Pricing - How Do I Do So At A Coin Show?

This is what I do unless we are talking coins of lower value (under $20 or so). Have an idea of what you are looking for ahead of time and what you expect to pay.

It's all good if you have Internet access from your cell phone.

I keep my full inventory in a spreadsheet as well, but I am not good about updating their current values (because I just do not care that much about it). I do record all of the prices that I have paid though.

For my "want list" prices, I pull the data from NumisMedia and update it manually. I will also look up prices on ebay, but only for the current coins of interest so that I am only doing a handful at a time (and not the whole list, which would be more work).

When I do find something, I often check a few prices using the phone's browser before committing.

My full want list has 58 coins on it right now. That list shows pricing across my target grades, but I only update the full pricing a couple of times a year.

I also have a subset of that list with the things I am concentrating on. This list is more up-to-date and has more information about what to look for. Before I go to a coin show, I make sure that list is more current by checking out ebay and the current NumisMedia prices.

In the end, it really comes down to what you feel comfortable maintaining. I will tell you that I have left a show empty handed, there is no shame in that. Better to do that than bring something home only to later find that you could have done a lot better.

Remember that a coin show is basically a flea market for coins. There are electronic shows, camera shows, gun shows, etc. and all are really just specialized flea markets.
By that I mean you should never pay what a dealer is asking for a coin. Even if it appears to be the greatest deal on Earth, always ask if they can do better. Most dealers know your going to do that so they've already raised their asking price to compensate for that anyway. So if you pay what they are asking, your really blowing it.
If you want a suggestion. Find a two or three year old Red Book. With the prices in their, never go over that for a coin. And if possible, chey them down further.
Ond dealer I know told me he puts prices on his coins about 25% over what they are worth. The first thing he tells customers is that he would knock off about 15% if interested. He knows that most will still want to reduce the price by more so he agains says how about 20% off. Even if he has to go down 25%, he then gets what he originally wanted anyway. He is happy and the customer walks away thinking he is the greatest shopper on Earth.