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 Replies: 40 / Views: 4,048 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2448 Posts |
 Too bad. Wasn't too much better at the coin show I attended this weekend. Had one guy try to tell me that a Peace dollar contained almost 28 bucks worth of silver. I laughed and told him not till silver gets to 35 dollars an ounce. He actually tried to tell me it was 1 troy ounce of silver at first. The gun show was a lot more fun.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1510 Posts |
thats too bad-- the one I go to I go every saturday, we all know our names and they save the stuff I am looking for-- they bought me lunch one time and said email us if you need anything. Its a father and son operation. I suggest all my friends at work if they are looking for bullion ect, to go there.
Retired USAF 1983-2003
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
509 Posts |
The coins I brought along were 2 MS65's slabbed by PCGS, 1 MS64 also PCGS, 1 MS65 NGC and the CC VAM24 was raw. Looks like most of you have had similar experiences and I can tell you, it was a rude awakening for me. Those of you who have been able to find a good dealer are the fortunate ones. I would have expected a fair price would have been somewhere between the ask/bid price or somewhere in that neighborhood which would still allow the dealer reasonable space for profit. None of them offered me half the greysheet, it was LESS than half in all 3 cases. One of the dealers was elderly who claimed he was retired and only kept his shop as a hobby. I'm sure that's true but his outlook was far from benevolent. Just as mercenary as the others. Well lesson learned. Part the curve I guess. If I decide to venture out as a seller again, I'll look to other venues.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Wolverine, you should post the address of Johns' shop so he can get a lot more business. That sounds like a great coin shop to go to. John1  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
the one I go to I go every saturday, all know our names and they save the stuff I am looking for It's great when it works out this way. I've known a few dealers who are really helpful, great people after you build a rapport. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
Unless your coins were key dates, there would be no reason for him to offer you more $$$ unless you were going to buy from him also. He ends up keeping them in his inventory for who knows how long. He's in the business of making $$$ selling coins. It's a lesson we all learn....Good luck!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
Quote:
I would have expected a fair price would have been somewhere between the ask/bid price or somewhere in that neighborhood which would still allow the dealer reasonable space for profit. I'm not going to get into a major discussion of what a "reasonable space for profit is" but I do have a question. At your place of employment what is the percentage spread between the cost of the goods/services and the sales price of those goods/services? |
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Valued Member
United States
155 Posts |
Whenever a knowledgable customer attempts to sell to the dealer near me always and I mean always starts the buying conversation by saying, "I can't but this now I don't have the money right now." And then offers to list the item on ebay for a commission fee. I have seen them do this with Everything from 2 War Nickels to a stash of gold eagles. It amazes me, but when I think about it It may be smarter not to have to sit on the inventory. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
To answer trdhrdr007, at my place of employment...9%
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1081 Posts |
I think a distinction should be made between coin shops and coin/bullion dealers. I know of a good coin store in my area which is a coin shop primarily, but they also buy/sell gold and silver. The owner there is very nice and intelligent. In my search for a store, I went into another shop which was primarily a bullion dealer. The guy was nice enough and told me that they don't really deal much with actual coins and referred me to the other shop. A bullion dealer will almost by definition have tighter profit margins. Many bullion dealers also don't really want coins with numismatic value, or don't want them for beyond bullion price. It sounds to me that the dealer you went to is more of a bullion dealer then an actual coin shop. I think the way they treated you was poor and poor for their business, but I think you showed yourself to be somewhat educated about the coins and upon seeing that, they wanted nothing to do with you.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
That's a pretty slim margin. Is that the profit margin or the actual difference between purchase of goods & resale? What's your line of work? Not trying to be too nosy, but in most retail establishments goods sold to the general public cost around half of their sale price. Of course that varies depending on type/price of goods & volume. In general there is also a lower margin on goods sold by a wholesaler.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
trdhrdr007,
Yes, that's a very slim margin. I wonder if I'll have a job next year there. That's profit margin, above the line, EBITDA, whatever one would like to call it. All costs except interest, depreciation and taxes. It's mostly a wholesale provider of telco data.
And you are absolutely correct. Retail B&M is another animal. Sadly, many coin shops seem to overlook that providing a pleasant atmosphere and superior service might, just might, be the path to greater success and profits. To those that do, I hope they last forever.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
It's not just the coin shops that overlook customer service. I used to be a plumbing contractor specializing in new construction. When I first started out I decided to never overbook jobs & to commit to showing up when scheduled. That set me apart from 99% of the rest of the pack.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
I understand the coin shop ethics all to well. I went into a coin shop with my 1809 half (listed in other forums, raw graded at AU53) He offered me $175 for the coin and told me it was worth $225. He then proclaimed to say he will buy everything for 90% of what he will sell it. I kept going back to the point he just offered me 70% for the 1809, and he simple would change the subject. He also only offered me bullion prices for my Seated dimes. He was fair on bullion prices though. his buy/sell prices on morgans was only about $3 difference but as for coins with real collectable value he was way off |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
The pawn shop down the street generally tries to AT LEAST triple their money. Perhaps this explains why he has a couple dozen locations that he started back in the seventies. OTOH, I doubt that more than 5% of the coin dealers in 1980 are still around.
I find it interesting that the first word out of many collectors is "how much back of bid" when they're buying what they specifically need, yet when they want to get rid of stuff that the dealer may not even have a market for, they expect him to pay ask.
Supermarkets claim they only make 2%, but they don't tell you that's after they cover all the overhead, including millions to the executives. Realtors get 6-10%, and have no money invested and take no risk (ever hear of someone robbing a real estate office?)
If a dealer tried to make 6% on an ounce of gold (much less on $100,000-$1 million worth) we'd never hear the end of it.
This ain't an easy business. If you think it is, we can always use another honest dealer.
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Replies: 40 / Views: 4,048 |
First Page
Posted 02/21/2011 10:45 am
