Price Gouging At A Coin Show

"Life is full of rude pissy people, ignore them and find people like those here on CCF to do business with."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Yes, life's unfair and I probably should've said no sale. But that's why I come to this forum. There are so many different, opinionated characters and it's a huge learning experience. I really like this discussion and I think people have made many good points. I, however, is a person who like to stand by his opinions. So I still think it was pretty foolish to raise the price 1 dollar just because I can't find it cheaper anywhere else? The set may be dealer's property, but isn't it his job to make it somebody else's property and keep them happy. WEll, I certainly wasn't too thrilled about the way he tried to make it my property.

It's just a buck. You probably wasted more time hassling with him than it was worth. If I had that type of experience, I'd either walk away without much fanfare, or just buy it and be done with it. My rule of thumb is that if you see something you want, buy it the first time you see it, because many times I have come back and found that the item was missing from the stock.

I find it odd that any dealer is willing to attempt charging a goofy price at a coin show. Typically, coin shows are where all the bargains are or at least very competitive pricing because of the competition on the floor. If a dealer wants to charge a stupid price for a coin I want and he's not willing to deal, I walk away. I'm guessing that most other collectors (and dealers/wholesalers) would do the same. He can show it off in his case forever for all I care.

"I own things. They are mine. I can try to sell them to who I want, for what I want, when I want." - DrPepper

Guess that's why gas has gone up 30¢ in the past three weeks. ;)

I love these quotes. Look for them on T-shirts from coffee press in about a week or two.

Please be generous :) I need to work on my 7070 :)

"I own things. They are mine. I can try to sell them to who I want, for what I want, when I want." - DrPepper

"I Want things. They are not mine. I can try to buy them from who I want, for what I want, when I want. I can change my mind anytime. I can decide not to buy them." -DrPepper

The quotes will be on the front and on the back will be a more famous quote:

"Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too."

These t shirts will be priced at the whim of the seller and only sold to select people ... because I own them.

Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Man, it's a free market. Dealers are allowed to price their coins the way they see fit, and collectors can shop elsewhere if they don't like it. It's as simple as that.

Funny you mention "survival of the fittest". In class today, a teacher and another student got into a philosophical debate. It somehow got onto anarchy. My teacher argued that "survival of the fittest would have absolutely no chance because if that was the true case, then why would a mother give a "weak, unfit" child unconditional love and protection? If no mother was to protect the child, sticking the the "survival of the fittest" philosophy, then no babies would last in this world, then human existence would fade away. Same case with the coin thing, if strong dealers always prey on weak customers, then how is it possible the business/industry will last?

When I was around 16 years old a local coin shop put a big ad in the newspaper. (This was during the early 80's) He was buying all coins at multiples of their face value. Wheatie pennies were fetching 2.5 cents each. My father gave me a bunch to sell. (I didn't collect coins back then and I wished I would have kept them.)

The owner was gabbing away with two guys trying to buy their gold coins when he wrote me out a check. His store was in a bank building so I just had to take the elevator down to cash it. I was quite surprised when I got $600. (Instead of $6.00) I walked out of the bank pretty happy until I started thinking about whether I would get in trouble over it. I went to see a friend of my fathers, who was in the legal game, and she said to just go back to the bank and explain that it was a mistake.

The bank clerk who cashed the check and a manager said they were waiting to see if I came back or not. It seems the coin store owner came in and 'ran around' trying to find me and saying he needed to stop the check immediately. He even wanted to call the police and claim I had commited fraud. The bank manager showed me the check which said '600' and 'Six and.....00/100". So it was an honest mistake all around. Oh, but the coin dealer is a businessman and he can't be out. The manager said he ranted and raved and I was kicked out of his store forever, etc., etc... It was no big deal since he was arrested shortly afterword. Seems he melting down stolen silver and got caught. I always wondered if buying up all of those coins didn't have something to do with covering up what he was really doing.

Anyway, my point is this.A dealer tries to screw you over and and people think buyer beware, business as usual. But if the businessman gets screwed, stop the check, call the cops, and get the hell out of Dodge.

It's called hypocracy. A concept which should have no place in any form of collecting.