The cost of being fussy......

Lakesammman

Was doing my taxes today and realized I had spent $491 in 2002 returning coins that I didn't like It was a shock! What's been your experience??



Edited to add 2002

mdwoods

That's a lot for returns. I usually only return a coin if it has a print or partial print on it. I can't stand prints. Otherwise, each coin is different and I like it that way. But, if I were looking for coins that had certain look to them, then I can imagine spending much more on return postage.

Russ

Tim,

I didn't think it was a dumb topic. I've certainly spent my share on return postage.

Russ, NCNE

Monstavet

I would say that makes you very fussy, if that is just for returns! Almost warrants another round of Issaquah bashing! Heh-heh-heh...

airplanenut

Yes, that is a lot to spend, but I'm sure that means the coins in your set are truly the exact coins you wanted.

Jeremy

Cam40

You need the Capital One No-Hassle card.
WHATS IN YOUR WALLET !!!!!!

Lakesammman

Hey....Issaquah is a nice town....if your into self-absorbed yuppies and gridlock! When we first moved here it was a tiny town with a dairy farm and a cool airport (gliders and parachutes). Now, just strip malls......they sure did rape the land.

wingedliberty

Wow, alot of returns. You should do more sight-seen purchasing at shows.



Brian.

Lakesammman

Well, the stuff I collect is hard to find. I spent 8hrs/day for 3 days at the FUN show hunting and bought 2 coins on the bourse. Other coins come available on web sites and ads between shows and I don't know of any other way to see them. I guess postage is cheaper than air fare!?

Monstavet

The most important thing is that you end up happy with the ones you keep. I have kept some I didn't like just because I didn't want to trouble with returning. These go into the "big box o' unsorted coins!"

So many of my clients are from Issaquah....I think you described it perfectly

michael

this is one great thread and hits home i am sure for many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes yes we need more threads like this one!

and the one about it is still cheaper than airfair!! i guess you have to find great dealers to work with as i have said before this is the secret to finding great coins and also a meeting or the minds on what is great and also less returns !! now there will always be returns but lots less than usual

dont you hATE IT a when you get a coin that was supposed to have the eye appeal of a 12 out of 1o and the coin looks proof 68 when it is only a 63 then you get the coin and it is a ratty piece of sh1t a dog and a pig? then the dealer ismad as you want to return it............lol

but i guess they send so many crappy coins out that people keep and tell the dealers the coin is great!! who can blame the dealer when he sends something to a knowledgable collector?

sincerely michael

mbbiker

I've never returned a coin yet, i've gotten a few coins i didn't like but when the coins your buying are only $15-$20 it dosn't pay to return them. I usually just sell them to someone in my coinclub and put whatever i get back from that coin into somthing else. Usually i get lucky and end up making a few bucks when i sell the dogs i don't like. don't know how it happens i don't price my coins i just show them to people and when they say their interested i ask what they are willing to pay and usually it's more than i paid

UncleJoe

Last year I only returned one coin (rim damage not visible in scan) and contacted two other sellers that agreed to send a partial refund. (One was a 3 coin lot with damage to one coin not visible in scan and the other was another lot that had a coin with what looked like an S mintmark but was not)

I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting when I buy on eBay and since I don't do MS, I think it makes my job easier.

Joe.

barberlover

Cherry picker, and some words i don't care to repeat I will not hesitate to return a coin if i don't like it. If a dealer ever cuts me off because of being fussy, i will still not change. So when a dealer calls me names because of being fussy i wear it like a badge of honor. One name i would not except is "dishonost" I buy more than half my coins through some form of interenet sales [either auctions or dealers] but never without an image. Until or unless image technology reaches the point that the way a coin looks when your actually holding it yourself is exactley the way it looks in an image on the net i will use return privledges [some say abuse them] When i spread my collection out and look at it, i know i was right. I don't care if anyone thinks i'm to fussy.

Dog97

I've only spent about $15 or so returning coins the last 5 years.
#1 Back in the mid 90s, it was my first & last expensive raw penny bought from a coin rag dealer. I didn't have internet then and nobody ever told me the mail order dealers sell you overgraded cleaned coins. Paid quickly with cc, however took forever to get resolved.
#2 An expensive raw error coin bought of an old fashioned price list. It wasn't as dramatic as it sounded. Looked like a normal coin. Dealer had sent on approval no big deal.
#3 A hairlined, clearly cleaned raw better date Morgan from an eBay auction. What a surprise. Seller cheerfully refunded my $$ but I can't help but think he knew the coin was bad and was hoping a newbie would buy it and be happy.
Oh yeah, I forgot about this one:
#4 A collector had his dealer send me a Modern Clad high grade and the day before I got it he emailed me to tell there was one just like it on eBay that I probably could get cheaper. I did and threw a $5 bill in with the slab when I returned it for the dealer's trouble.
I've gotten screwed on plenty of junk by sleazebag dealers but only 2 involved an amount of money where it was worth the hassle to me to return it.

Lakesammman

Had a recent experience on ebay that's a good illustration of why so much was spent on postage.

Saw a 1884 MS66R on ebay. The coin looked proof and I asked the seller, are you sure it's MS?? They of course deferred to the holder as the "expert" so I took a chance on it, hoping it was a proof like MS coin. When it arrived, it was clearly a proof that had been misattributed by PCGS as MS. So, back it went. Registered insured shipping round trip, nearly $30.

The $491 includes expenses for auction previewing on coins I didn't like or bid on. A round trip overnight from Bowers, for instance, is $35.

So we are talking about roughly 15 coins over 12 months, just to give some perspective. There is a risk to buying everything that is sent to you - you become the collector whom dealers will send their junk to when no one else will buy it...... I've seen registry sets that, I suspect, the collector didn't know how to say no.