who are the worst coin dealers to buy from for any reasons? including, being rude to customers, overgraded coins, bad service, ect. from 2008 through most of 2009 i had bought some coins by mail order from a dealer named ken madison. he did send some decent coins at fair prices. but after i had been buying coins from him for about a year and a half (i had never returned any of the coins that i had bought from him and i had never complained about the coins he sent or his service, ect.) i received a coin (1917 p lincoln cent MS63 red) except for a scratch on the obverse of the coin. i sent the coin back for an exchange with a polite note about why i wanted to exchange the coin for another coin. i included a money order for the shipping cost of the exchange. he sent me a refund for the coin and sent back the money order for the shipping cost along with a note that said, (future orders from me will not be accepted). he had a no questions asked return option on all of the coins that he sold.
Every dealer that I have ever done a deal with was the most honest dealer in the world. (In case any of them are on CT) If you have the option of going to a local shop, your experience would be much better. It is just too easy for mail order guys to give you a bum deal. That being said, there are many great dealers that I have never met and have traded with by mail for years.
I stay away from all the sellers that have 10,000 plus feedback, their usually selling garbage, and dont care if a few customers slip through the cracks
I don't like these type of threads as they seem to be personal vendettas. Any dealer or seller has a right to refuse service. We have to take your word that it was a polite note. We don't know all that went on.These types of thread tend to become long winded arguments back and forth. So he refuses to deal with you, he did what was right and refunded all necessary~ right. Why would you want to deal with someone who doesn't want to deal with you? I recommend you just accept it and move on. A truly bad dealer would not have responded as well. Email him and ask why if you wish, but I can't accept this as a 'worst coin dealer'. Jim
I have met plenty of dealers online (and here on CT) that I absolutely love dealing with. LCS are another story. There are 2 around me, one is extremely friendly, the prices are great (both buying and selling), it is a family-business, and they have a long line of returning customers. The other has some positives about it, but on top of being extremely rude, they are ultimately know-nothing know-it-alls. Granted they are are 'card and coin' shop, but they should still have a general idea of what they are doing. They act like they have the best coins in the world (junk silver roosies for $10 a piece), but when I bring them a 1960 proof set, they say it is "too new" and worth maybe $5 (for those who don't know, the silver alone is more than $15). On the other hand, their stupidity leaves them wide open to my cherrypicking. Numerous times, I have bought an ihc, or a v nickel, etc, with full liberty and nice details, and only paid a dollar for it. I stop by every once and a while just for this.
Harford Coin Exchange in Baltimore, Md is the worst. When I was a young buck, up and coming they were more then happy to relieve me of my money in return for their pocket change. Kirkuleez I would agree with you for the most part. I have had a great experience everytime with one dealer. He has even taken a loss a couple times because he initially valued the coins incorrectly and stuck with what he agreed to.
I would stay away from coin listings that say, unsearched, estate sale, Junk drawer, hidden room, grandfather clock, guaranteed silver, random, hoard, pirate treasure, etc. those are always bad
While I agree 99.9% today on Ebay are bad, that never used to be true, and still can be not true. I literally have bought the coins from the estate of people, but by gosh nowadays I really have to work at it to make sure I believe it. Most are now simply comeons. Also, I agree with Jim. These types of threads tend to be vendettas. We don't know the circumstances of the whole thing, maybe the dealer made a mistake, maybe he honestly thought the coin did not have a scratch when he sent it out, etc etc.
My dealer, Guido, doesn't believe in email. You have a problem, find him at Agostino's, Elmwood Park, Harlem at Grand, back table, most nights.
There are a great many tort lawyers out there that would heartily "disagree" with that statement. Back in 2004...
