Minor Dilemma

Call me a jerk but I would have offered him less than was stated and tried to haggle him down. Honesty is nice but his ignorance is worth $$$.

Tough crowd.... I agree that being honest and helpful with benefit you in the long run. I would however check in with him often, but buy up all you can now. Eventually something nice will come in, and he will remember his "coin guy" and hopefully keep it for you exspecting you to be the best buyer..... works for me with my connections..

I admire that you were "over and above" honest with him. I hope it comes back to you in kind! Unfortunately, I don't think it does that often these days.

I get sick of the stories I read here and elsewhere of people doing the opposite ( finding coins they know are worth hundreds in a $1 bin and BRAGGING about it ) - is that soooo different than just plain shoplifting really? Or taking advantage of less sophisticated collector's in deals. I wouldn't be so boastful or proud about taking advantage of other's mistakes. Many try to justify/rationalize by some convoluted logic that their hours/years of collecting just finally "paid off" and makes it justified - or that the seller MUST have paid even less. Or that they deserve it for not checking, etc. Like they are perfect and have never made a mistake in any context!

But they don't KNOW that to be true, that the seller paid less, and they are just "made up" reasons that it is okay to rip someone else off. I think ethics goes both ways and it is preferable to be honest and forthright in all dealings, period. If you get lucky and win an auction at a good bargain that is FINE - and the seller knew the score when they decided to auction it off. But to rip someone off on a pricing mistake or unintentional mistake of any kind, or just their lack of knowledge it is low and dispicable IMO! It is no different than ripping off a "slow adult" or kid or trusting elderly person. I despise that "shark" mentality! WAY TOO MANY in this hobby/business are infected with it. I see and hear sellers lying and deceiving others all the time - in person at shows and online in ads/pics/haggling.

I have found some mistakes on labeling in B&M coin shops and instead of trying to "slip by on them" I pointed out the mistakes to the owners so they could correct them and not get ripped off. The "Worm in Rounders" cheat wherever and whenever thing is not very appealing to me.

You answer your it.

That's odd most pawn shops I see never lower there prices and the items just collect dust on the shelves, they paid say $25 or $30 when that was spot and our just not willing to take a loss at $20 spot.

And how do you own a pawn shop and not know the value of what you are buying and selling that is just poor business sense.

I have recently been scoring quite a bit out of my LCS foreign bin as this is clearly a US specialty coin shop. I have found 4 silver coins in their foreign junk bin in a week. Should I feel guilty for not informing them of this I do not think so. They are a coin shop they specialize in coins and silver and gold its their job and or responsibility to know what its worth, would I have paid higher had these coins been in 2x2's displayed in their shelves absolutely. They treat there foreign coins like junk something of a nuisance lets just toss em all together in a big bin and be done with them. They probably paid there customers pennies for these coins or nothing at all telling them they were worthless they are not losing any money in this proposition. They are selling them for 20 cents because they paid nothing or a penny for them at most a nickel. The person who lost is the customer who came in and were told there coins were worth nothing not the coin shop. I could say hey you know this British 1935 half crown you are selling is %50 silver and they could charge me more and make a nice $5-10 profit on a coin they might have paid 2 cents for. I mean none of the coins I have pulled out have been worth more than $10 and I have spent a good time culling through them to find those few.

Well, interestingly.. after 2weeks I went back and checked out what else new he had and prices.. and I genuinely think he doesn't know, or care too much about the values.

Silver rounds of various types - $20. OK. good... bought
1923 Peace. Looked UNC on the faces but the edges banged up badly.. meh.
Walking Liberty half dollars - $10 firm. Meh
1900 Quarter, poor condition. $7 - Unsure about this...?

Not sure I have a point to this story.. The original post was about him selling $2 silver quarters, I just think he didn't do the math well.. and I pointed it out to him... I would do it again, but if he had a clearly very valuable cc Morgan for $20 I am unsure if I would speak up.. really unsure...