So ya wanna be a DEALER....NOT "hypotheticals"

topstuf

I'll lead off with an ACTUAL experience from my repertoire of 30 years of sellin coins. If yer a dealer with OTHER "goodies" step right up and post em.

I had a guy who wanted a bag of Indian Head cents. 5000 lil IHC's. Just VG+
So I went on the teletype and located a few guys who could help fill the order.
I hit the jackpot on the 2nd or 3rd day and found a seller of over 3/4 bag.
I told him to ship and he .....ADDED..... about 100 coins just to avoid any grade issues.
I called the customer and delivered the 5100 coins and told him why the extra coins.
Couple days later, the customer calls and is mad that some coins did not make VG+
I asked how many and he said 40 or 50 were lesser grades.
I reminded him that he didn't PAY for 100 coins.
He was still mad and told me that he SPECIFIED VG+
He never did "get" the point and I lost a customer.

Oh well.

mrearlygold

Did you refund his money?

PerryHall

The guy sounds like the type of customer that you don't need. Also, he sounds like an idiot.

segoja

It's better some times to not deal with customers that don't get it.

Sounds like this guy didn't get it, even though you told him what was up.

CIVITAS

Sounds like "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

777

Some clients just cannot be pleased...His loss and your gain by him not returning..

1jester

That should teach you to do business with forum members....

Bear

That just goes to show you. Not all crazy peoples

are on this Forum.

topstuf

ANOTHER one.

Hadn't seen a "regular" for quite some time. Asked where he'd been. He said he was ticked because the last 4 Saints he bought were counterfeit.
I told him to bring em back and let me take another look.
He didn't have them.
I asked who told him they were phony.

"XXX at XXX's Coins. Where I sold em."

Ahhhhh .......retail

TwoSides2aCoin

Only thing worse than a customer that is ungrateful........ um, uh, er, duh....

There is nothing worse ! ! !

Who said : "good riddance to bad rubbish" ? I concur.
Ya'll are much more gracious than me........I might have put nails in his driveway (copper ones) and then told him to send me ALL the coins back for a refund minus shipping and handling, leaving him a net loss of say 80%.

There is an old saying : " if they ain't b..tchin', you ain't chargin' enough "

ScarsdaleCoin

nothing like a new collector pulling out $20 because the pcgs saint slab says $20

WTCG

<< <i>nothing like a new collector pulling out $20 because the pcgs saint slab says $20 >>



Not too long ago I had something like that happen to me.

I had a proof Walking Liberty Half Dollar NGC PF65 in my case...a show attendee saw the label on the slab "50c" and pulled out a GW and asked if I had change. He then proceded to call me "dishonest" when I quoted him the real price of the coin.

foodude

Not too long ago I had something like that happen to me.

I had a proof Walking Liberty Half Dollar NGC PF65 in my case...a show attendee saw the label on the slab "50c" and pulled out a GW and asked if I had change. He then proceded to call me "dishonest" when I quoted him the real price of the coin.

Tell the attendee there are exit doors at the front of the show hall- make use of them now

elwood

I remember one instance where a well known dealer, one that is praised on this forum on occasion, stopped by my table and was interested in several coins i had for sale.
He asked the price of a key-date Barber Half that i had in PCGS 64 or 65? A coin with only a handful of better coins. I told him it was eight, he said OK.
He bought a couple other coins and I wrote up the invoice, he looked at the invoice and said $8,000.00 I thought you meant $800.00?? I said no $8,000, it being a key date with only 4 coins grading higher.
Now, this guy has been in the business for 30+ years dealing in high grade PQ coins. There is no way he actually thought he could by a Gemmy Barber Half for $800 bucks. I think the cheapest common date in 64 is around $1,100.00 and he thought he was getting a key date for $800.00

I thought to myself welcome to the coin business. (it was one of the first shows I had ever set-up at)

Coinosaurus

Elwood-

Check w/Barry. I think the same guy tried that trick with him.

topstuf

Ah, memories. Couple of posts jogged my brain. I did have some "customers" who thought the denomination on the holder was the price of the item. In fact, I can remember vividly a guy about a year before we retired who came in looking like he could afford to buy and selecting SEVERAL nice gold coins.
He even SOUNDED halfway knowledgeable. Then when I told him the total, he got all goofy and said he thought the price for those .....GOLD..... coins was five bucks, ten bucks, and twenty bucks.

As far as the quoting of prices in ....shorthand.... as "eight" for eight THOUSAND, I try to avoid that at all costs as I ....have....got some outrageous rips on coins priced at one tenth of value. Those are the times when I ....never..... asked "is that the best price?"

I think my most GLARING "misunderstanding" was with a fellow (?) dealer ..... BIG DEALER....who was running buys for graded circ silver dollars at the very tippy top of the market in 1980.

I confirmed and shipped several hundred carefully sorted pre-21 bucks and waited for the check. In the meantime, silver collapsed. Next thing I knew, the mailman brought me my dollars back.

Wanting to have a ......RECORD...... of the deal, I did NOT phone but sent a direct teletype message asking why the return. And then I ....SAVED....the reply.

"Nothing wrong with grading. Just not what I looking for."

Uh huh....sure.

1jester

<< <i>I remember one instance where a well known dealer, one that is praised on this forum on occasion, stopped by my table and was interested in several coins i had for sale.
He asked the price of a key-date Barber Half that i had in PCGS 64 or 65? A coin with only a handful of better coins. I told him it was eight, he said OK.
He bought a couple other coins and I wrote up the invoice, he looked at the invoice and said $8,000.00 I thought you meant $800.00?? I said no $8,000, it being a key date with only 4 coins grading higher.
Now, this guy has been in the business for 30+ years dealing in high grade PQ coins. There is no way he actually thought he could by a Gemmy Barber Half for $800 bucks. I think the cheapest common date in 64 is around $1,100.00 and he thought he was getting a key date for $800.00

I thought to myself welcome to the coin business. (it was one of the first shows I had ever set-up at) >>




For some reason I don't believe he actually thought he actually believed you were selling such a coin for $800. In other words, I'm calling him a liar and a cheat. What's his name?

doughmaking

Would it be rude of or out of place to ask how much you sold that bag of IHC?

Oh and the guy must have not been that bright. 100 extra coins should have made up for it easily, above and beyond in my book.

topstuf

doughmaking. No, questions are not rude.

I actually don't recall as it was in 79 or 80 or 81....sometime in there. The result of the whole thing kinda eclipsed the price in my memory.