Coin Dealer Experiences

I can't believe a retailer would tell you that you made a stupid purchase. That's a bum move. What was going through his mind? Maybe he thinks he's cool? I think he's just too in his "zone" to care about more people invading his hive.

Sometimes I get to walking home and recalculate over and over in my head how that price total came about, but then I sit down and check it and it's under what it should be, so I haven't complained about prices in a good while. Most dealers understand to never underestimate anybody.

As for the "rip-off" you speak of, at $17 per oz, all the seller had to do was pick up a newspaper or check a fast website to see how much their stuff was worth. It's not like arbitrarily appraising a used car; bullion's worth its actual weight. Gouging would've been $1-5 each. All you have to do is be informed. If I didn't know anything about a certain product before I tried to sell it I would either research about it or put it up for consignment. These people obviously needed a buffer.

Sounds like a very normal cross section of coin dealers. The average is some really mean guy - usually older - who doesn't like coins, buys stuff wholesale in bulk from shady middle men and his customers, can't grade, and pays minimum money regardless of what you bring in. That way, they can't get hurt. For anything they buy, it gets marked up 2x to 3x to guarantee them a profit and cover overhead. In the cases, you'll find tons and tons of "blast white" coins with fading luster that have been dipped 50 or 60 times as well as a huge assortment of well cleaned junk silver marked up 2x or 3x over spot.

The good news is occasionally a customer will bring in a REALLY nice coin, they'll pay nothing, mark it up 2x to 3x, and it will STILL be an awesome deal. Reason is most of the dealers can't tell an AU from an MS-64 so they just label everything "UNC" or "Choice UNC" and have some set price for each. They'll only send a coin for slabbing if it's extraordinary looking so you can usually find great toned coins if you know how to grade and have a sharp eye. Often they'll have the "UNC" label and be priced well under gray sheet for the grade.

EDIT: Note also that the pricing on their stacks of UNC and Choice UNC coins is often a random number generator. I've seen stacks of coins ranging from $30 to $170 that are literally all the same date, mint mark, and grade (usually MS-61'ish). They seem to hate toning so you're likely to see the toned coins marked at $30 and - funny - they're usually nicer than the over dipped coins that have the high price tags.

I have to say the dealers here in Madison are pretty good, friendly for the most part, and seem to be pretty honest.

One shop is run by two guys in their 30's and they are always willing to talk about anything, take the time to go through the items you bring in to separate the junk from the keys and semikeys, and pay fair prices.

The shop across the street is run by an older guy, maybe in his 50's. He can be hit or miss with his mood, but hasnt been that way lately and I found out it was because of issues with his wife that were affecting his attitude at work. The others working for him are great.

The main numismatic shop in town has friendly people for the most part. The owner is in his 40's and isn't there much, and generally a bit more on the quiet side but will engage in conversation if pressed. One of the guys working there seems to get stressed out when things get busy and the other day I witnessed him tell a couple over the phone that they had 1 oz gold Krugs in stock without actually checking the inventory. The couple came in 20 minutes later to buy it and there was no Krug. He didnt even apologize or offer to either try to locate one or take down the customers info to followup and only offered a Maple as an alternative. I thought that was pretty crappy service on his part. The rest there are friendly and helpful though. Their prices are ok on the buy side, and a little high on the sell side but overall solid shop.

The next shop is not much of a shop because their main business is commodities brokering on exchanges, but they do have coins, stamps, and sportscards. One guy is never seen other than being in the back office staring at charts all day. The other guy is extremely willing to teach and help with any questions people have. Their buy prices I cant speak for, but their sell prices are usually low because they deal in volume.

Another shop is a father/son operation and they too have always been good people to work with. Their buy prices are strong, and their sell prices are decent but not great.

The last shop is a family run operation with very friendly people. My only beef with them is that they are now running 2 shops about 30 miles apart and the owner seems to split time 50/50 between the 2. On days he is at the other shpps, the people covering for him seem to be somewhat clueless and always have to call him to ask if they have things in stock or what prices to do. I dont go out there too often because its the furthest shop away and I dont like going out there to be told to wait for the owner to come back the next day.

Overall the shops are good here and that is quite different from my experience at other shops outside the area. Same thing goes with coin shows...the dealers there seem to take customers for granted, dont always thank you for your purchase and treat you like they dont need your business.

Always remember that coin shop people are just people. They have their bad days, good days, rotten days, etc. Some are smart enough to leave outside buisness problems outside. Others think that taking out their situations on customers is the way to go. People are just people and coin shop people are also just people.
By me there are so many coin shows that visiting a coin store is really not necessary but occationally a good adventure. Nost of the local coin type stores are represented at the local coin shows so for them to always be decent, happy, friendly, etc. is the real smart way to go. Then they could always tell you that what your looking for may well be at their store so why not stop by. A few times for me that really paid off when looking for something not easily found.
I've found that for the most part every dealer at a coin show is about the friedliest person on Earth or so they may well be pretendkng. And if from a coin store, when you go there it's as if you are a long, lost friend, not just a customer.
Naturally there is always the exceptions. There is one coin store in my area that treats people like garbage but since in a really great location and never present at a local coin show, they really don't care.
That is one of the great things about living in a large city invironment.

I live in Hawaii and there are only three brick and mortar stores (Everyone with a State Quarter is a shirt pocket dealer though). The store down town is over priced but carries some unique Hawaiian items that you can't find anywhere else. The big problem is that the dealer also writes the reference publications and sets the market. He is pretty rude and if you don't look and dress like your going to drop 10 grand on his counter he won't give you the time of day. There is another dealer south of me that basically buys and sells to wholesalers and runs a bidboard, he is clueless and I only ever went there once.

In Kaneohe there is a retired Marine MGuns that opened a shop in the shopping center about a year ago and he is friendly, honest and not shy about sharing his knowledge. He runs a huge bid board operation that I enjoy, there are always good deals to be had on it. His prices are normal retail and he buys pretty close to the grey sheet prices. I have asperations of owning and running a coin shop when I retire and he has pretty much taken me under his wing to show me the ins and outs of the business. I hate bullion but I'm finding out very quickly that it keeps the rent paid and the lights on. I've learned more from shadowing him for the last few months than I ever have from reading books.

Through the years it seems for every good dealer I find I find 2 bad ones. They are pretty easy to spot, you'll just know.

My first coin show I checked out a particular dealer's coin - he told me was hemming and hawing about putting it into his collection and he might take it out of the case after lunch and do that. It was a one of kind error (although I'm not sure he knew that) so I decided to buy it without trying to negotiate a price. The next show, I saw he has much less desirable error, and decided to take a gander. It turned out to be a crappy lamination and he told me how much he loved it and how he was thinking about putting it into his private collection and it might not be there after lunch. I didn't fall for it the second time.

I've been lucky with coin dealers.

When I used to live on the East Coast there was an antique store whose owner started in a coin business as well. He was always very cordial and gave me all sorts of deals. He was scoping the area for unwanted collections for me to go through first.

Now, in the Midwest (which has the best people around), I have two shops in the neighborhood, and two more within a short drive, I have only positive experiences when I visit them. At a coin show, an hour drive away, I bumped into one of my local dealers, he asked me if I needed a cash loan seeing all my purchases.