Do Coin Dealers... ?

I don't know of ANY salesman that would give a discount to other sellers. It defeats the purpose of competition and market shares

As a retail salesmen I personally wouldn't sell my product at a discount for another store to sell and potentially take a customer away from me.

I don't think it happens often, but that's what the grey sheet is intended for. I think. I know, it's a strange world.

At shows, dealer-to-dealer sales are very common and those coins typically trade at prices lower than retail. One dealer may have several high end coins that he purchased for a nice price but doesn't want to keep them in inventory for months on end due to local market conditions. Those coins could be sold to another dealer that travels more extensively and attends the big regional or national shows where high end coins are much easier to sell. Some show dealers are regional and will travel 200-300 miles while other dealers will travel nationally to the big show of the week, literally living out of a suitcase and hotel room for 3-4 days/week. Many dealers will also have "I scratch your back and you scratch mine" arrangements where dealer 1 has coins that dealer 2 is looking for while dealer 2 may have some coins that dealer 1 is interested in, a swap of coins and/or cash would be common to fill the respective customer want lists.

This may seem unfair but when was the last time you or anyone you knew dropped $10-20,000 at a coin show? It doesn't take a very big show to find dealer-to-dealer transactions on that level(or higher) that they may rarely ever see from walk-in customers. Another dealer may be seen as competition at one particular show but as a dealer, you also know that the other dealer will be on the opposite side of the country next week and will not create any further competition for you. If you couldn't sell it at that show, the other dealer most likely will not be able to as well but the buying dealer knows for sure that he would be able to unload them for a solid profit at something like an upcoming FUN or ANA show.

It especially occurs when say two dealers have established themselves in the market differently. They buy/sell or trade with each other when they have stock they may have trouble selling. Example: one dealer is well known for selling foreign coins, the other specialises in US. They each have stock the other would usually sell easily so they sell/buy/trade. Of course it relies on respect between the dealers and id assume that takes quite a while to build and but a second or two to destroy.

YEs they do all the time. As people mentioned, you will see alot of this at coin shows. I often see tables unattended as the dealer is off doing business with another dealer. In business it's all about turning over inventory versus keeping your cash tied up. So if dealer A can sell some coins, even at a 3-5% markup to dealer B, they might do that versus taking the chance that the coin will sit in their display case for weeks, months, or even years. And as Sap said, they do buy coins from other dealers knowing they have a buyer lined up, so it's a win-win-win (win for the selling dealer, win for the buying dealer who then becomes a seller, and win for the customer who gets that hard to find coin).

As already stated, it happens all the time. Really noticable at coin shows but even coin stores work with pawn shops and other independant dealers. At smaller local coin shows, many dealers know each other and trading goes on all the time.

I've seen some dealers at shows who hardly even sit at their table. They are constantly running around the floor to several dealers, trading very actively and familiarizing themselves with the inventory of others. In my experience, this can be helpful to the collector.

For example, I was looking for a nice AU Trade dollar with a chop or two only in the field. I searched the entire floor, and couldn't find one. I mentioned this to a dealer friend of mine off the cuff, and within 3 minutes I found myself shelling out $175 for a very nice example he snagged from another dealer. I didn't pay the price marked, and both dealers turned a quick profit.

Yes they do .... I see it all the time.

Also that is what greysheet "Coin dealers newsletter" (CDN)
is all about, dealer to dealer price.

Not just at coin shows. Good dealers will have a network of dealers that they will trade often with.

In my experience small and medium dealers (coin shops) have a limited operating capital. I have seen collection come into coin shops with values of 10K to 350K, when that happens dealers need to be able to sell off a large amount of that collection to keep their operating capital liquid. Depending on what is in the collection, they will call a network of other dealers or special customers to sell off the bulk of what they don't need.