Collectors: What percentage of your purchases are from sellers who are CU board members?

RYK

I must admit that a minority of my purchases are made with sellers who are active board members (those that post at least a couple times a week). However, there are definitely purchases that I have made that i would have never made were it not for contacts made on this board.

So what percentage of your coin purchases are made from active board participants?

(Perhaps when dealers see how high this number is, we can get some who do not post here much to increase their level of participation.)

Melmcbee

All of my first purchases were made on ebay until I found these forums. Now my shopping is done by clicking on the links in the forum regulars' signature lines. Or, if a regular post links to auctions that they have bought from then I feel I can trust the seller that they purchased from. I want to take a moment to say thanks for everything. Most of the members probably don't even realize that alot of their ebay purchases are from their links in this forum. Thanks Cameron for my latest.


I hope that everyone who sells coins adds the link to their sig lines because it kinda feels like you know the person you are buying from.

nederveit

More and more are going the forum way. I appreciate people like Mark Feld, and am in the process of buying my first coin from him.

There are many others, Airplanenut, KyleKnap, etc., that are fair, have return policies, etc. Much better than e-bay!

coinlieutenant

I have sold to alot of board members and I buy alot...

Latest was from TDN...nice bust half.

John

RYK

Okay, I must admit that I am surprised by the response with 2-33% being the leading answer so far and approximately two-thirds in the 0-33% camp. Of course, I also voted 2-33%. When I look at my collection, about two-thirds of my coins have been purchased from Pinnacle/Doug Winter and Gold Rush Gallery/Al Adams, neither are regular posters here.

Next, in order of volume, would be Legend (regular) and Heritage (not regular).

These are followed by one or two coin purchases from Broken CC (infrequent poster), CoinLieutenant (regular), Dukie 101 (regular), CollectorCoins (regular on BST), MGSI (not member).

Certainly, there are purchases made by me and relationships developed which would not have occurred if this forum did not exist. I still believe that this forum represents a great opportunity for the savvy seller to make contacts and develop relationships with new customers.

nwcs

Goes in spurts. But probably about 5% have been. Although as I have retooled my collecting habits it may go up.

LeeG

Always check B/S/T before any other sites. Have got some great delas from fellow board members. Never a problem encountered! Lee

dthigpen

About 5-10%

paigowjohnny

Not a high percentage, but the deals I have made from the B/S/T board have all been first rate. I look at that board daily to see if anything new catches my eye.

Off the top of my head, coinlieutenant, jbsteven, BAJJERFAN, k6az, BigD5, and SarasotaFrank pedigreed coins now rest in my collection.

Dan50

34-66% here and to many people to list.
And yes Nikki Cox does rule.. You must see the new spread in Stuff Mag. The covers nice, but inside ia better. For those of you that don't know Stuff, it's not a nude mag., skimpy but clothed.

mgoodm3

Most come from dealers that show up around here, at least occasionally. Whitlow, Pinnacle, DLRC, Eagle Eye.

RYK

Most come from dealers that show up around here, at least occasionally. Whitlow, Pinnacle, DLRC, Eagle Eye.

Mark, I would consider those four to be infrequent posters, at best. I wish they did participate more.

Longacre

I have not purchased yet from a board member, but the goodwill that they create by posting/answering questions definitely factors in their favor when I am looking to make a purchase. These boards are a great marketing tool. It is great for a dealer to interact directly with potential clients. Believe it or not, there are lawyer message boards run by some bar associations (for bar members and not the public). It doesn't get as much traffic, as I am sure you would guess!

gemtone65

This year it has been pretty high -- perhaps one third of the cost of my purchases have been from active CU board members.

Geoman

I would say about 15-20%.

And I will add I would much rather buy from a forum member than off of eBay.

Bochiman

I buy a little over 50% from board members.

RYK, you sound surprised it is so low....I am not surprised.
While I trust, generally, those I buy from on these forums much more than on ebay, I also generally pay a little more. Sometimes it is for an average coin/set I want/need, sometimes it is paying more for a better coin. On ebay, I have a chance to snipe.

There are board members who are dealers here that have coins that I wait until they hit ebay and hope it goes low. I know (because I have asked) that they won't go below a certain point just selling it straight out.

So, reason 1 that "all my buying" isn't done here is that many informed people like to sell at the highend of the pricing scale. I am not faulting that, just making a point.

Reason 2 is that there are sellers on these boards that no longer deserve my business. They are rude to people when they post. They spout personal views that I don't believe are appropriate, publicly. Yes, that is their right. I am not telling them that they can't do that. But, it is my right to not buy from them. I don't come on here acting for my employer, and if I did, there is a lot of what I post that I wouldn't. So, I know it is tough for people to do, but sometimes one should distance themselves as a person and an employee.

Take Mark Felds for an example. The guy is above and beyond. I would buy from him in a heartbeat if he had the right coin at the right price for me. His posts are helpful and he is not disrepectful towards people.
I won't mention some of the ones I have issues with, but I do know that I won't buy from them on ebay (unless it were a very screaming deal) nor from their BST posts nor from their websites.
This comes from posts on the coin forum as well as the open forum.

Some dealers in this business make so much money that they don't care about losing potential customers like myself. That's cool. Their rich and have all they need. Other dealers deserve my business then.
And, at the point I am, there is no coin I am after that is the ONLY one in existence and/or the only one in a certain piece of plastic with a certain grade.

Reason 3. There are also some dealers on this board that I have bought samplings from (maybe here, maybe ebay). If you have a good rep and you deal with "nice" stuff, then even the lowend items should be nice...not throwaway junk. I bought an "unsearched by the dealer" grouping of wheaties. Price wasn't bad. Shipping wasn't good. Did it throw the dealer's ebay auction that was advertised in the BST. I would have returned in a heartbeat but the shipping wasn't worth it. Yes...dealer did not state it was highend or anything. I wasn't expecting AU or rare dates. I did expect NOT to get unreadable, corroded, crap coins. Not every single coin was that bad, but a lot were. I've seen multiple offers from this dealer since. People love this dealer and always refer this dealer. I won't touch this dealer again nor will I refer them.

So, to sum it up, maybe people are on the lowend from buying from dealers here for these reasons:
1) Can't always find what they want when they want it
2) Don't want to offend the person if they don't like the coin and want to return it
3) Don't like the dealers posts or the way they conduct themselves (would YOU buy from poe58 after reading his posts here?)
4) Have tried the dealer(s) and haven't gotten items worth what was paid and will just walk away (may be high priced, may be junk)

mercurynut

I will say around 15%

dthigpen

Also a good point to make, while only 5-10% of my purchases are made via the Boards, the price I generally pay on these boards is lower than I would pay on Ebay or at a local shop for the coin, and much less hassle; I also tend to find more 'niche' coins here. This, to me, has a lot to do with why I use the boards as a marketplace at all.

On the other hand, I have made contacts with some dealers on these boards which have led me to be willing to purchase coins in any marketplace from them, some even sight-unseen.

mgoodm3

<< <i>Most come from dealers that show up around here, at least occasionally. Whitlow, Pinnacle, DLRC, Eagle Eye.

Mark, I would consider those four to be infrequent posters, at best. I wish they did participate more. >>



You just specified members. If you want frequent posters, then about 0% for me.

XpipedreamR

I always try to seek out board members for my coin purchases. I picked

2. 67-99%

Nysoto

Only 2 that I can think of, Jadecoin and JJ Teaparty. Does anyone have any rare varieties of preTurban half dollars for sale?

Bill

my3cents

I'd say about 30%. BUT - a lot of the times, I buy from an e-bay auction, only to later discover that it's a forum member.

Must be something about the auctions and return policies....