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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,423 |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12815 Posts |
Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere. We saw that with the recent ASEs and AGEs, certain retailers were allowed to purchase "limited quantities" of product prior to the official on-sale date on the U.S. Mint web site. They must have gotten a lot of questions/flak for doing this, so they put out this official statement. They're doing this under the auspices of "better meet[ing] marketplace product availability on the initial on sale date by expanding the distribution of Mint products." To me, all it does is make it more difficult for an average collector to attain a set at list price. *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7273 Posts |
It basically means screw the little guy :(
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Perhaps cynical, but also right in many collectors' perceptions.
If there is a deliberately scarce issue from the Mint, the little guy collector who is only interested in buying a single coin, will be locked out.
With a deliberately scarce issue from the Mint, after market prices are likely to skyrocket before the small collector has a chance to buy. Has the odor of price manipulation.
Will do more harm than good to the Mint's reputation.
Edited by sel_69l
03/22/2021 11:45 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3323 Posts |
I feel the need to send a note to the Mint. I crafted the following and wanted opinions before sending: Quote:
As a 30+ year Mint customer, I wanted to contact you to let you know that I am unhappy with the Mint's new Bulk Purchase Program. This Program appears to subsidize the secondary market at the expense of the "Mom and Pop" collector. These types of actions hurt the collector - they don't help them. Product pricing obviously increases in the secondary market and, in an era when the Mint prices have skyrocketed, makes the items less attainable. Perhaps the Mint's "heart" was in the right place, but this new policy will push even more collectors out of your marketplace.
The recent price hikes across the board are also troubling. When silver temporarily jumped in price earlier this year, I noticed a large increase in pricing for silver products. At the same time, items absent of precious metals also increased. These prices aren't in line with inflation. I realize you just can't bring the prices back to what they were, so most Mint products are now grossly overpriced in my opinion. Many people will pay the difference in order to maintain a run of certain products, but it will discourage new customers. If there are temporary jumps in the price of precious metals, it would seem to make more sense to do what the private bullion sellers did - pull the products until the price stabilizes and then determine if a hike is warranted. If that had been the case, the prices would probably not have changed as drastically and irreversibly as they did.
I'm a member of two local coin clubs and one of the most active coin forums on the Web. To a person, no one I've spoken with is in favor of this new program. Price hikes / ordering problems and this new Bulk Purchase Program have effectively eliminated me from most future purchases. I hope you will reconsider this new program, normalize prices and return to policies that encourage active collecting and stabilization in our hobby.
"Nummi rari mira sunt, si sumptus ferre potes." - Christophorus filius Scotiae
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Moderator
 United States
187803 Posts |
Quote:
Not all Mint products will be offered through this program, and no more than 10% of products with limited quantities will be distributed under this program. Does not seem like a big deal to me now, but a precedent has been set. One way to deal with historically shaky eCommerce platform... is to outsource it.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
669 Posts |
They want to do this with the proof sets and items people can get without it being limited edition, fine. The problem is not a distribution problem to 3rd parties that will jack premiums. The problem is Joe Collector and the dealers not having equal footing on release day when trying to buy one of the rarities they put out.
I'm fortunate to be fairly computer savvy to get most of these limited releases if I want them (struck out on the WW2 medals and the v75 AGE), but I feel for those that aren't as computer savvy and continuously get locked out by those that have no interest in collecting and only log in purely to flip. It's the same problem a lot of sneaker heads face.
Rule of thumb: If there's a household limit on release day, they shouldn't be offering it through this program.
Edited by mrpapageorgio
03/23/2021 6:12 pm
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Moderator
United States
187803 Posts |
Quote:
The problem is Joe Collector and the dealers not having equal footing on release day when trying to buy one of the rarities they put out... If there's a household limit on release day, they shouldn't be offering it through this program.  |
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Valued Member
United States
277 Posts |
I try avoiding modern coins that have artificially been made to be rare, like the W mint quarters. I think of it as being the numismatic version of buying expensive brand-name clothing that's nearly identical to the generic brand stuff. It's marketing manipulation.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
newguy22 has said with exactly right for me. If the Mint wishes to abuse the collector market it is depending on, then that part of their business will decline My defense to this situation: walk away from new issue collector Mint product. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It seems obvious to me that this new Mint ' collector product' marketing policy is drawing an almost completely negative reaction from collectors. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2460 Posts |
with everyone above who expresses even the slightest disgust toward the mint's shenanigans, for whatever reason. I'm dropping doing any business with the mint, and I'm going to often & repeatedly email them letting them know why. they've wrecked collecting ASEs for me, so I have nothing to lose. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
If you do not wish to respond to the Mint's new marketing policies, but still wish to collect NCLT,
a good alternative approach for such a collector is to monitor the numismatic after market, at a time when new issue mint product has settled down to a reasonable price, and
then consider which NCLT mint product catches your interest.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12815 Posts |
I suppose that's one way to do it, but if you do that you know that it's been through at least one set of hands and quite possibly cherry picked. Probably ok if you're just looking to tick your check list. For the silver proof sets... has anyone actually verified the conventional wisdom that it's cheaper aftermarket? For example, the completed sales on ebay for 2018 silver proof sets are are all at least $20 more than what I paid for them from the US Mint ($74-$100 vs $50 retail). The completed 2017 SPS sales are at least $5 more than I paid ($53-$75 vs $48 original retail) The completed 2009 SPS sales are right about what I paid ($50-$55 vs $53 original retail) The completed 2003 SPS sales are right about what I paid ($32-$42 vs $32 retail) The completed 2000 SPS sales are at least $6 more than I paid ($38-$55 vs $32 retail) That's ebay of course, where there are fees and shipping. You may be able to get a better deal at a coin show or your LCS. But they are still factoring costs into their sales. I just don't know if it's worth it to give up on buying direct from the U.S. Mint if you want to continue your collection, based solely on the completed sales I'm seeing on ebay. Granted it's a very cursory examination. Also -- I don't believe the Authorized Bulk Purchase Program will prevent those that want SPS'es from getting them direct from the U.S. Mint should they so choose. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2608 Posts |
On the one hand, I understand that the Mint, like any business, wants to sell its products and make money through as many avenues as possible, and this program could help them do that. However, this program could not have come at a worse time. It's no secret that the Mint has suffered terrible PR over the past few years, from incessant price increases to artificial rarities to overwhelming mints/finishes/packing options. Through it all, collectors have complained that big dealers have had an advantage, amassing limited edition products that immediately sold-out at the Mint and selling them for huge markups, all to the disadvantage of the little guy who just wants one item for their collection. And this program proves that very fear is real and justified. Frankly, this is (yet another) massive blunder for the Mint, even if it ends up having little impact on the availability for most products, because the bad press is not what they need now. It's going to be very hard for them to get back into the good graces of the collectors whom they've alienated over the past few years.  Quote:I just don't know if it's worth it to give up on buying direct from the U.S. Mint if you want to continue your collection, based solely on the completed sales I'm seeing on ebay. Granted it's a very cursory examination. I've been trying to obtain several Mint Sets from the 2010s on ebay that I didn't buy directly from the Mint, and most of the time they sell for more than their issue prices. With patience I've scored good deals on all but one of the sets I need, but that seems to be the exception more than the rule. Edited by CollegeBarbers
03/28/2021 1:40 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12815 Posts |
Quote:Frankly, this is (yet another) massive blunder for the Mint, even if it ends up having little impact on the availability for most products, because the bad press is not what they need now. It's going to be very hard for them to get back into the good graces of the collectors whom they've alienated over the past few years. Couldn't agree more. |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,423 |
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Posted 03/22/2021 11:43 pm
