What Would You Do?

I haven't read all post "in toto" but there seems to be another element missing that should influence a dealer's buying price; and that is - how fast can the dealer turn the inventory? If the dealer can pick up the phone and fill someones want list with a coin within minutes of the purchase he can afford to pay a little more for a coin versus one he may have to put in inventory for a year before a buyer comes by.

that being said, in both cases the dealer is ethically bound to make the best offer possible for his business, explain the basis of the offer and let the seller take it or go elsewhere. In "A" the seller should have known what he had but apparently didn't (or maybe he was testing the honesty of the dealer for future business); at any rate he would not be obligated to sell the coins to the dealer once the dealer told him what he would pay. But once the dealer tells the seller what he would pay and why he is forever marked as an honest or dishonest dealer in the mind of the seller (and to whomever the seller relates the story to which may be many). The only possible exception for "A" would be if the seller represented himself as a knowledgeable person in the area and specified an exact sum he wanted for the coins.

Aside from that, the buyer (dealer) in both scenarios is obligated to make a full disclosure and a fair price based on his market area and market conditions including how fast he could turn the merchandise to realize a reasonable profit. IMHO

I had the second exact situation happen to me yesterday. A customer of mine called me. Since he runs an antique shop, he gets people coming in wanting to sell old stuff. He had a widow come in and ask him if he bought old coins. He knew I did, and put me in touch with her. I met her and she had a bag full of old tokens and foreign aluminum, but she also had a card deck box full of IHC's.

It was sure fun looking through them and although there were no keys, the coins were in good to xf condition. There were 87 of them. There were also 6 very nice Lincolns 1917-1926 range. It would have been easy to take advantage of her.

I first asked her twice if she was sure she wanted to part with them, and if she may have children or grandchildren who may want them. She said no. So I offered her what the coins were bringing on e-bay, which is about $ 1.00 per coin for the IHC's.

Now, I will not make any money off of these, but I did get about 6 coins that were upgrades to my Lincoln and IHC sets, and I feel good about myself.

It would have been so easy to just offer her 20 bux or so, since her son-in-law had told her they weren't worth anything.

MM