@bidask said:
It is certainly appropriate to ask to see coin knowing you cannot afford to buy it but why all the hub hub in this thread if the dealer who owns the coin states
‘ you can’t afford it ‘ and declines to take the coin out of the case .
@bidask said:
It is certainly appropriate to ask to see coin knowing you cannot afford to buy it but why all the hub hub in this thread if the dealer who owns the coin states
‘ you can’t afford it ‘ and declines to take the coin out of the case .
Why are peoples feelings so hurt 😭
How does a dealer know that you can’t afford it?
If you look intelligent and his coin is over-priced, he won't want to show it to you.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Hate to interrupt a good dealer bashing thread but you do know it goes both ways, right?
I love intelligent customers...they know what they want, can usually make a decision quickly, don't waste time and aren't arrogant jerks who think that flashing a few Benjamins will turn me into a drooling idiot who will sell things under market.
Having a wad of cash and saying you can buy and sell me doesn't impress me.
Wanting to sit at my table and tell me everything you know, everyone you know, how big a player you are, what you have/used to have, give me unsolicited opinions on my inventory, or brag about your cherrypicks...doesn't impress me.
Finding something you like, buying it in an efficient and quick manner, exhibiting courtesy, and having respect for my time and investment... THAT impresses me. And it's reciprocated without fail.
@bidask said:
It is certainly appropriate to ask to see coin knowing you cannot afford to buy it but why all the hub hub in this thread if the dealer who owns the coin states
‘ you can’t afford it ‘ and declines to take the coin out of the case .
Why are peoples feelings so hurt 😭
How does a dealer know that you can’t afford it?
If you look intelligent and his coin is over-priced, he won't want to show it to you.
That may have been what was happening the first time I got the “You can’t afford it.” It may have been because I was in my 20s and wearing a red sports jacket and tie. Yes, people wore such things at New York City coins shows in the ‘70s.
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 ... ?
Dealers at shows setup at have been very respectful to me for the most part. Some of them go to guys for inventory. A couple I wholesale to them.
Years ago-A guy and his wife were looking at an Arkansas NBN of mine. A $300 -$350 item nice XF large size somewhat low pop known. She was eating bbq sandwich. Was explaining its rarity, history, etc - then Some stuff fell out of her mouth on my glass display case right above the note. Really gross. Relieved when they left and I quickly cleaned it up. An hour later a NBN collector bought it for $300.
I'm an old geezer. Been to a lot of shops and shows. Four experiences that taught me lessons. Three of which were similar. Don't look at a coin unless I have the money in my pocket. I missed on three coins I should have and would have ----had the money been on me. My fault. They ranged from $500-28,000.
Sept 2021 Long Beach. I'm on a mission and just about done and ready to scoot. Four hours on the bourse, about 35 purchases, two single row boxes of raw coins I failed to sell and I'm pooped.
Walked up to a table and spotted four PCGS ten libs---PRICED. Look at them and ask the NATIONAL dealer to write the invoice. Then he says, "I can't sell them for that". He raises $15 each. As Big Mark says, ' bite my tongue'. I bought them. He'll never remember me. I'll never forget him.
@telephoto1 said:
Hate to interrupt a good dealer bashing thread but you do know it goes both ways, right?
Although most people probably read the title of the thread and assumed it was about bad experiences with dealers, the title and OP don't stipulate that, so dealers can feel free to vent, as well.
And BTW, I am fully aware that there are many nightmarish customers.
I hate to generalize dealers, as many are very nice and helpful. But there is a trend among hobby dealers (be it coin, sports cards, records, comics, etc) that have an air of rudeness, condescension, and arrogance, almost an "I'm better than you" attitude. A delusion of importance. Where do they get that? In the grand scheme of things, you sell collectibles to nerds. (No disrespect to the dealers on here lol. This is aimed at the rude dealers I've encountered in my lifetime.)
I have a lot of war stories (examples above) but it is simply part of being in the business.
A recent estate looked at everything sub par except some common circ G/Vg barber dimes in plastic lunch bags and a common GSA dollar MS60-61. Lots of circ 90 pct silver. I made them an offer on the GSA dollar but they wanted me buy it all at a no go price. Passed. If estate had anything nice guy sold it off years ago.
Great thread, I have been to fun shows in Florida 6 or 7 times when I go it’s in t shirt shorts no jewelry and the best old sneakers and have with plenty of cash. And have experienced many of the things others have seen while attending, ignored , given an answer like I am bothering them. I would bet if I showed up in work dress clothes I would be received differently. I tend to find something to buy but don’t enjoy myself as much as I should. Although I do enjoy the winter PCGS luncheon which are very nice. The atmosphere at a small coin show is always more personable, the big show dealers don’t even see the boats as they go by.
Many times had dealers try to intimidate me. By being angry at me . Always startled me as I it puts them one up on me
so Cant negotiate with them even though I had not even tryed. Happened a few times when offering to sell to them
they would yell and scream so as to make me submissive., Like sayingI am incharge here. I always walk and Mark him as an Unfriendly AxxHxx. Many nice dealers no need to talk to the weird ones.
Let’s see….
I’ve had shared experiences with the very dealer Ricko described and concur with his assessment there.
Thinking back to shortly after I had inherited a somewhat substantial collection of Morgan and Peace dollars and I was showing some around, trying to learn, and even making a few trades.
One dealer, took one of my key date CC Morgans around the back of his display to study it more closely and to this day, I still wonder, and consider it possible that he pulled a switch on me. Unfortunately I didn’t have before photos of that coin but my notes from the time indicate that my early assessments were of a higher grade than what I currently hold. Hummm… I still wonder about that one and it leaves a bad aftertaste.
There are a few other doozies, but I’ve decided not to share them as I think nothing good will come from it.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Yes this is open to dealers express their worst bourse room experiences. This can also be a serious incident.
Mine was a serious incident where a customer (vest pocket trader) had a seizure and went face down on one of my display cases. Fortunately he did not penetrate the glass and incur more injury. Bourse personnel and Paramedics were called over and he was given first aid and recovered.
I can think of one of the worse and then best experiences for a dealer. Many years ago, at one of the Whitman Baltimore shows, I found a dealer's checkbook laying in the middle of the isle. I turned it in at the information desk and he was summoned on the loudspeaker. I bet he was glad to get it back.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
When I was 18 (1970) I looked like and could pass for 15. I also had an embarrassing amount of cash money in my pocket. Dressed in Levi's and a T-Shirt I wandered the bourse at the Long Beach coin show. At one table I politely waited and then asked if I could see the 1856 Flying Eagle cent in his case. He laughed at me and said, "Kid, you can't afford it", then went back to talking to someone else. I pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills, told him, "Too bad, I was ready to buy" and walked away.
I used to be somebody, now I'm just a coin collector. Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
I had a group of XF-AU details Draped Bust and Flowing Hair half dimes (1794, 1795, 1797, 1797, 1800, 1803) that I wanted to sell, but each had some kind of damage that would warrant a large discount. I took them to Baltimore and walked up to a dealer known for selling early type. He had numerous coins of the same series for sale in low grades, like FR-2 through VG, all with damage or cleaning, for strong retail prices. I thought to myself, "If he even gives me half of what he sells them for..." I handed the coins to the guy, and he took a brief glance (like literally 1 or 2 seconds) and said "Pass."
I wondered later where he got his inventory so cheaply that he wouldn't even pull out a loupe and look. I guess he got his inventory for free because it fell off the back of a truck?
@rhedden said:
I had a group of XF-AU details Draped Bust and Flowing Hair half dimes (1794, 1795, 1797, 1797, 1800, 1803) that I wanted to sell, but each had some kind of damage that would warrant a large discount. I took them to Baltimore and walked up to a dealer known for selling early type. He had numerous coins of the same series for sale in low grades, like FR-2 through VG, all with damage or cleaning, for strong retail prices. I thought to myself, "If he even gives me half of what he sells them for..." I handed the coins to the guy, and he took a brief glance (like literally 1 or 2 seconds) and said "Pass."
I wondered later where he got his inventory so cheaply that he wouldn't even pull out a loupe and look. I guess he got his inventory for free because it fell off the back of a truck?
all the stories about dealers saying "you can't afford it" or "this isn't for you" or something similar, could just be code for "there's something wrong with this or it's overpriced and I already know who I'm going to bury this with, and I don't want the bad press of ripping you." I don't necessarily think that's a rude thing to say, they might be trying to help you out in a weird coiney way.
@tcollects said:
all the stories about dealers saying "you can't afford it" or "this isn't for you" or something similar, could just be code for "there's something wrong with this or it's overpriced and I already know who I'm going to bury this with, and I don't want the bad press of ripping you." I don't necessarily think that's a rude thing to say, they might be trying to help you out in a weird coiney way.
I believe in the saying "the simplest answer is usually the correct answer" (to paraphrase William of Ockham).
When a dealer says you can't afford it, It usually means he doesn't want to spend his time dealing with you. My translation is "you're not worth my time and effort"., and then gets back to important business like cleaning mustard stains off of his tie.
@MasonG said:
Lots of people aren't happy unless they're not happy.
I think it is supposed to be 'Lots of people are not happy unless you are not happy'.
Anyway I have had the ignored by the dealer and the political rants but one thing that happened to me which sort of still sticks in my craw is that I was at a local show one time and a dealer had some coins in his case that I wanted to look at so I asked him about them. He took a couple of them out of the case and handed them to me. I wanted to look at them with my loupe so I took it out of my pocket and set it on the case as I had 2 slabs in my hand and needed to set one down so I could hold the loupe etc. Anyway he got upset and told me to pick my loupe up as 'The cases are expensive and I was showing disrespect to him' and to give them back the coins as he was not going to sell to me. Wow...I did not know what to think, my loupe is a small one, I did not slam it down or anything, just lowered it on the string it is on and it did not bang on his case. Anyway I apologized ,gave him back his coins and moved on. A couple of tables over I sat for a while looking at some coins and bought a slabbed war nickel. When I was finished and moving on I glanced over at the jerk's table and there was a dealer there with a brief case, coins, a calculator, greysheets and other stuff all spread out over the cases. Not really a problem with stuff on the cases after all! I still see the guy at shows but will never buy anything from him.
Regarding the Mercedes dealers...haven't thought about it in a while but my wife and I were totally dissed by the sales folks at the local dealership. I mean we walked around, looked at cars inside, looked at cars on the lot, etc. and were just ignored. Went around to the Cadillac dealer up the road and were treated very nicely and ended up buying a car there instead. Oh well.
At a show a few years ago I had spent almost all my cash. I then came across a coin in a dealer’s showcase that would fill a hole in my collection. I couldn’t believe someone had one (it was a somewhat obscure foreign coin I wanted). It was $150. I was short a few dollars. This particular dealer is known for never selling coins for less than marked price. After several minutes of explaining how I really wanted the coin and was only a few dollars short he reluctantly let me buy the coin. His wife was there and saw the entire transaction. I believe he let me have it for $138 (or maybe $148, can’t remember exactly). He emphasized that he never does this and that it was a one time deal. I agreed and was thrilled I could buy the coin. I never saw another like it so I knew I was super fortunate he made that exception for me. I was getting ready to leave the show but then I saw one of my dealer friends and decided to chat it up with him. He told me to take a seat because he had something to show me. It was a box of contemporary counterfeit coins from his collection. He knew I was interested in seeing them (they were NOT for sale) from a prior discussion we had about counterfeits. As I was looking through them, the wife of the dealer from the coin sale I made earlier walked by and said to me and my dealer friend “oh so it looks like you do have money after all?” and walked away. I wanted to explain I was just looking at a friend’s coins which weren’t even for sale, but it was too late as she was gone (the dealer was gone too). I left the show shortly after I told my friend about the person who made the comment. He told me not to worry about it. I was upset the rest of the day thinking this dealer probably thought I lied to him. I never saw him again so I never had the opportunity to explain what happened.
I have had some experiences as well. Not to beat my chest, but for many years I did the cataloguing for a respected catalog and kind of overkill. Well, I like to be very low key and wear a polo shirt and jeans usually and have been blown off on many an occasion when looking at coins in my specialty. I had to laugh [to myself] one time when a very well-known dealer preceded to tell me I had no idea what I was talking about, and somewhat aggressively at that.
Well, I ended up buying the coin as it was actually priced very low ; not that it needed it, but this slabbed out exactly (surprise!) as I said. Oh, well.
I don't buy too many coins on the floor at shows and almost never from B&Ms anymore, so few interactions...
Love that Milled British (1830-1960) Well, just Love coins, period.
This particular dealer is known for never selling coins for less than marked price....
I never saw him again so I never had the opportunity to explain what happened.
Sorry it happened to you. Most likely he didn't last as a coin dealer.
Mercedes dealers...haven't thought about it in a while but my wife and I were totally dissed by the sales folks at the local dealership. I mean we walked around, looked at cars inside, looked at cars on the lot, etc. and were just ignored.
Mercedes dealers are interesting. Each has their own way of dealing. With a wealthy client base, many try to avoid coming off as pushy and rely on the soft sell approach, meaning let the customer ask for help first.
Not really a negative experience just one that’s stuck with me. Maybe 20 years ago I was looking at some Morgan dollars at a table. I asked to see one. The dealer proclaimed “you will never own a nicer one”. Something to that effect. Shortly before I had sold off a really nice Morgan in an MS 67 NGC holder. Unless you’ve dealt with a person how often do you really know what’s goin on the other side of the table?
It was years ago, like maybe 30 years ago. I was looking at a gold English noble, King Edward III(1327-1377) a type I had never seen an example of at a coin show but even then knew I wouldn't buy because it had been clipped and commented to the dealer that because of the clipping I wouldn't be interested. I got the "well you look like you cannot afford it anyway" comment - a dealer that is still in business in Arizona and I will never do business with.
In fact I didn't buy a noble for a long time, they are rather difficult to find in full flans without wear and no clipping. But the one I did buy about 15 years ago was priced considerably more than the one from before and one I enjoy so much I will keep it a long time hopefully.
Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
Years ago I attended a major regional show which was packed with two to four customers at a table to the point that it was very difficult for me to even peek at a dealers case. I finally came across a table with only one customer. As I swooped in to see what the dealer had, I recoiled like a cat that had jumped on a piece of tin foil. The customer smelled like he hadn’t showered in over a month. 🤢
Comments
How does a dealer know that you can’t afford it?
If you look intelligent and his coin is over-priced, he won't want to show it to you.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Hate to interrupt a good dealer bashing thread but you do know it goes both ways, right?
I love intelligent customers...they know what they want, can usually make a decision quickly, don't waste time and aren't arrogant jerks who think that flashing a few Benjamins will turn me into a drooling idiot who will sell things under market.
Having a wad of cash and saying you can buy and sell me doesn't impress me.
Wanting to sit at my table and tell me everything you know, everyone you know, how big a player you are, what you have/used to have, give me unsolicited opinions on my inventory, or brag about your cherrypicks...doesn't impress me.
Finding something you like, buying it in an efficient and quick manner, exhibiting courtesy, and having respect for my time and investment... THAT impresses me. And it's reciprocated without fail.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
That may have been what was happening the first time I got the “You can’t afford it.” It may have been because I was in my 20s and wearing a red sports jacket and tie. Yes, people wore such things at New York City coins shows in the ‘70s.
Dealers at shows setup at have been very respectful to me for the most part. Some of them go to guys for inventory. A couple I wholesale to them.
Years ago-A guy and his wife were looking at an Arkansas NBN of mine. A $300 -$350 item nice XF large size somewhat low pop known. She was eating bbq sandwich. Was explaining its rarity, history, etc - then Some stuff fell out of her mouth on my glass display case right above the note. Really gross. Relieved when they left and I quickly cleaned it up. An hour later a NBN collector bought it for $300.
I'm an old geezer. Been to a lot of shops and shows. Four experiences that taught me lessons. Three of which were similar. Don't look at a coin unless I have the money in my pocket. I missed on three coins I should have and would have ----had the money been on me. My fault. They ranged from $500-28,000.
Sept 2021 Long Beach. I'm on a mission and just about done and ready to scoot. Four hours on the bourse, about 35 purchases, two single row boxes of raw coins I failed to sell and I'm pooped.
Walked up to a table and spotted four PCGS ten libs---PRICED. Look at them and ask the NATIONAL dealer to write the invoice. Then he says, "I can't sell them for that". He raises $15 each. As Big Mark says, ' bite my tongue'. I bought them. He'll never remember me. I'll never forget him.
Although most people probably read the title of the thread and assumed it was about bad experiences with dealers, the title and OP don't stipulate that, so dealers can feel free to vent, as well.
And BTW, I am fully aware that there are many nightmarish customers.
I hate to generalize dealers, as many are very nice and helpful. But there is a trend among hobby dealers (be it coin, sports cards, records, comics, etc) that have an air of rudeness, condescension, and arrogance, almost an "I'm better than you" attitude. A delusion of importance. Where do they get that? In the grand scheme of things, you sell collectibles to nerds. (No disrespect to the dealers on here lol. This is aimed at the rude dealers I've encountered in my lifetime.)
I am sure that dealers have many, many war stories about:
their dealings with terrible collectors;
their dealings with terrible dealers;
their dealings with terrible non collecting heirs of collectors (and dealers); and
their dealings with other persons (TPGs, Marketers, Investors, lawyers, accountants, etc.) directly or indirectly involved in the hobby of kings.
Perhaps they will favor us with a few of these stories.
I have a lot of war stories (examples above) but it is simply part of being in the business.
A recent estate looked at everything sub par except some common circ G/Vg barber dimes in plastic lunch bags and a common GSA dollar MS60-61. Lots of circ 90 pct silver. I made them an offer on the GSA dollar but they wanted me buy it all at a no go price. Passed. If estate had anything nice guy sold it off years ago.
Great thread, I have been to fun shows in Florida 6 or 7 times when I go it’s in t shirt shorts no jewelry and the best old sneakers and have with plenty of cash. And have experienced many of the things others have seen while attending, ignored , given an answer like I am bothering them. I would bet if I showed up in work dress clothes I would be received differently. I tend to find something to buy but don’t enjoy myself as much as I should. Although I do enjoy the winter PCGS luncheon which are very nice. The atmosphere at a small coin show is always more personable, the big show dealers don’t even see the boats as they go by.
Many times had dealers try to intimidate me. By being angry at me . Always startled me as I it puts them one up on me
so Cant negotiate with them even though I had not even tryed. Happened a few times when offering to sell to them
they would yell and scream so as to make me submissive., Like sayingI am incharge here. I always walk and Mark him as an Unfriendly AxxHxx. Many nice dealers no need to talk to the weird ones.
😉 not able to attend one?
Let’s see….
I’ve had shared experiences with the very dealer Ricko described and concur with his assessment there.
Thinking back to shortly after I had inherited a somewhat substantial collection of Morgan and Peace dollars and I was showing some around, trying to learn, and even making a few trades.
One dealer, took one of my key date CC Morgans around the back of his display to study it more closely and to this day, I still wonder, and consider it possible that he pulled a switch on me. Unfortunately I didn’t have before photos of that coin but my notes from the time indicate that my early assessments were of a higher grade than what I currently hold. Hummm… I still wonder about that one and it leaves a bad aftertaste.
There are a few other doozies, but I’ve decided not to share them as I think nothing good will come from it.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Yes this is open to dealers express their worst bourse room experiences. This can also be a serious incident.
Mine was a serious incident where a customer (vest pocket trader) had a seizure and went face down on one of my display cases. Fortunately he did not penetrate the glass and incur more injury. Bourse personnel and Paramedics were called over and he was given first aid and recovered.
I can think of one of the worse and then best experiences for a dealer. Many years ago, at one of the Whitman Baltimore shows, I found a dealer's checkbook laying in the middle of the isle. I turned it in at the information desk and he was summoned on the loudspeaker. I bet he was glad to get it back.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
When I was 18 (1970) I looked like and could pass for 15. I also had an embarrassing amount of cash money in my pocket. Dressed in Levi's and a T-Shirt I wandered the bourse at the Long Beach coin show. At one table I politely waited and then asked if I could see the 1856 Flying Eagle cent in his case. He laughed at me and said, "Kid, you can't afford it", then went back to talking to someone else. I pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills, told him, "Too bad, I was ready to buy" and walked away.
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
Online is fine., but If I want to sell a whole bunch of ungraded coins, I would "go to the show"
I had a group of XF-AU details Draped Bust and Flowing Hair half dimes (1794, 1795, 1797, 1797, 1800, 1803) that I wanted to sell, but each had some kind of damage that would warrant a large discount. I took them to Baltimore and walked up to a dealer known for selling early type. He had numerous coins of the same series for sale in low grades, like FR-2 through VG, all with damage or cleaning, for strong retail prices. I thought to myself, "If he even gives me half of what he sells them for..." I handed the coins to the guy, and he took a brief glance (like literally 1 or 2 seconds) and said "Pass."
I wondered later where he got his inventory so cheaply that he wouldn't even pull out a loupe and look. I guess he got his inventory for free because it fell off the back of a truck?
Most likely he was buried in his coins.
all the stories about dealers saying "you can't afford it" or "this isn't for you" or something similar, could just be code for "there's something wrong with this or it's overpriced and I already know who I'm going to bury this with, and I don't want the bad press of ripping you." I don't necessarily think that's a rude thing to say, they might be trying to help you out in a weird coiney way.
I believe in the saying "the simplest answer is usually the correct answer" (to paraphrase William of Ockham).
When a dealer says you can't afford it, It usually means he doesn't want to spend his time dealing with you. My translation is "you're not worth my time and effort"., and then gets back to important business like cleaning mustard stains off of his tie.
I think it is supposed to be 'Lots of people are not happy unless you are not happy'.
Anyway I have had the ignored by the dealer and the political rants but one thing that happened to me which sort of still sticks in my craw is that I was at a local show one time and a dealer had some coins in his case that I wanted to look at so I asked him about them. He took a couple of them out of the case and handed them to me. I wanted to look at them with my loupe so I took it out of my pocket and set it on the case as I had 2 slabs in my hand and needed to set one down so I could hold the loupe etc. Anyway he got upset and told me to pick my loupe up as 'The cases are expensive and I was showing disrespect to him' and to give them back the coins as he was not going to sell to me. Wow...I did not know what to think, my loupe is a small one, I did not slam it down or anything, just lowered it on the string it is on and it did not bang on his case. Anyway I apologized ,gave him back his coins and moved on. A couple of tables over I sat for a while looking at some coins and bought a slabbed war nickel. When I was finished and moving on I glanced over at the jerk's table and there was a dealer there with a brief case, coins, a calculator, greysheets and other stuff all spread out over the cases. Not really a problem with stuff on the cases after all! I still see the guy at shows but will never buy anything from him.
Regarding the Mercedes dealers...haven't thought about it in a while but my wife and I were totally dissed by the sales folks at the local dealership. I mean we walked around, looked at cars inside, looked at cars on the lot, etc. and were just ignored. Went around to the Cadillac dealer up the road and were treated very nicely and ended up buying a car there instead. Oh well.
Always something!
K
At a show a few years ago I had spent almost all my cash. I then came across a coin in a dealer’s showcase that would fill a hole in my collection. I couldn’t believe someone had one (it was a somewhat obscure foreign coin I wanted). It was $150. I was short a few dollars. This particular dealer is known for never selling coins for less than marked price. After several minutes of explaining how I really wanted the coin and was only a few dollars short he reluctantly let me buy the coin. His wife was there and saw the entire transaction. I believe he let me have it for $138 (or maybe $148, can’t remember exactly). He emphasized that he never does this and that it was a one time deal. I agreed and was thrilled I could buy the coin. I never saw another like it so I knew I was super fortunate he made that exception for me. I was getting ready to leave the show but then I saw one of my dealer friends and decided to chat it up with him. He told me to take a seat because he had something to show me. It was a box of contemporary counterfeit coins from his collection. He knew I was interested in seeing them (they were NOT for sale) from a prior discussion we had about counterfeits. As I was looking through them, the wife of the dealer from the coin sale I made earlier walked by and said to me and my dealer friend “oh so it looks like you do have money after all?” and walked away. I wanted to explain I was just looking at a friend’s coins which weren’t even for sale, but it was too late as she was gone (the dealer was gone too). I left the show shortly after I told my friend about the person who made the comment. He told me not to worry about it. I was upset the rest of the day thinking this dealer probably thought I lied to him. I never saw him again so I never had the opportunity to explain what happened.
I have had some experiences as well. Not to beat my chest, but for many years I did the cataloguing for a respected catalog and kind of overkill. Well, I like to be very low key and wear a polo shirt and jeans usually and have been blown off on many an occasion when looking at coins in my specialty. I had to laugh [to myself] one time when a very well-known dealer preceded to tell me I had no idea what I was talking about, and somewhat aggressively at that.
Well, I ended up buying the coin as it was actually priced very low ; not that it needed it, but this slabbed out exactly (surprise!) as I said. Oh, well.
I don't buy too many coins on the floor at shows and almost never from B&Ms anymore, so few interactions...
Well, just Love coins, period.
This particular dealer is known for never selling coins for less than marked price....
I never saw him again so I never had the opportunity to explain what happened.
Sorry it happened to you. Most likely he didn't last as a coin dealer.
Mercedes dealers...haven't thought about it in a while but my wife and I were totally dissed by the sales folks at the local dealership. I mean we walked around, looked at cars inside, looked at cars on the lot, etc. and were just ignored.
Mercedes dealers are interesting. Each has their own way of dealing. With a wealthy client base, many try to avoid coming off as pushy and rely on the soft sell approach, meaning let the customer ask for help first.
Not really a negative experience just one that’s stuck with me. Maybe 20 years ago I was looking at some Morgan dollars at a table. I asked to see one. The dealer proclaimed “you will never own a nicer one”. Something to that effect. Shortly before I had sold off a really nice Morgan in an MS 67 NGC holder. Unless you’ve dealt with a person how often do you really know what’s goin on the other side of the table?
It was years ago, like maybe 30 years ago. I was looking at a gold English noble, King Edward III(1327-1377) a type I had never seen an example of at a coin show but even then knew I wouldn't buy because it had been clipped and commented to the dealer that because of the clipping I wouldn't be interested. I got the "well you look like you cannot afford it anyway" comment - a dealer that is still in business in Arizona and I will never do business with.
In fact I didn't buy a noble for a long time, they are rather difficult to find in full flans without wear and no clipping. But the one I did buy about 15 years ago was priced considerably more than the one from before and one I enjoy so much I will keep it a long time hopefully.
Years ago I attended a major regional show which was packed with two to four customers at a table to the point that it was very difficult for me to even peek at a dealers case. I finally came across a table with only one customer. As I swooped in to see what the dealer had, I recoiled like a cat that had jumped on a piece of tin foil. The customer smelled like he hadn’t showered in over a month. 🤢