Buying and Selling at Long Beach-what's the best approach?

barney

Hello.

I am still slowly learning the ways here and have bought/sold coins "on the fly" at big shows, on eBay and with board members.

I have two questions:

What is the best approach in dealing with the floor environment? (haggling selling price, trying to get the best $ for my own coins).

[a very general question] Is the current climate better suited for buying or selling classic material-specifically common "cc" and type gold in
AU-55, rainbow Morgan/Peace and colorful toned type silver.

I will show the coins before putting them up for auction w/Goldberg in May. (provided that my settlement doesn't come through)

I will be at the show on the 28th and perhaps the 1st if there is interest.

Take care,
Barn

gsaguy

Buy low, sell high.

GSAGUY

Petescorner

Barney,

If Heritage is at the show (I would assume thery're at a show this size) then I would highly recommend stopping by their booth and having them give you a price for what you're selling. At the last 2 FUN shows I have sold coins to them, and it was far easier than going around and trying to haggle with the other dealers. In both cases, I had them make out their check to other dealers for coins I then purchased. It was a piece of cake!

jom

<< <i>Buy low, sell high. >>



Oh...you're a biiiig help, aren't you? lol

Buying: I dunno...my personal approach is to only ask the price unless I'm interested then come back later. Most of the time I don't lose out (someone buying it before me but it has happened). I always like to look at a coin at least TWO different times or else I'll miss something (never fails). So if I can get away with it, I almost never buy the coin first time around. I note the table number and coin in my note book and them move on. etc etc.

Selling: Tough one here. Don't screw around too much. Just ask what you want and if they pass move on. You'll get a good idea of what the coin will go for eventually. IMO, selling very difficult and tiresome. It's a bit of a mental strain for me because I hate losing money. You might be better off selling on Ebay or an auction. You usually won't get the most money selling to dealers.

jom

DaveG

As far as selling your coins goes, obviously, you'll do best offering them to a dealer who specializes in what you're selling - don't offer gold coins to a dealer who has cases full of colonial coppers, for example.

You should have a solid idea of what you want for the coins. Whenever I've sold a coin, the dealer's first question is always: "What do you want for them?" If you're selling to a dealer you don't know, you should know what Grey Sheet Bid is and try to have an idea whether your coins go for much more or much less than Bid. If your coins are "mid-grade", that is, a grade the Grey Sheet doesn't price (say XF-45), then you'd want to know what the Trends price is.

Just as a general guess, I would say that if you could sell a coin for 90% of Bid or 60%-65% of Trends (for a mid-grade coin), that you'd be doing fairly well.

Therefore, as an opening price, when the dealer asks what you want, I would name the Bid price or 75% of Trends (for a mid-grade coin), which should leave some room for negotiation, but not be so high that the dealer just shakes his head "no".

If you're looking to buy, I always ask the dealer "What's the best you can do on this coin?" If I like the coin, but the price is still a bit too high, I might look doubtfull, to see if he'll go a bit cheaper. (I mostly see the same dealers month after month, so I know their pricing points by this time; I don't push hard, because I know I'll be seeing them again in a couple of weeks and I want to be regarded as a good customer.) It usually helps if you're paying cash rather than checks or trade.

As far as the state of the market goes, most dealers I know say they have trouble replacing "nice material", so if that's what you have, it should be fairly easy to sell.

homerunhall

Remember the coin show 30-30-30 guarantee....


30 seconds, 30 steps, or 30%...

Android

Homerunhall,

Can you elaborate on this formula? i'm not sure i understand...

Andy

barney

Thanks for all the advice.

I will also download the latest greysheets, although I'm not always sure how to use them. For example, I have a 1860-S $3 NGC 45.
The greysheet for XF (40) is around $1200, but examples of XF40/45 have fetched $2500-$4000 during the past 3 years (source:
Heritage and Goldberg Auction Archives). For monster toned coins? Forget it! It's like selling a rare painting-very subjective prices.
If someone pays it, it is theirs.

Take care and hope to see some of you at Long Beach (and hopefully will be in a buying rather than a selling mood!).

Regards,
Barn

sinin1

does the 30 - 30 - 30 show guarantee equate to "done deal" with a half of minute to change your mind before being only able to sell back at 70%?