At what point do you "write-off" a local dealer?

291fifth

I attended three LOCAL shows during the past week and a half. My main goal was to raise some money quickly to help pay for a new computer I just purchased. I raised very little and in the process have pretty much decided to "write-off" the local show dealers for the forseeable future. I really wasn't expecting much from these folks but got even less than expected. To say that they are slaves of the "sheet" is an understatement. Has anyone else made the decision to "write-off" their local dealers recently? What prompted you to do it?

kranky

Was your material a good match with what your local dealers typically sell? Was it material that you bought from them? Do they know you? All those factors would probably make a difference in how things worked out.

My guess is that if you have very nice material which isn't priced by the "sheet", the local dealers aren't going to be your best market. They may be concerned that if they buy something way over sheet, they have no outlet to sell it for a profit.

keets

my experience with something similar to this hasn't been in a failed expectation of getting over sheet, rather a failure of just getting bid. the offers bordered on insults-----i left with a smile on my face from more than a few tables. when i finally sold on eBay, the auctions were moderately bid on and heavily viewed. prices realized were better than hoped for and dependent on accurate pictures and descriptions. these were all mixed denominations from 1955-1970 in PR & MS, easily marketed and quickly sold.

eBay has better exposure than any local dealer could ever hope for. with moderns, it's the only way to go. time spent at a show is wasted, IMHO. list at a $1 start with an accurate picture and description and you'll do OK. your past auctions ended well, right?? why change horses now??

al h.

Shamika

"the offers bordered on insults"

I see I'm not the only one who has thought this.

291fifth

<< <i>"the offers bordered on insults"

I see I'm not the only one who has thought this. >>



Not by a long shot.

LovethoseIndians

I am taking a long hard look at solely selling on e-bay as paying their increased fees still gets me better profit than taking coins to dealers or dealers shows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nwcs

I generally don't. But if they lie to me or I catch them misrepresenting something, I won't buy anything good. Only go through the junk piles and search for the things they don't realize have value. So far only one dealer has that distinction where I am.

goose3

all those !!!!!!!! are screwing up the thread!


I will probably never try to sell my local guy another thing after offering him my spare '56 flyer one time and having him start quoting Greysheet pricing. I literally laughed in his face.

nwcs

A friend of mine went to get his coins evaluated by a local dealer -- one who I do some business with. He had a GSA 1882CC Morgan (in box with COA) which grades 62/63 and a $100 Candian gold (1/2 oz). The dealer offered $150 for both. Thankfully my friend listened to me earlier and didn't sell. That was a ridiculous offer. And that dealer was less than honest before when I sold him a cleaned AU $10 coin. I told him what the problems were, very honest. Within a month the coin was being displayed as AU with no problems and more than double the price he said told me he would be selling it at.

MacCoin

that the way sheet slaves make there living- buy cheap sell at a profit. I won't sell any of my coin to the local guy but I will buy from them.

calgolddiver

EBAY - better exposure than locals

coinlieutenant

You have people that you sell to.. and then you have people that you buy from...

They seem to be good "buy from" types!!

Robgetty

I rarely have any luck selling my stuff that I upgrade to local dealers. Either
they try to tell me that the grade is lower than it is, or slash the price because
"they don't sell a lot of this stuff". Being offered $40 for an XF 1872-S dime
made me never walk back through one dealer's door. (Sold it for around $200
on Ebay) The only time I end up selling to a dealer is 90% silver, etc.

clackamas

Offers I have rcvd from local dealers are insulting. I had an offer for less than melt on an MS64 St. Oh yeh the dealer looked at the sheet, wrote some stuff down and then gave the offer. He put on an act. Ebay and Heritage is the only way to go.

LovethoseIndians

I am about sick and tired of dealers trying to "make their first million" off every single transaction! YES they are in business to make money and I don't begrudge that, but buying for 1/10 of their sell price will ruin the hobby...RUIN IT> Dealers out there beware! Do business in an ethical manner or risk losing your customer base. For all the negative e-bay bashing I see out there they still are the number one game when it comes to quantity of merchandise and most sellers are pretty ethical out there. The ones that are not are the same ones with store fronts that are also unethical in that realm too

jeffnpcb

When he passes away!

ohbaby

What makes you write off only the local dealers?

If you were to eliminate dealers who don't know a Bust Half from a Barber Half because they only deal in state quarters, Franklin Mint sets and Isle of Man Silver Jubilee signed limited edition proofs sets then you have eliminated a huge group.

Stick with selling to dealers who sell what you what to sell.

Then you have some dealers who can't sell anything as it sits for months in inventory, they won't give you a good price no matter what you are selling. If you are selling coins costing under $1k ebay is the way to go.

darktone

I have had similiar experiences trying to sell at small shows and local dealers. These people really don't know how to call a coin most of the time- raw or certified. I bet I could take a raw MS65 $5 liberty and only get offered AU money $150 for it and get no takers at $200. I get a kick out of going to these shows and acting like a novice. mike

Merc

Hey Mike, that sounds like fun for a bit. Take a nice coin and offer it to dealers at a small show and see what you can get. I've never tried selling to a dealer at a small show. Is it really that bad?

SarasotaFrank

I bought an xf 85 V Nickel from a local dealer.

I sold the complete V Nick collection about a year later, on that particular coin, the same dealer would pay 20 % under VF bid max. He insisted VF was a stretch for the coin, and he was doing me a favor by not going F-12. When I reminded him he was confident it was XF (it was) when I bought it, he wouldn't address the issue, just repeated his ridiculous offer.

Never bought anything of any consequence there again.

ARCO

Dealers are brokers, they have overhead and expenses. They HAVE to pay less than they can sell them for, that is the nature of their existance. They provide convenience and liquidity to a collectable market.

As long as a dealer has a coin I want at a price commensurate with the market I will buy from them. As long as venues like Ebay exist I will utilize all the tools necessary to sell my coins and create that equilibrium that helps me reap the most money for my coins.

Don't write off the dealer, just utilize the tools in front of you to become your own middleman.

Tyler

Bustman

Arco,
Very well said.

abuell

Hey ya'all answer me this. You walk into a local coin shop or into a coin show. You see a coin in a dealer's case that you are interested in. You ask, "How much?" The dealer says, "Make an offer." You offer:

a) Way over current market value.
b) A little over current market value.
c) Current market value.
d) A little under current market value.
e) Way under current market value.
f) Dirt.

Let's see, there are those who answered f) and then there are the liars.

Dog97

I'm not a dealer, strictly a collector.
In the last 10 years I've sold about 1,000 coins. The only ones I sold to a dealer were about 50 common date circulated Morgs; $10-$20 coins; junk, (sic) and the only real coin that a dealer got his $$ grubbing hands on was a cheap ANACS DMPL that he paid me my cost for because he knew a collector he could flip it to for $50 about 5 years ago when I was needing some quick pocket $$.
The rest have been eBay, TeleTrade or private sales.

abuell

<< <i>I'm not a dealer, strictly a collector.
In the last 10 years I've sold about 1,000 coins. >>



In 20 years of collecting I haven't even owned close to 1000 coins!

Dog97

I've bought a lot in the last 30 years.

Lakesammman

This may seem petty but what the heck.

I bought a nice coin on lay-away about 8 years ago (1795 dollar, NGC 45). The guy was nice enough to do so. Problem was, I was really busy and it was a real hassle to get to his shop during lunch (his shop is near work but it would take all of an hour to spend 10 minutes there). I went to the shop to make a second payment and asked if I could make a third payment then, with a check dated one month out, then have the coin shipped. I was willing to pay the shipping. He said no, he would prefer I come to the shop in person so he had a better chance of selling me more coins.

It made me so mad that I swore I would never buy a coin from him again.

mercurynut

Yes because I can get much better prices by sending a few email to national dealers.

tcmitssr

My local dealer lost me when I was looking for a type one $1. gold piece, as I visited him for the second time. He brought out an AGC slab. Right after handing it to me, I gave it back to him and told him I did not want any of Hagar's crap. He then made a nervous laugh and smile and brought out an NGC. When I told him that I had a complete typeset of classic commems in PCGS and NGC, I thought he was going to lose his lunch as he realized who he was dealing with and what he had probably lost.

I did not care how great the NGC was, on principle alone he lost the sale and my business forever. Now, whenever I go to a show and walk by his table, they always look and wonder why I don't stop by.

I soon discovered Julian was also within driving distance of me and life was good after that.

Apart from the few really good national dealers like Mark, Mike and Warren/Jon (counting Julian also as a national dealer), I've, unfortunately, not encountered very many good small dealers, be they local or far away but accessible via coin mags or the Internet.

paul43438

I have to admit that this topic gives me the willies. Sell my coins. I don't want to think about it yet, maybe someday I'll have to but then maybe I'll leave it to my heirs.

66Tbird

Had a darkside piece, (1694 shillinger-MS64, pcgs- finest graded SIBT) and the darkside dealer offered $24. I wrote him off.

Two tables down I offered a BB'ed $20 lib and a $5 lib gold. Dealer said "since they are damaged, they are worth melt. I can go 325 for the both" Gold closed $382 that day. I wrote him off.

Little later after parting with the gold for $460 I went looking for a common $10 Indian in 64. Ask a dealer if he had anything like that and he showed me an ACG dog and said he could let it go at a loss for $875.. I wrote him off

It hurts, I'm going to stop now I guess I'm a one mistake kind of collector when it comes to who I deal with at shows.