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 Replies: 16 / Views: 6,162 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
I been running a booth at a antique mall and I have several locked cases. I usually have a little spare room so been pondering wheter to start selling some coins too to add interest and variety. Do you guys have any tips?
I usually cherry pick nice pieces out of dealers junk silver silver boxes. I figured I could maybe price them at a few dollars below numsmedia prices and see if they sell. I don't have any competition in the entire mall as far as items like that currently. For example I bought a 1898 o barber half at good condition for $8.50 today, I thought I mark it up to $15-20 since numsmedia has it at $23 in that condition?
My buisness model is to try to attract kids, males and, nerdy buyers that the other stalls don't cater to as much.
I'm not trying to rely on coin sales to pay rent and overall profits cause I have it covered by other items. It would be more to subsidize my own coin habit. I just have the space and figured why not try. Edited by Bertensgrad
04/22/2016 6:55 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6370 Posts |
If you keep prices reasonable (~Numismedia), they should sell well. It beats the stereotype that the coins are all overpriced.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
If it were me, I follow the HSN business model. Your not going to get a lot of knowledgable coin collectors. They tend more to shows and shops. I would sell marked up ASE's and 1,5,10oz silver bars. Those are really hot now. The coin show today had a ton of silver bars, up to hand poured 100oz antique engelhard bars. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
 You are going to have to ask more than you usually would to compensate for the antique mall rent structure. Does your mall also charge a percentage commission in addition to rent? A local coin dealer that I know had a display case at an antique mall said that he barely covered rent and made a slim profit on his case. I believe that would be best served by stocking some junk silver-ish and cheap type coins in 2 by 2's marked at Numismedia prices plus a little. Coins that look more impressive than they actually are. I wouldn't try higher end or graded coins, perhaps $20-30 coins and down. Let us know how you do. I've always wondered about coin sales in antique malls. Some of the antique shops look pretty dead (no customers) most time I've been in. Edited by Joe2007
04/22/2016 8:28 pm
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Valued Member
United States
215 Posts |
I was at one two weeks ago, went there just to see if there were any coins. Everything I saw was twice ebay prices, left empty handed. So... making the price reasonable might work. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
Also consider having surveillance cameras focused on your display case. Over the years there have been several instances of employees of the mall stealing from vendors make the news.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
757 Posts |
I have a friend who has 3 cases of coins at an antique mall. From talking with him he clears around 2 grand a month. The majority of things he sells are G to VG silver coins. He has some graded items, but those typically just collect dust. I was thinking about getting a case so I have been picking his brain. His best advice was "junk" silver and low grade morgans. Everyone knows morgans are valuable so they always sell(thank you home shopping network). He also has signs saying he buys coins and has other items available with his number.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1192 Posts |
I pay about $100 a month for like a 10'x4' storefront like both. Anything I can fit in there I can have as far as locked cases book cases shelving etc. They get zero commission, I do get charged 4% for Credit cards and that's it. I thought it was pretty favorable conditions as long as I can get the traffic. It's a cross between a flea market and a antique mall. You can even man your own booth if you want. I just can't get the shiny American eagle stuff cheap. Beyond junk silver I'm wondering if people around me would be interested in old Canadian nickels and pennies. Pre-1938. I pay half face value for them and have been hoarding, so if I sold them for 50 cents-$1 apiece I could make 10x to 20x profit. With no commissions I can compete with ebay pricing on coins since I can cherry pick while paying spot prices. It's serving as a outlet for my ebay operations primary. I find stuff that sells great at the local level but at the national level the profit margin is too low while I'm looking for ebay stuff to pick up.. Edited by Bertensgrad
04/22/2016 10:39 pm
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Valued Member
United States
71 Posts |
I have not been to the local antique mall that I used to frequent recently, but there are/were two people selling coins, last I was there. One of them was selling exactly at Red Book prices, and he consistently graded his coins high. His inventory never looked like it moved, and most of it was really low-grade common stuff. There is/was another dealer with a bad spot, but a better business model. He was charging about 75% of book, with mid-grade and affordable coins, along with lesser expensive coins. But, everything was perpetually "on sale". That 75% of book was actually the sale/real price, and he put the whole crossed out prices on them with a "Now $X!" on a lot of them. Plus, he would actually swap out some of the inventory every other week, or so. So, it always be semi-fresh. After a while, he would do a secondary markdown, which was to clear stuff out, and it really was an additional markdown. For what it is worth, I often saw potential future collectors looking at the second dealer's booth, despite not having nearly as good a location. Haven't been there in over a year, though. But, I know where I am going tomorrow, now.  |
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Valued Member
United States
424 Posts |
Bertensgrad, I have been snooping around antique malls and shops for years. I see coins for sale at most of them and I see all sorts of attempts at selling them. I usually check what there is offered, the prices and if there is any sort of sale. I also have my iPad with me so I can check pricing and what I need for my collection. If I find something that I want or need for a reasonable price then I buy it, but if I see that the coins are over priced then I pass. This works out to be at about a rate of 20% of what I see I buy.
With the model that you have I don't see how you can loose. If you are worried that someone will steal the coins then only have a few in your booth at a time, if they start to disappear then pull them out. If they sell then keep a steady inventory on hand. This what I look for: a booth than has many about a dozen coins that I can easily see without having to go ask someone for a key, if something catches my eye and the price is reasonable then I will take the time for a closer look. If I have to strain and "dance around" to see the inventory, if I cannot clearly see the pricing or if the pricing is unreasonable then I move on. Take the time to draw your customer in and I think you will have a nice supplement to what you are already selling.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I was out at an auction and antiques centre today...
At auction I watched a shoe box full of pre-decimal coins go for £11... I spotted there were a few silver ones in there too but since it was mostly junk I didn't bid even though they were cheap.
I then wandered around the antiques centre and saw that they had mostly lowball coins... many were 50p each and I doubt they sell big volume but it's an interest and something else to put in the cabinets. They had a couple of interesting coins and a few banknotes that I possibly would have bought but they were tucked away a bit and I couldn't be bothered to get someone to open the cabinet so I could investigate further.
I looked around for ages today and didn't see anything that I wanted to buy really... the fact that these places are open they must sell stuff but it looked like a hard game to me. I guess your best bet would be to get a bulk lot or two and scatter them around cheaply. It has to be a way to get rid of all your doubles etc.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
So much depends on your location. By me you can't leave an old pair of shoes out at night. People in such malls have safes and still get robbed. I've known many people that stopped selling at flea markets due to all the robberies. Just remember those possibilities when selling anything anywhere.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
I don't have to worry about robbery since the actual changing of money has to happen at the front register even if you man the booth part time. You can only take things out of your cases for customers and haggle. I do have to worry about shoplifting, employee theft, and perhaps smash and grab. The positive thing is it's in a decent neighborhood outside the city on a tourist highway. So while there could be negative things atleast it's not anywhere near a high crime area.
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
You might want to advertise with a large banner at your stand that you sell coins, but I would take some security precautions, as things tend to 'disappear' at bazaars.
Furthermore, why not just give it a try? As long as you keep prices reasonable (about at Numismedia levels or slightly below, but still so that you can make a viable business out of it), it'd certainly be worth an effort! I'm always pleasantly surprised when I go to a such a site where I remotely hope to find a good deal on coins and then actually find some.
Good luck!
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1533 Posts |
You might try to just get a bunch of proof coins and sell them for a couple of dollars each. AU/BU Walkers and Morgans should sell well too.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
$100 a month and no sales commission ?!?! That's a pretty sweet deal. If they aren't charging a commission then they might not mind you advertise your ebay page or website? But as others have said, for impulse sales I would try to focus on eye candy & low value (high margin) goods that a non collector might pickup for the collector in the family. |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 6,162 |
Posted 04/22/2016 6:53 pm
