Coin Dealer Knowledge?

I don't blame Walmart of anyone for this. Buisness is just buisness and a buisness person just has to make a profit regardless of whether people like it or not. Customers of a coin dealer just don't think of the dealer as a person with a family to support, utility bills, kids school supplies, etc. For some resaon a person working at Walmart is thought of more as a person raising a family than a coin dealer.

My reference to Wal-mart was price perception. Businesses like a coin shop do not buy items in the bulk amounts Wal-mart does. Nor do they have the amount of customers Wal-mart has because they are merely one store not thousands. With the bulk amount Wal-mart buys, they can dictate the lowest price they will pay. They do this to be able to charge the lowest price in the country for any particular item. They do not do this to help the customer. They do this to move products quickly and hurt the business of small mom and pop type stores. Coin shops are not franchises or multi-store companies. This means their buying power is zero. There is no manufacturer in which they can order from. A coin dealer has to do a lot of footwork hunting down collections and lots to purchase at a good price. When I was a kid my dad owned a children's shoe store. When Wal-mart started selling kids shoes at prices lower than my dad could order them for, our family business went belly up. Small retail is one of the most competitive and hardest businesses to be in. Cut your local dealers some slack, or you will be forced to buy all of your coins on ebay. We have all had or read the horror stories associated with ebay purchases.

That is still a bit tight. I live in what is now the 3rd largest city in the US. I do not know any coin dealers that could afford to buy any silver coins at 80% spot for anything less than BU. I can see using it as a loss leader to get folks in the door. This is what I have done with my website. I am making VERY little profit on the silver coins, but am hoping people will buy non-silver coins while they browse around. It has worked for me, but my overhead is nowhere near a brick and mortar store.

Very interesting guys. I would think that a dealer would pay as little as possible so they can make a larger profit. I can't blame him for trying to make a couple bucks on the deal. He did say that silver and gold is the only thing keeping his business open at this point. We are not forced to sell if we don't like what he is paying. =)

I recently used to own a retail business and sad to say but due to the extreme competitive environment the internet has created, many retail establishments are LUCKY to get 10% profit. They just try to make it up on volume. Sad to say but with the Mega companies operating in the country today unless a mom and pop business figures out a way to work within these constraints they are doomed to fail when they try to compete with these large online corporations which more and more are based overseas. We all need to accept the fact that if we want our mom and pop businesses to be around long term we need to understand they need to make a real profit they can live on. Once interest rates at the bank start to come back up you will see a huge number of mom and pop businesses close up because they can do better just leaving their money in the bank instead of working 80 hours a week and risk their hard earned money every day trying to compete with offshore discounters. I try and do as much business with my local mom and pop owned businesses as I can, and as long as I get good service and reasonable prices we are all better off for it.

unholyroller, your said a mouthfull for sure. My Dad HAD a gas station and due to all the mass producion places, gas wars, cars that only a dealer can fix, same thing, poof, gone. People just don't get it. Coins are a good example of a Mom & Pop type place just not being able to make a decent living selling a coin ONCE IN A WHILE.
It's a shame so many of us just don't want to help them all out but we all would rather pay a little less and let them all go under.

I see what your saying about the 60 cent profit but if someone brings in 1000 quarters which is likely he can move them fast enough and thats 600 bucks on that mere .60 cents. I am not trying to argue just stating facts that it works for him.

What sort of store did she go to? Sounds like a pawn shop to me