FWIW, you might want to consider changing your terminology. "Net pricing" usually refers to items which do not qualify for standard discounts. For example, in the wine trade, if a dealer offers a fixed percentage case discount, certain wines may not be eligible, and would have their prices followed by "NET".
In any event, you are in the minority, so I'm not sure what you hope to gain by launching a crusade against your potential customers. What's the upside for your business?
So the dude doesn't want to pay $525 but pays $600? Also, Heritage pricing includes commission, sometimes on both sides, so your net price should be 15-20 points lower. (What is it a "net" of by the way?) And of course, the sticker on the "front" rather than the back, really drives home the bargain these fools are getting!
I applaud you for putting prices on your coins. I appreciate seeing that and it gives me an idea of whether we can do business or I should move along.
Illini420's reply was spot-on. I would have offered the coin at the original price after retagging it, unless I hated the guy and never wanted to see him again.
It's a good story, though. I wouldn't have guessed that dealers might cringe over "what's your best price?" Is it better to say "Can you go lower?" or "Do you have any wiggle room on the price?" I'm not sure I see any difference. In my experience dealers will often knock a little off the price to try to close the deal. So why not ask? Sometimes they're stuck on the price and I accept that. Lance.
<< <i>I explain as nicely as I can that the price he sees is my best price and he is welcome to counter.
This is where you lost me. ?? >>
Yes, that makes no sense. If it's net pricing then that should be your bottom line and no countering should be welcomed. If countering IS welcomed, then I fail to see your great offense at the question "what is your best price?" -- it's a fairly innocuous approach.
You come off in this story not so well as you should want to.
<< <i>At the coin show yesterday a customer was at my table when he eyed a Norfolk PCGS MS67+ CAC monster I had in my case for $525. Remember, I do upfront net pricing with the prices clearly marked on the front of the slab. I also have little signs saying I do net pricing. He asks to see the coin, and was clearly pleased with what he saw. Rightly so because it was nice.
Background: I bought the coin some months ago in a 67 holder and upgraded it and got it CAC'ed. Also, this is a person I have never done business with before.
And of course he leads with the inevitable, most unoriginal, dumbest opening line you would want to use with a dealer and says "what is your best price" (see my previous thread about how asking a dealer to bid against themselves is not the best in coin dealing etiquette). I explain as nicely as I can that the price he sees is my best price and he is welcome to counter. He of course does not register a word of what I said and says again "what is your best price?" to which I replied, would you like me to check if the coin is priced correctly? He said "yes" so off I went to Heritage to see what I could see. Turns out one very similar to mine recently sold for $646! I then realized that I had not updated the price after it came back with the "+." So I thanked him very much for making me check, peeled off the sticker and replaced with one for $625 right in front of him. He turned white, and I did all I could to suppress my smug smile.
He finally bought the coin for a settled upon $600.
Fire away!!!!!! >>
Personally I would have just said, "If you want it for that price fine, if you walk away I will reprice it to $625."
I think he was confused with the term "net pricing." I think some of these people would haggle with a stripper over a $20 lap dance. Certainly there are a lot of tire kickers at shows who are just looking for what they can rip or talk down. Serious buyers will pay the money. Kudos to you on getting a better deal once the dust settled as this guy turned out to be a serious buyer.
I don't think he was much of a player if he could not make a decision on the original price or if serious about an offer put the money on the table. Smart players will show the dealer the green on a counter offer. Then the dealer will have to turn down cash money on the table. Since tire kickers usually don't have any money anyhow they will try to argue.......I don't waste my time with them.
If I put price stickers on the front of coins at a show the coins are priced as marked. Usually these are priced around wholesale anyhow and priced to move. If they ask a "best" price I tell them the coin is already at my best price. If they try to haggle I simply say I operate on a narrow spread. They can take it or walk. What Heritage or ebay gave it away for means nothing or what A across the room is selling it for is meaningless. If A's coin was nicer they would have probably bought his.
I have seen people offered coins at just at $5 above bid and they make a fool out of themselves trying to haggle. I was sharing a table with a major wholesaler once and he had a stack of five 1884-CC PCGS MS 65 Dollars all at just $5 above bid. Beautiful coins brilliant, wellstruck, with super luster. He showed them to a guy who tried to haggle on the one he had selected and then walked away having run into a brickwall. I then bought all of them (I knew they would not last as I had run out) at that and immediately put CW Trends Retail (price sticker) on them. I sold two at that show and retailed the remaining three at the next two shows.
Other coins don't have stickers on them except an inventory code on the back. All the other info is in my computer or on a printout.
The dealer has already named a price. Proper haggling ettiquette would seem to require the would-be buyer to name the next price.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point.
Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Also won the PNG's Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.
When I went to China in 2011, I went to an open air bourse market in Shanghai and made the mistake of allowing my eyes to turn and look at a young woman's merchandise. Big mistake.
She proceeds to lurch forward, grab my arm, nearly yanked it out of my shoulder socket and then shoved a calculator in my hand and screamed "negotiate!!!!!!"
No one next to me even thought she was being aggressive!
When I went to China in 2011, I went to an open air bourse market in Shanghai and made the mistake of allowing my eyes to turn and look at a young woman's merchandise. Big mistake.
She proceeds to lurch forward, grab my arm, nearly yanked it out of my shoulder socket and then shoved a calculator in my hand and screamed "negotiate!!!!!!"
No one next to me even thought she was being aggressive! >>
That has a tendency to happen when you look at a young womans merchandise!
<< <i>1. "Net pricing" is hardly routine terminology when it comes to collectibles. I certainly have never heard a coin or stamp dealer use it. Don't go assuming everyone knows what it means, or more importantly how YOU personally interpret it. You act as if every buyer should automatgically know that you price your coins counter to the way virtually everyone else does. In all my years, I have only encountered one dealer that claimed not to negotiate under any circumstances, and even he would negotiate if the purchase was large enough.
2. Being an arrogant plick to customers probably isn't the greatest way to go about your business, especially then advertising it here. Word gets arround. >>
My thoughts exactly. I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price. I also agree with the second statement above. AMRC doesn't come off looking good in the eyes of most of the forum collectors here although there are a few dealers here that applaud him.
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
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit.....
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit..... >>
True. And you have to respect a collectors right to bypass these dealers and spend their money elsewhere.
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
I have had it go the opposite way. I asked to see a small group of raw coins not marked with a price. I pretty much decided I would have the set and asked the best price. The dealer said $2,000. When I handed them back he asked what is the matter? I stated PC examples in similar grade auction at Heritage for $1,600-$1,800 and this is a nice set and offered $1,800 and they happily accepted it. The coins all graded much better then I expected.
A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because it's trust is not in the branch but it's own wings.
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit..... >>
Yes, it is not that rare at coin shows. People just have to read the sign.
Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Also won the PNG's Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.
Net pricing really the drama. You had to raise the price because you didn't have net pricing or should I say old auction pricing. It sounds like to me if I can find a better price on the net you will honor it. And should I say I have great doubts.
Sounds like your going to have a lot of work since pricing on the net can change daily.
<< <i>The dealer has already named a price. Proper haggling ettiquette would seem to require the would-be buyer to name the next price.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point. >>
Not how it works at shows I go to selling other collectibles. Merchandise is priced and those in the know realize that the sticker price is the dealer's opening salvo. I always ask if the sticker price is firm, or if they can do any better. 99 out of 100 times, the dealer can do a little better, tells me "X" and I proceed to pay "X" and walk away with the item. No fuss no muss.
Asking the buyer to come up with the counteroffer may work just fine, but also can lead to the (perhaps unknowingly) too low an offer given and then sends said dealer into a tizzy. Really no need for the drama, but smoe folks love to thrive on drama and seek to create it whenever possible (witness this thread.)
<< <i>Net pricing really the drama. You had to raise the price because you didn't have net pricing or should I say old auction pricing. It sounds like to me if I can find a better price on the net you will honor it. And should I say I have great doubts.
Sounds like your going to have a lot of work since pricing on the net can change daily. >>
He raised the price because he forgot to add in the extra cost of submitting the coin for re-evaluation, not because a like coin sold for more at auction. If one sends coins to CAC, then one should add that extra cost to his base cost, no? So he could have repriced it or just simply held firm on the $575. Looks like he chose to reprice it because the guy was a dork. Can't say as I blame him.
<< <i>The dealer has already named a price. Proper haggling ettiquette would seem to require the would-be buyer to name the next price.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point. >>
Not how it works at shows I go to selling other collectibles. Merchandise is priced and those in the know realize that the sticker price is the dealer's opening salvo. I always ask if the sticker price is firm, or if they can do any better. 99 out of 100 times, the dealer can do a little better, tells me "X" and I proceed to pay "X" and walk away with the item. No fuss no muss.
Asking the buyer to come up with the counteroffer may work just fine, but also can lead to the (perhaps unknowingly) too low an offer given and then sends said dealer into a tizzy. Really no need for the drama, but smoe folks love to thrive on drama and seek to create it whenever possible (witness this thread.) >>
Is it fair to assume that at a coin show that most buyers and sellers/dealers have a pretty god idea of what something is worth?
What particularly stands out is that people are looking to jump on one side or another based on one episode. As dealers we see some really ridiculous things, as you can tell by the "why dealers drink" series. And every once in a while some "customer" comes along that is rude or otherwise unpleasant to deal with. And while I can bite my tongue 99% of the time, this was one of those times where I just had to have fun with the whole thing. And that's what I did. What is really interesting is how polarized some of these comments are. But here is the reality. I sell coins from 25C to (my personal record) $462,000 and do not specialize in any one thing (but I am heavy in Morgans) so I see a broad range of people.
I have bought coins from dealers who were the north end of a horse going south I have bought coins from dealers who don't even remember me after dumping tens of thousands of dollars at there tables I have bought coins from dealers who are very pleasant to do business with I have customers who are the north end of a horse going south I have customers that could care less about who I am, my ethics, morals, how I dress, or much else except the coin they want to buy. (this is not a negative by the way) And I have customers who I have become true friends with to the point where we spend time at each others homes across the country
But most importantly, we treat people according to how they treat us. I wish I could say I was a machine, but I am not. I have many great customers, and I have others who I could care less about. If you think dealers can be "sharks" you should see some customers! Everyone of us has the right to draw whatever conclusions we want from this story, but the whole point was, that you reap what you sow. If my honesty turned some people off, well, see the list above.
MLAeBayNumismatics: "The greatest hobby in the world!"
And yes there are "Signs" that say Net pricing, and Yes we have to explain that a lot. I can only try and change things for me, one person at a time, not the whole industry. Good ideas are often met with violent opposition (paraphrased Einstein comment). But that is not going to stop me.
My comment about "you are free to counter" is because everyone is free to counter. I cannot stop them. Let's be reasonable, if they come back and wanted $25 off on a $500 coin it would be silly for me not to at least consider it. It is really meant to say that "hey, we are not one of those guys that artificially marks things up 15% in anticipation of the haggle." If you see this as some inconsistency in my behavior, that's fine. Seems like a very fine point to make a decision about me on, but hey, to each his own.
MLAeBayNumismatics: "The greatest hobby in the world!"
I think one of the problems here is the general arrogance of coin dealers. I buy and sell coins, but I also run an accounting business. I treat all my customers the way I would like to be treated. I have a very high retention rate among my clients. Treating them nicely ALL the time is required as far as I am concerned. In this case, the dealer made an error in pricing. Sometimes I have given an estimate to my clients that is too low. That is MY mistake. When I realize it, I have learned that going back to the customer and saying "whoops" I must charge you $100 more, is a sure way to not have the customer come back next year. I do much better in the long run by having the customer return. So I do not up the price once quoted. Most Coin dealers seem to follow different sets of rules. I have collected for many years. I have never understood the business ettiquette of coin dealers. Nor do i feel i should have to. I am the customer. If the dealer does not want my money, some other friendlier dealer will want all my business.
I dont know i may have walked away. Just becuse some one points out something in this case a price. Does it make it ok to up it right then and there. Ya it is your coin you can do what ever you want but i dont like to deal with some one that i need to keep my moth close or the price my go up. This is a tuff spot to be in every one wants to make more $$$ just point it out if he passed on it and walks away then pill it off and fix it. This is why i started picking becuse if i told every dealer what i see in there case they would pull it out of the case get it graded or wright it on the flip and bang $50 more or $200 and the next guy will never get a chance so i dont say anything and let it sit for the next guy. But that is just me dumb Type2.
Comments
which do not qualify for standard discounts. For example, in the wine trade, if a dealer offers a fixed
percentage case discount, certain wines may not be eligible, and would have their prices followed by
"NET".
In any event, you are in the minority, so I'm not sure what you hope to gain by launching a crusade
against your potential customers. What's the upside for your business?
So the dude doesn't want to pay $525 but pays $600? Also, Heritage pricing includes commission, sometimes on both sides, so your net price should be 15-20 points lower. (What is it a "net" of by the way?) And of course, the sticker on the "front" rather than the back, really drives home the bargain these fools are getting!
Illini420's reply was spot-on. I would have offered the coin at the original price after retagging it, unless I hated the guy and never wanted to see him again.
It's a good story, though. I wouldn't have guessed that dealers might cringe over "what's your best price?" Is it better to say "Can you go lower?" or "Do you have any wiggle room on the price?" I'm not sure I see any difference. In my experience dealers will often knock a little off the price to try to close the deal. So why not ask? Sometimes they're stuck on the price and I accept that.
Lance.
<< <i>I explain as nicely as I can that the price he sees is my best price and he is welcome to counter.
This is where you lost me. ?? >>
Yes, that makes no sense. If it's net pricing then that should be your bottom line and no countering should be welcomed. If countering IS welcomed, then I fail to see your great offense at the question "what is your best price?" -- it's a fairly innocuous approach.
You come off in this story not so well as you should want to.
<< <i>At the coin show yesterday a customer was at my table when he eyed a Norfolk PCGS MS67+ CAC monster I had in my case for $525. Remember, I do upfront net pricing with the prices clearly marked on the front of the slab. I also have little signs saying I do net pricing. He asks to see the coin, and was clearly pleased with what he saw. Rightly so because it was nice.
Background: I bought the coin some months ago in a 67 holder and upgraded it and got it CAC'ed. Also, this is a person I have never done business with before.
And of course he leads with the inevitable, most unoriginal, dumbest opening line you would want to use with a dealer and says "what is your best price" (see my previous thread about how asking a dealer to bid against themselves is not the best in coin dealing etiquette). I explain as nicely as I can that the price he sees is my best price and he is welcome to counter. He of course does not register a word of what I said and says again "what is your best price?" to which I replied, would you like me to check if the coin is priced correctly? He said "yes" so off I went to Heritage to see what I could see. Turns out one very similar to mine recently sold for $646! I then realized that I had not updated the price after it came back with the "+." So I thanked him very much for making me check, peeled off the sticker and replaced with one for $625 right in front of him. He turned white, and I did all I could to suppress my smug smile.
He finally bought the coin for a settled upon $600.
Fire away!!!!!! >>
Personally I would have just said, "If you want it for that price fine, if you walk away I will reprice it to $625."
I don't think he was much of a player if he could not make a decision on the original price or if serious about an offer put the money on the table. Smart players will show the dealer the green on a counter offer. Then the dealer will have to turn down cash money on the table. Since tire kickers usually don't have any money anyhow they will try to argue.......I don't waste my time with them.
If I put price stickers on the front of coins at a show the coins are priced as marked. Usually these are priced around wholesale anyhow and priced to move. If they ask a "best" price I tell them the coin is already at my best price. If they try to haggle I simply say I operate on a narrow spread. They can take it or walk. What Heritage or ebay gave it away for means nothing or what A across the room is selling it for is meaningless. If A's coin was nicer they would have probably bought his.
I have seen people offered coins at just at $5 above bid and they make a fool out of themselves trying to haggle. I was sharing a table with a major wholesaler once and he had a stack of five 1884-CC PCGS MS 65 Dollars all at just $5 above bid. Beautiful coins brilliant, wellstruck, with super luster. He showed them to a guy who tried to haggle on the one he had selected and then walked away having run into a brickwall. I then bought all of them (I knew they would not last as I had run out) at that and immediately put CW Trends Retail (price sticker) on them. I sold two at that show and retailed the remaining three at the next two shows.
Other coins don't have stickers on them except an inventory code on the back. All the other info is in my computer or on a printout.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point.
When I went to China in 2011, I went to an open air bourse market in Shanghai and made the mistake of allowing my eyes to turn and look at a young woman's merchandise. Big mistake.
She proceeds to lurch forward, grab my arm, nearly yanked it out of my shoulder socket and then shoved a calculator in my hand and screamed "negotiate!!!!!!"
No one next to me even thought she was being aggressive!
<< <i>It can also be a cultural thing as well.
When I went to China in 2011, I went to an open air bourse market in Shanghai and made the mistake of allowing my eyes to turn and look at a young woman's merchandise. Big mistake.
She proceeds to lurch forward, grab my arm, nearly yanked it out of my shoulder socket and then shoved a calculator in my hand and screamed "negotiate!!!!!!"
No one next to me even thought she was being aggressive! >>
That has a tendency to happen when you look at a young womans merchandise!
<< <i>1. "Net pricing" is hardly routine terminology when it comes to collectibles. I certainly have never heard a coin or stamp dealer use it. Don't go assuming everyone knows what it means, or more importantly how YOU personally interpret it. You act as if every buyer should automatgically know that you price your coins counter to the way virtually everyone else does. In all my years, I have only encountered one dealer that claimed not to negotiate under any circumstances, and even he would negotiate if the purchase was large enough.
2. Being an arrogant plick to customers probably isn't the greatest way to go about your business, especially then advertising it here. Word gets arround. >>
My thoughts exactly. I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price. I also agree with the second statement above. AMRC doesn't come off looking good in the eyes of most of the forum collectors here although there are a few dealers here that applaud him.
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
<< <i>That has a tendency to happen when you look at a young womans merchandise! >>
I was curious who would bite first, and how hard, on this line. Way to keep it PG13.
Latin American Collection
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit.....
<< <i>
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit..... >>
True. And you have to respect a collectors right to bypass these dealers and spend their money elsewhere.
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
I pretty much decided I would have the set and asked the best price. The dealer said $2,000.
When I handed them back he asked what is the matter? I stated PC examples in similar grade
auction at Heritage for $1,600-$1,800 and this is a nice set and offered $1,800 and they happily
accepted it. The coins all graded much better then I expected.
<< <i>
<< <i>I have never seen a sign saying "Net Pricing" at any coin show and most collectors will not know what this means. Occasionally, I'll see a sign saying "All Prices Are Firm" or similar but this is not the norm. The vast majority of dealers include room in their pricing for negotiation and will not be offended when a collector asks him for his best price >>
I have seen examples of this at all major and large regional shows.....along with examples where a circled price means net priced.
And if you guys don't like this, then I bet you hate the ones that state "Prices posted are NET prices to REGISTERED DEALERS. All others add 10%"......I don't like it either, but I have to respect the dealer's desire to conduct business as he sees fit..... >>
Yes, it is not that rare at coin shows. People just have to read the sign.
If you decided to do net pricing in order to be more efficient as a seller and save you aggravation from the selling process.....
Well..
It may backfire at times. And may cost you some sales. Most buyers expect some give & take.
MAYBE.... if it is something SUPERB, I might, but generally I despise unpriced merchandise.
Sounds like your going to have a lot of work since pricing on the net can change daily.
<< <i>The dealer has already named a price. Proper haggling ettiquette would seem to require the would-be buyer to name the next price.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point. >>
Not how it works at shows I go to selling other collectibles. Merchandise is priced and those in the know realize that the sticker price is the dealer's opening salvo. I always ask if the sticker price is firm, or if they can do any better. 99 out of 100 times, the dealer can do a little better, tells me "X" and I proceed to pay "X" and walk away with the item. No fuss no muss.
Asking the buyer to come up with the counteroffer may work just fine, but also can lead to the (perhaps unknowingly) too low an offer given and then sends said dealer into a tizzy. Really no need for the drama, but smoe folks love to thrive on drama and seek to create it whenever possible (witness this thread.)
<< <i>Net pricing really the drama. You had to raise the price because you didn't have net pricing or should I say old auction pricing. It sounds like to me if I can find a better price on the net you will honor it. And should I say I have great doubts.
Sounds like your going to have a lot of work since pricing on the net can change daily. >>
He raised the price because he forgot to add in the extra cost of submitting the coin for re-evaluation, not because a like coin sold for more at auction. If one sends coins to CAC, then one should add that extra cost to his base cost, no? So he could have repriced it or just simply held firm on the $575. Looks like he chose to reprice it because the guy was a dork. Can't say as I blame him.
<< <i>
<< <i>The dealer has already named a price. Proper haggling ettiquette would seem to require the would-be buyer to name the next price.
For one thing it indicates whether the would-be buyer is a player or a joker. I have had people offer me less than melt on a gold coin as their opening offer, presumably on the theory that we would ultimately split the difference. THose people got cut off at that point. >>
Not how it works at shows I go to selling other collectibles. Merchandise is priced and those in the know realize that the sticker price is the dealer's opening salvo. I always ask if the sticker price is firm, or if they can do any better. 99 out of 100 times, the dealer can do a little better, tells me "X" and I proceed to pay "X" and walk away with the item. No fuss no muss.
Asking the buyer to come up with the counteroffer may work just fine, but also can lead to the (perhaps unknowingly) too low an offer given and then sends said dealer into a tizzy. Really no need for the drama, but smoe folks love to thrive on drama and seek to create it whenever possible (witness this thread.) >>
Is it fair to assume that at a coin show that most buyers and sellers/dealers have a pretty god idea of what something is worth?
What particularly stands out is that people are looking to jump on one side or another based on one episode. As dealers we see some really ridiculous things, as you can tell by the "why dealers drink" series. And every once in a while some "customer" comes along that is rude or otherwise unpleasant to deal with. And while I can bite my tongue 99% of the time, this was one of those times where I just had to have fun with the whole thing. And that's what I did. What is really interesting is how polarized some of these comments are. But here is the reality. I sell coins from 25C to (my personal record) $462,000 and do not specialize in any one thing (but I am heavy in Morgans) so I see a broad range of people.
I have bought coins from dealers who were the north end of a horse going south
I have bought coins from dealers who don't even remember me after dumping tens of thousands of dollars at there tables
I have bought coins from dealers who are very pleasant to do business with
I have customers who are the north end of a horse going south
I have customers that could care less about who I am, my ethics, morals, how I dress, or much else except the coin they want to buy. (this is not a negative by the way)
And I have customers who I have become true friends with to the point where we spend time at each others homes across the country
But most importantly, we treat people according to how they treat us. I wish I could say I was a machine, but I am not. I have many great customers, and I have others who I could care less about. If you think dealers can be "sharks" you should see some customers! Everyone of us has the right to draw whatever conclusions we want from this story, but the whole point was, that you reap what you sow. If my honesty turned some people off, well, see the list above.
My comment about "you are free to counter" is because everyone is free to counter. I cannot stop them. Let's be reasonable, if they come back and wanted $25 off on a $500 coin it would be silly for me not to at least consider it. It is really meant to say that "hey, we are not one of those guys that artificially marks things up 15% in anticipation of the haggle." If you see this as some inconsistency in my behavior, that's fine. Seems like a very fine point to make a decision about me on, but hey, to each his own.
I do much better in the long run by having the customer return. So I do not up the price once quoted.
Most Coin dealers seem to follow different sets of rules. I have collected for many years. I have never understood the business ettiquette of coin dealers. Nor do i feel i should have to. I am the customer. If the dealer does not want my money, some other friendlier dealer will want all my business.
Hoard the keys.