Have you ever gotten a great deal because...

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

... the counter help was clueless and didn't really seem to care?

This happened to me about 6 years ago, or so. I was in the local mall returning something at a clothing store and as I'm leaving and walking through the mall, I pass a jewelry store that I noticed has quite a few coins in the display case. Naturally, I stop to see what they've got, even though I've already assumed it'll either be WAY overpriced, or junk, or both.

As I'm looking, there were a couple of things that sort of looked interesting, but nothing real special. Just before I'm ready to walk out, I see a 50 Pesos Mexican Gold coin. It was huge! I had never really seen one in person and asked what the price was. The girl opened up the display case and handed it to me, and it was marked $335.00. Then the other girl checks the list setting next to the register, and it says $405.00.

So as they're talking to each other, trying to figure out how to ring this up, I'm thinking, well for 1.2 ounces, the $405.00 (gold was about $330.00/oz. at that time), is a pretty good price. I say "I'll take it" and the first girl says, "Well, since that's what Bob, (or whatever the store owners' name was), marked it as, we'll just say it was originally $405.00 and today you get a 17% discount, for $335.00 plus sales tax".

I didn't feel bad, since I let them tell me how much it was, and I paid it. Gladly!!

Sold it a while later for a "bit of a profit".


Sorry for the wordy version. Bored today.

Stub

ajaan

If I'm not mistaken, legally if it is marked $335 they could not tell you the price is $405. They can lower the sticker price but not raise it.

I had a similiar happening at a coin shop years and years ago. I was looking at two coins, but the same type and date, same grade. One, the more attractive piece IMO, was marked about 40% lower than the other. The owner keep trying to convince me that the more expensive coin was so much nicer than the cheaper one. I could only come to the conclusion that the lower priced one was priced years before and never changed. But he had to sell the coin to me at the marked price.

Gazza

I don't know if it's different in the States but here in the UK it is only an offer to sell. The shopkeeper is fully within his/her rights to refuse to sell an item.

Bailathacl

It varies depending on state law (and in some cases on the type of retail establishment)....

MrEureka

IMHO, it's fine to take advantage of a dealer's stupidity, but it's not fair to take advantage of his employees. You knew the owner did not want to sell you the coin at $335. You screwed him by buying the coin, and you should make him whole.

SeattleSlammer

IMHO, it's fine to take advantage of a dealer's stupidity, but it's not fair to take advantage of his employees. You knew the owner did not want to sell you the coin at $335. You screwed him by buying the coin, and you should make him whole.


I don't agree with that. Of course I agree that you shouldn't intentionally screw anybody. But I don't see a screwing here. The store owner had one price on the coin and a higher price on a separate list....the employee makes the choice to sell the coin for the lower price....even deliberately calculating the reduction percentage. This is somehow the buyer's fault? The buyer should have insisted to pay the higher price? In this case, the buyer still paid over spot price by $5...not exactly grand theft. If the employee was going to sell it for $33.50 instead of $335.00, that would be a different story.....

By the way StubbyMcNumbthumbs, love your handle!

MrEureka

In this case, the buyer still paid over spot price by $5...not exactly grand theft. If the employee was going to sell it for $33.50 instead of $335.00, that would be a different story..

The coin contains 1.2 ounces pure gold. If gold was $330, melt was $396. The buyer knew with certainty that $405 was the correct price and $335 just an old price tag. If I were the owner of the shop, I'd fire the employee and ban Stubby for life.

thelawnet

This doesn't sound like a real coin store.

Besides they chose the selling price.

Do you think the buyer of this ounce of gold on ebay for $500 should be banned for life from ebay or should pony up another $200?

ebay

MrEureka

At a garage sale last month, I removed a $10 price tag from a bicycle and stuck it on the car in the garage. Not one minute later, someone bought the car for $10 from the owner's neighbor, who was helping with the garage sale. The owner was not happy. And I did not confess.

SeattleSlammer

At a garage sale last month, I removed a $10 price tag from a bicycle and stuck it on the car in the garage. Not one minute later, someone bought the car for $10 from the owner's neighbor, who was helping with the garage sale. The owner was not happy. And I did not confess.

Must have been a car from Detroit.


Andy, while I respect where you're coming from on this, I still think that you're underestimating the store employee's conscious choice to give Stuby the lower price. She knew both prices and offered the coin at the lower price. And per Stuby's OP, there were two employees that jointly made the decision to sell it for $335 instead of $405. Did they feel pressured to do so? Doesn't appear that way. Were they just trying to flirt with Stuby? (unlikely that a girl would flirt with somebody named Stuby but stranger things have happened ) Who knows....maybe the owner returned and fired them both. But for $70 I doubt it.

.....I don't know, I like to play devil's advocate.....and there is certainly truth to the idea that any crime of conscious is a crime regardless of the dollar amount involved......Stuby did write that the girl was "clueless" implying that he may have taken advantage......Stuby, I think Andy has a point, perhaps you should at least buy the owner lunch or something. Seriously.

thelawnet

<< <i>At a garage sale last month, I removed a $10 price tag from a bicycle and stuck it on the car in the garage. Not one minute later, someone bought the car for $10 from the owner's neighbor, who was helping with the garage sale. The owner was not happy. And I did not confess. >>



Who's moving tags? Nobody had any input into the price of the OP's coin other than the seller. The coin was tagged at $335, but at the register at $405. This is already pretty dubious (depending on if the price was visible to the buyer), and so despite the OP already saying 'I will take it' [at $405], the shopkeeper decided to honour the price tagged on the coin. Their choice, made out of free will.

What happened? The coin was sold about 15% below fair value. Is this unusual? Nope, shops do this all the time. One store sells a TV at $1000, the other at $800, is that wrong? Very often when you get hot deals, people buy hundreds and sell them on ebay for an immediate profit. The shop doesn't have to sell at a good price, their choice, and people will make a profit it's no big deal.

In this case the coin shop didn't make as much as they could have done for sure, but they have $335 in the till which is more than the coin was bought for. The below 'bullion value' sale is no difference from a store selling a TV for $800 which you can immediately resell for $900 (in any case people often negotiate deals in stores, and the end result can be a loss for the store, that doesn't raise any fuss - the solution if you, as store owner, are upset about employees offering 17% discounts, is to remove that power from them, but ultimately business owners don't want that because they make the business decision that giving staff some discretion is a good move overall for their business. Some days they will lose $70 on a coin, others they will get a big $$$ sale and still make a profit. If they are good employees, then a $70 loss is nothing, people make much much bigger mistakes every day). People get very excited about selling below melt, but it's no different.

mrpotatoheadd

This is in general and not directed at any specific poster or situation (is that sufficient as a disclaimer?), but I think it's counterproductive to insist that someone sell you something for less than he wants to even if there are rules or laws that say he has to. If you do, you might as well just cross that store off your list of places to buy, because you're more than likely not going to be able to repeat your serendipitous find any time soon.

On the occasions I've come across obviously mismarked stuff in dealers' inventories, I've always asked them if they'd like to reconsider their pricing. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But even though there are times I don't get the lower price, in the long run, I find I've been offered awfully good deals later on down the road. Feel free to decide for yourself whether or not if there's a connection there.

Bottom line- if I screwed up and priced (for example) an 09-S VDB as a Philly issue, I'd sure hope someone would clue me in to my error and not try to beat me out of it. And that being the case, I think it would be less than honorable on my part not to show other sellers the same courtesy.

ajaan

So I guess you don't agree with cherrypicking. Or is that a whole different catagory?

MrEureka

So I guess you don't agree with cherrypicking.

Cherrypicking is fine when there is a meeting of the minds. But if the score is a function of the seller's clerical error, I'd say I don't "agree with it". I'm also not so sure I'd call it "cherrypicking".

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>So I guess you don't agree with cherrypicking. Or is that a whole different catagory? >>

No, that's different. Buying a 1909-S VDB priced as a 1909 VDB is not a cherrypick, IMO. I was addressing the idea of taking advantage of an obvious pricing mistake, not a failure to completely research something prior to pricing it.

sinin1

there have been cases were card collectors got deals because the teller misread the price on some rare stuff

and the owner got them back

ProofArtworkonCircs

We had a gas station chain here that sold regular branded gas (and also high test) and unbranded regular cheap. The state analyzed the gas and determined the two regulars to be identical. The state forced them to make refunds and drove them out of business.

In the meantime other stations are selling regular gas very cheaply but calling it economy. The higher test gas is much more expensive and is called regular by the station. People see the cheap price and come in and buy "regular" and get hosed. The state says that one is legal.

I have a different opinion on who should have been put out of business.

StubbyMcNumbthumbs

Well, this has stirred up more emotions than I meant for it to. First of all, I said I'd take the coin at the $405 when they first realized the discrepancy in prices. They decided that I should get the better price. Are some of you saying I should have insisted on paying the higher price?
Let me re-iterate, this was not a coin store, it was a jewelry store that happened to have some coins in the display case.

I realize the girls behind the counter were probably not well educated in the world of coins, but how many of us have ever overpayed at a jewelry store, simply because we weren't educated in the world of jewelry (and also because most jewelry stores have a 700 percent mark-up on everything)?

In any area of trade, being better educated than the other person will usually give you a leg up on any deals made, whether you are the buyer or the seller.

Anyway, I didn't really mean for this to be an ethical analysis of my coin purchase. It's just one of my good memories of collecting, and I was wondering if anyone else had such a story.

Indeed.

Stub

Oh, and BTW, even though "Stubby" is not my real name, I don't think the girls were flirting.

ajaan

SeattleSlammer

Oh, and BTW, even though "Stubby" is not my real name, I don't think the girls were flirting.

I of course was just kidding about that.

DeutscherGeist

The story would have been better if the girls were flirting. Probably even better memories to reminesce about had that actually occured.

Thanks for sharing!