Coin Dealer Ethics

I lean towards agreeing with you from what you have described. The Morgan itself on its own wouldnt change my opinion on anything that happens sometimes, but it sounds like hes doing that with all his coins including the raw ones.

While its true that everyone is free to make their own decision on whether or not to accept an offer, it sounds like hes using different grading standards for buying and selling.

If hes consistently telling people I grade it as say a 62 when buying then labeling it a 64 to sell that rubs me the wrong way. Id rather just see someone be upfront and buy low saying I have to make a profit. Once you start changing grades depending on if youre buying it or selling it thats a form of deception to me.

It is just business. It is easy for us here to grade, because our money doesn't depend on it. If you put a coin here for everyone to grade, that you are sending into PCGS, with the stipulation that, whoever over grades it past what PCGS says, owes you the price difference. First no one would even attempt to grade it and those who took the challenge would also under grade it by a point or two.

Walk into a car dealer with a trade in and see what their trade in value is compared to what you can get if you sell it in a private sale. It is the exact same thing. Do your Red Book, Blue Book, Numismedia homework. Learn how to grade and protect yourself, but I wouldn't blame the dealer for attempting to cover his derriere.

to an extent if he bought it as a 64 and it came back 63 he'd be hurting. I guess my problem is his raw coins labeled 64's....that I've bought and then taken pictures of and placed them up here typically have had the 50/50 consensus of 64 and 63....that being said I know he knows how to grade. he's right on the money with his coins for the most part....and is typically good about marking an item cleaned or damaged in some way.

It's all about risk. No one is going to buy a raw coin like that with huge $ swings based on 1 or 2 points and grade it on the high side. There is just too many variables based on what a PCGS grader will grade it at. IMO if he did anything wrong it was to not inform the customer to send it in first and then bring it back slabbed. The customer was either dumb or uninformed and the shop owner took a chance and it paid off.

Not in terms of honesty. "I grade this a XF 40 Ill pay you 300 because I need to make money selling it for 500" is a big difference then telling someone its a VF and turning around a selling it for XF money.

If something grades differently when you send it in so be it, I dont even blame people if they wont buy raw coins for the price over a big jump but be honest about it.

From the OP it sounded like he does this with all his coins. Grades one way to buy and one way to sell. Thats dishonest. I'm not saying pay collector prices, but dont lie about what you think the grade is. If its just that Morgan I couldnt care less that happens and I wouldnt expect him to use a 64 for the buy price when no ones going to pay 10k for that coin raw.

I got the same thing from one dealer--he would give my coins dismissive grades--and he routinely "appraised" collections. Business or not, I don't call this professional appraising--it's just lowballing for whatever reason--to sound more authoritive or get more profit.

Here's a question...

Would it not be possible for a coin dealer -- on a high-end coin like that where the difference of two grades is $8500 -- say to the owner something like this: "this coin will probably grade 62-64, by a TPG. How about this...I will send the coin in for you to have it professionally graded. When it returns, I'll sell it. Once it sells, I'd like to make x% profit on this coin, and would like to be reimbursed for the $x it costs me to send it in for grading. I'll pay you the difference. How's that sound?"

To me, that would be more fair, in this specific type of situation (where there's that much money riding on the grade).

Bottom line, though, is that the few times I've been to coin shops, my EXPECTATION is that they will offer me BELOW value for anything I'd want to sell, and AT or ABOVE value for anything I'd look to buy. To me, that's a given -- as there's a profit that must be made for the dealer, obviously. Like someone mentioned -- I've always seen it as the "used car" situation...

I'd absolutely want to have a good idea of my coin's value, before selling it...

Denco -- you said a seller should do their "red book, blue book, and numismedia homework" before selling. Can you tell me what "blue book" and "numismedia" homework mean? If you had told me to do my " Red Book and photograde homework" (the two things I am familiar with), I'd have understood. I'm not familiar though with "blue book" or "numismedia."

Steve

Red Book is retail value, Blue Book is wholesale values. These books are printed once a year and we all know how prices can swing wildly in a year. Numismedia is a website that has more timely adjustments in their pricing and values of coins.

I own a construction company. I don't feel like I need to lay my business open to anyone and everyone I give an estimate to.
I don't itemize and explain the cost of every nail or 2X4 I use or my profit margin on supplies, materials or sub-contractors. Here is what it is going to cost for your new home to be built ........bottom line. Shop around for other estimates, but I am not going to show you my books to assure you that you are getting the best price. If I cheat people I am out of business ....... bottom line.