Highest Prices Paid ...

Coin dealers large and small are in the business of making money. That's fair; it's what business is all about. Generally speaking, the ads notwithstanding, dealers all check the grey sheets (or other sources) to determine what they will buy a coin for, and what they will sell it for. They use their own expertise to determine the grade of the coin. If its an honest dealer, they buy and sell the coin at the same grade. Some shadier types will knock your coin down at least one grade when buying, and bump it up a grade (or two) when selling.

On occasion, if you have a key date coin or high grade type coin to sell, you might get better than wholesale for it if a dealer knows he/she has an immediate buyer. Otherwise, if the dealer is only speculating that he'll someday sell the coin, you're going to get about wholesale.

It's all about supply and demand...and knowledge! You, as either a buyer or seller, need to know how to grade the coins in the transaction and put a value to them.

As my great grandfather, who was in the farm implement business, always said..."The only good deal is one that is good for both the buyer and the seller."

Best wishes

So what are typical prices for buying and selling from a dealer compared to greysheet, or compared to RedBook (assume somehow the RedBook was up-to-date). I think RedBook is typically considered "retail", so would a dealer buy at something like, say, 60%? 70%? of that price?

One dealer told me that greysheet was the dealer-to-dealer price, and his prices for sale were about 20% over that. Does that mean a typical dealer would buy from a walk-in at below greysheet, and sell above?

Anybody have any typical guidelines?

For real this is a difficult subject. There is no such thing as a true value on a coin. Most coins were made with a face value and that is the only thing that is what it is. There are no manufacturers list prices on coins. There are no bar codes on coins for scanning at a cash register. Every price guide is exactly that, a guide, nothing more. Every dealer can charge or pay whatever they want for coins.
As to a statement that we pay the highest prices? Isn't that the same thing every used car dealer says? Every pawn shop, flea market, jewelry store, etc. Probably around here in Chicago the Crack dealers say that also.