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Dealers and raw coins

Should dealers who sell raw and uncertified coins be responsible if they do not grade within a reasonable proximity to the level they assign to the coins? Have full-time dealers ever accepted responsibility by paying for certification if the coin(s) were sold as good AUs and ended up grading as XF details "cleaned", etc.? Does the law recognize the implied contracts in raw coin sales unless explicitly stated? Thanks.

Comments

  • stmanstman Posts: 11,352 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The way things are these days I believe they would be smart to not offer a grade opinion. I learned way back never talk grade, talk price. I bought a raw coin recently and grade was never discussed. My kinda deal.
    Please... Save The Stories, Just Answer My Questions, And Tell Me How Much!!!!!
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,277 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Should dealers who sell raw and uncertified coins be responsible if they do not grade within a reasonable proximity to the level they assign to the coins? Have full-time dealers ever accepted responsibility by paying for certification if the coin(s) were sold as good AUs and ended up grading as XF details "cleaned", etc.? Does the law recognize the implied contracts in raw coin sales unless explicitly stated? Thanks. >>



    If you buy raw coins, either learn to grade or get a written guarantee from the dealer. Otherwise, just buy coins that have already been slabbed.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • TopographicOceansTopographicOceans Posts: 6,535 ✭✭✭✭
    Grades are opinions and I would think the only thing a dealer would warrant is authenticity.

    But all ANA dealers should offer a return policy. Otherwise it's caveat emptor
  • Bayard1908Bayard1908 Posts: 4,059 ✭✭✭✭
    Sounds like you weren't collecting back in the 1970s. Dealers offered cleaned or polished coins as gems. If you tried to sell them genuine gems, dealers claimed they were cleaned or only AU. Third party grading cleaned up much of this dishonesty; but, it still goes on.
  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    RAW = Buy at your own risk.
  • silverpopsilverpop Posts: 6,695 ✭✭✭✭✭
    when I sell raw coins I never put a grade on them I let the customer choose the grade they think the coin is and go from there
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  • winkywinky Posts: 1,671
    I think so but that will never happen as a lot of coins are over graded to begin with.
  • mrcommemmrcommem Posts: 1,175 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Pay up front for the dealer to submit the coin to a grading service. When the coin comes back if it doesn't come out the grade you expected then all you have lost is the grading fees and postage. If the dealer won't do it, then move on.
  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,040 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I put the burden on myself when buying raw coins.

    After a while you'll learn which dealers are conservative and which ones embellish their grade opinions of raw coins.

    If you're like me you'll frequent the conservative ones.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    News Flash about thirty years ago third party grading came about to cure some of those problems because the law and ANA could not cope with them. image
  • BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 31,097 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Should dealers who sell raw and uncertified coins be responsible if they do not grade within a reasonable proximity to the level they assign to the coins? Have full-time dealers ever accepted responsibility by paying for certification if the coin(s) were sold as good AUs and ended up grading as XF details "cleaned", etc.? Does the law recognize the implied contracts in raw coin sales unless explicitly stated? Thanks. >>



    Sounds like one is setting oneself up for a potential raw deal.
    theknowitalltroll;
  • ebaybuyerebaybuyer Posts: 2,984 ✭✭✭
    even hinting to this is unreasonable being that grading is a science that is far from exact.
    regardless of how many posts I have, I don't consider myself an "expert" at anything
  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>The way things are these days I believe they would be smart to not offer a grade opinion. I learned way back never talk grade, talk price. I bought a raw coin recently and grade was never discussed. My kinda deal. >>



    Mine too.

    When asked the grade, I always said I graded it $XXX.XX

    The point was easily made. image
  • The biggest sucker deals are "liner" coins, just on the line from straight grading and/or the grade assigned.

    Example: Dealer who is at shows just about every weekend sells a Seated dollar at AU bid money, it comes back as XF details, improperly cleaned. To his credit he offered a refund near purchase price. It is one thing if a dealer and collector are agreed it is an "as is" situation at discount due to the dealer not wanting to take the time and money to submit. It is another thing where full money is asked at GS bid. I agree walking away is the smart thing and telling if there is no warranty or buyback. If a coin is represented as a good coin, "AU58" and it comes back as "whizzed", does that change anything? How about a gold coin that comes back as "rim filed"? What level of impairment is enough to increase rights of buyers?
  • kazkaz Posts: 9,188 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've always felt that with buying raw you're on your own, unless you make some a priori agreement with the seller. This is where the much maligned eBAy can save the buyer some grief.
    Some time ago I spotted this nice looking 1845 SLD from a decent seller, and won it at auction (for admittedly retail money).
    image
    image

    When I had it in hand, it looked nice, and I took some close up photos, which disclosed:
    image

    some work on the rims. Returned for refund, less postage and insurance. Coin later sold for a more appropriate price at auction.

    My point being that without a firm return policy, you are solely dependent on your own skills and/or the beneficence of others.
  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,389 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Grading is nothing more than an opinion. A collector needs to learn to grade conservatively and make his own decisions.
    All glory is fleeting.
  • Type2Type2 Posts: 13,985 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The only time I give back a coin and I ask befor I buy it. That if it comes back not gen can I give it back for store credit and it is alway Yes. That is all I ever ask for. image


    Hoard the keys.
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,277 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>even hinting to this is unreasonable being that grading is a science that is far from exact. >>



    Actually, grading is an art and not a science.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • BroadstruckBroadstruck Posts: 30,497 ✭✭✭✭✭
    No as if you can't grade your way out of a wet paper bag you have no business buying raw coins.

    Dealers who sell raw usually have clientele that can grade and they don't want to be forced to jump through hoops just to make a sale to a nincompoop.
    To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
  • Commerce is a two-way street as is grading. There is a reason reputable grading services stand behind their grading. Most of the collectors on this and other coin boards can grade many of the raw coins put up with images within reasonable limits. The sharper ones can spot problems a mile away. The question is what are the raw coin dealers buying the coins as? Are they so shameless and dishonest as to misrepresent the actual grade levels as well as potential problems and to offer no guarantee of their own as to a reasonable grading service's estimate of grade? And most of these people are like a broken record when asked why they don't send the coins into grading: "I don't want to make the grading services rich"....It's an inside racket, it is who you know there that will determine the grades you get....

    I do enough grading submission to generally know what coins will come back at, there are surprises, not that many. And who are these "customers" who know how to grade who do not return anything to the dealers after they realize they have been taken? People who don't want to upset the raw coin misrepresentation scheme because they can afford to? No other collectibles business could operate with such impunity selling high value items without standing behind them.
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,389 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Commerce is a two-way street as is grading. There is a reason reputable grading services stand behind their grading. Most of the collectors on this and other coin boards can grade many of the raw coins put up with images within reasonable limits. The sharper ones can spot problems a mile away. The question is what are the raw coin dealers buying the coins as? Are they so shameless and dishonest as to misrepresent the actual grade levels as well as potential problems and to offer no guarantee of their own as to a reasonable grading service's estimate of grade? And most of these people are like a broken record when asked why they don't send the coins into grading: "I don't want to make the grading services rich"....It's an inside racket, it is who you know there that will determine the grades you get....

    I do enough grading submission to generally know what coins will come back at, there are surprises, not that many. And who are these "customers" who know how to grade who do not return anything to the dealers after they realize they have been taken? People who don't want to upset the raw coin misrepresentation scheme because they can afford to? No other collectibles business could operate with such impunity selling high value items without standing behind them. >>



    Most collectible business is due to collectors. They make the hobby a business by supporting it. Dealers are in the business of supply.
    I'd like a Private Message of the names of the perpetrators, from anyone reading this message board. Thanks.

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