I can't get past their crappy pictures, to be honest. They've had coins I might have been interested in with a good picture, but they're always crap. I've seen them try to sell $5,000 coins with absolutely horrible pictures. WTF??
...........he may be all things brought up in this thread ; but he's a mover and a shaker in the national show circuit. I got a special place in my heart for him...........he once sold me a coin that people were climbing over each other to buy . I paid him a cool Thousand dollars for a 51-D MS65 PCGS Franklin !
They sold me a coin on e-bay, then never delivered it. I got my money back, but gave him a negative, which resulted in one of my two negatives on e-bay feedback.
Had he done anything to remedy the non-delivery (it was a great deal, so I also suspected he didn't want to sell the coin at that price), I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, but was pretty much a jerk IMO. Steer clear.
I spent an hour looking through numerous boxes of hundreds of PCGS and NGC slabbed coins at a show. Didn't find one variety to cherrypick, which seemed odd to me. Also, coins that appeared undergraded had a white label with the delaers opinion of the grade and were priced based on that opinion. Very nice people though, but I had the feeling these coins had been looked at and passed by others many times.
Well, this rejuvinated thread does not give me a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about their past dealings with board members. And it appears they ignored the feedback on outrageous shipping charges.
I does appear they had high reserves before and got rid of those. See this thread for commentary.
Bought my '52 Frankie PCGS PR64DCAM from them @ FUN show last year. No problems with that deal, but the EBAY bidding situation smells bad. Don't believe I will be bidding in any of their EBAY auctions. Their table at the FUN show last year was a hot bed of activity practically the whole time. It was hard to get a seat there. I agree with an earlier post that their show staff was not particularly curteous or helpful. One young lady was kind enough to walk with me over to the Heritage table to get a reference so I could write a check for the coin. I sincerely hope its some rogue staff person that can be fired but I have to say, when this occurs my reaction is generally to avoid their auctions entirely because you never really know who was in on it and whether it has been fixed or just made more difficult to detect.
I took a shot recently on a PCGS MS64 type coin in the $2000 range. The coin was a fair value but certainly on the lower end of quality. I wouldn't do it again however unless I knew the quality was somewhat better.
There are also some major retailers who clog up the ebay airwaves with a hundred or more listings in one whack. As a rule, I skip those entirely. It's almost gotten to the point that I set up my ebay search to only look at lots from PCGS and NGC AND that have at least one bid in place. That eliminates most of the chaff.
You know there are some older dealers who really haven't keep up with coin grading or even know how it's now done. The wholesalers quickly find out and that these dealers look for cheaper plastic and stick them with with lower tier material. I say this based on others observations re: the coin "qualiy" offered. The other problem is Ebay is primarily an auction site, not a coin store. If the bids started at zero, then all his coins would sell. Next time he'd know the max. he could pay, based on these sales.
I know John S. as well. When I was doing the Ebay Thing, before they went public, I would always view what Fairtraderz had to offer. Years ago, John could produce some really nice, collectable, Franklins. I would say that collectors who specialize in franklins arent going to buy too much from them. A lot of mediocre, common franklins that go begging even at CCDN prices. I used to see a nice one occasionally, which meant you were going to be bidding against Gembens (Good Luck) He is a very passionate, advanced, collector who is deadly on the auction floor. I just didnt have the stomach to outbid him.
Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
This just seems to be Econ 101 to me. I have also kept an eye on their pricing. If your prices are too high, your volume will go down. Duh! They need to look at their margins and see where the break points are to get their volume back up. My buying experiences have been good with them, just like the others that prices (S&H included) are too high so I have been passing.
Retired United States Mint guy, now working on an Everyman Type Set.
I wouldn't purchase anything from them off ebay or for that matter anything sight unseen. I realize some of the dealers who know them have stood up for them, but the lousy pictures and the fact that they charge retail for coins that are not PQ for the grade scares me away. At least the photos make their coins look low end for the grade.
Several years ago I purchased a couple of coins that all turned out to be low end for the grade, especially after considering each coin's description. I've not crossed them off of my list, but it wasn't a good start.
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Looking for PCGS AU58 Washington's, 32-63.
<< <i>Well this is an eye-opener. Good ttt. >>
?? whats that eye-opener
The time of year isn't why this post was revived. This is.
<< <i>I think it's the time of the year. Sales are always weak this time of year.
The time of year isn't why this post was revived. This is. >>
Yes,it appears as if he's figured out how to stay in business.
Had he done anything to remedy the non-delivery (it was a great deal, so I also suspected he didn't want to sell the coin at that price), I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, but was pretty much a jerk IMO. Steer clear.
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I does appear they had high reserves before and got rid of those. See this thread for commentary.
Greg Hansen, Melbourne, FL Click here for any current EBAY auctions Multiple "Circle of Trust" transactions over 14 years on forum
The coin was a fair value but certainly on the lower end of quality.
I wouldn't do it again however unless I knew the quality was somewhat better.
There are also some major retailers who clog up the ebay airwaves with a hundred or more listings in one whack. As a rule, I skip those entirely. It's almost gotten to the point that I set up my ebay search to only look at lots from PCGS and NGC AND that have at least one bid in place. That eliminates most of the chaff.
roadrunner
<< <i>He prices his coins too high. >>
Exactly. The coin market is not as strong as the hypesters would have you believe.