RipOff Sunday - Full Page Ad in today's paper

keyman64 · April 17, 2011 4:10AM

From the "Antique Roadshow that never leaves town". Heck, I wouldn't leave town if I could buy at these prices, drive down the street and sell for more than 50% more! That would be a good day!

keets · April 17, 2011 4:34AM

well, not to be defending them, but the ad does say Based on $30.00 NY Silver which means the prices are pretty close. of course NY Silver is a bit higher than that now but why bother with little trivial details. and again, not to be defending them, but in today's world all it takes is a minute or so to look in the Newspaper to see where NY Silver is, so shame on anyone foolish enough to fall for this crap.

BTW, what exactly is NY Silver??

COALPORTER · April 17, 2011 4:59AM

I saw a full page newspaper add the other day that had a fairly detailed buy list. They listed most of the popular US key date coins and what they would pay.

Hey, the biggest ripp-off , was they would pay up to $3000 for an 1878-S half. WOW!!

Barry · April 17, 2011 5:44AM

Ad in our paper buying silver at 15x face.

keyman64 · April 17, 2011 5:48AM

<< Ad in our paper buying silver at 15x face. >>

ianrussell · April 17, 2011 5:50AM

I guess someone has to pay for that full page ads.

WillieBoyd2 · April 17, 2011 5:53AM

He also buys fine art.

He will probably go as high as $10,000 for the original Mona Lisa.

WTCG · April 17, 2011 6:02AM

On the flip side, dealing with these guys could be a fun experience. Could be an ideal place to unload your counterfeit slabs.

TwoSides2aCoin · April 17, 2011 6:03AM

Competition for Coinstar.

OnWithTheHunt · April 17, 2011 6:08AM

If you think these guys are ripping people off, you should see some of the recent ads by hotel buyers in Connecticut. Last one I saw about a month ago was paying a whopping 6, yes SIX times face for 90 percent silver.

ianrussell · April 17, 2011 6:15AM

<< On the flip side, dealing with these guys could be a fun experience. Could be an ideal place to unload your counterfeit slabs. >>

I think these people are smarter than the ad suggests.

tumbleweedtrumpet · April 17, 2011 7:17AM

that's terrible.

19Lyds · April 17, 2011 8:32AM

<< well, not to be defending them, but the ad does say Based on $30.00 NY Silver which means the prices are pretty close. of course NY Silver is a bit higher than that now but why bother with little trivial details. and again, not to be defending them, but in today's world all it takes is a minute or so to look in the Newspaper to see where NY Silver is, so shame on anyone foolish enough to fall for this crap.

BTW, what exactly is NY Silver??

>>

While I agree with what you are saying Al, the sad unfortunate truth is that most folks are tickled pink to get $8.00 or $10.00 for those 1964 Kennedy Halfs which on a bad day might have ended up at the local bank for face value along with all the BiCentennial Halfs that grampa stuck away.

Most folks are aware of the price of silver and now being a good time to sell and all but they just do not have the resources available to put 2 and 2 together. Either Internet wise or Intelligence wise.

robkool · April 17, 2011 8:59AM

RUN !!! FOREST !!! RUN !!!

GrumpyEd · April 17, 2011 9:51AM

<< Based on $30.00 NY Silver >>

I wonder if someone sells silver today are they still buying based on $30?
I'd think they would be putting the updated price in the ad.
They might say something like "we only update the buy price on certain dates"

I bet when it's going down they update a lot more often.

mrpotatoheadd · April 17, 2011 9:57AM

<< Most folks are aware of the price of silver and now being a good time to sell and all but they just do not have the resources available to put 2 and 2 together. Either Internet wise or Intelligence wise. >>

If you're smart enough to read an ad in the paper and think "Hey! I've got some of those! Maybe it's time to sell?", you're smart enough to pick up the phone (it's not nearly as newfangled a contraption as the internet and most people have at least a passing familiarity with it) and make a couple of calls to get an idea what your stuff might be worth.

Frankcoins · April 17, 2011 10:12AM

Why don't you spend $100,000 and run you own full page ad to offer higher prices?

keyman64 · April 17, 2011 10:22AM

<< Why don't you spend $100,000 and run you own full page ad to offer higher prices? >>

I don't need to do that. I bought most of my melt or junk silver in the late 1980s as a kid around $8-9 per ounce....and I can go down the street to my local dealer and sell junk dimes, quarters and halves for 30x face....just a couple miles from the shop in the ad....but I am waiting for silver to go a little higher before I dump the rest of my stuff. Thanks for the witty suggestion though Frank!

mrpotatoheadd · April 17, 2011 10:33AM

RipOff Sunday

Somebody advertises buy prices for something, and people either sell or not, as they choose. Why is this a ripoff?

Barry · April 17, 2011 10:46AM

<< Why don't you spend $100,000 and run you own full page ad to offer higher prices? >>

And then post your market report...

19Lyds · April 17, 2011 5:41PM

<< 

<< Most folks are aware of the price of silver and now being a good time to sell and all but they just do not have the resources available to put 2 and 2 together. Either Internet wise or Intelligence wise. >>

If you're smart enough to read an ad in the paper and think "Hey! I've got some of those! Maybe it's time to sell?", you're smart enough to pick up the phone (it's not nearly as newfangled a contraption as the internet and most people have at least a passing familiarity with it) and make a couple of calls to get an idea what your stuff might be worth. >>

Well gosh.

I guess if it were really this simple then these folks wouldn't be making any money now would they?

melvin289 · April 17, 2011 7:39PM

These guys are in training to become car salesmen.

Ron

ricko · April 17, 2011 9:16PM

The 'hotel' gold buyers were here two weeks ago.... thought about going down and standing outside with my own sign offering more....

would still have made a bundle. Just too lazy I guess... Cheers, RickO

Klif50 · April 17, 2011 11:16PM

"Hotel" security would have escorted you off the property and probably left you a bloody mess laying in the weeds. People have tried that before and the contract with the facility is that they are the only ones on the property that can be doing that type of business at that time. Maybe get there before they open or after they close and you might pull something off. Do it while they are open and you'll meet the local "rent a goon"

ricko · April 18, 2011 12:56AM

Any direct threat of bodily harm and they would find that I do not take kindly to such things. One attempt at physical coercion and they would be the bloody heap left in the weeds. I am not joking. Cheers, RickO

questor54 · April 18, 2011 2:25AM

Perhaps these hotel buyers are successful, in part, because of the bad reputation the local B&M coin and antique dealers have. While the hotel buyers are personable and friendly, there is a good chance the local B&M dealers (if any) may have a reputation for being surly and grumpy.

It doesn't have to be a full page ad, but in today's PM market, if the local B&M dealer wanted to buy, why not put some kind of ad in the same paper? Could even have a special 'Buying Weekend' or something. If the local B&M dealer is just going to sit back and wait for the business to come to them, these hotel sellers will continue to clean up.

There is nothing wrong in reaching out and asking for the business.

ttxp · April 18, 2011 2:27AM

<< If you're smart enough to read an ad in the paper and think "Hey! I've got some of those! Maybe it's time to sell?", you're smart enough to pick up the phone (it's not nearly as newfangled a contraption as the internet and most people have at least a passing familiarity with it) and make a couple of calls to get an idea what your stuff might be worth. >>

That says it best. The telephone is a powerful tool when its used.

The full page advertisers are up front about buy prices, fair or unfair, its printed in black and white. If people fail to shop around to establish a true market value for any given commodity then they made a poor decision in selling it. The whole purpose of running these ads is to buy as low as possible.

Good or bad, it's called capitalism.

mrpotatoheadd · April 18, 2011 11:13AM

<< I guess if it were really this simple then these folks wouldn't be making any money now would they? >>

The fact that some people don't bother to do it doesn't mean it's not a simple exercise.

Look up some numbers in the yellow pages, pick up the phone, press seven buttons and... "Hello- coin shop? How much are you paying for XXX?"

Yeah- that's a chore.

ProofArtworkonCircs · April 18, 2011 2:46PM

we just had a two page ad running in our newspaper for 4 days advertising 10 buying locations in or near Massachusetts.
Among other things pre-1965 silver coins were wanted. Prices offered were:

dimes up to 60 cents
quarters up to $1.50
halves up to $3.00

The "up to" scares me more than the 6X price. I wonder how much they were really paying.

ricko · April 18, 2011 8:36PM

"Up to" means that is where they will start telling you why YOURS is not worth that much... and proceed to offer half of that. Cheers, RickO

questor54 · April 19, 2011 3:15AM

If every B&M dealer took out even a moderate sized newspaper ad, these hotel buyers would be far less successful and widespread than they are.

If you are a silver buyer, and you don't have an ad, why do you complain about those who have one?

Just sayin'.

johnny9434 · April 19, 2011 3:49AM

<< Why don't you spend $100,000 and run you own full page ad to offer higher prices? >>

some want to make a few dollars not give it to them

Coinosaurus · April 19, 2011 3:53AM

<< 

<< I guess if it were really this simple then these folks wouldn't be making any money now would they? >>

The fact that some people don't bother to do it doesn't mean it's not a simple exercise.

Look up some numbers in the yellow pages, pick up the phone, press seven buttons and... "Hello- coin shop? How much are you paying for XXX?"

Yeah- that's a chore.

>>

It is a chore. You have to put yourself in the shoes of someone who knows absolutely nothing about what they are looking at. And the local B&M is probably going to tell them anyway that they have to bring the stuff in for them to look at. The large-ad-in-the-paper guys create value by making it very easy to sell. No free lunch here - they pay a lot of overhead (or should I say the suckers who sell to them pay the overhead) and probably don't make that much in the end. Otherwise you would see a lot more of these ads.

Insider knowledge is worth something in any biz. The readers of this forum tend to be oblivious to the fact that they have considerably more knowledge than Joe Q. Public. We've all invested time and money to learn about it, and yet somehow we still expect the average citizen to not be "dumb" and fall for the slicksters.

I wonder if doctors and lawyers have their own chat forums, and marvel at the fact that everyone else pays them for advice which is "obvious."

RipOff Sunday - Full Page Ad in today's paper

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