of the time, they will stop you and try to meet in the middle, keep walking...and get them cheaper.

 

I actually was able to negotiate some money off. They originally wanted $90 for the half, $27 for the dime, and $20 for the 3 cent silver. I tried to get them to come down on junk silver but their price was firm.

 

I bet i could have done at least 10% better.

 

I've always wondered if you could get a good deal at a pawn shop.

 

Back in 2011 silver was climbing, a we buy gold and silver place opened not too far from my home, I figured I would see what they were offering.

So pulled 20 silver eagles from my stash, and brought them to the store.

The place was done in faux bank style, carpets on a polished wood floor, seats to wait for the sales lady to get to you, there was a customer ahead of me, the arrangement was not conducive to eavesdropping, but soon the salesgirl came to me, I told her I had some silver coins, and wanted to know what they would buy them for.

At that time silver was around 36 toz, The shadiest coin shop in the area was buying for 25,the best were within a buck or two of spot. The lady looked at my coins, and got a large book out and matched the silver eagles to the picture and offered me 19 an t. oz.

I asked her what silver was selling for, and she told me she just went by the book, so then I got a bright idea, hey you are buying these for 19 I will give you 24 for any you have, she did not deign to reply, she closed her book and asked me to leave.

I felt like sticking around outside and buttonholing other customers, but I got over that feeling real quick, heck it was probably a fair offer considering it had just started up, so I left. By the time silver crashed a few months later, the store was empty.

 

Yeah I don't like the ethics (or lack of it) that some of these places display. When I was checking out and getting my receipt I saw a list of what they pay for common types. 8x face for junk silver and $12 each for silver dollars were a few of the prices listed on a handout they had taped to their desk. Not good but not too bad either, I've heard of a lot worse. Some of our big name 'reputable' coin dealers around here are only paying a bit more.

 

I wish I had a dollar for each of the gold-silver outlets around here that popped up and then closed during those years. Most of them had the lingering aroma of penitentiary.

 

I have to say that you did well. Most we buy gold places around my place would never have those coins for sale, and are run by Indians and Arabs.

 

I've yet to find one that would sell

 

Since the gold and silver buyers don't specialize in numismatic coins, they probably have to sell them off for wholesale unless the occasional customer comes by and pays retail. If they had large enough quantities I suppose they could run an ad to bring in suckers, i. e. "Buy these rare hundred year old Morgans for only 100 bucks before they all get melted and are lost forever..."

 

A few of these types of stores in my area have eBay stores but the don't seem to sell much there since they want $40 for circulated Morgans and $10 for common 1970's and 1980's proof sets. I don't understand it, I'm thinking they don't have the first clue about numismatics and they make most of their money on junk silver and jewelry and don't care if it sits or they have to wholesale it out later.

 

Even the barber shop in my area had a 'we buy gold' sign out.

They finally took it down after the crash

 

So, would you call this...............................................wait for it ................................................................ wait for it ...........................................a clip joint?

 

Aaaarrrrghhhhhh

 

Not a steal but very fair prices for decent coins.