Control

In many coin deals, especially on ebay or the BST or other internet venues, there can be an issue with who is in control. Many coin collectors tend to the controlling end of the spectrum. It sometimes comes with other personality traits that lead one to be a collector. When you take a controlling stance, two things can happen: if the other party has a similar controlling personality, sparks will fly, anger will probably follow, both will think they are right and the deal will likely fall through. A thread may follow. The second thing that will likely happen is a lack of support for your position from other forum members since they don't have a dog in the fight, even if they have a similar desire to maintain control in their transactions, they don't see it for you.

I think the opportunistic scammers that showed up with the invent of the internet (and are mostly under control now for intelligent buyers and sellers) and the widespread distribution of the stories associated with these scams has exacerbated the situation making those who lean in the control direction even more determined not to give up control.

So my message here is to try to keep an open mind, think of how you would react if on the other end of a transaction, be fair, and unless you have good reason to believe otherwise assume the other party is honest just like you are, and you will have more stress free and satisfying internet coin transactions.


--jerry

PS You might ask yourself "If the other party were Mark Feld (or some other well known paragon of ethics) would I be requiring him to (whatever I'm asking).