Do Dealers Or Catalogue Publishers Decide How Much You Pay?

the price guides are only useful as an indication of a coins rarity (the higher the CV the higher the rarity as a rule of thumb)
A coin is only worth what a buyer will pay for it.
If all my coins were sell able at the CV I would be quite a wealthy man , Only if I could drag myself to sell them.
I do find the guides very useful for mintage's and other pertinent information.
I feel that dealers are not idiots and will sell at a reasonable price otherwise they will have a surplus stock and no cash flow.
These blokes are professionals and know the worth of the coins they sell/Buy and just like the rest of us they have to put bread on the table at the end of the day.

Maccas and Rennicks are careful to point out that their guides dont express the value of the coin, they express what you would reasonably expect to pay if purchasing from a professional dealers retail outlet. As such, their prices include 10% GST, retail margins they also include the convenience of being able to physically inspect the coin, receive the dealers expert advice and then walk out with the coin immediately you have purchased it.

ebay auctions on the other hand I believe undervalues coins. They are only up for 7 or 10 days meaning that many prospective buyers may simply miss the listing. There is also the risk that it is a fake, or that it has been cleaned or over graded. You rely on a simply photo to make your judgement and then you have to wait a week or more to actually receive your item in the post (assuming it isn't lost in the post). All of this results in an " ebay discount" to the true value of the coin.

I guess I use the guides to give me an absolute maximum that I should spend, depending on how bably I want the item.

an interesting topic - I pay what I want to pay - as a starting point though I will look at "catalogue" prices and then various online auction sites and finally dealer price lists - but at the end of the day it depends on how badly I want an item that will determine the price that I am prepared to pay

i work out what I can afford and try to pay less than that, and what I can pay is usually under book value.

My belief is that dealers with buyers will negotiate a price with a catalogue price/book price being a tool to decide how much you pay?
On ebay, being open market, buyers will pay only what they're willing to pay.
At auction, buyers will pay only what they're willing to pay but it may not be enough to secure the purchase.
The book prices are reasonable in some areas but completely out of wack in other areas. For coin pricing & note pricing, you're best off looking at guides from 4-5 years ago for a real indication. But research has to also be done.

ebay is cheap (but also it's sometimes hard to trust the sellers)
Auction is expensive (but you get what you pay for)

I've got an example below of my experience on Sunday at the APTA Show in Malvern. I went to good old Trevor Wikins.
I was wanting a consecutive pair of 1997 $5 Test notes, any prefix, but in UNC condition.
Book price was $75 each.
His price was $65 each.
My price was $50 each ($100 for the pair)
Our deal was $55 each ($110 for the consecutive pair)
That's $40 off book (26.6% off)

Every situation will differ. I've sold some things on ebay & received less than I paid for them at auction (Downies). Whereas I've sold some items for much more than I would have thought they'd go for.

I think that the best way to answer this question all comes down to SUPPLY & DEMAND. It's a matter of finding that perfect equilibrium.

There are dealers with different filosofies of business. Most buy and sell as quickly as possible. They sell at low enuf prices to get rid of everything.

A dealer that makes it a point to have almost anything a customer may want is often buying from other dealers to fill in anything he sells out of. He has to charge more, but you know you can go to his store and find what you want.

This is the sole reason I am only buying coins that sell for spot or some regular percentage over/under from there. If I can't buy a pretty coin for spot or less, then I don't want it.

My collection is not "one of every silver world coin ever minted", it's specifically "one of every shiny silver world coin that I can buy for less than melt". That's what makes me happy, so that's what I'm doing. And it's a heck of a fun game!

Silvereye, I like your theory on

It's people like yourself that make me want to sell up part of my collection & just keep my pristine notes, which isn't a bad thing, I've been thinking more & more about selling the decents & re-investing in gold. But I love some of my coins too much.
Is there ever going to be a healthy medium to my addiction?