Your experiences - Littleton Coin?

Has anyone had experience with Littleton Coin?

Good/Bad? Prices - in line/outta line?

In my collection, I see where my Uncle has procured many a coin from them, and of course he kept excellent records, and the prices he paid are typically higher than current red book values.

Is this the norm with coin vendors?

No, it really does not matter now in the larger scheme of things... and he had no access to the internet (PCs were before his time and he never cared to learn) :computer: but I am curious if he was paying market value or keeping the business afloat.

I see he did a lot of business with Empire too. Any comments??

Thanks for reading!

 

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Don Imus tore them a new one a few years ago...
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=2354

 

over priced.

 

yup definitely over-priced and very persistent in making you buy more than you want to....AVOID!!!

 

Very overpriced

 

They are a marketing machine. In other words, overpriced

 

well none of this really surprises me, after all, I had made my assumptions based upon the information I am seeing.

In some aspects, it is rather unfortunate... someone gets involved in the hobby and their only resource is some propaganda they've received in the mail. If you don't know any better, you believe what they are telling (selling) you. Ignorance is bliss.

Again, my Uncle who recently passed away build this collection beginning in the 60s and 70s. I literally have stacks and stacks of receipts for coin purchases. As I noted, it really does not matter now in the big picture...

Think Littleton will honor his bonus points?

thanks everyone for the input!

 

they ARE over pricec. But i have never heard anyone complain the grades they give their coins are wrong. their customer service is very good as well. You get the ocins before you buy, so if you think the price is too high for the coin, send it back. If the coin is acceptible for the price, take it. There is nothign wrong with the company as long as you know that they coin priced DO trend alot higher then the same coin can be had some other place. There are risks no matter where you go, littleton takes alot of the risk away, but you pay higher prices...

littleton will honor points years after gettign them! i got point 10 or so years ago when i dealt with them. They honored them a couple years ago when i turned them in. I do not use their services now, since i dont like their high prices personally... but i would not advise anyone against using them as long as they know about the high prices!

 

No it's not the norm and yes they are out of line BUT as Daggarjon pointed out the grading is usually quite good.

One of my local dealers sells to them at times. He's shown me their buy prices and they are high. They ARE picky though and will send back a lot of material. Of course he knows this by now.

I have actually (GASP!) bought Littleton on a few occasions. Didn't buy it from them though. Stuff that walks into my local shops I'll buy at a much lower price than the original customer paid and that's AFTER my dealer's markup.

 

They are priced ridiculously high. Look at what they charge for low grade Walker Halves for example.

 

My ordering is only done when they run some sort of special involving silver but under normal times the prices are high but there grades were always fair.

 

littleton is no worse than most of the advertised coin dealers in the mags. at least with them you actually get what you pay for!

 

I first bought something from Littleton when I was still a YN, very YN if I remember correctly. I got the coin I ordered, it was something like a $2 ancient SE Indian coin, I think I still have it. But it came with other coins, all priced etc., if I did not want them I had to pay the postage back etc. When you send them back you get more and the process keeps going until you tell them to cease and desist. Obviously if they lost coins in this process and did not get paid for them, it was nominal because they continue to send coins out on approval and trust. Perhaps this is why they are high priced, covering some losses.

They might be good for a collector out in backwoods Idaho or somewhere where there are no coin shows, shops or access to the internet, but they are not for me.

 

Personally, Littleton is way overpriced.

But in reallity, Littleton is like Walmart with respect to customer service. You can send anything back for a full refund and you can't beat their "convenience". They have a stellar reputation for customer service, but there will always be bad experiences. With the volume and nature of their business, they will never please 100% of the people.

Personally, I can't see their customer service justifying their high prices, but they do have promotions every year where you can buy silver eagles at their cost with free shipping.

 

Thanks all for sharing your knowledge... the info about their grading I guess is what is really important.

 

littleton coin

do they sell slabbed coins? if they do i wonder if they'll send THOSE to you and wait for the money?

 

A while back I joined their silver dollar club. After joining, I naturally expected to recieve nothing but silver dollars from them, Morgans, Peace, Ike and SAEs. In my first shipment of coins I recieved one Buffalo Nickel, one Jefferson war nickel, a Mercury dime and one SAE. All graded accurately but insanely overpriced. To me, accurate grading is meaningless if the prices are three times more than they should be. I kept none of the coins and severed my membership with Littleton. I guess its fine for those collectors out there who have no other means of obtaining U.S. coins, like maybe someone who lives in a damp cave in Pakistan.

 

I put Littleton up there with Home Shopping Network, Coin Country and other TV coin salesmen. All are overpriced and take advantage of those who just don't know any better.

Acer0001

 

Like everyone said, coin prices are very high - but- I have bought supplies from them in the past and the service was quick. Prices on some of the supplies are somewhat competitive.

 

when selling to littletion, they give good prices, but the coins have to have no problems and the grade right on if not better, but i usually get a bunch back because they are just not perfect. When buying, they are very high on prices, but they give you a nice looking, no problem coin. But you are paying for it!