Do you have loyalty to one local shop or visit all of them?
SiriusBlack
Posts: 1,120 ✭✭✭✭✭
I’m lucky enough to have three brick and mortar coin shops near by. I’ve only ever shopped at one and since they’ve been super helpful in teaching me, I try to spend my money there. However I do think it’s good to explore other selections, get other advice etc. I’m not sure you get a well rounded education from only one source of advice.
Working at an independent camera store I understand the game of local competition though as well. Personally I don’t care when people visit other stores but I do get annoyed when people come in to get knowledge and advice from me and then go elsewhere to spend their money.
Any thoughts or advice?
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
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Comments
I would at least give them all a chance. Better selection that way.
I never been to one. But I hear there is one about 20 miles away I might visit it when I am in that town. I usually visit the gun/sport shops.
We have three here. Visited them all, but 95% of my purchases go to one store. Better pricing and great customer service. One of our local stores has employed a really rude person with almost no knowledge of coins. Don't get it. It's certainly cost the owner lots of business by word of mouth.
I have loyalty to mainly one shop. They are always very nice to me and I seldom come home empty handed. I can spend and hour or two looking at coins without being rushed and have pleasant conversations with the workers(so long as they are not busy). There is another place near me that I refuse to go to as they treat people rather poorly. It’s all about the dollar for them.
i go to one or two shops in ohio when i visit there. outside of that i dont go to any in this area. (for what ever reason)
I have around 12 shops here. 4 are mostly bullion, but they do get some nice coins in at times. I visit them all, but there is one that I visit the most. They are very friendly and always seem to get new stuff in frequently. Add on the fact that they are just 5 minutes from me and it's a cherry on top of the sunday.
Fortunate to have two high quality dealers nearby. Haven't seen the other folks in a decade and probably should make the rounds.
0 here.
I try to visit every B & M when travelling. Have been lucky. Most receive an A grade.
I only have one BM shop near me and always feel the need to shower after I visit them. Fast talkers and low ball prices.
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Thanks for the responses everyone. I visited two shops today. My normal one, and one I haven’t been to before. Both very friendly and both talked me out of purchasing a coin! I guess you can’t argue they are all about the money when they tell you not to give it to them!
In both cases, they had looked over my type set and told me the coins I was looking at were not good enough to spend for upgrades, to wait until something better came in. One was a nice Indian head cent with very nice wood grain, but it had a spot on the front and on the back. I’ve read about using a rose thorn to remove the spot but he informed me that while that was definitely an old school way to do it, in this case he didn’t think the chance of improvement was very realistic.
I found a nice coronet braided large cent that had some crystalline kind of gunk on it. He looked it over and said he thought it was pvc. I asked if he thought it was something I could attempt to “clean” and he explained how to do it, but said if I wasn’t in a hurry, he’d go ahead and do it since he’s experienced and can do it properly without damage and then I could still have the option to buy it next time if i liked it.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
Almost none of them anymore. Junk, dreck, and not interested in latest Morgan.
I'd be very skeptical of anything of real value uncertified. Even at the better shops I see many potential traps.
No good ones left around here.
I'm loyal only to my wallet and collecting interests. Most dealers won't be loyal to you IMHO.
+1 and +2
Uhmm.....wished I have one to consider....almost being in the middle of no where I am yet to plan on going for LB show
I am quite loyal to the one in my immediate area. He gives me good deals on the material I need for my local club, and supples me with a Proof set every year. As for the rest of my collecting wants, I'm way ahead of him. He sells mostly material to fill holes in albums.
He wants to retire, and I will miss him when he's gone. He's looking to sell the business, and I hope that I will be able to have as good a relationship with his successor.
Zero
Buy at shows, EBay, GC
No coin shops here... or near.... I wish I had one to ignore
Not really, it would be nice to have a local shop to browse though... there are a couple of display cases in one of the antique shops... but they think all old (relatively) coins are incredibly valuable. So tired of looking at Morgans that clearly are $20/$30 coins, priced at $250-300 dollars. Cheers, RickO
Paradisefound, I can understand the frustration living in an island economy; I've heard a few collectors in Hawaii complain about the lack of ethical dealers. I remember that Mr. Nachbar spoke about attending a Hawaii coin show, when a woman walked in with a high end collection, after which he packed up his bags having hit the motherlode.
I have a terrible shop here, so never visit. I don't see why you should have loyalty to just one though. It's not like a normal store that all have the same product. Each one will have unique products, so you should visit them all.
This.. I was loyal to one in Centerville, Ohio, until I tried to sell a coin back to him. When I bought it, it was an MS64 coin. When I upgraded and went to sell it back, it was a whizzed coin worth 1/10th of what I originally paid him for it! Enough time had lapsed that he forgot that I bought it from him! I haven't been back in over 5 years. I typically spent at least 4 figures a year there....
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I like to give everyone equal measure. I wish I was rich. I'd end up poor.
I often call the local guys for coins needed, to fill orders , or just to grease the wheels of commerce and let them know the fat lady won't sing. I cannot say it's a "loyalty" thing as much as a business matter.
I'm at a place, now, in my collecting, where I'm almost done with what I set out to do and I'll no longer ever be in the position where I have to make an immediate, desperate sale to raise money.
My primary local guy really gave me the shaft last time. What makes me really mad is that I had given him a lot of business over the years, and yet he still felt the need to screw me, when I needed his help. Hope he really enjoyed 'the rip', because it will be the last one from me. He added insult to injury, too, with his inaccurate market price comments and cocky attitude. Never again.
It's coin shows and the Internet only for me from now on.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
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I have yet to attend a coin show. There is one near me next month, the Long Beach Expo, but I work all the days so I'd have to take a day off. Losing a day of pay and spending money on coins isn't a real great option!
As far as eBay, I do a lot of sales and some buying for camera equipment but that's my area of expertise so I know what I'm looking at and what questions I need to ask. With coins I'm leery because I just don't know enough about many to make a good educated decision based on a couple photos. As I've said in other threads, I don't have any coin friends so I really am limited to getting the local dealers opinions and trying to look carefully and check the PCGS apps and eBay sales history to see if pricing is reasonable.
I've never sold any coins, but then I don't have anything of great value that I would sell either.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
I see a couple people here from Ohio. If you, or any other forum member, are ever in Cincinnati please look me up at Coins Plus at the downtown location. I am always happy to talk coins!
Brad
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
@BustDMs Southern California for me though I do get to Oklahoma once or twice a year to stay with family, I wonder if there are any coin shops in the area. The last time I found one they let me come inside, but they had no display, they were by appointment only and I was just browsing so I didn't want to waste their time with no intention of spending. They were very polite though.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
3 in my area, but only one ever has anything worth buying. Unfortunately, the one with nice coins is the least helpful and friendly. For the other two, one is more focused on bullion and the other has more sports memorabilia.
The few shops around here that are known rip stations I don’t go into or deal with. One old shop that closed, the guy sort of stopped showing me stuff because I got the feeling he knew I knew more about his stock than he did. It doesn’t take long to figure out who’s on the up and up.
When I go to shops out of town I can peg them pretty quick for how wholesome their dealing is. So yes, I have some favorites, not necessarily a loyalty.
I work at a local shop so I'm sort of conflicted, but when at a show I feel no such loyalty.