What makes a good coin dealer?

cameoproofcoins

I am curious as to what criteria members use to rate coin dealers? Is it service, pricing, quality, etc?

EVillageProwler

Well, if this ain't a dangerous question for this forum!

EVP

stujoe

Honesty and service. Price is less important.

LucyBop

Frankies, Proof Frankies, Raw Frankies and it also helps to have a few Franklins on hand.......

for some of the big dealers that post here and rarely sell Frankies, you guys are still very good!

NumisEd

Stujoe and lucybop nailed it. I agree 100%.

jonesy

Honesty, And not trying to beat people!!

Wisconsin

A good coin dealer should be able to keep you broke!!

Seriously, a good dealer should be honest and up front about their coins, and not waste your time trying to sell you junk.

Jay

Bear

I dont know, do we have any good dealers out there?

Seriously, I want top quality for the grade and type of coins I collect.

I want honesty about the condition of the coin from the dealer

I want fair and competative prices, no sandbagging.

I want a degree of warmth and friendliness from the dealer.

I want a fair and reasonable buy back policy

I want a fair return policy with no problems

If I have to stretch price wise for a coin , I would like the dealer

to work with me on the terms.

The dealers I buy most of my coins from do all of the above and more. They are knowledgable,

honest, friendly and carry top of the line coins of interest to me.

Dragar2x

hi all, I'm new to the board.. I hope to be spending alot of time here learning something lol
I would say what makes a good dealer along with the obvious ie: fair, honest... personality goes along way, and if your frequent enough, maybe even a little break "cause your my buddy"

stujoe

One other attribute that I left out that is important to me...knowledgeable. It doesn't help much to be honest and have great service if you are too ignorant to know whether you are selling junk or not.

nwcs

Ultimately, it's how nice they are in interacting with me.

NumisEd

dragar2x, welcome........another lurker set free from the wood work.

Barry

Honesty is #1. Describe the coin accurately. Everything else is way down on the list.

Veep

Knowledge-- Integrity-- Responsibility

Live those PNG values and you're a good dealer.

ER

Hmmmh!!! Dealer and honesty. Do they go together?

joejeweler

A good dealer sells inventory that anyone would be proud to own! That means even the dealer who sold it, and wanting 1st crack at getting it back should the buyer later choose to sell. Hand in hand would be a strong buyback figure barring any negative market movements. (80-85% at least.....possible a little less for low end generic merchandise and maybe a little more for top pop expensive classic rare coins).

A dealer that charges monster toneing premiums on the sell side ......but later when buying refuses to treat the same coin in the same way is not a good dealer..........consistancy is important for dealers also......not just the grading services! Raw coins should grade the same either way also.......except when the buyer has done some obvious damage to the coin, of course.

A good dealer helps you aquire that inventory whenever possible in a way that makes it affordable for you to do so.......be it accepting trades fairly valued, offering short term layaway.......or even longer term layaway when a coin is within reasonable reach! Not a requirement, of course........but a strong reason for me and a whole lot of other collectors to garner repeat business to those dealers that will!

A good dealer will often let his regular customers have first crack at an exceptional coin recently aquired......even though conceivably the coin "might" bring a little more if consigned to a major auction. Good will goes a long way in keeping a good customer coming back!

And finally.........a good dealer will sometimes refuse to sell you a coin you think you really want! Maybe it's not a coin you'll likely be happy with long term......and the dealer knows you well enough that he steers you away. Maybe it's such a BIG stretch for your finances that he knows you'll eventually get frustrated in trying to pay it off in a reasonable time period. Sometimes we all need to hear "no" when our egos get too big for our britches.......and our wallets contained therein!

ursabear

Welcome to the forums, Dragar2x!

I think a good coin dealer is one who provides excellent customer service. I like a picky-eyed dealer who is knowledgeable, and who is up-front.

There are several of those folks here on these boards...

Now if I could just afford to buy some of those coins I see listed on their websites... I would, for example, buy just about anything Mark Feld would sell me that I can afford. There are others here too, so many to list.

Perhaps that would be a great thread... naming the dealer folks on the boards that are good dealers.

Fairlaneman

Just be like a good friend. Thats asking alot. So far I know of one that is completely trusted. Naive....maybe.

Ken

NumisEd

I like joejeweler's statement about consistency.

Shamika

He better be honest.

If the coin has a fingerprint, I want to know.
If the coin has lousey luster (blasted), I want to know.
If the coin is closer to red-brown than red, I want to know.

Price never comes into play. I'll pay top dollar if I want the coin.

Merc

A good dealer does not try to push a bad coin on you. That is a sure way to lose customers.

RYK

And finally.........a good dealer will sometimes refuse to sell you a coin you think you really want! Maybe it's not a coin you'll likely be happy with long term......and the dealer knows you well enough that he steers you away. Maybe it's such a BIG stretch for your finances that he knows you'll eventually get frustrated in trying to pay it off in a reasonable time period. Sometimes we all need to hear "no" when our egos get too big for our britches.......and our wallets contained therein!

This is key! My dealer talked me out of two coins today. He knows what I like, knows my budget, and steers appropriate coins in my direction without "selling" them to be. To me, more than price, more than availability, more than service, certainly more than inventory, this is the sign of the ideal dealer. Perhaps, numismatic knowledge and experience are the only attributes that exceed this one in importance. If a dealer will talk you out of buying a coin you think that you want from him, you know that he is looking out for your best interests, not just his.

Bear

RYK, Well said.

stujoe

Oh, and one more thing to add to my list....a coin dealer must never think of 'yummy' and 'salad' as being two words that should ever go together.

dorkkarl

i don't believe in "good" or "bad" coin dealers, i belive in "good" & "bad" coin buyers. you can get great deals from a so-called "bad" coin dealer, & you can get screwed by a reputable "good" dealer. i don't have a numismatic bias either way - if i like the coin i buy it, don't care about the source. (although there may be personal reason why i will not do biz w/ certain dealers, like BENCHMARK VENTUREs, just because i despise that person)

the focus ought to be shifted to the buyer/collector, not the dealer. if someone is fool enough to let a dealer charge him maximum price for a coin, or fool enough to sell his coins to a dealer for the bottom offer, is the dealer really the bad guy? or the buyer?

a fanatic might make a case that there are NO "good" coin dealers, since they don't just give all their coins away, like any "good" & charitable person would do. i mean, don't you get tired of all these BAD dealers who are always trying to make money off of you???

K S

tcmitssr

I would say a good dealer is one that I feel follows the Golden Rule. (S)he treats me as a buyer as (s)he would want to be treated if the roles were reversed. It is something that I think after 20 years of collecting, I can sense very rapidly from a conversation or an email exchange.

NJCollector

I believe that fair and honest has to be the top trait in a good dealer. Courtesy is nice and I would put that at number two. I find that if you find a dealer that exhibits the first, he/she also possesses the second.