Coins On Approval?

I have seen them. I think you should stay away from them. These are the kind of companies that lock you into their club and send you what they want.

It's a normal practice between established dealers and their better customers. Knowing that, some companies take advantage by using the same method to make less-experienced collectors feel like they're establishing a dealer relationship which will get them better deals on coins.

Any such offer from a dealer you don't already have a relationship with is to be looked at suspiciously. It's a risk on the part of the dealer if they don't know you; what, then, is the expected return that will make them want to risk it?

Based on my experiences as a kid (back in the Dark Ages) with approval subscriptions for both stamps and coins, they are not very good. While the companies may send nice stamps/coins as an inducement to join, it's downhill from there. Approval companies also have (or used to have) minimum numbers of purchases over a given period (say, a year) and if the selections they send are junk, the member is still obligated to pick out unwanted coins. Further, they are usually over-priced common coins. And last, it's a royal pain to have to package and mail the unwanted coins back, especially if the nearest post office is a fair distance away.

Depending upon the types of coins collected, ebay and online stores offer a far wider selection at lower cost with no obligation to buy a listed coin.

I'm trying to think of an advantage of the approval system for coins, but I'm coming up with little except that the coins may be looked at in hand rather than purchased from an image. I doubt any approval service is going to send a particularly valuable coin without up-front payment.

Fred

Thanks guys for the welcomes and the info too I figured these things were too good to be true so I will not look into any of them further I will just keep checking the internet for my coins I guess thanks

Been there, done that, will never do it again.

There was a dealer in Numismatic News that I responded to a few years ago. He assured me that I would be completely happy with my purchase. You could choose what types of coins and the dollar amount that you would like to spend. The guy was a complete ripoff and told me that he didn't have time to worry about it when I called him. He told me just not to buy from him again. Fortunately, it was only $250 lost, but I would never respond to one of those again. There is always a catch.

Interesting. I never thought to do that.

Hello Everyone,


I personally think about joining those coins on approval programs but I tend to stay away from them because I know the companies like Littleton for example know what they are selling and will try to get top dollar on them.


Eric