How much of an ethical dealer's time (and money) is wasted by protecting against doctored coins?

Longacre

I know there are a lot of threads about doctored coins, but the topic is an interesting one. Ultimately, the coin doctoring scourge costs everyone money, and I think it probably costs the dealers the most.

In the past, when a slabbed coin went through a dealer's hands, the on-selling process was as easy: look it up in the sheets, add a 0.5% markup, and the throw it into inventory. Sadly, that is not the case today.

How much time (which translates to money) does a dealer spend checking coins that come through to prevent inadvertantly passing along a doctored coin?

ricko

Is that time wasted? Or is it well spent protecting his customer base? If you mean the dealer could have been doing something more meaningful, I disagree. There will always be con artists (doctors) attempting to reap profit by fleecing the inexperienced. Dealers taking time to ensure their customers do not suffer such pain is time well spent. Cheers, RickO

AngryTurtle

<< <i>Is that time wasted? Or is it well spent protecting his customer base? If you mean the dealer could have been doing something more meaningful, I disagree. There will always be con artists (doctors) attempting to reap profit by fleecing the inexperienced. Dealers taking time to ensure their customers do not suffer such pain is time well spent. Cheers, RickO >>



I find myself shocked to agree with Ricko This I would say is a value added service - not a waste of time at all. With ebay and the web, marketing is much more powerful than before, so without a value add, dealers risk being replaced by collector to collector transactions.

coinguy1

<< <i>Is that time wasted? Or is it well spent protecting his customer base? If you mean the dealer could have been doing something more meaningful, I disagree. There will always be con artists (doctors) attempting to reap profit by fleecing the inexperienced. Dealers taking time to ensure their customers do not suffer such pain is time well spent. Cheers, RickO >>

I'd also disagree with the idea that "Ultimately, the coin doctoring scourge costs everyone money and I think it probably costs the dealers the most". I think it costs collectors the most, and by far.

droopyd

<< <i>look it up in the sheets, add a 0.5% markup, and the throw it into inventory. >>



I think you misplaced your decimal point.

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>
How much time (which translates to money) does a dealer spend checking coins that come through to prevent inadvertantly passing along a doctored coin? >>



Or making sure it goes to someone who won't know the difference.