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What is the worst offer a dealer has ever made to you?

Alltheabove76Alltheabove76 Posts: 1,495 ✭✭✭
edited June 29, 2018 6:16PM in U.S. Coin Forum

I had a dealer offer me $300 for this coin about 5 years ago.

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  • AzurescensAzurescens Posts: 2,679 ✭✭✭✭✭

    200 for a collection I got 8k for in 7 weeks. The guy was a true rat. He does the "guy walks in and gets a stunning deal on gold" while you're selling.

    I called him out on it on Google and it stuck for months but eventually got taken down. He threatened slander and I told him I would be happy to share my helmet cam footage with his "attorney" and never heard anything again.

    There are still reviews that spell it out if you connect the dots.

  • metalmeistermetalmeister Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭✭✭

    $200 for a $600 coin he lost during a TPG submission. He finally paid the $600. Thank you!

    email: ccacollectibles@yahoo.com

    100% Positive BST transactions
  • BlindedByEgoBlindedByEgo Posts: 10,754 ✭✭✭✭✭

    "Me love you long time". She wasn't that cute :)

  • SonorandesertratSonorandesertrat Posts: 5,695 ✭✭✭✭✭

    $20K for a Barber half set in AU55-58, that I later found out was broken up and sold to other dealers for 3.5X that amount.

    Member: EAC, NBS, C4, CWTS, ANA

    RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'

    CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This thread should be titled "Why coin collectors drink MCLXXIII". :D

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting post, thanks for sharing !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • rheddenrhedden Posts: 6,568 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's hard not to get insulted by an extreme lowball offer, but $300 for the 1793 Cap would have just made me start chuckling (after the initial shock wore off). That dealer must have been living in a bear cave since 1943, and he just came out of hibernation that very morning.

  • astroratastrorat Posts: 9,221 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A bite of his sandwich ... ham, cheese, mustard, and slobber.

    Numismatist Ordinaire
    See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
  • BroadstruckBroadstruck Posts: 30,497 ✭✭✭✭✭

    His Daughter... Divorced 3 times now back living with her parents :s

    To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
  • Alltheabove76Alltheabove76 Posts: 1,495 ✭✭✭

    @rhedden said:
    It's hard not to get insulted by an extreme lowball offer, but $300 for the 1793 Cap would have just made me start chuckling (after the initial shock wore off). That dealer must have been living in a bear cave since 1943, and he just came out of hibernation that very morning.

    The coin was repaired so he told me that > @rhedden said:

    It's hard not to get insulted by an extreme lowball offer, but $300 for the 1793 Cap would have just made me start chuckling (after the initial shock wore off). That dealer must have been living in a bear cave since 1943, and he just came out of hibernation that very morning.

    I was on a road trip with my wife and had a good number of my large cents for sale that I was going to take to a coin show. Stopped for lunch and saw a coin dealer in Grove, OK so I thought I would go in and play dumb to see what a dealer would tell me some of my coins are worth and what he would offer me.

    It was a rape attempt to say the least. The coin above I later sold for 10K. It was in NGC slab as repaired. If it had not been repaired its probably about 50K coin.

  • bronco2078bronco2078 Posts: 9,964 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Azurescens said:

    I called him out on it on Google and it stuck for months but eventually got taken down. He threatened slander and I told him I would be happy to share my helmet cam footage with his "attorney" and never heard anything again.

    There are still reviews that spell it out if you connect the dots.

    Helmet cam...... Did you parachute in through his skylight ?

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Many decades ago before third party grading I offered a B&M coin dealer a high grade Saint. This was when gold was relatively cheap and high grade Saints carried a decent premium over melt value. The dealer told me it was a counterfeit but offered to buy it at below melt value. I never went back to that crooked dealer again.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • AzurescensAzurescens Posts: 2,679 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 30, 2018 5:18AM

    @cardinal said:

    This was a long time ago. I had a 1902-O Morgan dollar graded by PCGS as MS65DMPL. At the time, the "sheet" price was $3,000, and I was offering it to some dealers at a show expecting to get offers in the lower $2,000's.

    Several dealers said they didn't sell DMPL dollars, and suggested that I offer it to this one dealer on the floor who specialized them. ** I showed him the coin, and he said, "Wow! That's so bright, it nearly blinded me!" So, he looks it over, front and back, looks at his "sheet" and then asks what I wanted for it. I said, "Twenty-two hundred." He reached into his pocket and got out his wallet, and then pulled out a $20 bill and two $1 bills, and extended his arm to give them to me.**

    Man I'd be too tempted to grab his money and slap him in the face with it. I hate when vendors do that crap. It's not funny and you make yourself look like a sad idiot.

    Whenever I hear tactics like that I know the person isn't gonna pay a dime for a dollar.

  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,431 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Years ago when I lived in New Jersey there was this dealer in a neighboring town who had the reputation for making low ball offers. I had an 1837 No Stars Dime I wanted to sell, and I took it to him. It was a VF-EF, and the Gray Sheet bid was about $100 at the time. He put on a pair stereo viewerers and looked at it. His offer was $20.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,431 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BarberFanatic said:
    Mine's not quite as egregious as some of the other stories, but it's still ludicrous. It occurred about a decade ago.

    I was looking to sell a duplicate 1904-S Barber Half. The coin was a legitimate XF40, in PCGS plastic, problem-free, great-looking original coin.

    Had a dealer offer me $38 for it.

    After my stunned and not-so-polite reaction, he told me that it would probably sit in his inventory for years because "collectors don't buy common dates like this one" so his offer had to account for that.

    I told him to look at the slab again, because it's a 1904-S, not a 1904.

    He said he knew what the date was but that there was simply too much wear on my coin for it to be desirable to other collectors.

    Some dealers simply don't have the retail customers for some coins. For that reason they have to pay less.

    On the other hand, if you are worth your salt as a dealer, you KNOW which dealers do have the customers and you direct the piece toward them.

    Yes the dealer would probably pay you less than than the specialist dealer, but he should have brains enough to know that it doesn't have to sit in his inventory for years.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,796 ✭✭✭✭✭

    30% back of grey sheet for everything in my shop. The guy's a piece of work.

  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 27,412 ✭✭✭✭✭

    i had a complete set of eisenhower dollars and the dealer said he would give me $35 for the set. i mumbled something to myself and walked. fwiw

  • SonorandesertratSonorandesertrat Posts: 5,695 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Another 'bad' offer, this time from a local dealer. He offered me an altered half cent for about $1.6K. When he saw that I noticed the alteration, he then said that it wasn't really for sale to a collector. Riiight!

    Member: EAC, NBS, C4, CWTS, ANA

    RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'

    CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
  • ExbritExbrit Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭✭

    $400 for a coin that another dealer offered me $9,300 for. It was a world coin - so I will not mention it here.

  • MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 32,136 ✭✭✭✭✭

    go "pound the floor"

    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
  • HallcoHallco Posts: 3,623 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 30, 2018 9:57AM

    About 12 years ago I owned a 16-D Merc in an old Anacs 3 holder. I showed it to a dealer and he said he was interested, but since it wasn't PCGS, he would only go $150.00. At the time it seems like they were selling for around $600.00. No idea what they are now.

  • WoodenJeffersonWoodenJefferson Posts: 6,491 ✭✭✭✭

    A 1955 Franklin Half in Deep cam, dealer offered me $85 because he said it was only 'cameo' and it was in a ACG slab, so I asked him, OK, how much for me to crack it out and sell it to youraw? Still $85 (IT WAS A $500 COIN)

    Chat Board Lingo

    "Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
  • NumisOxideNumisOxide Posts: 10,984 ✭✭✭✭✭

    About 2 years ago at a Long Island coin show some rip off dealer offered me $10 if that much for my cleaned xf 1863 seated half dollar.

  • SonorandesertratSonorandesertrat Posts: 5,695 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Back in the early 1990's (I think), when I was living in Utah, I stopped by a coin shop, whose owner is well known, to buy a silver Ike in a gem-superb grade for a type coin album. The owner quoted me $225, and I reflexively laughed at him. After a few 'OK's, he dropped the price to $75 (what it was worth). I bought it and never bought anything else from him again.

    I was in a shop in Arizona about 10 years ago, and the owner handed me a raw AU55ish Liberty double eagle that he had bought from a walk-in the day before. He and I always got along quite well, so we discussed that coin, and he said he was pissed that he bought the coin because he later realized it was a counterfeit. That week, mass marketers were set up in a local hotel, and were buying coins (aka ripping off people who didn't know better)--this pissed off local B&M dealers, based on what several of them told me. While I was still in the shop, the owner handed that coin to his wife--she then sold it to one of the marketers as a genuine piece.

    Member: EAC, NBS, C4, CWTS, ANA

    RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'

    CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
  • JasonGamingJasonGaming Posts: 926 ✭✭✭✭

    Great stories everyone! Keep posting more!

    Always buying nice toned coins! Searching for a low grade 1873 Arrows DDO Dime and 1842-O Small Date Quarter.

  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 30, 2018 7:23PM

    About 10 years ago, Had a 1799 Large cent in PCGS 12, was looking to sell, decent coin, not fantastic, but not bad either. took to a well known copper dealer , offer was 2k. I was floored, sold it to another national dealer an hour later in Baltimore for 12,500.00

    also a few years after that, a well known indian cent dealer offered me a low ball ridiculous offer for my 1856 flyer, I passed, then about 5 min later , an associate of his tracked me down the isle and told me he was ashamed that his boss offered so low, and that he would pay a much fairer price privately for the coin, and we made the deal.

  • FallGuyFallGuy Posts: 207 ✭✭✭

    Some fascinating posts here.

    I had three of the 2006 Silver Eagle 3 piece Anniversary sets. Took them to the (then) big local dealer to sell and he offered me melt. I thought it an unfunny joke, until he irritably told me that was their value. I drove across town to another much smaller coin dealer who quickly paid $240 for each set. IIRC this was in the summer of 2011.

    I believe I shared this before, but I also offered to sell that same first dealer an original roll of BU 1964 quarters. He offered me $10 for those. I did make an inappropriate comment about his sanity before leaving.

    That was my first ever foray into selling coins I had purchased, and although naive, it was obvious something was very, very wrong at that store. Turns out I was one of the lucky ones.

    With respect to Wabbit's post, the link below is part of that same individual's claim to infamy.

    http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jun/06/former-coin-dealer-ordered-to-repay-580000/

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Wabbit2313 said:
    Let's name some names here, just to keep the place honest.

    Agree. I think you would be shocked at how many would be well known national dealers including more than a few who participate here. I'm guessing that more than a few of these crooked dealers have to rip off unknowledgeable sellers who don't know what they have just to stay in business.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • DollarAfterDollarDollarAfterDollar Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was at a major show here a few years ago shopping around a 1915 Lincoln in MS 65 bn (PCGS I think) anyway, a major penny Dealer offered me $15.

    When I sell now I don't play dumb. I just tell the Dealer what I want, basically yes or no. I usually price about 15% back of Gray Sheet and leave a few bucks wiggle room for counteroffers.

    Unless the Dealer has a specific customer in mind for your coins THEY WILL lowball you. That's just how they operate.

    If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
  • ElmhurstElmhurst Posts: 768 ✭✭✭

    When I was in high school approx 1981, I bought a 14k white gold wedding band out of a garage sale cheap. Took to the local coin dealer, who talked me into trading it for a BU common Morgan. I was later was made whole when he sold me a VG 1876 20c as an 1876 quarter. This guy was both a crook and incompetent. He later went bankrupt and was convicted of child molestation.

  • AzurescensAzurescens Posts: 2,679 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ^ Best post I've read in awhile.

    Right in them feels, man. Them feels.

    :'(B)<3:)

  • MorganMan94MorganMan94 Posts: 1,330 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was at Central States last year and a large dealer had a PR55 Morgan I really liked. I didn't want to sell out that much cash for a coin that didn't fit my main collecting interest so I asked if he took trades. I had an MS66 Cincinnati commemorative half and Greysheet was $595 at the time. Auction results had it selling it around GS but I was expecting around the $500 mark. The dealer said he would give me $250 in trade for it since he already had one in his case. I passed and glanced at his case to see one sitting there for $600. I will NEVER deal with that dealer again, even though I have seen two coins on his site I really wanted.

  • CryptoCrypto Posts: 3,368 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MorganMan94 said:
    I was at Central States last year and a large dealer had a PR55 Morgan I really liked. I didn't want to sell out that much cash for a coin that didn't fit my main collecting interest so I asked if he took trades. I had an MS66 Cincinnati commemorative half and Greysheet was $595 at the time. Auction results had it selling it around GS but I was expecting around the $500 mark. The dealer said he would give me $250 in trade for it since he already had one in his case. I passed and glanced at his case to see one sitting there for $600. I will NEVER deal with that dealer again, even though I have seen two coins on his site I really wanted.

    You know you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If he had declined to make an offer saying it was just too common of a coin and he already had one you would have been mad.

    Sometimes a low offer is the same as saying no thank you unless you take it and then they can afford to wholesale it cheap.

    Why would a dealer want to pay you 500$ to have a dupe in inventory that they are already having a hard time selling? He might make 20-50$ on it. Tying up the 500$ for weeks or months isn’t worth 20-50$

  • MorganMan94MorganMan94 Posts: 1,330 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Crypto said:

    @MorganMan94 said:
    I was at Central States last year and a large dealer had a PR55 Morgan I really liked. I didn't want to sell out that much cash for a coin that didn't fit my main collecting interest so I asked if he took trades. I had an MS66 Cincinnati commemorative half and Greysheet was $595 at the time. Auction results had it selling it around GS but I was expecting around the $500 mark. The dealer said he would give me $250 in trade for it since he already had one in his case. I passed and glanced at his case to see one sitting there for $600. I will NEVER deal with that dealer again, even though I have seen two coins on his site I really wanted.

    You know you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If he had declined to make an offer saying it was just too common of a coin and he already had one you would have been mad.

    Sometimes a low offer is the same as saying no thank you unless you take it and then they can afford to wholesale it cheap.

    Why would a dealer want to pay you 500$ to have a dupe in inventory that they are already having a hard time selling? He might make 20-50$ on it. Tying up the 500$ for weeks or months isn’t worth 20-50$

    I wouldn't have been upset, I offered it to other dealers at the show who said it wasn't their series or not something they dealt in. I would rather them be honest with me than lowball me. I think he saw a 20 year old and an opportunity, just my opinion.

  • logger7logger7 Posts: 8,022 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A few months ago I was looking for offers on certified better date $20s many that were worth high teens or low $2000s. I check a few buyers, one in MO that took a while, I stayed after them and was shocked at the low offers; I ended up selling to HA which has been pretty fair in transactions I've had.

    On the poor business practice/character exemplified on some of these stories, there should be legal remedies instead of just shrugging the shoulders or getting upset considering how many others have and will be ripped off to the detriment of the hobby.

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