Fair price for junk silver? Negotiating a fair price....

[placerman]

I hunt for my rolls in many ways, whether it be CRHing at the banks, road trips, etc.

Occasionally I will find someone who wants to sell their collection.

Sometimes this has worked out for me very well and other times it has not, let me explain...

In negotiating a deal, many times they will give me some kind of ultimatum, that I either give them a certain price or they will retaliate by just spending the coins at face. I know it doesn't make sense but I find it is a common negotiating ploy in the south... Basically they are stating that they will get "fair" (using their personal definition of fair) treatment or they will not deal with you and they would rather lose money than get "cheated" by someone.

This "fair" price varies depending basically on the price of whatever the seller wants to spend their money on. If it is hunting season, for instance, this "fair" price usually corresponds exactly with the cost of the cheapest hunting rifle in the local pawn shop or gun store.

Sometimes they actually want 150% of spot, and will stare at me with a straight face, trying to get me to believe that THEIR coins are "super special" junk silver coins and basically worth more, as if the silver in their 1964 dimes is worth more than the silver in other 1964 dimes....

Other times Ive had them try to pass of clad coins as silver, stating that yes they are silver and arguing with me about that. In fact last month I had a fellow agree to meet me to sell around 120 silver dimes. When I got there he actually had around 100 1967 dimes and a few silver rosies. When I told him they were not silver he got mad and demanded the full silver price for all of them or none of them. He even tried to tell me these were "special" 1967 dimes, and were somehow worth more than 10 cents each because of this fact...lol

Other times a seller just wants to get paid. They know their coins are worth more than face, and they don't want to waste time haggling. If their price is right, (usually the cost of something in the local department store) I pay and off they go to blow their money. So far, about half of the times I have tried to buy coins this is what happened.

Occasionally I run into people who know exactly what they have, exactly what it is worth and exactly what they want for it. Most of the time I will offer 90% of spot. Sometimes I will pay more if they have really old coins but I don't try to cherry-pick.


What do you offer for collections?

Do you pay more for larger, or older collections?

What are some negotiating ploys you have experienced in your area?

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of buyers on ebay are paying 110% of spot for physical silver on ebay and other places?

 

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[ivan salis]

by content of coin 90 - 40% / actual amount of silver by wieght / (ASW is listed by oz in coin books ) 90% of spot price of silver -- say silver is $10 per oz spot the coin has .300 oz of silver in it -- that $3 x .90 (90%)-- $2.70 for the coin -- if they can do better that 90% of spot --tell eh go to it. -- no one knows what the markets doing to do --so 90% of spot is normally the max most folks will pay -- a very few will pay spot -- but only if the silver markets running red hot and is currently running at the "low" end but thats rare.--- now rare CC mint marks of good condition "collector" grade --no scrap coins will fetch more $$ but you gotta find a cpolector rather than a scrap silver dealer -- tell em up front --I deal in silver -- the coins supposed "collector" value -- I do not care a hoot about.

 

[obediah]

I do not like that term "a fair price"- fair to whom the one selling or the one buying? I saw a yahoo Biz page headline on VP Biden who said "you call it redistribution of wealth, I call it being fair," all he did was redefine Marx[ism] to justify stealing in the name of the law and has the gall to call it fair!

No I'll tell you what am willing to pay for something- or you willing to sell it to me for- whatever we agree to, that is what it is worth, to Sheol or Hades with being fair, as there is no such thing as being fair!.

P.s. Don't make me pull my sword as it is a long one and very hard to re-sheath once out!

 

[ivan salis]

a "fair price" is when what they are will to part with it for --meets up with what your willing to give for it -- once those two "ends" meet a deal is agreed upon -- if they don't like my "final" offer -- heres a real "fair" offer -- I'll keep me money --and you keep yer stuff -- thats fair enough.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

I definitely agree with everyone else. "Fair price" = a price both the buyer and seller agree upon, regardless of proximity to "spot", "book value", or anything else.

My best ploy for buying collections here is very simple. Pretty much, the sellers only other options are the coin shop or the pawn shop, and both (here anyway) REALLY low-ball people on silver. I tell the potential seller to take the coins to the pawn and/or coin shop and get an offer, and give me a chance to beat their offer. It works more often than not or so it seems in my limited experience.

Being more collector than hoarder, I will definitely pay more for older coins most of the time. If its something that I really want, I will pay above spot, above book value - whatever it takes to get it.

As far as eBay goes, I am always amazed at what some folks are willing to pay for certain things.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I watched ePay all winter. People consistantly paid 13-14 X face for 90% halves, regardless of spot price. I admit I bought a roll or two of Walkers myself, but paid no more than 13 X including shipping. My local dealer also charged 13 X, but the Walkers I could have delivered for free via ePay I have advertised locally that I will pay 10 X face. Not one response. ffd

 

[quiksilver]

Fair is a relative term.

Fair could be what ever price makes u both happy.

I consider fair when dealing with 2 people as paying less then "market" but more then the dealer would give.

When dealing with the idiots mentioned ...remember people are idiots. Idiots are also the reason i like dealing with dealers..If he has a good price he gets more business if not he gets nothing. This is why and how capitalism and the market work.

 

[mts]

...
As far as eBay goes, I am always amazed at what some folks are willing to pay for certain things.

Me too. EBay prices are inflated because of "auction fever". People are often willing to pay more on eBay than what they would pay to buy items from a dealer. The big problem is that people who are trying to sell using Craigslist and other sites for cash really don't understand how eBay works. A good example is American Silver Eagles. There is a guy locally who has been trying to sell ASE for the past month for $25 each. He went out to eBay and saw that the recent prices were $22 plus $3 SH so he priced his ASE's at $25. Of course, he failed to realize that the seller of those eBay items was only going to make about $21 after fees and shipping and handling. That seller also had increased risk from selling online which lowers the potential profits. Not to mention the fact that i could buy them for $20 all day long from APMEX at that time. Why in the world would I pay $25 cash to some local guy when I could get them from APMEX for around $21 after shipping (in lots of 10)? Local dealers were buying for $18 and selling for $22 as well. So it makes no sense at all.

As someone else said, the best price is one in which the buyer and seller are both happy. If that guy on CL had priced them at $21 they would have sold and he would have made better money than he could have made anywhere else. Instead, he has been sitting on them for about a month now because he's got it in his head that since people buy them on eBay for that price that he must be able to sell them on CL for the same price. And when people offer him $21 he is insulted and claims that everyone is just lowballing him.

I've bought some silver off of a couple of guys on CL in the past. Both had the right attitudes. I paid both of them more than they would have made on ebay or by going to a dealer or pawn shop. But I paid slightly less than I would have paid at APMEX and a lot less than I would have paid at a dealer or on eBay. We were both happy with the deal.

 

[ivan salis]

thats what occurs when you deal with intelligent folks who understand the "real" world of buying and selling silver --bullion type items --

 

[coinmojo]

Bieng in the South as you say perhaps doing a trade for the coins would work better... Offer to trade your pick em up truck, your shotgun, coon dog or the wife...... LOL

Mojo

 

[placerman]

Bieng in the South as you say perhaps doing a trade for the coins would work better... Offer to trade your pick em up truck, your shotgun, coon dog or the wife...... LOL

Mojo

The south isn't the only place with rednecks, but we do seem to have more than our fair share of them sometimes.

I do a lot of trading or barter and believe it or not I have been offered all of the things you mentioned in trade at one time or another.

 

[apush]

Okay guys. Some of us "ladies" in the South are highly educated and nope, honey won't trade me in for a shotgun, unless you throw in the bird dog, and a hog or two. A pint or two of corn mash might seal the deal. Add greens, chitlins, collard greens, grits, cornbread, and peach cobbler and pecan pie, and I am a gonner.

apush

 

[Tattooguy67]

Okay guys. Some of us "ladies" in the South are highly educated and nope, honey won't trade me in for a shotgun, unless you throw in the bird dog, and a hog or two. A pint or two of corn mash might seal the deal. Add greens, chitlins, collard greens, grits, cornbread, and peach cobbler and pecan pie, and I am a gonner.

apush

You know some how I think you are safe and need not worry about any trading on hubbies part, as far as the rest goes some of what you describe is a common human trait that I think all of us have to some extent or in some areas or things we have, if I own it it is special and worth more! or some such like that anyway, I would be interested to hear how the guy with the special 1967 dimes got them, did he pay a special price for them? or did Gram pa tell him when he was a wee lad that they were worth a lot either out of ignorance or just jackassing the kid? it really does not matter, they are worth what they are worth, and as one poster suggested send them to get some quotes and then talk about offers, although from the attitude you have been seeing I would bet they already have and that's the reason for the "rather give it away then sell it to you" line, the only thing I could suggest is to show them or print pages from some place like this;
http://www.coinflation.com/ or show them the last few sales on eBay so they can see what the going rate is, barring that maybe try and follow them to the bank or store! good luck and HH!

Chuck.