Dealer raw coin buy prices
logger7
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If you are going to buy Morgan and Peace dollars, Walkers and other type coins either as a dealer or vest pocket buyer for resale, what are reasonable buy prices?
It is becoming harder to make money with coins you end up selling for $50 and above if you have to send them to PCGS or NGC for grading; many of the buyers are looking for nice eye appealing coins at around Greysheet, if you sell on ebay you are getting hit with 10% or more selling/shipping fees. The only way I can see dealers turning a profit on buying raw, getting the coins certified, and then selling them is if they get lucky occasionally with higher grades than they bought them at. Meanwhile they have to eat the losses on coins that come back as AU58, etc., unless they bought them cheap enough or they were better date coins.
What are common dealer buy prices on somewhat to better date dollars and other popular numismatic coins?
Comments
It depends on the dealer and the series.
Some that I have visited recently pay 25%-35% under greysheet (raw-where they decide the grade- or certified...this included coins like Morgans, 20 Cent Pieces, Seated Quarters, Classic Commemoratives).
For something like raw Peace Dollars or Morgans, they pay melt for common dates or a few dollars over for somewhat better dates (I can't speak for key dates as I don't have any).
Yep...harder for the casual flipper.
Probably still ok for the specialist or the person who gets lucky, but the days of buying raw/grading/ebaying (or otherwise selling for a quick flip) are past their hay day.
I was never a big flipper, but I did a few small ones. Last handful+ of years, and I have just focused on mainly collecting and not trying to play the flip game like that.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Common coins, which means almost all coins, dealers ought to be very conservative in their grading and buy prices.
Rare, desireable coins, particularly pre 1816, one can gamble a little if they have a good eye, as they will be liquid even at the next grade down.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
If dealers are getting relatively inexpensive (under $100) coins certified, there are bulk coin specials that can bring the cost down to $10 or so on around 100 coins screened. Also NGC has their "bucket" grading tier for $12 or so a coin. But both ICG and Anacs are well over $10 a coin for certification, plus you have to and from shipping, invoice fees, etc.. With these costs there is not much room for error.
Good answer.
Not to rain on your parade, but this is not a nice pool to swim in, especially the shallow end.
Note: I am not a coin dealer, but I do own my own business, not any stretch related to coins.
Very crowded, and easy to get pushed under.
Over and over, threads complain about narrow margins, lack of good material, common dreck that lingers forever, dealers with inventory that does not turn over and dead inventory.
Does not sound like a great place to play, but if YOU LIKE IT, GO FOR IT !!!
But if not, maybe concentrate on something else with less competition and better margin where you have a great knowledge base.
For example, some of my "unwritten rules" are:
1) Never buy anything I cannot either a) double my money on or b) make at least $50
2) Never buy anything that I sell for less than $5
3) Never buy anything unless it is a pitiful giveaway that I have 6 months of inventory
4) Never keep anything over 6 months, take the loss and sell it, free up the space.
A typical example, again, not coins, but look at the Return on Investment, bought a 50 year old "thing" that was offered to me for $100 in October. I separated it into 7 lots. Main lot sold for $475, second lot sold for $250, third lot sold for $55, fourth lot sold for $45, and 5th lot sold for $50, 6th lot sold for $28, and 7th lot is up for sale for $40 So roughly $800 less $100 for sales costs, so $800 - $100 sales costs - $100 purchase price = $600 profit in 3 months, with about 10 hours labor.
Another example, a different item I buy, again, about 50 years old, I buy a lot of them, ranging from $20 to $50 each, and spend about $10 each remanufacturing them, and then match them in pairs, and sell them for $350 to $425 a pair. So figure $375 - $40 in sales costs and $70 average in acquisition costs, so about $260 profit on $110 investment, and I turn all the inventory on average in 5 months.
I am no genius, but looked at "vest pocket dealers" and decided to leave that business to others,and focus on something I could do, hopefully. better.
But remember, never tie up the mortgage, food, or bill paying money, just the excess.
@mustangmanbob I seriously doubt you are going to hear from anyone here about deals like you presented!
Go with toners... the markup is much greater. The competition is far less and you can buy $10 toned coins and turn them into $75 coins with a PCGS slab... your downside with be the possibility of buying AT coins or that PCGS will not straight grade an NT coin. Once in awhile you will hit a grand-slam. I bought a toned Washington Quarter for about $9 from a dealers junk bin... it graded out as an MS67 which makes it a $1000 coin or so without toning - probably a $1300-$1500 coin with toning.
I learned to grade by getting 58s back expecting UNCs.... soon or a later I’ll get one right
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
You and Madmarty both
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
You are about to find out that it is very difficult to make money on coins in this market. The overall market is slowly trending down because of a shrinking collector base. Do you really want to tie up your capital in this type of market?
LOL! I try for 58's and get MS coins back.
I buy coins with disposable income.... I do not sell coins.... therefore, I do not worry.
Cheers, RickO