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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,439 |
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Valued Member
United States
62 Posts |
I'm curious about the logic that goes into pricing at a LCS.
Mine has a couple cases of slabbed coins, higher grades, etc. However, they almost never have a single average circulated... well, anything in stock.
Everytime -- "Well, we got XXX,000 wheat pennies or X,000 silver coins a few days ago, but some guy bought all of them the same day."
I'm no economist, but supply and demand, right? If you can't keep a single coin in the bin, why not raise the prices? They have no lack of space for inventory, and they aren't understaffed.
Just wondered if this is common and if someone in the dealer world could shed some light. I know that most of the profit is in high-value coins, but you'd think there could still be a lot of money in volume also.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
623 Posts |
A lot of times these shops already have buyers in mind when they buy something. Then they call the person and it's sold right then and there.
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Valued Member
United States
291 Posts |
I hate to say this, but it appears to be a dying profession. If it wasn't for the surge in gold and silver prices, especially since 2008, I suspect all but a few would have shuttered their doors by now.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
THAT many LWC's and silver coins? If a coin dealer buys them in such huge numbers, they have GOT to come out of the woodwork again, sometime somewhere. I think you have been told a bit of a furfy. Or somebody here in the CCF may have a better idea than me, as to their fate. I am all ears! Otherwise, I am sure that there may be more of a few of us who would love to do some roll searching in such a rich field! |
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Moderator
 Australia
16829 Posts |
Coin dealers need to sell stuff as quickly as possible. No matter how cheaply they buy the coins for, inventory sitting on the shelf is only profit-in-potential, not profit-in-the-bank. Even if they have to take a slightly smaller profit, some certain profit now is always better than possible profit tomorrow. I recall once selling a small Swiss cantonal coin to a local coin dealer. That coin was still sitting in his inventory when the shop eventually closed, five years later. Now that coin only cost that dealer $10 or so, but the principle is the same: that was $10 which that coin dealer never actually got back. I've also known dealers go bust, simply because they held too much high-value stock in inventory and didn't actually sell enough stuff to pay the bills. Quote:
If a coin dealer buys them in such huge numbers, they have GOT to come out of the woodwork again, sometime somewhere. That depends, sel. If the buyer is a scrap metal merchant, then no, nobody will ever see those coins again. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
Russ's point is correct. Many LCS's have "call lists." When a specific item that they have buyers for comes their way, a quick phone call is made and the item is
kept out of sight and gone in a couple days. That's one of the main reasons many LCS's almost never have a lot of specific things in stock. It's also the main
reason I've been able to build up my collection of one specific thing a lot faster than if my buying had been limited to what I find on random shopping trips.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
inventory sitting on the shelf is only profit-in-potential, not profit-in-the-bank. And it is also tied up capital that could be used for other things. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Call list is correct. I'm on a couple.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
a fantastically important thing for a coin store, or any store, really is location. If you've got a coin store in a difficult to find location, little to hardly any parking space, poor neighborhood, you really can't expect great buisness. One dealer I know of is on a main street in a really large city. They get buisness all day long from just passer bys. Prices are excessive and lots of cleaned coins but still do great buisness mostly due to location.
At one coin show a dealer that has a coin store was telling me he plans on closing his store. He said almost no one at the shows has ever found his store. I went looking for it and when I did find it, it was almost impossible to park near the place. No passing by people are possible due to his place is on a busy street.
I think almost any buisness could do OK if the location was really accessable. Ond reason so many people go to shopping malls. All the stores are right there, in one place.
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Valued Member
United States
291 Posts |
I am in a large city for business and I stopped in a coin shop I found online. It was on a high floor of an office type building, and if you were not looking for it, there is no way you would have stumbled on it Had to be buzzed in. The owner was nice enough, but the selection was something I could have come up with using my seconds. I saw nothing in his shops that I wanted. He had obviously put some time and effort into typing up price and grade labels for each of his coins and had them in clear flips. Unfortunately, they were all $20 - $100 good to AU level common coins, and the better looking ones had noticeable scratches or damage that would surely get them returned in a body bag if sent to a TPG. The funny thing was he had signs placed in the cases throughout the store saying the prices were firm, and do not ask that he reduce the price. Unless I completely missed something, I honestly don't know how dealers like that can stay in business. |
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Valued Member
United States
237 Posts |
Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled on choice but most shops I go into maintain a decent inventory of circulated raw coins. A couple of them only have that type of stuff and very little high-value, high-grade, or slabbed coins. I know of one shop that has barely any circulated coins available, though they specialize in currency instead of coins.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,439 |
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Posted 08/10/2013 01:43 am
