Best Way To Buy Coins

It is always best to have a coin in hand than try to make a judgement on only a picture. There is no source better than a coin shop with a large selection and good prices. I look on ebay for certain oddities, rarities and sometimes bullion coins, but it cannot compare to a good dealer that lets you haggle. Haggling is part of the fun
I mostly stay away from Heritage because a 15% buyers premium is a huge expense to pay especially for the the high prices most of coins bring in. -PP

I always haggle at my local shop

I spend a lot of money there so if I see something I like he'll usually knock a few bucks off. A lot of time I ask him to take some money off if I'm buying a bunch of items all together.

Coin shops and coin shows!

Coin shops have come and gone here, but my favourite is still open. The owner is helpful and discounts my total purchase so that I get my stuff for a good price that still allows him to make money.

Coin shows are usually great with several dealers to choose from. Don't be afraid to travel to get to one! It might be beneficial to save and budget for a few trips rather than trying to buy every week; forcing you to be more efficient with purchases.

My local coin dealer(i have been going to him awhile)automatically takes 0ff 5-10 bucks without me even asking. But again I gone to him for quite awhile.

O.K. Another rookie question? But I am here in Afghanistan and would like to purchase some coins they have here, but as with all things I do not want to get ripped off. So I took a leap and bought for $4 an 1872 CC Trade dollar and I see now that they did not circulate until 1873. Is this still worth anything except the $4 I paid?

I also bought 2 1844 Seated Liberty dollars. After some research They seem to be in reasonably fair condition they word liberty is visable but worn. How did I do? By the way I paid $7 dollars each for the seated liberty's

Thanks GunDoc999

ArrgggI am seeing this stuff way too much lately. If you purchased them in Afghanistan and one of them was a fantasy piece that never existed, what would make you think the others have a chance of being authentic? Asia is a major source for low quality US counterfeits. If you go to just about any street market anywhere in Asia, the odds of seeing these fakes are pretty high. The seller may have no clue about the coins of another country or they could be knowingly selling the fakes to unsuspecting travelers. Luckily you paid a small amount for these coins. Many people in the US get ripped off for much more.

Buying coins from another country can be a good or very bad thing. Like others have said, there are a lot of fakes going around the market right now and you seem to be right in the middle of the area they originate in. If it seems too good to me true than 99.9% of the time it is. The only time I have bought US coins out of the states was in Canada and they were not hard to find pieces but with the currency exchange at the time ($1 US= $1.34 Canada) I could not pass up on some lower and mid range items, especially when they were going by US price guides.

The best thing to do is educate yourself on what you want to buy and if you get stung by a bad piece that it will not kill your spending money. Since most of the items you bought were under $10 a piece this just may be a good lesson learned and time to move on.

Coin shops aren't as great as you might think they are! I was under the impression they charge you more there - you should always ask them for a discount on their coins. Heritage auctions is generally higher due to the publicity of course.
Now ebay is not to be dreaded from the buyer's perspective, just as long as you don't go outside of what you are willing to pay, though working out the right amount not to overstep is a tricky question and not one which is answered necessarily well by the price guides either. Just because a sought after coin is above the value written in your price guide doesn't mean it isn't worth it, as inaccuracies work in both directions. Of course more often you will see coins which tend to go for values under what the books say, which is where you should be opening your eyes a little more and refusing to pay the high prices listed in the books. Also, if a seller says a coin is in certain grade, don't trust him/her. Sellers lie about grades and thus you can be conned in this way.