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Dealers and flippers, what is your strategy for taking a loss?

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  • Dumbest mistakes recently: bought a SL quarter that looked to grade MS63/4 but had a reverse stain I figured would dip out; I figured wrong, permanent stain. I paid over $200 plus conservation/grading and sold around $170. I learned recently about the counterfeit gold coin recently from grading, it is going back as no dealer should refuse a return on fakes. The hardest raw coins to judge are those with surface substance mimicking "luster", so the coin grades "cleaned" or "whizzed" once an acetone dip removes it.

    I don't subscribe to the "greater fool" method; find a dupe and sucker them in to a purchase of a numismatic item with problems through shilling; karma, etc. can come back with a vengeance in such cases as well it should. Doctoring stuff and then palming off the problem as a nice raw coin at a show, there are way too many traps at the average coin show.
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,582 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I make it up on volume. Eventually if I lose enough, there won't be anything left.
  • I was talking with Robert Riemer at his office last week who said 1-2% is tolerable from a business perspective.
  • Other. Why don't the PCGS pay for they're own grades?
  • Jinx86Jinx86 Posts: 3,710 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My boss tends to hide things he bought "wrong" in the back of the safe. I was digging and found PCGS rattlers that hadn't seen the light of day in over 25 years. He was happy to hear that the coins in them were worth something finally. I tend to bulk lots together sometimes to draw extra bids online, that has been my best method of tucking the junk into a decent lot.
  • Geez.....I never lost money on a Mint Flip.....seriously..never....so I have no strategy developed.

    I am not a coin dealer by profession
    I was ‘COINB0Y' with 4812 posts and ‘Expert Collector’ ranking (Joined in 2006).
  • VanHalenVanHalen Posts: 4,330 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Numismatic slut and market whore's perspective.....
    >>



    ColonelJessup is not one to mince words.
    image
  • dibdib Posts: 311


    << <i>Geez.....I never lost money on a Mint Flip.....seriously..never....so I have no strategy developed. >>



    That just means you haven't sold enough coins... sooner or later it happens.
  • BoosibriBoosibri Posts: 12,400 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I love CJ's response. Well done.
  • chumleychumley Posts: 2,305 ✭✭✭✭
    my biggest loser happens to be a nice coin that I way overpaid for....took a few years for the sting of my stupidity to wear off but I am now able to enjoy the coin for its beauty
  • B. Why delay the inevitable (and pawning off a bad deal on a customer would be totally dishonest, so of course that's not an option.)
    www.sullivannumismatics.com Dealer in Mint Error Coins.
  • I have some rules on buying; do not take "chances" on problem coins unless you can get them at the right price. I deal with a dealer who has a lot of raw coins that he "grades" often way too optimistically. When I show interest, he turns the coin over and tells me what "he paid". Is he being honest? Time after time he quotes ridiculous prices based on what the coin or note *would* grade in a fairy tale world where problems get overlooked. The wife at his side knows if he is being honest or not.

    So how do you get out of mistakes? I have taken many losses but it makes no sense to just blow out your losses on ebay unless you are independently wealthy below reasonable market. List the stuff at reasonable prices and hope for a reasonable offer. You will lose something on your mistakes unless you find someone who likes it or unless you do something unethical.

    When you bought the item what were you basing the value of the item on? What was the dealer basing the price on? How did you miss the mistake? Lighting, glass, etc.? Double up on your methods to prevent problems and minimize risk.

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