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Dealers - Which customer would you wait on?

tydyetydye Posts: 3,894 ✭✭✭
in Precious Metals
3 customers walk into the shop simultaneously. One wants to purchase 10K of bullion, another 10K worth of coins and a 3rd wants to sell 10K worth of bullion. You can only wait on one customer. The other two will leave and walk over to one of your competitors as soon as you start helping the customer you choose. So which one would you wait on and why?

Comments

  • secondrepublicsecondrepublic Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
    I'm not a dealer, but I would guess the profit margins are often higher on coins than on bullion. Other things equal, that's my answer.
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  • TomBTomB Posts: 21,202 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The margin might be higher for coins, but you also might spend a significantly longer time helping the person buy the coins instead of quickly moving the bullion. Hmmm...
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  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    d) lock the doors with them inside and hide the key

    I'm not answering this as it will give me nightmares

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  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That guy might be buying slow moving coins that will free up more money for other things.

    I can always shout out my buy and sell prices for bullion as the other 2 make a hasty retreat. image

    roadrunner
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  • tydyetydye Posts: 3,894 ✭✭✭
    What prompted the question is my latest visit to some of my local dealers. One in particular that i had dealt with for years and got along fairly good basically blew me off this past weekend to wait on sellers of metal. His stand was busy so I circled back a few times to but every time he would take the the sellers. The last time I came with my cash literally in hand kind of to show I am here to buy and know what I want (he has some Koala rolls in the case). Still nada so I walked up to another stand and purchased some ASE rolls from another dealer. Really irked me as I have dealt with him for years spending anywhere from 500-2000 each time I visited. Prior to the PM boom I was one of his few customers.
  • CoinCrazyPACoinCrazyPA Posts: 2,899 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I'm not a dealer, but I would guess the profit margins are often higher on coins than on bullion. Other things equal, that's my answer. >>




    I agree, coins first bullion come and goes constantly.
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  • CoinCrazyPACoinCrazyPA Posts: 2,899 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>What prompted the question is my latest visit to some of my local dealers. One in particular that i had dealt with for years and got along fairly good basically blew me off this past weekend to wait on sellers of metal. His stand was busy so I circled back a few times to but every time he would take the the sellers. The last time I came with my cash literally in hand kind of to show I am here to buy and know what I want (he has some Koala rolls in the case). Still nada so I walked up to another stand and purchased some ASE rolls from another dealer. Really irked me as I have dealt with him for years spending anywhere from 500-2000 each time I visited. Prior to the PM boom I was one of his few customers. >>



    Maybe he sees bullion as fast cash, but he is hurting his base customers in the mean time. Which is not to smart in my books.
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  • ksammutksammut Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭


    << <i>What prompted the question is my latest visit to some of my local dealers. One in particular that i had dealt with for years and got along fairly good basically blew me off this past weekend to wait on sellers of metal. His stand was busy so I circled back a few times to but every time he would take the the sellers. The last time I came with my cash literally in hand kind of to show I am here to buy and know what I want (he has some Koala rolls in the case). Still nada so I walked up to another stand and purchased some ASE rolls from another dealer. Really irked me as I have dealt with him for years spending anywhere from 500-2000 each time I visited. Prior to the PM boom I was one of his few customers. >>



    Very similar thing happened to me yesterday.
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  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What prompted the question is my latest visit to some of my local dealers. One in particular that i had dealt with for years and got along fairly good basically blew me off this past weekend to wait on sellers of metal. His stand was busy so I circled back a few times to but every time he would take the the sellers. The last time I came with my cash literally in hand kind of to show I am here to buy and know what I want (he has some Koala rolls in the case). Still nada so I walked up to another stand and purchased some ASE rolls from another dealer. Really irked me as I have dealt with him for years spending anywhere from 500-2000 each time I visited. Prior to the PM boom I was one of his few customers.

    This has happened to me consistently for the past several years and I just take it in stride. I think the shop owners figures I'm a sure thing and that I'll wait. He's pretty much right. And likely whatever I would buy someone else would probably buy it soon enough if I didn't. The bullion customers are often one shot wonders. But if they pass along to their friends that they had a nice transaction that will result in more business whereas I usually don't drum up new customers for the shop. There have been times when I'll slowly sift through various coins of all degrees until the shop clears. That might be an hour or more at times. As long as I end up with something worthwhile it all works out.

    roadrunner
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  • JulianJulian Posts: 3,370 ✭✭✭
    I would wait on the coin customer first, because that is my continuing business.

    I do bullion as a service to my customers, but since I am so pleasant to do business with, I can help them all within half an hour.

    I start the coin customer out with some collectible coins to look for.

    I purchase the coins from the seller. It doesn't take too much time to buy 10k.

    I then sell the bullion to that buyer. It doesn't take too much time to sell 10k.

    I then go back and complete the sale with the collector.
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  • BochimanBochiman Posts: 25,377 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Right now, I think the mindset is to wait on the seller of bullion (buy below spot) as the prices are still on the rise. So, buy low, sell as the prices go up. Many of the dealers, who deal with bullion as well, likely have buyers of bullion, so it will be a quick flip. The coins would need checked, graded, priced, sold. Time value there. Bullion would be much easier.

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  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,119 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Julian said what I was thinking. Give the collector some coins to look at and study while you deal with the bullion seller and buyer.

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  • KUCHKUCH Posts: 1,186
    We have some walk-in customers, we ALWAYS take care of the customer who walked in FIRST. We're not in the coin/bullion industry.
  • DNADaveDNADave Posts: 7,271 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm a VERY small fish in the coin world, but I actively seek collections to buy and have been successfull maybe 10 times over the past 5 years ($2000 + deals) . In that same time, I've made multiple sales per month every month.

    Point is: for me at least, sales are much easier to make than buys. I'm sure that has to do with what happened.
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