Dealers in Thin Markets
ctf_error_coins
Posts: 15,433 ✭✭✭✭✭
I am finding it extremely hard to impossible to find new inventory at a good price.
I have always been able to find what I need, but over the last year the supply has completely dried up. I have zero coins on my watchlist. I never have zero coins on my watchlist!
Do I up my buy prices?
What say you in your area of the market?
2
Comments
The good errors these days seem to be in HA;
I've had less material shipped to me in the past
year than ever before - no shows, some shops
closed, owners putting their material in Auctions.
How do other specialists navigate the issue?
What are your other strengths?
Maybe you have to diversify.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
I use a number of larger wholesaler
As long as you have an EIN and other needed Doc's
I know error coins. I do not know other series.
Diversify or search harder and bid higher?
Put time into my Nature Photography Business? LMAO
Put more into the Stock Market, Bitcoin?
If I had to pick another coin series to add, it would be high-end rainbow toned Commemoratives
A wise old coin dealer/collector friend of mine once said: You should always be in three areas. With not too much luck, one of them will be going up, one will be going down, and the third will be stable.
You could up your buy price. It all depends on the margins. Since HA seems to be making a move into errors and I feel like I feel more of them in Stack's and GC as well, that is going to make it harder to acquire material. People with major errors are going to want the visibility of major auctions.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
I only buy what I know, knowledge is money. I only know one area of coinage.
Bidding up may be the only option. I think I have aleady personally moved the market
If sellers aren't bringing their coins to you, you need to figure out how to get them to.
Kidnap their children and trade...
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
On a side note, I am venturing into real estate photography, drone photography, 360, etcc...
I think you are selling yourself short on the skill side.
You are a master salesman, speculator, hard worker, and judge of value.
It will carry over into other niches of coins and/or photography.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
If you’ve sourced most of your material on eBay I can understand part of the problem. While I know you’ve been very successful selling there, others are tired of all their nonsense and they’re selling things in different venues. COVID has certainly affected all e-markets in temporary and permanent ways too.
Apart from that, ALL dealers seem to be having problems with the supply side of the business. Prices haven’t responded much yet, but eventually higher prices will draw out better material.
He might throw in the wife to for a trade ya never know
If you know who has the coins, wouldn't it be easier to just offer enough to encourage the owners to sell?
They want high retail, I buy wholesale.
I just almost bought a coin, then I looked at the large image and said, no way
Yes up your buy prices 🙂
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
That was meant in reply to jmlanzaf as more of a joke than anything else. My serious reply was made earlier in the thread.
I don't dabble too much in errors, but I think you have some really cool stuff in your inventory. I guess it's hard to price (buy or sell) items where no two are that much alike. Like is there a guide for wrong metal coins? Those errors are among my favorites, but prices are all over the place. Like others have said, I've seen HA and Stack's have more error coins in their auctions. These are coins you can show to non-collectors and they will mostly think that they are pretty neat.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
maybe just refresh new listings on eBay every 15 minutes and offer low wholesale for sellers to close early with BIN
Maybe in the current situation "high retail" is the "new wholesale" (or even the "new 20%-30% back of wholesale").
Buy one or two error coins from a collector that owns same and pay his asking price.
Then put the coin(s) up for sale at a higher price that will give you an ROI that is acceptable to you.
You may find that buyers who want the coin you have for sale will grumble about your asking price, yet go ahead and purchase it.
If so, your transaction(s) will support the high prices in the error coin market and will support the assertion that said market is "On Fire!!!!" and is "Double Nuclear Hot!!!!"
Isn't free market capitalism grand.
I think that may be true, Actually, it is probably true, I kinda hope it is true
It's kinda a two-edged sword tho.
I have about 5-10 error coins. I think that they are very interesting, though I have not caught the error coin bug yet.
I can see how many collectors are bitten by the error coin bug, very hard. If a large enough number of collectors focus in this area of the hobby I can see how competition for the highest quality, strangest and most unusual error coins would drive prices to very high levels.
For those dealers who focus on this area of the hobby I can see how you could (armed with superior knowledge of the subject matter and good business sense):
create a self sustaining business;
make a very good living; and
have a great time.
Cheaper my way
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
One of the challenges is to determine if this COVID surge in demand is a temporary phenomenon.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I think it is more of a "Covid" shortage of supply. The lack of coin shows means fewer coins changing hands.
I also think quality eye-appealing coins are in an uptrend.
Agreed, i have a few sources i buy from and recently they've become dried up. I mainly deal with raw large cents 2 cents and 3 cent nickels. Its been rough lately....... I have had a few chances to snag some nice lots up on this page but after the first purchase they don't seem to want to move any more. I'm in the Utah/Nevada area and have had to reach out to dealers outside my area just to get some type of inventory. Personally i have up'd my paying prices. I have also found it a lot easier to make a deal if i'm offer to purchase 50+ coins at once...
Good luck and keep at it..........
p.s. im buying large cents lol
Successful transactions with: Jinx86, Flcardtrader, Robkool, JWP.
Dealers I hear and speak to say they are doing brisk business which indicates demand. Replacing inventory due to no shows has challenged some.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
I don't think that's generically true about the supply. I don't know about errors in particular. But I agree with @Catbert Every dealer I know has had huge volume of sales over the last year. This has definitely been demand driven for most of the year.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
HODL on brother! Try out ETH, ADA. XMR
pony up and just pay retail.
You should probably go right to the source and make friends with the mint workers that are manufacturing these "errors."
(only have kidding)
I think it is hard to buy off eBay and then sell on that same platform, even with better photography. It is just too easy for prospective buyers to see what you paid vs. what you are now asking
And if you are not getting inventory at your current buy prices, but have no problem moving current stock, well then the answer is to raise your buy prices until you are stocked up again.
Good luck, EOC
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
With the lack of shows, and a restriction in coin business to some degree, it is tough to get fresh coins in. As an error dealer, I am in the same boat as many other dealers. There's simply not a lot of material "on the market." What's out there frequently goes to auctions--possibly because it's harder for owners to "access" dealers due to the lack of coin shows, and perhaps some trepidation on coin owners' part to visit coin shops, etc.