Susan And The 1878 Morgan.everyone Please Read This !!!!

I just sent this email to Robert "snake oil" Chambers.

Dear Mr. Chambers,
I have been watching your show for sometime learning and gaining confidence before I dive in to make a large purchase. I am afraid that after tonights experience I will not be purchasing any of your products and will reccomend to all I know that they do the same. I will relay to you what happened tonight. A friend pointed out this coin and said why is this 1878 morgan. Item # 70016234 3,299.00 ? I said huh ? I went to the web site and sure as I'm breathing.it lists this 1878 morgan. the description is a vf 20. The slab says 1878s ms63 that lists for $450.00 and a vf coin lists for $25.00.I called the customer service line and asked for a clarification.I spoke to a Customer Service Rep. named Marcus. this is the respone I received. " They said they they have to have a markup". Now Mr. Chambers I am all for a markup and after speaking to some more educated folks in the hobby than myself and getting some updated publications like "Coin Values" "Coinage" and the old Red Book. I am becoming aware that the general markup is more often than not double the list price. I then asked for a manager. Marcus put me on hold and said the manager refuses to take the call and I have the choice to buy the coin or not. He also said that if you dont know about coins thats great for them. I asked for the hosts email robert chambers. refused to give it to me.I t was after insisting profusely for his managers name that would not take the call and your email address. He finally relented. His managers name is "Jeff" I had to pry his last name out of Marcus. said it was Greer.
Like I said a markup is fine but to attempt to sell a vf20 coin that curerently lists at $25.00 or to give you the benifit a ms63 1878s listed on the slab lists at $450.00 that more than a markup thats robbery. if this is the genreral practice you should be embarrassed and ashamed.
Thank you for listening.
Gil Gardner

quote:

---

Originally posted by Susanlynn9

I see the shop-at-home programs as ideal for illustrating
the need to self-educate before purchasing coins. For the most
market or price guides. They are a true illustration of charging
what the market will bear. No matter how angry any of us individual
collectors or dealers gets, their marketing practices will continue.
It is not worth the anger, just use it as the ready-made tool it
is to teach people.

---

Susan, I'm not certain I agree that this is an instance of charging
whatever the market will bear. I think this is more of an instance
of Barnum's "a sucker is born every day". The same people who will
charge $3299 for a $450 MS-63 1878 Morgan will also phone little
old ladies at home and sweet talk them into buying a piece of junk
worth 25 cents for $150. They have no code of ethics and they get
away with what is essentially misrepresentation and fraud by using
the argument that the buyer was expressing free will and was not
coerced into buying the item.

At the risk of revealing my alter-ego, what this kind of salesman
needs is a little introduction to my friends, Smith, Wesson, and
Colt.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Susanlynn9

Please don't get me wrong...by "what the market will bear"
I mean that the highest price that someone can be found that
is willing to pay. I consider the marketing ploys used to be
utterly unfair, dishonest, and a lot of other things that I
can't say on a family-friendly forum.

---

I can say them: in addition to my friends mentioned above that
I would like some of these salesmen to meet, my vocabulary for them
would include like Ruger, Glock, Winchester, Remington, and
Marlin, to name a few. Fairness, honesty, and ethics are not
in their lexicon.

Fred