Advice For Becoming A Dealer

Female, blond haired, blue eyed, (or brunette with killer brown eyes) about 5' 8", articulate, built like the perverbial....never mind. Well versed in coins, paper, and stamps. Able to dance the tango and love cruises on my boat! (8 foot John Boat.)( OK, I'm kidding about most of that.) Well versed in coins, paper, and stamps is a must with deep pockets or a great banker that understands the coin business.

Gotta have a bid board. I think it gives customers a sence of ownership. Largest draw my old dealer had was a collection of altered coins. I personally want to see what you've got so far. I have boxes of Swiss stuff bought from a dealer gone broke, and frankly don't know what these prices are about. Lots of rappens with 20.+ price tags on them.

I thought about starting my own online business too, so have a number of ideas. Sorry for the long post.

In terms of a physical store:

I like bid boards too. And a good assortment of reference books. Ideally, the more well-known books should have "store" copies.

Also, a willingness to trade is always good as is buying-though of course you have to be wary of stolen coins and I'm not immediately sure what the best way of doing that would be.

I also like an assortment of "lower priced" items-- both because I don't personally have the budget to spend, and because if you're going to be in it for the long-term (IE 10+ years) today's snotty-nosed little brat accompanying Dad is tomorrow's customer. I think a lot of coin dealers forget that and focus on the higher-value and more immediate sales. Which you can't blame them for of course, but we're speaking "ideal" here. And since it takes time to develop that trust, you should at least "appear" to be in it for the long haul, even if secretly you're not.

Part and parcel with this is (building a relationship) is the fact that the proprietor should never make customers feel stupid. Coin collecting has to be at the center of the owner's life but it is not necessarily at the center of the customer's-- and while customers like knowledge, intimidation is never a good thing. Therefore on that score I'd also say the proprietor should be a history buff as many coin people are also history people. A couple of neat historical artifacts or just weird, random interesting things you like might spark conversations--- A good conversation though allows you to open that line of communication and showcase your knowledge without being a know-it all.

As to a website:

I would definitely not buy from an overseas website unless it was a high-enough value item to make the shipping worth it, and was rare enough to not be able to source it locally. But then I'd have concerns about the authenticity of buying something like that essentially sight-unseen. So, I'd probably not do it.

I also would hesitate to buy anything of too much value from a website without a corresponding physical address. Perhaps I'm "old school" but I think the website ought to be an outgrowth of a store-- not vice versa. So a picture of the premises and of you personally is a good idea. Include one of your family, your pets, etc. People want to buy from someone they can trust, and nothing erodes trust like an anonymous site with a po box on it.

Site design and feel is important too and shouldn't be overlooked. Consider hiring an actual web designer (not the neighbor's kid who "knows a lot about computers")... I am not skilled enough to do it necessarily, but know enough here to give more info here if you want it. Also on the subject of site design make sure to include a glossary of terms so people who don't know what a VAM or an RPM is won't be put off when you use it. Oh, and spelling/grammar is king in my book so proofread everything.

One thing that I'd say though is not to necessarily offer the same items on the website and the store... I'd think the website should be more specific-- ie if you like Morgans, focus on the morgans indepth-- but the store would need to be more accessible to Joe Public. The website is competing with 1000 others, so you want a niche of sorts, to set yourself out from the other 999; the physical store will get random walk-in customers and therefore must be as generalized as possible.

ANA and/or PNG would give a modicum of confidence, as would a good listing with the BBB. Verisign or sitelock are good, but not as big as the previous. If you offer online ordering make sure to have a secure site.

I'd give a link to a website I've bought from previously & like but I'm not 100% sure it's allowed by the rules.

as always stated in marketing seminars: customer loyalty is a result of shared trust proven by initial transactions that are mutually beneficial.

Take extra good care of the first few orders. The first three transactions a dealer does with a new customer will spell the big difference, and the first three sales will always be in cents, or very low value purchases. somewhat feeling out the trust level.

points 1 to 5 are just door openers, what comes next after the door opens is crucial, it can easyly get slammed back shut.

Some years ago many ideas would be possible but today, it's probably mostly luck if you can make it big just starting out. As with many items in the past you have to sort of be on the first to try anything. After the first many, many others copy and soon more sellers than buyers.
Example is at one time VHS and Betal tapes for movies and home usage were gigantic so people opened stores selling them all over the world. Eventually the big stores started carrying them for less. Then DVD's started to replace those so many small stores were stuck with inventory that didn't sell. Then the internet started to sell movies so almost all the stores that delt with them too lost that buisness.
Remember Beanie Babies? At one time everyone was selling them for big dollars. Then that too fell apart and many stuck with large inventories. Not long ago to buy a coin you would have to go to a coin or hobby store. Then along came ebay and although there are still coin stores, not many make a decent living anymore. And web sites for coins too are as common as house flys so your chances with that today are also getting dimmer.
All in all it may be worth a try. Good luck is all I can say.

IMO there are plenty of general coin dealers out there. I'd like to see someone who specializes and has a real knowledge in a specific area.