Flea Market Experiment
gecko109
Posts: 8,231 ✭
Was at a local flea market with my son and wife this morning. Just for fun, I took along 4 AGE 1/10ths to see what offers could be expected from these "We Buy Gold" hucksters.
All of the booths had a "We Buy Gold" sign clearly posted.....except for the last booth, which was a jewelry/coin type vendor. The other booths were all jewelry.
Booth #1 : Looked at coins extensively. Weighed them multiple times. Punched numbers on calculator for what seemed like minutes. Finally offered $550. I said I needed $600. He replied that if I had the original government packaging that he could do $600. I reminded him that these were not proofs and simply came in tubes. He insisted they came in felt boxes. I said no thanks and moved on.
Booth #2: Took 1 coin and weighed it, came back and offered me $100/coin. I said no thanks and walked away feeling that any kind of counter offer at that point would be futile.
Booth #3: Guy looks at them and asks what I want out of them. I respond $600. He says he will do $580, so I say deal. Takes the 4 coins over to a scale, then looks at them under a loupe and tells me they arent 24kt. I respond with "yes, I know....they are .9167 pure, or 22kt each". He punches in some numbers and re-offers at $500 saying that he thought they were 24kt. I say no thanks.
Booth #4: Guy grabs the 4 coins, puts them on a scale and says $420 for all. Again, I just walk away.
Booth #5: Guy has about 4-6 feet of counter space dedicated to coins. I ask if he buys 1/10th gold eagles, and he says he pays $85 each. I politely remind him that melt is currently about $150 each. He responds that nobody will pay me more than $85 per coin in this economy. Angered a bit at his nonsense BS I then challange him. I say that I will wager him his entire inventory of goods that I could sell these within 3 minutes at $130 each (as in the initial offer I got from booth #1). He finally asks what I want for them. I dump them out and say I want $150 each and tell him he cant buy these for that cheap anywhere. He then says the clientele at a flea market isnt looking to buy these type of coins and says he can sell them through other channels but needs a little more room. Offers me $560 for the lot. I counter with $580, and he re counters with $570. I almost walk, but say "fine, you get away with one this time." We both smile as he pulls a wad from his pocket, and then we start discussing the bleek outlook on the U.S. economy. Ended up being a fairly decent guy, and I got a few bucks less than what I really had wanted.
All of the booths had a "We Buy Gold" sign clearly posted.....except for the last booth, which was a jewelry/coin type vendor. The other booths were all jewelry.
Booth #1 : Looked at coins extensively. Weighed them multiple times. Punched numbers on calculator for what seemed like minutes. Finally offered $550. I said I needed $600. He replied that if I had the original government packaging that he could do $600. I reminded him that these were not proofs and simply came in tubes. He insisted they came in felt boxes. I said no thanks and moved on.
Booth #2: Took 1 coin and weighed it, came back and offered me $100/coin. I said no thanks and walked away feeling that any kind of counter offer at that point would be futile.
Booth #3: Guy looks at them and asks what I want out of them. I respond $600. He says he will do $580, so I say deal. Takes the 4 coins over to a scale, then looks at them under a loupe and tells me they arent 24kt. I respond with "yes, I know....they are .9167 pure, or 22kt each". He punches in some numbers and re-offers at $500 saying that he thought they were 24kt. I say no thanks.
Booth #4: Guy grabs the 4 coins, puts them on a scale and says $420 for all. Again, I just walk away.
Booth #5: Guy has about 4-6 feet of counter space dedicated to coins. I ask if he buys 1/10th gold eagles, and he says he pays $85 each. I politely remind him that melt is currently about $150 each. He responds that nobody will pay me more than $85 per coin in this economy. Angered a bit at his nonsense BS I then challange him. I say that I will wager him his entire inventory of goods that I could sell these within 3 minutes at $130 each (as in the initial offer I got from booth #1). He finally asks what I want for them. I dump them out and say I want $150 each and tell him he cant buy these for that cheap anywhere. He then says the clientele at a flea market isnt looking to buy these type of coins and says he can sell them through other channels but needs a little more room. Offers me $560 for the lot. I counter with $580, and he re counters with $570. I almost walk, but say "fine, you get away with one this time." We both smile as he pulls a wad from his pocket, and then we start discussing the bleek outlook on the U.S. economy. Ended up being a fairly decent guy, and I got a few bucks less than what I really had wanted.
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I stroll over, and point to a 1/10 oz Panda in a 14kt bezel and ask the young East Asian lady working the cart "How much?" She whips out a calculator and spend 30 seconds doing multiple calculations and finally announces "$495!"
I say "At my coin shop back in Chicago, we sell the same thing for $99."
All of the sudden, she cannot speak English.
TD
<< <i>The offers you got were actually a lot better than what I would have expected. >>
Agreed. I was a bit surprised at the 1st offer I got that was about 92% of melt value. The $400 offer.....the lowest....was definately "par for the course" however.
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<< <i>Up in my area $150 is a great price for 1/10 gold AGEs. Everyone wants the fractionals. I could find any 1/10 gold near me but there was lots of 1 ozers >>
$150 is a great price anywhere for 1/10ths. I can sell them all day long at that price to local coin shops. But for $30 less on 4 coins, I got to deal with the "underbelly" of the gold world, have a fun story, and not have to drive to a coin shop and get paid by check. $30 wont make or break any of us on a $570 deal. It was worth the experience!
Had a coin store offer 120 for a proof 1/10th gold eagle with original government packaging. Now thats ridiculous lol
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Not a great deal but I couldn't find anything else to pull the trigger on.
<< <i>I paid $170 for today for a 2010 1/10 ounce AGE at a fleamarket here in poor ol' West Virginia.
Not a great deal but I couldn't find anything else to pull the trigger on. >>
Wish I woulda bumped into you today. You could have saved $20 and I could have made an extra $7.50!
<< <i>Was at a local flea market with my son and wife this morning. Just for fun, I took along 4 AGE 1/10ths to see what offers could be expected from these "We Buy Gold" hucksters.
All of the booths had a "We Buy Gold" sign clearly posted.....except for the last booth, which was a jewelry/coin type vendor. The other booths were all jewelry.
Booth #1 : Looked at coins extensively. Weighed them multiple times. Punched numbers on calculator for what seemed like minutes. Finally offered $550. I said I needed $600. He replied that if I had the original government packaging that he could do $600. I reminded him that these were not proofs and simply came in tubes. He insisted they came in felt boxes. I said no thanks and moved on.
Booth #2: Took 1 coin and weighed it, came back and offered me $100/coin. I said no thanks and walked away feeling that any kind of counter offer at that point would be futile.
Booth #3: Guy looks at them and asks what I want out of them. I respond $600. He says he will do $580, so I say deal. Takes the 4 coins over to a scale, then looks at them under a loupe and tells me they arent 24kt. I respond with "yes, I know....they are .9167 pure, or 22kt each". He punches in some numbers and re-offers at $500 saying that he thought they were 24kt. I say no thanks.
Booth #4: Guy grabs the 4 coins, puts them on a scale and says $420 for all. Again, I just walk away.
Booth #5: Guy has about 4-6 feet of counter space dedicated to coins. I ask if he buys 1/10th gold eagles, and he says he pays $85 each. I politely remind him that melt is currently about $150 each. He responds that nobody will pay me more than $85 per coin in this economy. Angered a bit at his nonsense BS I then challange him. I say that I will wager him his entire inventory of goods that I could sell these within 3 minutes at $130 each (as in the initial offer I got from booth #1). He finally asks what I want for them. I dump them out and say I want $150 each and tell him he cant buy these for that cheap anywhere. He then says the clientele at a flea market isnt looking to buy these type of coins and says he can sell them through other channels but needs a little more room. Offers me $560 for the lot. I counter with $580, and he re counters with $570. I almost walk, but say "fine, you get away with one this time." We both smile as he pulls a wad from his pocket, and then we start discussing the bleek outlook on the U.S. economy. Ended up being a fairly decent guy, and I got a few bucks less than what I really had wanted. >>
I am not certain I could have gone to one of those guys, I am not sure that I could walk away without insulting the guy for trying to take advantage of people. I am glad to see that you got close to what you wanted!!!
now expect your wife to BUY her something next time!
I think I would have done the same as you did. Chalk it up as not exactly what I wanted but close enough.