Show Reports: "High Volume of Dealer-Dealer Sales"?
scotty1418
Posts: 286
In most of the show reports posted here, I always see a mention of "low collector sales" but "high dealer-dealer sales" and have to wonder about this.
If a majority of sales happen at shows, and a majority of those sales are between dealers, I have to wonder if there is some sort of fictional merry-go-round at work with dealer sales?
Unless dealers just make such large purchases for inventory and sell that outside of coin shows?
What do you guys think?
If a majority of sales happen at shows, and a majority of those sales are between dealers, I have to wonder if there is some sort of fictional merry-go-round at work with dealer sales?
Unless dealers just make such large purchases for inventory and sell that outside of coin shows?
What do you guys think?
0
Comments
And why the "biggie" dealers at Long Beach won't even look up at you?
to how they accomplish the following:
1. Have a plan to sell and to buy coins from both dealers
as well as the public.
2. Dealers must be aggressive and walk the floor seeking material
that they need for their want lists.
3. Normally, efficiency requires more then one person working a dealers
table so that one of them can visit auctions and walk the show.
4. Successful dealers set up meetings in advance for the show to meet
with potential collectors and dealers seeking to sell collections. You just
can not walk into a show and hope for the best. You have to work your
contacts by phone before the show and try to set up sure fire sales and
purchases.
5.Much business is done ,dealer to dealer before the show and at night after
the floor trade closes.If you do not network and snooze, you will lose.
The most successful dealers will have done a lot of preparation getting ready
for a show to insure a successful show for their company. For the rest of the
dealers who choose not to prepare, then thry have to take what ever comes.
Camelot
<< <i>How well dealers do at any show is generally related
to how they accomplish the following:
1. Have a plan to sell and to buy coins from both dealers
as well as the public.
2. Dealers must be aggressive and walk the floor seeking material
that they need for their want lists.
3. Normally, efficiency requires more then one person working a dealers
table so that one of them can visit auctions and walk the show.
4. Successful dealers set up meetings in advance for the show to meet
with potential collectors and dealers seeking to sell collections. You just
can not walk into a show and hope for the best. You have to work your
contacts by phone before the show and try to set up sure fire sales and
purchases.
5.Much business is done ,dealer to dealer before the show and at night after
the floor trade closes.If you do not network and snooze, you will lose.
The most successful dealers will have done a lot of preparation getting ready
for a show to insure a successful show for their company. For the rest of the
dealers who choose not to prepare, then thry have to take what ever comes. >>
I can't believe I'm actually writing this, but Bear nailed it fairly accurately. Different dealers need different coins, and a coin that has no use to one dealer can be something another dealer is desperately seeking. Every dealer sells to a different demographic and while some may sell their coins exclusively to retail customers there are many who only transact with other dealers.
The dealers at the major shows who "won't look up at you" are likely those who fall into the latter category, the ones who don't deal with the public while at a coin show. It wouldn't have made a difference whether they looked up at you or not.
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
Really, it could make ALLOT of difference. (to them that is)
I always wonder why some dealers don't realize who is sitting around in a concrete box all day and who is not?
<< <i>"It wouldn't have made a difference whether they looked up at you or not. "
Really, it could make ALLOT of difference. (to them that is)
I always wonder why some dealers don't realize who is sitting around in a concrete box all day and who is not? >>
What I mean is that there are dealers who do not deal with members of the public...at all. Regardless of whether they look up at you or acknowledge you or whether they stay for the entire length of a coin show isn't going to make a difference with them...if you're not a dealer they're familiar with they aren't going to show you or sell you coins. You can argue forever about the merits of conducting business the way they do, but very dealer has their own method of doing business and many dealers choose to not interact with the public. Is it their loss for not doing so? Possibly. Are dealers obligated to? Absolutely not. Do all dealers need to sell coins to the public in order to be successful? Plenty do but plenty do not.
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
<< <i>
<< <i>"It wouldn't have made a difference whether they looked up at you or not. "
Really, it could make ALLOT of difference. (to them that is)
I always wonder why some dealers don't realize who is sitting around in a concrete box all day and who is not? >>
What I mean is that there are dealers who do not deal with members of the public...at all. Regardless of whether they look up at you or acknowledge you or whether they stay for the entire length of a coin show isn't going to make a difference with them...if you're not a dealer they're familiar with they aren't going to show you or sell you coins. You can argue forever about the merits of conducting business the way they do, but very dealer has their own method of doing business and many dealers choose to not interact with the public. Is it their loss for not doing so? Possibly. Are dealers obligated to? Absolutely not. Do all dealers need to sell coins to the public in order to be successful? Plenty do but plenty do not. >>
Very well stated. There are many who feel they don't need the aggravation of dealing with the public. Some who do exclusively retail. Some who are very successful who don't do shows at all, some who do combinations of retail and wholesale, some who have an established group of clientele and don't need any other business. For the average collector, there are more than enough at any major show who are more than happy to deal with you on a retail basis.
Dealer to dealer business is usually much smoother than retail... quick, efficient and the volume almost always makes up for the smaller profit margins...
As has already been said...many times on this forum... there are retailers at shows and there are wholesalers ... we do not (hopefully
I have bought many a coin from other dealers at a show... that they had not been able to find a home for... and sold it at the same show... and visa-versa...
Heck, I have rearranged the format of my display and ended up selling "so called retreads" to folks who had supposedly already seen the coins... they never actually noticed them until I moved them.... happens more often than you think...
I spend alot of time 'watching" collectors as they hunt and scan cases at a show... for whatever reason, many seem to have selective vision or some form of blinders on... and very few truly see what is right in front of their eyes... and far too many seem to be unwilling to ask to see what is not in the cases... more often than not, the GOOD stuff is NOT in the cases... know what you are looking for and speak up... you never truly know unless you ask...
At a show, we have a very limited time frame to conduct business AND we need to maximize our time expenditures... some dealers do not have the patience to "deal" with a collector who wants to window shop every coin in every case in the show, in order to find one or two coins. Some dealers do have the patience AND willingness to do so... the trick for the average and/or casual collector, is to find those dealers who do have the willingness to "do retail"...
I could go on... but I will leave it at that... for this round, anyway...
At a recent "large" regional show... the collector attendance was pitiful, to put it mildly... and most of those that did come to the show... well, they looked like psych patients right after medication time... dull, glazed over eyes and little to no apparent interest in anything... in two days I had four retail customers and maybe ten tire kickers... total sales of less than $900...
BUT...
I did alot of dealer-to-dealer business... selling enough to cover my expenses AND making some significant purchases...
This show was a Fri/Sat... also on Sunday but I had another commitment...
On Sunday, I attended a regular Monthly show... less than 60 miles away from the first show... sold many of the purchases I had made at the two day show and racked up well over 10x the volume of retail business, in 4 hours, that I had in two days at the other show...
...and I'm sure that more than one person came into that first show on Sunday... and complained at the lack of dealers in the room...
<< <i>I have bought many a coin from other dealers at a show... that they had not been able to find a home for... and sold it at the same show... >>
My first experience buying with the intent to resell was at a national show a number of years ago. I noticed a dealer with a "WTB circ. silver dollars! Paying $X each" sign and remembered previously seeing another dealer with a "Silver dollars- you pick- $X-1 each" sign in his case. I went back to his table, bought them all and resold them to the first dealer for a $150 or so profit.
Over the years it has become quite clear to me that most collectors would rather pay more for their own dealer to sell them something than to buy it from another source for less money. Call it a dealer trust issue, a "blinders" issue, a lack of exposure issue, or a lack of confidence in their own buying skills. You can put that coin in front of them at price X and they won't touch it. But at auction or in their own dealer's hands with price X+15% or X+20% they will dutifully fork over the cash. Without a reasonably high dealer-to-dealer volume there probably is no coin market. That's even more important today. Many dealers are also investors/collectors in this hobby.
roadrunner