Local mom and pop.....or internet dealers?

Bustman

Do most of you still go to the local mom and pop coin stores for your coins, or have the major internet dealers and eBay taken most of your business?
I have to admit that I deal mostly with the major internet dealers, but enjoy my visits to the local shops every now and then.

airplanenut

I like them both because they are so different...

At a mom and pop store: you can talk for hours and not piss them off (so long as they get $$$ in the end). You can also hold your coins and see them first hand.

Online: There is no personal contact and you don't see the coin until after you paid, albeit you may get a better price from a larger retailer with a MUCH bigger stock of coins.

I'll take them both- don't make me choose!

Jeremy

FC57Coins

I'm like you Bustman - I've resorted to dealing with dealers on the net - or that I've met through the net, though I make a weekly "pilgrimage" to the local coinshop. I also like shows - some of the small ones in this area are good places to chew the fat with some of the local dealers when it's not too busy.

Frank

shirohniichan

I used to like dealing with Internet dealers for the great selection available, but I'm back to mom and pop stores. I like being able to see what I'm buying first.

littlewicher

Ever since I started collecting about 99% of graded coins, I've almost completely gone to internet dealers. They have great selections and great prices. Mom and pop stores are good for learning stuff and you have the advantage of looking over coins before you buy them.

MrLee

I'm with shiroh. I was buying a lot on eBay but you can't really build a rapport with someone online. And I prefer to see my coins first now.

clw54

I just bought a PCGS certified 1909-S VDB from my local coin shop today. It took a while for them to get one in, but I'd rather buy one there than off eBay.

ursabear

I don't have a choice any more. There aren't any mom 'n' pops where I go in my daily life. I have to do what I do through the internet.

On balance, I've established lots of relationships with folks on both the buy and sell side in cyberspace, and have enjoyed the outcomes for the most part.

lordmarcovan

I buy 98% of my stuff online, but that's because I live in an area with only one brick-and-mortar dealer (and his shop is really a TV/VCR repair shop- the coins are a sideline for him). He has some nice stuff but usually I want something specific, and I need a wide selection that few brick-and-mortar dealers could offer. So to the Internet I go.

Now, if this were a town with two or three big dealers, the story would be different. Then it would probably be 60% Internet, 40% local.

Luvdawgs

That's GREAT, clw!! I'm been trying to acquire a 1909S VDB for a few years now. Congrats

Geoman

Both, but for different things. Living in a smaller town (pop. ~85,000) there is only 1 local coin dealer. I use him to but a few circulated coins for popping into Whitman folders. He is an older gentleman, that I can talk to for 15-20 minutes at a time without him getting upset that I am wasting his time. His prices are pretty good on the circulated stuff. However, he does not have a lot of MS grade or any certified coins. I asked what he had for PCGS slabs, nothing, but he did pull out 3 NGC slabs of semi-key date Lincolns. So I used the internet primary for slabbed coins. And his shop for lower grade circulated stuff for Whitman folders.

-Geoman

halfnut

When I got back into collecting I went to a local shop that had nice raw coins and was such a good client that he started giving me a discount. He has a few slabbed coins now and then but he has mainly raw coins. around the first of the year I had a vision ( o-kay maybe I was just tired ) that I would just collect 1 area and that was Kennedy Half dollars in MS66 so I turned to E-bay to find what I wanted because no shop around here has what I want. I stilll stop in at the local shop to see what he has but all of my buying has been online with E-bay or a few forum members here. Stopped by the shop yesterday and he had a nice 1923 peace dollar in PCGS MS64 still thinking about getting it for my type set. In the last three years here out of 4 shop's two have gone under or moved to online selling. There is one other here That is WELL known with everyone here but they do not have a shop forsay ( David Lawrence ).


Dan

U S NAVY WITH PRIDE

BigD5

I buy most everything at my local shows. An Ebay piece here and there, and online dealers and auctions on occasion. I'm bingy with Heritages auctions. Kind of a feast or famine thing with them. I like the Kingswood sales too.

Endocrinologist

I like to visit coin shops when I travel on business. There are some really good shops across this country. I found a nice shop in San Fran where the raw coins were properly graded (sent to PCGS and confirmed) and at great prices. My closest local shop sells a bunch of cleaned coins- most of his submissions end up in body bags. (I've leaned how to detect cleaned coins after buying from him) I'm not sure if the guy does it on purpose. He is a nice guy, though. The best coin show that comes to New England only happens twice a year.

Endo

Tade

The closest shop from me is the Annapolis Treasure Company, still 1 1/2 hour drive. They have only a small section of their store devoted to coins, although their inventory / catalog is hugh with good prices. Seeing a company that large with such a small area must mean that they could not support themselves with coins alone. Probably typical with most stores.

I buy on Ebay, but really love Teletrade, although I usually only bid on coins with two digit bids. Still, they do a great job of sending off the coins and the resources are large.

Bustman

As I read this thread this morning, my first thought is that the local mom & pop shops are doomed. BUT, this may not be the best place to ask this question as I one could assume that most every member of this forum collects graded coins.
My experience with the local shops is pretty much the same as everyone elses, a great place to go and talk coins, maybe pick up a few decent circulated coins, but the for the most part, the shops can not afford to keep the high grade or rare coins in stock.
I have asked both of my local shops why they don't get involved in internet sales, they all seem to just shrug it off. It does take time and money to get one up and running, but I think it would enable them to carry and move better material, while keeping there doors open for the locals and kids to come in, browse, buy and learn.

Gilbert

I PREFER purchasing from collectors, however, they are USUALLY less willing to part with the better coins. The Mom & Pop dealers that I've dealt with don't have my type of coin, more often than not. I also suspect we have different ideas of what a Mom & Pop dealer is. When you say Mom & Pop, I'm thinking of flea market types. My local day to day dealers with shops just don't seem to vary the inventory adequately. If they happen to specialize in what you collect, then they're great.

Now if we only had a shop like one I visited in San Antonio Texas, the name of the store escapes me, but it is run by the Medina family and I think it was on Franklintown Road (I remember the senior Medina showing me his discovery coin, a 1914/3 Buff Nick), they have a HUGE inventory that seems to run the full gamut of US Coins, I could live in that store.

Presently, I don't do as much internet as I used to, but I have a couple of favorite established dealers. I guess I find it easier to deal with fixed price lists, established dealers, and collectors.

kranky

While there are a few shops in Pittsburgh, they are only open during my working hours - so I never get a chance to go.

I'm sure it's no easy task to keep a small shop open, but I wonder if the small shops are in business for selling, or for buying? I know that might sound like an odd question, but it seems like dealers have lots of selling options, but for buying aren't they very dependent on the locals who walk in? They can sell to wholesalers, at shows, to other dealers, through CW/NN, on ebay, etc.

09sVDB

I generally stick to one or two internet dealers. Ocassionally a local show.

JJacks

Lately, I have been buying alot online. One reason is referred to in another thread. The stupid CA sales tax on coin purchases under $1000!!!!!! This has cost local dealers big, and should be done away with, but I realize the current leaders in CA are far too stupid to ever consider that!

JJacks

OnlyBuffalos

As JJacks stated, the punitive sales tax on purchases under $1000, makes the local mom and pop shop irrelavent. The local stores are convenient and viewing the coins in-person are definite advantages but certainly not worth $52.50 on a $600 purchase.

The internet offers greater selection, no 50 mile trip to a store that may or may not be open with no way to verify they are open since they frequently do not answer their telephone, and higher prices.

I certainly would consider buying coins priced over $1000 locally but they very seldom have any that I am interested in.

With internet sales I usually have at least a week to finalize my decision before I have to send the coin back if I am not satisfied.

I do try to purchase coin supplies locally when I am in the area in which the store is located.

Bustman

With internet sales I usually have at least a week to finalize my decision before I have to send the coin back if I am not satisfied.

Thats a good point! I do like to take my time with a coin. The one or two times I suggested that my local dealer let me take a coin home for a few days, you would have thought I was asking him to let me bring home an 1804 dollar.
Meanwhile, I just had an internet dealer who I had never dealt with before, and corresponded thru email only, send me a MS61 1799 $10 for approval after placing just one call (or email) to a reference of mine.
( No, did not keep the coin........was AU)