Why would any SERIOUS collector waste their time on Home Shopping Network
DCAMFranklin
Posts: 2,862 ✭✭
When you have seen even 1 presentation of the Home Shopping Network's inventory of NGC MS-70 & PF-70 DCAM Silver Eagles, modern commemms & State Quarter Sets, I have to ask myself how any serious collector can watch the presentation, consider purchasing their coins or place a thread on this Forum about their show? What an absolute waste of everyone's time! It is clearly evident, to anyone with a brain, that HSN's submission volumn has influenced the grading standards NGC has applied to Home Shopping Network's coins. I was visiting with an officer of one of the very largest submission dealers of modern coins to NGC. He was telling me how he has yet to receive an MS-70 Silver Eagle, of any date, he considered worthy of the MS-70 grade! To be fair, I have had the opportunity to acquire, and then sell, 2 MS-70 Eagles from their most difficult dates and they were extremely strong coins. However, I wonder how we can waste our time on HSN topics?
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Comments
Whether we like them or not they have great impact and are reaching out to many new prospective collectors.
Can you name one dealer that has moved so many low grade coins and proof sets as them?
There are many collectors who may not be as saavy about coins as you are.
Not discussing their dealings would be a diservice to the newer uneducated coin collecting community and right now it is fairly large.
Therefore it is not a waste of time in MHO to discuss these shows and possibly help some newbie to learn something.
Your point is well taken, but there is also a counterpoint.
If you are becoming interested in coin collecting through the efforts of HSN or QVC or some of the other mass marketers, one would hope that it would be done in such a way that the new collector would not get a black eye when he/she went to find out what their coins were worth. We've all felt the dissapointment of thinking that our coins are worth something when they're not. Imagine the dissapointment and frustration these folks will feel when they find that the tidy little sum that they put away for a rainy day perhaps is not there. That doesn't do the hobby any good at all.
Frank
a lot more than anyone else which can be detrimental to the hobby when the buy-
ers discover how much they paid. Most people (even non-collectors) have some idea
that these prices are not good, so many of their sales are impulse. This should limit
the number of people who get severely burned. They also disseminate a lot of infor-
mation about coins. While what they say is rarely accurate, they show what is avail-
able on the marketplace. They bring this right into peoples homes, millions of people!
They are affecting the market of the coins they sell in large quantity and they are af-
fecting the grading companies also. It is now possible to see coins being sold in many
more places than just a few years ago. Some of these other places have even higher
markups then the TV "dealers". Check out the coins at the flea market. While we can
hardly support these very high mark-ups, keep in mind that most businesses have
similar mark-ups on most things they sell. I find them quite entertaining but make sure
my friends know that the prices are too high.
I was only showing that these networks have great marketing power in selling some low investment coins and could rival most dealers on what they can move.
That is why I think discussing them is important to newbies.
In no way was I defending them and totally agree with your post.
I was cruising the channels one late-night when I came upon a man screaming the virtues of the MS69 Eagles they were selling. I looked at their price, and assumed that they were way overpriced, but the coins got my attention. So, I went to the U.S. Mint site to check the raw prices. Then, I hit ebay, where I saw them selling for about 1/2 of what HSN had them. I ended up bidding on 2 of them on ebay that night.
While I was waiting for them to arrive, I started doing some research on coins. I found these forums (and NGCs) and a whole bunch of other reference sites. Well, one thing led to another... and, while I never bought any more Eagles, I am now a full-blown Kennedy addict. My registry set is only about 1/4 done, and already I'm straying into other areas.
I'm hooked, and I have HSN to thank. I also thank God that I had enough sense not to buy anything from them!
Clark
People are always writing about collectors who might start collecting because of HSN or their ilk, but you the first collector that I know of for whom this statement is true. Congratulations! And, congratulations also for being so wise to avoid purchasing from them! It's neat to know of someone for whom the hypothetical "might start thanks to HSN" comment is valid.
I sometimes wonder about HSN's strategy. They sell a bunch of different items. I am familar with coins and I know that their coins are vastly overpriced. I ascribe the same view to everything else they sell, including stuff about which I know nothing. As a result, I won't buy a thing from HSN because of my belief that all their merchandise is overpriced. I wonder if all the stuff is, indeed, overpriced, but I sure won't be the one to find out.
Mark
If they can still charge these exorbanate prices and still "stay on the air" then that is what the market demans. If most of their clientele figure out it's cheaper to go to a local dealer HSN won't be dealing coins for very much longer.
jom