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 Replies: 24 / Views: 2,470 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
So my wife is about to finish up her Degree in Web Development and she has to create a website from complete scratch.
I threw the idea out there that she should set me up with a small little page where I can sell some coins :). So she said sure because she really has nothing else to do it for.
I don't even want to do this to make money yet, but more so to get the feel of how things go. Just to be able to expand my collection and see more coins than I normally would. That being said, how much do you guys look to make on a coin? I'm sure bigger profits come in with better buys, but what's the bare minimum you all try to make on a coins? Is it 10%, 20%?
What's the best way to get a little inventory going? Is it cherry picking at shows? Buying collections? Specializing collections? I'm going to pretty much try to sell what I'm looking to collect. For now it will probably be Jefferson's and Buffaloes (maybe Liberty's too). This way when I go to look for stock I can really just get the pricing down on those few series - I think that reads how I want it to.
What other considerations should I look at? Any info is welcome. Probably wont get started until the end of the year. And if it helps - I'm looking to invest up $4,000. I know it's not enough to make a living off of, but I just want to get a foot in the door and see how it goes.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4944 Posts |
Interesting Question
I am also interested in learning more about this.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
The biggest focus for dealers right now is on BULLION, bullion, bullion. If you go to a gun show, or your local dealer at their shop or coin show, you're going to see ASEs, silver rounds, and US 90%. All this has to be either in rolls or boxes, it has to be the same design on silver rounds, and they have to be BU, except for the 90%. The 90% has to be halves only, not dimes or quarters. Also Morgans, not Peace dollars are popular. For the coins; Key dates, key dates, key dates, high grade semi keys and bu common dates also. TPGs preferred, especially MS 64 Morgans. How's that. I see this from managing shows, clubs, and going to other venues. I wish I had someone who can build me a website for my clubs. Use her talents and make sure you let her know how big of an impact she will be for you no matter if succesful or not. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
880 Posts |
I'm sure I could loan her skills out for a price :) haha.
You have reinforced pretty much what I suspected. Just from reading on this site and others. Trends are nice if you can pick up on them, but if that trend goes away you're stuck trying to unload certain coins. Bullion is risky only because if I buy it at $35oz today and the market drops to $20oz well I either shut down shop for a bit or take the loss. Again, I know it would come back as most everything does...
What do you think about going in the direction of trying to specialize in a certain area? Me for example, stick with nickels. I could of course do BU common grades and focus on the key dates for nickels. I'm not sure if I'd be more successful targeting a wider audience with less selection (pennies, dollars etc.) or specialize in just nickels and possibly eventually branch out to another type down the road.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
Wow, are there really that many people out there that focus on nickels, that you could make a living at it? Seems like cents, halves and dollars are the big ones to me, and I figuered cents ranked up there because of price and huge numbers minted. Not discounting the impact of PM's, of course...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
I would tend to agree with you that cents would probably be the way to go, but Buffalo nickels seem to be pretty big too. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
 I agree with JackB. Nickels are tough, and especially if you stick with the minors. There are an abundance of US coin dealers because of the demand but specialty is very tough. Don't quit your day job (if you have one in this economy). You might try out small as a part time vest pocket and be very knowledgeable in your specialty. If you try, you will run into the bullion frenzy. Edited by fcrazo
06/18/2011 10:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
Fair enough - I'll work on picking up cents too... Or maybe even dimes? I promise I don't plan on quitting a day job. I don't care if this even makes it to be honest. It's just something to try and help me build my collection and see a few more coins in hand.
Or I noticed JackB said dollars too - maybe that'd be a better way to go also. I really like to look at the really big coins :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
My post was more of an observation on my part, I have no real world experience in the business; there are several folks on CCF that are current or former dealers, I think their opinions would be much more relevant...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I'm a vest pocket antique dealer & will deal in coins when they are available. The very first thing you have to understand is that you can't sell what you like, you have to sell what your customers want. What I collect & what I sell are 2 entirely different things.
The margin on bullion is fairly small. To me that makes it a quick turn item. In other words if I buy today I'm locking in a price & shipping it to one of the large dealers today. It's too easy to lose money otherwise.
Most antique dealers work with a very simple pricing system. They won't buy an item unless they can sell it for 3.5 times their purchase price. That's the general rule of thumb for lower priced items. That sort of profit margin isn't there for coins so you have to be knowledgeable about what will sell, how much it will sell for & how long it will take to sell.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
trd that's a great point about selling what your customer wants. But antiques are a very wide thing to sell. You at one point decided that you wanted to deal in your specific area correct? Did you collect them prior to that? Or did you even get into collecting them after that point?
Also - thank you for the bullion idea (never thought about having a known price bulk purchaser). I doubt I'll have the purchasing power to buy bulk bullion like that anyway though :( unfortunate.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
651 Posts |
From experience and without deep pockets, it's a dog eat dog world out there.
Try it out though.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
Theres no doubt in my mind that it will be a painful start. But that's why I have a day job :). I should be able to invest a few hundred every month so over the course a few years that should help me out. I'll just have to get my hands on a great deal right? :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I collected coins & antiques long before I became a dealer. Most small time antique dealers like myself started out collecting & decided that they had enough inventory that they could go into business to support their collecting habit. That was how I started & what I intended until I realized that what I would buy & what my potential customers would buy were two entirely different things. Fortunately for me I realized that before I went into business.
The vast majority of my income is from buying items I know I can immediately resell for a profit. I hit antique malls , estate sales, garage sales & thrift stores on a regular basis. There is absolutely no way every dealer can be an expert on everything so items get sold for under wholesale all the time. I'll also buy entire or partial estates when they are available. My preference is to buy small items that are easy to transport & store. I'm always looking to expand my knowledge base, especially if there isn't anyone in the area buying a certain type of items. Lack of competition combined with knowledge is one of the keys to success.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
I guess my biggest problem at this point would be determining a customer base. I could essentially target anyone I wanted to since I'll be doing this via the internet. There's deffinately someone to collect every coin out there. Targetting the bigger audience could lead to more sales, but also harder competition. I can see how it can be looked at both ways.
I feel like my biggest hold up will be shallow pockets. Which is something that can be overcome by possibly targetting modern coinage. I think I'd like to target key and semi-key date coins. This would allow me to start at lower grades and work my way up as time goes on, but I'm not sure. I have about 4 months to get a good solid game plan.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I can't offer much advice for selling through a website/webstore. It would seem to me that competitive pricing & generating site traffic would be the keys to success. If you can't buy at prices that allow you to meet ebay pricing & still make a profit it doesn't matter how much site traffic you get because sales volume will be low. |
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Replies: 24 / Views: 2,470 |
Posted 06/18/2011 3:51 pm
