I appreciate all the excellent insights posted! I once asked a dealer at a local coin show about dealers having the same inventory for years it seemed. He said "This is a coin show and several dealers come here to "show" off their collections." I feel this may accurately describe some dealers mindsets. They are more collectors than dealers and will not sell their material unless they make a profit no matter how long that takes, maybe never. Seems pointless to be a dealer with a collector mentality.
<< <i>What makes you more profit as a dealer - hold one coin 12 months and make $1,000 on it ... or turn 10 different coins in a year and make $100 each?
I dare say the former. In a stable or rising market where it's difficult to replace quality coins, I see nothing wrong with that strategy. >>
Sure, but there are other costs associated with having an inventory that rarely or never changes:
1. People stop bothering to look at it.
2. People start to think that your prices are too high, which leads us back to 1. >>
Yes, you have to keep putting out fresh material at the shows, or you will soon lose some potential customers who will think you are not worthwhile.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
The stale ones could be used for bread pudding or ground up as toppings for other coins. However, the ones that have become moldy would need to be dipped and cleaned so the mold doesn’t grow any further.
Pricing is a bigger problem since it originates with the dealer and usually has a deep emotional component best kept between the dealer and their mental health team (and away from their local gun dealer).
Most of these dealers want attention and crave social settings that are non threatening but make them feel powerful and competent.
<< <i>What makes you more profit as a dealer - hold one coin 12 months and make $1,000 on it ... or turn 10 different coins in a year and make $100 each?
I dare say the former. In a stable or rising market where it's difficult to replace quality coins, I see nothing wrong with that strategy. >>
Sure, but there are other costs associated with having an inventory that rarely or never changes:
1. People stop bothering to look at it.
2. People start to think that your prices are too high, which leads us back to 1. >>
The trick is to have a big enough inventory that you can afford to hold those great coins in it while still turning over enough that it appears fresh, eh?
one of the things i believe to be true is a lot of "dealers" are retired or bored and just go to sit it seems and are not interested if they sell any coins or not
i've even offered to entertain offers to buy someones entire booth and they just say flat out NO, as if their items aren't for sale
they don't even say well, I appreciate the offer but the prices will be very close to what they are now, or let me take a moment to give you an estimate, or sure give me a little while and get you a number if you are serious etc
only one dealer accepted and ended up buying thousands of dollars worth and thousands of coins from him, and thinking about round 2 after a year selling the first lot
i really hope someone will do that with me one day because i'd give em a heck of a deal because I would get a large influx in cash to buy all new coins :-P
i'll admit i have a disorder, i get really tired of looking at the same coins i've had more than a few weeks (if they are the ones i'd like to sell) but if i haven't sold em after a few short weeks, they obviously are overpriced, improperly marketed, have some problem(s) etc and if all else fails, sell at a loss and use the money to buy other items to make more from, it isn't rocket science.
one of the things i believe to be true is a lot of "dealers" are retired or bored and just go to sit it seems and are not interested if they sell any coins or not
i've even offered to entertain offers to buy someones entire booth and they just say flat out NO, as if their items aren't for sale
they don't even say well, I appreciate the offer but the prices will be very close to what they are now, or let me take a moment to give you an estimate, or sure give me a little while and get you a number if you are serious etc
only one dealer accepted and ended up buying thousands of dollars worth and thousands of coins from him, and thinking about round 2 after a year selling the first lot
i really hope someone will do that with me one day because i'd give em a heck of a deal because I would get a large influx in cash to buy all new coins :-P
i'll admit i have a disorder, i get really tired of looking at the same coins i've had more than a few weeks (if they are the ones i'd like to sell) but if i haven't sold em after a few short weeks, they obviously are overpriced, improperly marketed, have some problem(s) etc and if all else fails, sell at a loss and use the money to buy other items to make more from, it isn't rocket science. >>
Lance, If you walked up to my table offering to buy it all (and were serious) I'd grab you a chair and we'd have some fun...If you're ever in Minneapolis send me a PM, I'll start adding it all up.
<< <i>They are the numismatic equivalent of fruitcakes. >>
The dealers who sit on dead inventory or their coins?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I know some antique dealers who own their inventories outright, one very substantial, who view that inventory as their savings account and retirement fund and sometimes put material away for a decade if it's not selling. The one will shock some people when their estates are sold...some of the stuff they own may end up in the Smithsonian and no one knows they have it. I just pray they never have a fire.
Dealers who refuse to sell their mistakes at a loss, IMO, are making a big mistake. There's this thing called "lost opportunity cost" that they don't seem to factor into the decision.
If I made a $3000 mistake on a coin that no one would pay more than $2000 for, sure -- I *could* stubbornly eat the coin and hold it until I can get $3000 for it. But that could take years, if ever... and how many times could I have deployed that $2000 on inventory that turns over more rapidly to make back that $1000 in profitable sales?
In the time it takes a 'mistake' to be 'worth' $3000 instead of $2000, I probably could have eaten the loss, sold for $2000 and restocked with $2000 coins I could repeatedly turn over for (say) $2200 a dozen times (for a gain of $2400). That net $1400 gain ($2400 gains on new sales minus the $1000 loss) wouldn't be possible if I stubbornly waited to the 'break even' point (which, after inflation, is still a loss).
<< <i> Lance, If you walked up to my table offering to buy it all (and were serious) I'd grab you a chair and we'd have some fun...If you're ever in Minneapolis send me a PM, I'll start adding it all up.
Andrew >>
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for saying so. It is good to know there are dealers out there that would entertain discussions about large quantity sales.
I know numismatics causes sever psychotic disorders (from firsthand experience) but I don't think it caused a loss of all business sense ...
There are many dealers I wouldn't think about doing this with because one of their cases would exceed all sales and inventory I've ever owned LOL
I am only 32 and into numismatics for 24 months, so it wouldn't need to be too much to accomplish that ><
Comments
<< <i>
<< <i>What makes you more profit as a dealer - hold one coin 12 months and make $1,000 on it ... or turn 10 different coins in a year and make $100 each?
I dare say the former. In a stable or rising market where it's difficult to replace quality coins, I see nothing wrong with that strategy. >>
Sure, but there are other costs associated with having an inventory that rarely or never changes:
1. People stop bothering to look at it.
2. People start to think that your prices are too high, which leads us back to 1. >>
Yes, you have to keep putting out fresh material at the shows, or you will soon lose some potential customers who will think you are not worthwhile.
Pricing is a bigger problem since it originates with the dealer and usually has a deep emotional component best kept between the dealer and their mental health team (and away from their local gun dealer).
Most of these dealers want attention and crave social settings that are non threatening but make them feel powerful and competent.
<< <i>
<< <i>What makes you more profit as a dealer - hold one coin 12 months and make $1,000 on it ... or turn 10 different coins in a year and make $100 each?
I dare say the former. In a stable or rising market where it's difficult to replace quality coins, I see nothing wrong with that strategy. >>
Sure, but there are other costs associated with having an inventory that rarely or never changes:
1. People stop bothering to look at it.
2. People start to think that your prices are too high, which leads us back to 1. >>
The trick is to have a big enough inventory that you can afford to hold those great coins in it while still turning over enough that it appears fresh, eh?
one of the things i believe to be true is a lot of "dealers" are retired or bored and just go to sit it seems and are not interested if they sell any coins or not
i've even offered to entertain offers to buy someones entire booth and they just say flat out NO, as if their items aren't for sale
they don't even say well, I appreciate the offer but the prices will be very close to what they are now, or let me take a moment to give you an estimate, or sure give me a little while and get you a number if you are serious etc
only one dealer accepted and ended up buying thousands of dollars worth and thousands of coins from him, and thinking about round 2 after a year selling the first lot
i really hope someone will do that with me one day because i'd give em a heck of a deal because I would get a large influx in cash to buy all new coins :-P
i'll admit i have a disorder, i get really tired of looking at the same coins i've had more than a few weeks (if they are the ones i'd like to sell) but if i haven't sold em after a few short weeks, they obviously are overpriced, improperly marketed, have some problem(s) etc and if all else fails, sell at a loss and use the money to buy other items to make more from, it isn't rocket science.
<< <i>Most of these dealers want attention and crave social settings that are non threatening but make them feel powerful and competent. >>
Well that seems to describe, to some great degree, just about everyone on the planet.
Or at least just about everyone on this forum.
<< <i>great comments
one of the things i believe to be true is a lot of "dealers" are retired or bored and just go to sit it seems and are not interested if they sell any coins or not
i've even offered to entertain offers to buy someones entire booth and they just say flat out NO, as if their items aren't for sale
they don't even say well, I appreciate the offer but the prices will be very close to what they are now, or let me take a moment to give you an estimate, or sure give me a little while and get you a number if you are serious etc
only one dealer accepted and ended up buying thousands of dollars worth and thousands of coins from him, and thinking about round 2 after a year selling the first lot
i really hope someone will do that with me one day because i'd give em a heck of a deal because I would get a large influx in cash to buy all new coins :-P
i'll admit i have a disorder, i get really tired of looking at the same coins i've had more than a few weeks (if they are the ones i'd like to sell) but if i haven't sold em after a few short weeks, they obviously are overpriced, improperly marketed, have some problem(s) etc and if all else fails, sell at a loss and use the money to buy other items to make more from, it isn't rocket science. >>
Lance,
If you walked up to my table offering to buy it all (and were serious) I'd grab you a chair and we'd have some fun...If you're ever in Minneapolis send me a PM, I'll start adding it all up.
Andrew
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
<< <i>They are the numismatic equivalent of fruitcakes. >>
The dealers who sit on dead inventory or their coins?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
If I made a $3000 mistake on a coin that no one would pay more than $2000 for, sure -- I *could* stubbornly eat the coin and hold it until I can get $3000 for it. But that could take years, if ever... and how many times could I have deployed that $2000 on inventory that turns over more rapidly to make back that $1000 in profitable sales?
In the time it takes a 'mistake' to be 'worth' $3000 instead of $2000, I probably could have eaten the loss, sold for $2000 and restocked with $2000 coins I could repeatedly turn over for (say) $2200 a dozen times (for a gain of $2400). That net $1400 gain ($2400 gains on new sales minus the $1000 loss) wouldn't be possible if I stubbornly waited to the 'break even' point (which, after inflation, is still a loss).
<< <i>
Lance,
If you walked up to my table offering to buy it all (and were serious) I'd grab you a chair and we'd have some fun...If you're ever in Minneapolis send me a PM, I'll start adding it all up.
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for saying so. It is good to know there are dealers out there that would entertain discussions about large quantity sales.
I know numismatics causes sever psychotic disorders (from firsthand experience) but I don't think it caused a loss of all business sense ...
There are many dealers I wouldn't think about doing this with because one of their cases would exceed all sales and inventory I've ever owned LOL
I am only 32 and into numismatics for 24 months, so it wouldn't need to be too much to accomplish that ><