Regarding Howardsdirect And CCgs

I can answer that question, actually. We made 10-15% on coins, which is a low, but very standard, margin in the coin business. Again, if you think we were just drilling people for huge margins over what we paid you would be mistaken. Shoot, we often broke even or sometimes lost a little money from time to time.

If anyone here is interested, I'd be happy to list a bunch of coin dealers whom you could call to check our reputation. Our reputation here, on this message board, isn't great, which is why I'm taking the time to post here. But our reputation in the industry is a much different story, that I'm quite confident of.

-Rob

Susanlynn9,

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the situation. We sold those coins at a fair price to everyone. The only reason we did CCGS is because customers did not buy raw on ebay. They had to feel that it was in something. The fact is, the response was positive. We did not have many returns. Of course, those who wanted to return their coins, we honered that each and every time.

Truth is, other people caught on to this and starting abusing it. That's what we noticed, and why we are just blowing out old inventory at this point. It didn't have any bearing to how we were running our business, but it was, as another poster said, painting us with a broad brush.

I think some of you can stand to use some perspective. PCGS is owned by David Hall. David Hall is a well known coin dealer. So therefore, PCGS is, by your definition, a self slabber.

Personally, I have no problem with PCGS: Hall jumped in, marketed a good product, and we all pay premiums for PCGS coins, even if we patently disagree with the grade. But it has created an environment in which people have a certain expectation, especially on ebay for whatever reason.

Again, my main purpose here is to let people know that Howard's is a 37 year old business with a sterling reputation, to counterbalance what I have seen here. If you still wish to think I am just here making excuses and we are "bad," so be it. Obviously at this juncture it is clear people are fairly convinced either way, so I will leave it at that.

I do thank you for giving me this forum in which to tell our side of the story. If any of you go to the major coin shows, I would ask that you talk with Rick and Larry. I think you would most definitely convinced, beyond what I can do here, of what kind of business Howard's is.

Best Regards,
-Rob

Rob, I have hesitated to record this set of circumstances as I felt that I had made my point. But you have come back here and responded as if this is no big deal and you have placed yourself on a par with PCGS. Well, here is some food for thought:

We sell coins on consignment. We had a gentleman approach us about selling his Morgan collection. All were in slabs, but none were in reputable slabs. Three of his coins were in CCGS MS67 slabs. I had the fun job of explaining to him why these coins were not going to finance his retirement because one of them was actually an AU coin (I showed him all of the areas of wear - not weak strike); the other two were MS63-64. This gentleman and his wife were devestated. He said that he would never be able to recover the money he had put into those coins. He also had a lot of other basement slabbed coins. In all, he lost well over $10,000.

The fact is that I have seen first-hand an example of your "certification" marketing gimmick and the havoc it wreaked on a man and his wife. This is why I am taking such a hard line with this.

I strongly believe that the reason you have not had many returns is that most of the people who are buying your slabbed coins are uneducated and will not find out the mistake they made until they come to someone like me to sell for them or buy their coins. By then, it's too late, isn't it?