Cherry Picking
ilmcoins
Posts: 525 ✭✭✭✭
I was just reading a thread on cherry picking and almost posted this there but did not want to be distracting.
Using the term cherry picking is interesting to me.
If I meet a non-collector and offer $500 for a coin worth $10,000 some people would frown on that. However if someone is a collector and they are unaware that their coin is a specific variety, etc. and I offer a fraction of the value I am a cherry picker and everyone tells me great job.
Aren't both of these scenarios the same in that I am profiting off someone's ignorance of value?
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Comments
IMO
Yes.
I heard this second hand from a dealer and I like his thinking. If it’s in a dealers case it’s fair game. If it’s a collector, he would make a fair offer. I think that a stand up dealer in my opinion.
I Had the opportunity to pick a good coin off a friend a few years back. I decided to let him know and help him sell it. He made about 6k on the coin. To find a true friend that isn’t going to screw you is hard to come by. You just hope the favor is paid back someday. Someone else couldn’t believe I didn’t pick the coin off him. That someone else knew the (old timer) also. So not everyone has the same thinking. But I must say that nobody really talks to the someone else anymore!
I’m curious how well you know this person. I would just be honest and make a fair offer if it was for your collection. If it’s not for your collection I would sell the coin. Split the profit with the owner and you both make out. Reputation and people’s words is everything in may opinion. You’ll be better off in the long run doing the right thing.
Now if it’s on eBay, dealers case or an auction house it’s fair game.
Hope that helps you with your decision.
Yes. But it depends on context. If a collector cherry picks a dealer, people cheer. If a dealer cherry picks a collector, people jeer. If a dealer cherry picks a dealer...there are probably blows exchanged. LOL.
Some of that distinction is warranted. It depends on who is setting the price and who is the professional. If you go to a dealer to sell a coin and the dealer is setting the price, he is using his knowledge to take advantage of you. If the dealer set the price, you are just meeting it.
This discussion comes up a lot: what is the obligation to disclose?
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
This was a general question as opposed to a current situation.
So as long as you are taking advantage of a dealers ignorance on a certain variety, etc it is ok in your mind? In other words, dealers are fair game to you but we should show honesty to everyone else?
As the dealer put it, if your a dealer and your set up shame on you if you don’t know.
Yep...That's my feeling also.
Dealers are fair game.
You are also allowed to rip an auction house
My Saint Set
At one time, this was called 'bargain hunting'....and everyone did it....However, I would ask, what is the difference between 'cherry picking' and taking advantage of an old lady selling her late husbands coins....one must have morals in life. Are we talking shades of gray here? Or just moralizing to suit our personal standards? I have pointed out pricing that I thought was too low on some products (not in a store - personal deals)... in some cases, the seller was grateful, a couple other cases, they just wanted to sell and I got 'a deal'... Remember, you could be on the losing end sometime....Cheers, RickO
This was the question, “Aren't both of these scenarios the same in that I am profiting off someone's ignorance of value?”
What is up with all the qualifying posts above?
The answer is a simple yes, you are profiting off someone else’s ignorance.
Regardless of who or what the someone is or what or when or whatever.
Stop feeling guilty and qualifying your answer. Previous posts and future posts.
2c
Edit to add. I suspect some don’t feel guilty or care. “Your loss, my gain” comes to mind. Now go donate your cherrypick profits to something.
@Hemispherical ... That method of cherry picking sure beats doing it by hand. I know from experience. Cheers, RickO
I have three dealers I do not cherry pick - I tell them what they have if by chance they missed it and they can decided what to do. I have friends who we trade, upgrade, give each other advice, notice, coins that have/ can be cherry picked that I already have. Now after that , it’s fair game. I sleep well at night because the sellers be they ebay, auction house, or major dealer have not and do not have the extensive time invested in Lincoln varieties I have, a major photographic resource library I compiled of varieties often in different die states and wear complied over years and the crazy amount of hours of researching Lincoln varieties that I have. By no means, am I an expert but I have expert variety contacts as back up.
So since these sellers really do not have either the knowledge or interest- that’s their choice. My choice is to simply buy the coins they posted at the price they posted and that seems to make them and me very happy. Enough said.
WS
My local B&M treats me incredibly well. My informal arrangement with him, is that anything that comes into his shop in my collecting area, I get first dibs at, however he personally will look at every coin I buy and does the pricing. When he's in the shop, he'll ask me if there was anything good in the stuff I picked out. That question implies a couple of things: 1) Are there any varieties in there? - I will always disclose if he asks...if he doesn't ask he is on his own. 2) If there are any absolute homeruns - I'll tell him if there are, I'll also tell him if it's just "pretty average stuff" on which I'd be taking a chance if I sent it anything in for grading or once it was cut out of the OGP.
If it's pretty average stuff, I usually get a pretty good deal pricing wise. If there are some homeruns or significant varieties, I'll frequently pay a premium or tell him he can keep it for that. I've found runs of varieties in the past, and he'd "let me have one" at non-variety pricing and he'd keep the rest. Also if there is something that I'm not really looking for on the variety side I'll let him know that too and just leave it with him.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...this great relationship with my local B&M is the primary reason my collection is at the level it is.