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scooter25
Posts: 769 ✭✭✭✭
Hey fellas
I am kind of new to this and i hope not to make an @$$ out of myself by asking these questions but here it goes. I am 25 years old and I am trying to get started in making a little money dealing coins. I have been collecting for a while now and figure if I can make some money doing something I like to do then why not. I have sold a few things on ebay and I can manage to make a small profit which is slowly building my buying power but it seems extremely slow just making a few cents here and there. I have bought proof sets and BU rolls from the mint and broken them down to sell individually and that makes me a little bit of money ( I hope thats not taboo around here) but not much. The nearest coin dealer to me is 45-50 miles away and even his shop is very small. So I do most of my buying/selling online. I am going to start trying to hit auctions here soon as well to try to find some deals. So I guess my question is, to any dealers on here or anyone on here that has made even a marginal amount of money, how do you do it? What options are out there to go deeper into this. Should I buy proof and mint sets and send them to PCGS? Should I go to auctions and try to get deals and flip the coins so to speak? Is it a combination? I do know that with time and experience comes knowledge, but I figure if you want some knowledge go to the source right? All I have is modern stuff because thats all I can afford. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read this and helping out one of the young new guys.
I am kind of new to this and i hope not to make an @$$ out of myself by asking these questions but here it goes. I am 25 years old and I am trying to get started in making a little money dealing coins. I have been collecting for a while now and figure if I can make some money doing something I like to do then why not. I have sold a few things on ebay and I can manage to make a small profit which is slowly building my buying power but it seems extremely slow just making a few cents here and there. I have bought proof sets and BU rolls from the mint and broken them down to sell individually and that makes me a little bit of money ( I hope thats not taboo around here) but not much. The nearest coin dealer to me is 45-50 miles away and even his shop is very small. So I do most of my buying/selling online. I am going to start trying to hit auctions here soon as well to try to find some deals. So I guess my question is, to any dealers on here or anyone on here that has made even a marginal amount of money, how do you do it? What options are out there to go deeper into this. Should I buy proof and mint sets and send them to PCGS? Should I go to auctions and try to get deals and flip the coins so to speak? Is it a combination? I do know that with time and experience comes knowledge, but I figure if you want some knowledge go to the source right? All I have is modern stuff because thats all I can afford. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read this and helping out one of the young new guys.
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Comments
--Severian the Lame
<< <i>So I guess my question is, to any dealers on here or anyone on here that has made even a marginal amount of money, how do you do it? >>
From the non-slab-everything viewpoint: the best way to make money on items is to know more about the item than the other person - be that on the buying end or the selling end. (Who said that, Ford?) Heritage, for example, moves so many lots they can't possibly get into the minutiae for each and every one of them. But if you know the coins, then you can, and you can capitalize on that. I've snagged coins lacking a provenance a few times and one plate coin from the Judd book. And you are correct that it takes time to acquire that knowledge. If your focus is on the modern stuff, read up and learn all you can on that subject.
if you are serious, learn how to access the archives here, change around your forum settings and bed down for hundreds/thousands of hours of reading.
there is enough info contained here for multiple PhDs in many subjects besides numismatics. enjoy and good fortune.
.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
<< <i>Learn a lot about coins first. Otherwise you will be buying what no one else wants. >>
Unfortunately, this is so very, very, true! I've been doing coins longer than I care to
admit... 50+ years, anyway. I still learn lessons...Just no longer daily...But still......
Good Luck!
The reality is that some people are successful in any business, and most are not. Luck and timing play a role, but there is no substitute for knowledge, experience, creativity, and a willingness to work very hard for long hours.
Coin Rarities Online
<< <i>You may as well be asking how to make money in the real estate business. Or the restaurant business. Or in show business.
The reality is that some people are successful in any business, and most are not. Luck and timing play a role, but there is no substitute for knowledge, experience, creativity, and a willingness to work very hard for long hours. >>
Dude, could you just give us the easy route. Your solution sounds too much like work.
<< <i>
<< <i>You may as well be asking how to make money in the real estate business. Or the restaurant business. Or in show business.
The reality is that some people are successful in any business, and most are not. Luck and timing play a role, but there is no substitute for knowledge, experience, creativity, and a willingness to work very hard for long hours. >>
Dude, could you just give us the easy route. Your solution sounds too much like work.
Ok, here's the abridged version:
Pick a specialty.
Know it inside and out.
Start slowly.
Gain experience.
Figure out what works for you, and what does not.
Then do more of the former, less of the latter.
That's pretty much it.
Coin Rarities Online
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>You may as well be asking how to make money in the real estate business. Or the restaurant business. Or in show business.
The reality is that some people are successful in any business, and most are not. Luck and timing play a role, but there is no substitute for knowledge, experience, creativity, and a willingness to work very hard for long hours. >>
Dude, could you just give us the easy route. Your solution sounds too much like work.
Ok, here's the abridged version:
Pick a specialty.
Know it inside and out.
Start slowly.
Gain experience.
Figure out what works for you, and what does not.
Then do more of the former, less of the latter.
That's pretty much it. >>
How about clarifying this "former" and "latter" business. I always get those confused.
<< <i>Should I buy proof and mint sets and send them to PCGS? >>
I wouldn't. Lots of modern junk abounds. I wouldn't want to be wasting time with high-volume, low-value junk, even if it's got a "OMG MS 69!" slab. Let me tell you why you'll hate it. You'll make lots of little purchases. Slabbing all of that stuff, the fees will eat you alive. Then you be stuck with hundreds, if not thousands, of slabs, all of it low-value. Next, you'll be burning up hours trying to sell all of it. Sounds like hell. You know, I have around 10 1970s proof sets, was looking to make a couple cameo slabs. Didn't spend a lot, but even that little bit, I hate it. No cameos, waste of time and space and money, I don't even care about them. I may throw them away or put them in circulation, that's how annoyed I am at it. It was a smart lesson that cost me a couple hundred bucks many years ago. Never again.
<< <i>All I have is modern stuff because thats all I can afford. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read this and helping out one of the young new guys. >>
My advice: save your money and do two things. One, open up an account at Vanguard and invest some of it with a low-expense Vanguard fund, such as Total Stock Market, Total Bond Market, Wellesley, something. Or go with Fidelity Spartan funds. Something that has ultra-low expenses. That investment will pay you every single month or quarter. You are young. Invest now and let it compound. You'll thank me in twenty years. By the way I'm not joking, this is what I do and I get paid every single month and every single quarter. Cut your expenses and save, it's a wonderful way to live. Think Gordon Gekko and "pure liquid." You'll find more than a few board members here think and do similarly. Once you've got this covered, you'll have money for coins. Seriously.
Two, save up and buy quality pieces. Me personally? I love gold goins, any gold coins. Love the look, love the value, love the history, love the fact gold is stable and is exceedingly rare, love the designs. Love all of it. I did buy some moderns -- modern gold commemoratives like the First Flight series a while back, the Capitol Visitors coin, and I look for bargains on old gold (which now is exceedingly difficult, a ton of strong hands are buying everything in sight). When I see low mintages and people complaining about expensive Mint prices, yep, that's when I'm buying. (Same thing with investments, I'm buying when others are selling.) And I'd much rather own five valuable gold coins that I love, than hundreds or even thousands of low-value slabs, which would annoy me to no end.
I'm not telling you to buy gold coins, in fact don't do it to start out, you're likely to get torched if you're a novice. What I am saying is, find something you like. Maybe that is silver dollars. Proof Barbers. Washingtons. Kennedy halves are very popular. Red copper pieces. Anything except common modern junk.
<< <i>Also what is floor bid? >>
A floor bid is made live, in person, during the auction.
If E-bay is your only auction experience, you should be aware that that is not at all how it works in the real world. Both Stack's & Heritage have software that allow you to view their live auctions and you can get a feel for them and the pace at which lots are hammered out.