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Is it too much pressure on a dealer when you say, "get me out of this mistake purchase"?

LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
I have never done this, because all of my purchases are made with sound and reasoned judgment. image But has anyone made a purchase that they later deemed to be a "mistake"? Suppose further that you call your favorite dealer (you did not buy the coin from him), and you say that you made a mistake and you want to try to get all of your money back, or close to it. Do you think it is fair to burden the dealer like this? In a way, I look to my coin dealer almost like a priest or rabbi, where you only tell your deepest, darkest secrets to. Or is it part of the dealer's job to try to help you sell the coin, and even though he can't guarantee a zero loss to you, it is fair to ask him to get the best price, given your circumstances. What do you think?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)

Comments

  • HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • jayboxxjayboxx Posts: 1,613 ✭✭
    If he is selling it for you, wouldn't you expect he would try to get the best price regardless?
  • If you have a good relationship with him, most dealers will try to go the extra mile, for you.
  • TheRavenTheRaven Posts: 4,149 ✭✭✭✭
    I have never made a "mistake" with a coin..... So I can't answer from experience, never sold any of my coins either.....

    I would say that is not his responsibility, why if you made a mistake would you expect somebody else to make that mistake?
    Collection under construction: VG Barber Quarters & Halves
  • Depends on the mistake --

    If you bought an MS 66 Peace Dollar and then decided to collect Saints, I am sure the dealer will help you.

    If you got hoodwinked on a POS the dealer may help you (i.e. wholesale it out) but don't expect to get more than a small fraction of the purchase price.
  • It won't matter if the purchase was a mistake, or if you now are selling something to buy something else.

    A dealer isn't going to give you more than fair value just because you overbid something in an auction. There
    is no reason for them to lose money for your mistake.
    Robert Getty - Lifetime project to complete the finest collection of 1872 dated coins.
  • michaelmichael Posts: 9,524 ✭✭✭
    no as he is only gonig to give you waht he wants to pay for it anyways

    unlkess you work with him and he is your friend and you are his customer then he will try to maximise the selling aspect of it and most likely give you most if not all of the proceeds

    but depending on how he will market the coin it will take him a little while longer than a few days
  • RYKRYK Posts: 35,800 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Doug Winter at Pinnacle has "unburied" me several times. A couple of these mistakes he actually made me money on!

    When one develops a strong relationship with one or two dealers, this is one of the potential benefits.
  • BlindedByEgoBlindedByEgo Posts: 10,754 ✭✭✭✭✭


    According to my wife, all of my purchases are mistakes image

    Diamonds, OTOH, are a FAR better use of my money.

    Dealer as Rabbi, huh?

    Oy Vey.

    I'd hate to think that I'd ask anybody to pass off a POS just to cover my butt;

    I'll take my lumps if neccessary - but where there's a willing buyer and a motivated seller,

    something'll come of it.


  • wondercoinwondercoin Posts: 17,005 ✭✭✭✭✭
    A very good customer (looking to make a few $$ privately on the side) made a horrible ("secret") purchase of a coin last year in a major auction (sight-unseen) for around $35,000 with buyers fee. A couple months later, he gave me the coin to sell for him along with the (sad) story and the "get me out of this mistake purchase" plea. Best I could think of doing for him was put it right back in the same company's next major auction where it fetched around $29,000 net to me and, as a courtesy to the collector, I simply waived my fee for handling the sale of the coin and he only lost around $6,000. It surely wasn't "too much pressure" and the collector quickly discovered (and learned a lesson on) the danger of sight-unseen auction bidding.

    Wondercoin

    Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
  • orieorie Posts: 998
    Don't want the cheese, just out of the trap. I'd take the loss and go on down the road.
  • GOLDGUYGOLDGUY Posts: 253 ✭✭
    I think what you're really asking is: Should a dealer (with whom you do a significant amount of business) work equally as hard and treat you in the same fair manner on coins you purchased from somebody else?

    And my answer to that would be "yes".
    Todd L. Imhof
    Partner / Executive VP
    Heritage Auctions
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,819 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If you are a good customer, the dealer might help you get rid of something you should not have bought in the first place.

    However, let me tell you a true story. An occasional customer came in and looked at a (top two grading service) MS-61 1932-D quarter, and did not buy it, complaining that the price was too high. About a month later he comes in with one in one of the no-name slabs graded MS-60 that he bought on eBay for around $600. I called it an EF-40, scratched and polished, and suggested he return it.

    Another month goes by, and he comes in and says the seller will not refund his money, and that Paypal will not reverse the sale without something in writing from a grading service debunking the "slab" grade. He has the audacity to hand me a letter he typed up over my name quoting my earlier comments, and asks me to sign it so he can send it to Paypal.

    I ran it through the shredder, and then offered to try to find a grading service he can submit the coin to that will give a more detailed no grade slip. I even called a friend at one of the services and arranged for him to do so. I then tell the guy that'll be the standard grading fee plus postage both ways, and he says he'll have to think about it. So far he has not had the nerve to come back in the door. He is wise not to do so.
    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • I had a dealer bail me out. Long after the return period was over, he refunded my money. The short version of the story was I bought a coin that was consigned to him. Several weeks later I took it to a show and got some educated opinions and everyone told me the coin I bought was harshly cleaned. I emailed the dealer, and asked what he could offer me, and he accepted a return. It took a couple of months after that before I got a check. What a mess. The dealer should have never taken the coin on consignment or if he did, advertise it as cleaned.

    I think that dealer was too nice and lacked the knowledge (the eye) to make it in the rough and tumble world of coins. As far as I know, he is no longer a coin dealer.

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