Coin Resales - Profit Margins

interpols

I don't think I have to worry about reselling my coins for money for a loooooong time, but for y'all who have experience with buying and selling; whats the strat? will i lose money on most sound (like following price guide) purchases? What are we thinking 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

MsMorrisine

get the best price in the current market, then realize that markets can then go up and down

Rc5280

How about you post a clear photo of a coin or two from your collection to give us an idea of what you intend to sell after a looooooong time. Please.

dipset512

This all depends.

• Are you buying mint sets and sending in raw coins in hopes of a high grade.
• Are you buying only slabbed coins in hope to resale.

Depending upon strategy one has a higher upside than the other.

MsMorrisine

so true

BryceM

Are you selling parking lot finds, bullion, million-dollar rarities, or something else?

seatedlib3991

It is an old adage. "You don't make money selling; you make it buying." The meaning, if you don't mind me explaining, is that you must first make sure you are going to be offering things that are of good value and have a fundamental reason to appreciate in the future. No one has a crystal ball, and this should be thought of as a hobby first; if you put in the time to educate yourself the profits may come later. However, by then you may have learned that the joys, knowledge and experiences of life were worth far more than any monetary gains you made. James

291fifth

If you pay full retail you will probably lose money when you sell, As coin usage declines interest in coin collecting will decline and prices will decline so even time will not be on your side.

Creg

You have more than fifty years to fix the mistakes you make now. Enjoy your collection, it’s good to know that the values grow, but that is a secondary to completing a goal.

Morgan White

Coin collecting is a hobby. Treat it as such and expect to lose money.

jmlanzaf

If you consider the opportunity costs, you will likely lose money on all your coins. Buy them because you enjoy them. If you get anything back for them, it makes it better than spending the same money on Starbuck's or a magazine or a round of golf. Especially at your level of purchases, the coins will likely not increase in value at a rate commensurate with other investment vehicles.

For coins bought at bullion prices, the coins will increase with bullion value (or decrease).

If you start obsessing over value, I think you will lose a lot of the fun of the hobby.

TennesseeDave

I believe if you have a good enough eye to buy raw coins at a decent price, that you can get the coins graded and later after many years of enjoyment you can sell them for more than you paid for them. That's what I have done. I got into Trade $'s about 20 years ago, when you could buy XF-AU raw common dates for $200-300. I got them graded and now they are worth $500-1000. I had some losers over the years of course, but the winners have way outweighed the losers. Try to enjoy the hobby and if you can make a little money now and then you will have done better than most. Good Luck!!

Cougar1978

One needs to churn their inventory to get experience with selling. CDN CPG / Bid is a good reference for mkt sell / wholesale bid.

RCI is an investment. If you take a table at a show you will need a markup factor set by you which allows you positive p&l after the costs of the show. Irregardless your competition may have prices tough for you to beat. To counter that - Many diversify (do coins and currency) or focus on an area not all of them in.

Your first show it’s best to share a table with a friend experienced in that arena. A friend I shared tables with was a Peace Dollar specialist. You will learn the big gun players will come up to your table do some business. Many may have wholesale offers for you to look at / purchase. On the sell side - letting something go (wholesale biz) at minimal markup to get cash flow (tough show) is not bad either. After doing a few shows your inventory focus will evolve.

oldabeintx

Not sure what you’re asking, but I always assume a 10-20% transaction cost when I turn a coin around quickly and NEVER assume or expect a gain. It’s a hobby.

dhikewhitney

Plan to recover less money, taking inflation into account, when you sell. It’s a hobby where one “rents” the product for an indeterminate time. I the hobby falls in popularity so will the resale value.

pruebas

Perhaps you’ve heard that some corporations lay off the bottom 10% of staff annually?

Well it’s not a bad idea to sell your bottom 10% of coins annually as well.

Not only does it free up funds for (hopefully better) purchases, but occasionally selling helps you become a better buyer.

Cougar1978

For many it (RCI) is a business or Investment venue. The goal of any biz is to stay afloat. No investor wants to lose money.

When teaching night college financial acctg after work in financial years ago, I used a coin business as an example. Sales-Cos equals GM. GM - Opex = Net Income. Then from there the finc stmts. However to do the financials you need to know how to do the books (sales Journal, etc).

At shows I use cost (or bid) plus but it could be as low as 5pct over cost (hot to move it). I do have a markup structure based on $ amt (research, major player) but this is classified.

I would suggest you research industry sources to get a feel for those markup factors which may vary ($ bid amt class wise). Or use a dealer price list c where he is relative to bid.

I did a very intense research (price lists) dealer muf decade or so ago (their markup factors (muf vs bid) which may vary. The result was 1.30 low, 1.40 avg, 1.50 high). High price coins may have low margins muf. A guy who specialized in world gold told me (5pct over cost once (volunteered data). A who guy did banknotes his marked up cost plus 10 pct. Different players have various markup infrastructure which can vary due to market or show situations.

Bullion its unique - many banked big time in huge run up recently (loaded up on bullion coins, etc. say 1.5-2yr ago).

Bottom line: You need to study what workes in recovering opex cost plus plan profit for you. At the end of the cycle your goal is positive net income.

I like RCI collection / investment but my gut feel is one can lose money big time aka 89 crash. Don’t mortgage the house..

If tough show selling low (example $5 over cost) worth a try (cash flow).

may

I haven't spent more than $100 of my own money on coins in about 3 years (5 years since I started collecting). In those 2 years, I bought and sold all whilst making terrible decisions and losing my money. Since learning and maturing as a collector, I have been stalking dealer boxes for misgraded/variety coins, sending them off to anacs for $15 or just selling them raw. I've cherrypicked far more coins than I'd like to admit, mostly misgraded AU coins labeled at a much lower grade. I actually found a 1917 SLQ with full cartwheel luster labeled "F15" at my last coin show haha.
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My advice is to start a Dansco 7070 type set (don't skimp out on the cheaper books) and find out what you like. As you slowly build it up, you'll learn to do's and don'ts of buying raw and eventually make great purchases and find good deals in a blink of a eye. Maybe it will inspire you to branch out and build a full set of morgan dollars for example.
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To actually get said coins, find a local coin show to go to and just browse. Look, ask questions, maybe someone will be kind enough to help you out a little bit. Buy a redbook there, which is a must for any new collector, just a ton of great info. Anyway, just have fun- coin collecting brings lots of joy to your life and doubles as a very good investment.
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I've seen that you've made quite a few discussions here, to the dismay of some members . Don't worry, we were all there at some point in time. I was about your age when I joined, and was probably pretty obnoxious, oh well. Anyways here's a little list of collecting goals for you to follow at your discretion, I really struggled at first trying to find a path/way to start collecting, and I assume you are too. Here's a couple things I really wish I knew back then
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1. Identify cleaned coins
This will save you a lot of pain later on, and is possibly the most important skill you can have for collecting. There is a lot of nice info online, though if you're having trouble I suggest looking at the coin instead of _in _. A little confusing, but try to focus on how to light reflects off the coin and the overall luster. Any weird bright streaks in a coin when you tilt it in the light is a major red flag
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2. PCGS coinfacts
A must have app for any coin show, shows you common varieties and prices for all US coins. I would look at recent auction sales for the price instead of what PCGS states, they can be too high.
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3. Find a set to collect
Just buying coins aimlessly (at least for me) was good at first but eventually I was bogged down with coins that I couldn't put I a set or sell easily, building a set is really fun.

4. Learn to grade coins
   PCGS Photogradeis the best place for this. A good rules of thumb is to focus on detail from the grades PO01 to AU55, after that it's all about bagmarks and luster.
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5. Ask questions
   Whether it's at a show or here, ask questions about whatever coin or topic you want. At a show I used to point at a cool coin I knew nothing about and asked about it's history (being a little kid probably helped). Or start a "Questions" thread instead of making a new discussion every time and just ask away. It's the best way to learn.
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   I hope you read through this, just a little bit of help. Remember that I was literally in the exact same position as you being young and yelled at on here, so you should probably listen!

TPring

@interpols said:
... whats the strat?

Buy low, sell high or buy high, sell higher.

johnnyb

Quality coins sell for quality dollars, but that doesn’t mean huge returns over time. Buy what you like and what’s exciting. Find a good dealer or two - buy from them and then they will show you some nice stuff before they list it publicly. But have fun along the way.

The best returns I ever got were on junk silver.

silverpop

collect what you like and don't worry about prices as they change day to day

ShaunBC5

In a long long time my plan is for it to not matter if I make or lose money on my collection. My hope, obviously, is to come out alright. I try not to buy at full retail and know I will sell well below retail. I just try to pick coins that give me enough pleasure in ownership that it’s worth it to me in the end.
It’s really hard, as a collector, to consistently have access to the kind of market that allows you to consistently make a good return. Especially if you’re only buying for your collection (as opposed to buying big lots and skimming what you like and reselling…which is fine, but not what I’m talking about)

silverpop

Then explain what you are talking about and give us a better idea of this topic