Official Coin Dealer Ethics Test

CalGold

This is a multiple choice exam.

Facts:

John and Joe own a coin dealership as 50-50 partners. One day just before closing, while John is minding the store, one of their long time customers, Bob, walks into the store, buys a coin, and pays with a nice crisp new $100 bill. After closing, John tallies up the day's sales and discovers that the crisp new $100 bill he received from Bob was really two $100 bills stuck together.

Question:

Which of the following is the ethically correct course of conduct for John:

A. John may stick the extra $100 bill in his pocket and keep it for himself.

B. John must share the extra $100 with his partner Joe.


CG

mbbiker

depends did the bank notice they were stuck together

I'm not a dealer but the answer has to be C call Bob and tell him he has $100 credit.

UncleJoe

Ditto.

Joe.

nwcs

If they do not know who Bob is, and there is no way to identify him, the proper thing to do is hold the money for a while to see if Bob re-enters and has some way of identifying the sale so that the money can be returned. If Bob is identifiable by the seller, they should notify them and return it. If after a sufficient time has passed (14-30 days, I would think) then it should be put in as unearned profit to the company.

Neil

Clankeye

Guys... I think CG is sharing something amusing with us. Not really begging the question.

prooflike

ummmm........... ........ <A> ........ did I get it right??

Although the right thing to do would be to try and return it, but that wasn;t a choice...

nwcs

Clank, that may be, but these days I'm finding that it's a lesson that needs to be taught more often.

danglen

Bob is a "long time customer". So barring unforseen circumstances, he should be back. Regardless of how long it is before he shows up again, a credit on the books should be there, no questions asked. Anything less does the hobby a dis-service

JMOORE

I agree with Danglen,

Bob is a long time customer so the next time he stops in tell him what happened and return his $100

Jim

indianabyron

Ok cool what if . (this is true) Well I was at one of the dealers i buy from . this older lady came in she had a roll of 1923 Peace dollars she was selling. The dealer went and bought them without looking at them. Wel she got good money for them. After she left I was still looking through folders of mercurys cherry picking toned ones. The dealer dicided to open the roll and check out what he got himself into. Well I had to check them out too. It must of happened at exactly the same time the dealer and me saw what looked like a 1928 he flipped out he went into his draw and got out a phone book and called the lady back to the store he told her what was in the roll and also told her he owed her more money.

Ok how many dealers would do that. How many would just say I already paid for the roll its her fault for not knowing what she was selling. At that point I felt great about this dealer.


Byron

UncleJoe

indianabyron, Great story (and dealer) as opposed to this one:

How about this little tidbit posted in a thread on this board by a prominent coin dealer:

...a coin dealer in the early 1970s ran ads in the LA Times offering to buy silver. An elderly couple brought in an original roll of cherry BU 1930 Standing Liberty quarters. The dealer paid them melt for the coins. Did he do anything wrong???

Is there a question here?

Joe.

ClausUrch

Bob is a long time customer and as such, the dealers should be able to contact him and return his money.

keets

..........bob is a long time customer and thinks his dealers have been giving him the shaft so he's checking them out. he waits a week and goes back into the shop. should he:

A. act as if nothing happened, and if he gets his $100 be elated.
B. act as if nothing happened, and if he gets his money back tell the guys he was testing them.
C. tell them he was short $100 and ask if he may have overpaid with an extra crisp bill.
D. act as if nothing happened, and if the dealers do the same, go get his 12 gauge and open up.
E. act as if nothing happened, and if the dealers do the same, go get his witness and embarrass them in front of the other customers.
F. forget about the whole thing cause it's only $100.
G. quit collecting because all dealers are crooks.
H. come back, ask them about the $100, and tell them that the coin he bought crossed to PCGS and he sold it on eBay at a hefty profit.
I. ask them about the $100, right after he asks if they're ANA members.
J. ask what their PCGS forum username is and blast them in a thread.
K. tell them he was testing their honesty and ask if they still have the two counterfiet $100 bills.
L. chalk it up to being stupid and go get smashed at the local bar.
M.

al h.

SarasotaFrank

keets:

thanks! funniest thing i've seen in a week

dorkkarl

neither, because it's a rare BEP error - stuck-together notes, also known as "stuck-up" notes. submit it to CCG, put in in a heritage auction, then split the profits 33/33/33 w/ the customer.

K S

keets

hey frank

i knew this was a fairy tale right off the bat. what longtime customer can go into his local shop and buy just one coin!!??!!??!! i'm on the way to the bank in a short while so i can pick up my "hold bag" from my hangout. buy just one coin?? never been there!! but hey, rest assured i'll be paying with carefully counted wrinkled $20's. oh yeah, i know bob. he always pays by check!!

al h.

relayer

John must share the $100 with Joe

Anything else would be dishonest.

baccaruda

or

C. try to get the customer to pay for another item with another $100 bill.

MosesBlack

IT"S A JOKE!!!! IT"S A JOKE!!!

TheNumish

On Keet's multiple choice I like L

I do something stupid everyday so I'm off to the bar. Have a good weekend everyone.

DesertLizard

Keets,

You forgot choice "N"

n. go back to the coin shop and mow everyone down with an assault rifle because Bob is an American & can carry a weapon to mete out revenge. Bob is caught, tried and found NOT guilty by reason of insanity [any idiot paying $100 for a darn state quarter is insane!]. He is realeased on bail 2 years later and starts his own coin shop called, Lock and Load Coins! They all live happily ever after! Who cares about the xtra $100!

baccaruda

speaking of that, have you ever seen a dealer carry a gun behind the counter? I was buying some gold coins one time and that guy was strapped. looked like a nickel plated .38

i'll bet IrishMike will know who i'm talking about.

matteproof

The dealer should give the money back to Bob PROMPTLY! Obviously, since Bob is a good customer, the dealer must have a phone number or email address to reach him. If the dealer were truly honest, he would make an immediate and aggressive effort to get that $100 bucks back to Bob.

matteproof

BIGDAVE

Bob is a long time customer and john should return the money.

Loki

John should buy another coin for $60 as a DONE DEAL using Bob's "extra" money. Then John calls Bob and sells the new coin to Bob as a DONE DEAL for $100. Bob goes away happy and John has $140 PLUS the profit from his original sale to Bob ($40). John gives Joe $50 and keeps $120 for himself.
Who needs Vegas; just be a coin dealer!

NumisEd

Here's a better ethics question:

Legend sells a coin to collector A. The collector pays the $140,000 tab in $1000 bills. Legend later notices that there were 2 $1000 bills stuck together and he actually paid $141,000. Does Legend call the...............oh, nevermind.