Coin show question

atarian

When bumming around US coin bargain bins how long do u usually spend at the table? what is the acceptable amount of time if your pulling and buying items? is a coin loop good practice ( i assume so cause you are the buyer of the coins and want to see it) but what is a good amount of time if your buying and the dealer isnt like a mad house over silver and gold buying and selling. i cant imagine a dealer wanting you to stay for 35 minutes to buy 10 or 15 in junk bin coins. Especially witha coin loop. They might get the idea they are getting hosed on what they put in the box to start with. Just wondering. also if searching bin coins how many trips to a given table should one make if given the time. Like you want to see what everyone has but after a while you might realize only 3 or 4 have what u might want. and so on. Just wonderin on proper way to handle this since i intend to start bargain binning a little for die chips and such.

Steve27

It all depends on how much traffic there is at his table. If you're the only one there, he'll be happy to have you stay all day, that's because you'll actually attract other potential buyers to his table. However, I would be careful not to block access to the rest of his items.

ricko

I am not a bin hunter, however, I have seen people spend more than an hour at a bargain box... may have spent more, but that is all I was aware of at the time. I do think that an excessive amount of time spent in a bargain bin poses an issue - especially if the table/bourse is busy. I know of one dealer that only puts the junk bin out at slow times. The question is a good one though, since it does take time to look through a box like those. My recommendation (purely hypothetical) would be to ask the table holder if you can sit 'off to the side' so as not to interfere with other business. Not sure if it would work. Cheers, RickO

GaCoinGuy

For me, it depends on the size of the bin and the variety in it.

I love to dig through bins of US and world coins. I have made some really nice finds and found some wonderfully toned world coins for cheap. If the bin is large and I see that I am finding many coins I want to buy, I will ask the dealer if I can sit and dig thru it, but I do make sure to sit out of the way and not spread the coins out too much across his table. I have had a couple of dealers let me sit at their small table behind their display table, especially if they are busy.

Using a loupe while digging has never been a problem for me, I just like to be able to see the dates on small or dark coins; I don't go into bargin bins looking to cherrypick a dealer out of his money. I have pulled a couple of minor varieties out, and even had the dealer notice one of them, but he didn't try to jack up the price on me.

I think it all just comes down to both parties being courteous and using common sense. If a dealer is a jerk, I generally steer clear of him.

Staircoins

If you're at my table - dig away, that's why it's there. I hope you cherrypick something terrific out of the bin!

And stay as long as you like, but please be considerate and don't block access to my showcases, though.

Ahrensdad

<< <i>If you're at my table - dig away, that's why it's there. I hope you cherrypick something terrific out of the bin!

And stay as long as you like, but please be considerate and don't block access to my showcases, though. >>



What he said!

robkool

Depending on what each dealer is selling... My avg. time is approx. 15 mins.

LindeDad

When you see this it's time to move on.

mingot

I'm pretty new at the coin show thing, but what's working for me is to just ask. "Do you mind if I go through these?" It's probably obvious that it is OK, since they are out there on the table, but I ask anyway AND it lets the dealer tell me where they want me to do. Usually get an answer like "Sure, pull them off to the side and have at it". The next thing I usually say is "Where can I start making a pile of things that I want?". They always like that

Mission16

If a dealer has a bin like that out, they shouldn't have an issue with how much time you spend at it. When I did shows with my Dad, we would try to put that stuff at one end or the other, out of the way of display cases and such. Sometimes if the dealer next to us wasn't there the show would let us use that table too.

A buyer should have respect and not spread his CP books and briefcase all over the dealers table.


"The next thing I usually say is "Where can I start making a pile of things that I want?". They always like that "

We used to have a small plastic tub for them to put stuff in.

shorecoll

I would think 15 minutes or so if someone else is waiting to look or lurking, then come back and do it again. If you're buying a bucnh of stuff, stay as long as you want.

johnny9434

it depends how much traffic is there. if its slow i may take alot longer and they usally dont say much happy hunting

edix2001

There's a guy who sets up in Houston with several bins at the end of his long table. I look there pretty often, until I tire of it. Last time this one guy was looking through one of the bins for literally hours. Nobody seemed to be buggin' him about it.

BillJones

As edix2001 stated some dealers specialize in "junk boxes" and expect people to pawing through them. Sometimes the junk box customers are more of a pain the butt for the dealers who are round them than the dealer who puts out the junk box.

I once had a situation at the show where the junk box people were blocking my table and stacking their selections on my cases. I don’t like to raise problems with other dealers, but after a while I really had to say something. It was hurting my business. The dealer who was running the junk box was cool with it, and moved the box to other end of his table which was at the end of a row. That was a much better place for it.