Need some advice

[jim4silver]

I have a chance to sell at a big coin show coming up in the next few weeks. One of my friends who is a local dealer is going to let me sell from his booth. I will basically have my own table with a couple of glass cases to use. This show is in what is considered a "big city" here in the US.

I want to MAXIMIZE my profits but personally have gone to very few shows. I don't know what people generally are looking for, what they expect to pay, etc. I have some very unique and hard to get coin sets and bullion, etc, and don't know how much to charge. My question in general is, do people expect to pay less than ebay or do they want what they want and will pay to get it, etc? I guess it could be both but I am looking for advice from any here.

I have lots of foreign silver such from the UK Royal Mint, Australian Royal Mint and Perth Mint, Singapore, etc, plus some cool odd ball stuff, US silver dollar commemoratives, etc. Don't know what I should take? I don't really plan on selling regular bullion, except my Engelhard stuff which I hope to unload. Will also dump my Koalas, Kooks, Libertads, etc if I can get a good price.

Thanks!

Jim

 

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[Mackaydon]

After you've been stacking for several years, I'd suspect your sales today would result in a loss.
If I were you, I'd hold till silver rebounds unless you need the cash and/or the tax loss.
Don....

 

[Anduril]

If it's like every other trade show I've attended (on both sides of the table, by the way), most of the folks you will meet will be there to LOOK and not BUY.
You'll strike up some good conversations, but unless you have an avid buyer, folks will squirm away the minute they (think they) detect any sales tactics on your part.
The avid buyer won't budge (or they'll return more than once - so pay attention to them!!

Depending on the size of the show, expect to see about 15 to 18 people a day. I mean "real" contacts, not the casual walk-by.
I think you could offer to hand out real $10 bills and even then, a lot of people will just walk right by your booth.
They have to know what they're in for before they'll approach.
People are weird! (Why would they even bother to come to a show if they're going to be so shy and afraid?)

Oh well. Just make sure people know what you have (by whatever means) so they don't necessarily have to come in and ask ('cause a lot of people won't).
It's just the nature of trade shows.

Oh, and don't block the entryway. Try to "invite" people in (unless the arrangement invites theft, etc...), and every trade show layout is different (and I realize it's not your booth).

 

[jim4silver]

After you've been stacking for several years, I'd suspect your sales today would result in a loss.
If I were you, I'd hold till silver rebounds unless you need the cash and/or the tax loss.
Don....

The stuff I plan on selling at the show I bought in the last year or so at well below the going rate (semi numis, commems, etc). My dollar cost average now even on my bullion is LESS than what the ave joe pays at the coin store, for GENERIC. I have sold stuff over the years when I've needed cash, some at a slight loss, some at a slight gain.

This is mostly stuff I would ebay if I had the fortitude to set it up and try it.

Jim

 

[jim4silver]

If it's like every other trade show I've attended (on both sides of the table, by the way), most of the folks you will meet will be there to LOOK and not BUY.
You'll strike up some good conversations, but unless you have an avid buyer, folks will squirm away the minute they (think they) detect any sales tactics on your part.
The avid buyer won't budge (or they'll return more than once - so pay attention to them!!

Depending on the size of the show, expect to see about 15 to 18 people a day. I mean "real" contacts, not the casual walk-by.
I think you could offer to hand out real $10 bills and even then, a lot of people will just walk right by your booth.
They have to know what they're in for before they'll approach.
People are weird! (Why would they even bother to come to a show if they're going to be so shy and afraid?)

Oh well. Just make sure people know what you have (by whatever means) so they don't necessarily have to come in and ask ('cause a lot of people won't).
It's just the nature of trade shows.

Oh, and don't block the entryway. Try to "invite" people in (unless the arrangement invites theft, etc...), and every trade show layout is different (and I realize it's not your booth).

Thanks for your advice.

Jim

 

[kingskid1611]

You sound knowledgeable enough to know what your doing. I would trust your instinct. Be aware of your surrounding and if you have to many questions than you have a coin shop buddy right there that may be able to help. I would love to attend if I wasn't so far away. Good Luck with it!

 

[digit13]

I'm going to my first show here in SC in Feb and as I'm new I'm looking to buy a few silver things. (Pre 65, eagles, britts) I'm stacking at a slow pace due to budget. I would hope to find at or below ebay but I don't know. The local pawn shops are out or outrageous. (An eagle the other day was 45 bucks. As always, supply and demand I guess. I've been to many guitar shows but never coin. Best of luck.

 

[Marchas45]

Good luck Jim. I've never been to a coin show so I guess I can't help except don't expect to much for your items but know the value of the pieces that your selling and try to sell a little below or above. Also stress to the public that your selling below bullion dealers prices and charging no taxes. Lol
Any way have a great day and enjoy the learning experience. Charlie

P.S. Should I say Keep Stacking here? Lol

 

[TheRingFinder]

I can't offer any meaningful advice on this subject Jim - though I would be interested in hearing about your experience once the show ends.

 

[bradley1719]

Since you are going to be sharing a table with a real dealer, you will want to try to get a hold of his copy of the CDN-greysheets for pricing of US coins. For world coins, there are other guides but nothing that really sticks out as being spectacular. I typically use the online NGC world price guide and recognize that I can typically buy coins for about one grade less than the price guide says. So if a coin is listed as $50 - AU and $30 - XF, I can typically buy the AU coin for $30. But it all depends on the coin.

I also may have different experiences because the show I go to does a large amount of inter-dealer business. So I tend to get close to dealer pricing on most things because the dealers at the show are in the mood to move things at wholesale. Also, I'm walking around with my copy of the CDN so the dealers understand that I have access to all of the wholesale prices.

I think you will see all different types of people at the show. There will be dealers who will expect to pay wholesale and there will be people from the general public who will pay whatever price you put on the coin. It all depends on just how savvy they are.

Good luck.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I've been to a dozen shows, most local, and one thing that grinds me is the lack of price tags on coins.
There are the grumpy dealers, and friendly. I know Jim will be a friendly one.
Expect many lookie-lou's, and folks that will of course want to dicker and deal. I enjoy sitting at a chair and looking over a booth at my leisure, smart phone handy to compare pricing. Good luck.

 

[jim4silver]

Thanks Bradley and FFD. I picked up a recent greysheet and plan to use that, plus ebay as a guide. My dealer friend says "bring everything" when I ask if I should take this or that. He says each year it is different with respect to what the retail folks are looking for and not to try and "predict".

He also mentioned dealers trying to get stuff for wholesale. I might consider that for the US commems I got cheap, but not my really cool stuff. Most of that is hard to come by and sometimes I have a hard time finding one for sale online at any given time.

These are 2 of my favorites of my odd ball stuff.

http://www.apmex.com/product/59764/2003-gb-4-coin-silver-britannia-proof-set-w-box-coa

Cameroon 2010 1000 Francs The Shroud of Turin 20g Silver Proof Coin | eBay

Jim

 

[jim4silver]

I've been to a dozen shows, most local, and one thing that grinds me is the lack of price tags on coins.
There are the grumpy dealers, and friendly. I know Jim will be a friendly one.
Expect many lookie-lou's, and folks that will of course want to dicker and deal. I enjoy sitting at a chair and looking over a booth at my leisure, smart phone handy to compare pricing. Good luck.

I understand about the no price tags from a buyer's perspective. However, I am going to leave mine un-priced. It gives the seller flexibility to not have a tag. If an interested buyer comes along they will ask how much. I spoke to several dealer friends and they all said leave the price tag off. Also, much of the stuff I am taking comes in boxes that can be damaged by a tag that sticks on- even the kind that pull off easy can leave a smudge. I will have a master list (that only I see) with my lowest price I'll take and a range of completed ebay sales prices plus greysheet if that applies. What's cool is I am doing this more for fun and a mental break from my business than to make money. I hope to sell lots of stuff at a profit so I can buy more stuff later, but if I don't sell the really cool stuff I am happy to take it home.

Jim

 

[TheCoinKid]

Jim,

We have a very large coin show that comes to my area several times a year. My first time to set foot in the show was MAJOR sensory overload. Coins, currency and PMs wall to wall, as far as the eye could see. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop. (That first show very much reminded me of my trip to the Louvre Museum in Paris. After visiting a few wings of the museum, every painting started looking the same to me). I finally had to stop to collect myself and try to focus. Eventually, I got the hang of it and have made some nice buys over the years.

Generally, I have found prices for main-stream items (Walkers, Silver Eagles etc..) to be better at the coin show than online, but I have also seen some very outrageous pricing. My guess is that some of your "oddball" stuff will sell better on Ebay, where it will be easier to match with the "right buyer", but I could certainly be wrong. Common items will have plenty of competition at the show, but then you won't have to deal with that 10%, or so fee that Ebay charges.

Good luck and make sure you report back to let us know how things go.

TCK

 

[jim4silver]

Picked up some "inventory" yesterday with the intent of re-selling, but now I want to keep most of what I got for myself LOL! I picked up a few Geiger 100 gram bars (each is wrapped in plastic) and some Monarch 50 gram bars (see photos below). These are really cool to see in person. I got them from a local guy for $1 over melt. Too cool to sell. I guess I will sell other stuff in its place from my current stash and keep these. They aren't rare or anything but you gotta hold them in your hand to appreciate them. My lady friend said they are "cute little bars" and she is correct. Ha ha

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Gram-Ge...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

1.6 oz Silver Bar - 50 Gram Monarch Poured

Jim

 

[jim4silver]

Here is my coin show report.

First, I have to say I never realized how mentally and physically exhausting this would be. Having said that, it was the most "fun" I've had in a while. I was able to take a few days away from the office before the show to get everything "organized" and such. I also spent a bit of time online learning more about certain items I was selling such as mintages, ebay prices, etc.

The first day of the show after dealer set up and before the public was allowed in, the other dealers went from table to table looking for things. There were also dealers from out of state who didn't have tables but walked about with their little suitcase on wheel things buying up stuff. My dealer friend told me these guys (without the table and not local) work for large dealers and their jobs are basically going from show to show all across the country looking for specific items. Most of these guys were looking for very specific things: foreign silver sets, one guy wanted coins featuring "ships" and "boats", etc.

I didn't sell much to the other dealers because they didn't want to pay enough. I sold the "ship" guy some and he paid well. I had an 8 foot table to myself and rented 3 lockable glass showcases for the entire show.

I noticed what everyone else knows, that "most" of the non-local coin dealers were not very friendly, even to other dealers. The local public buyers were great to deal with. Most wanted to negotiate the price each time but I expected that and adjusted the prices accordingly. One tactic I fell for once was where they buy several items and negotiate down on each price, then when totaled try to get another chunk off the final price. I let that happen once but it was OK because I still made a profit-the next person that tried that I said NO!, you already got a break on each piece. I made a profit on every item I sold. Some of my older crap I bought when silver was higher that I wanted out of I might have only made a dollar or so due to the change in silver price, but I didn't lose any money.

Pretty much all of what I sold was semi numis or oddball stuff. I sold some US dollar commems, foreign silver proofs and such, etc. I also sold onzas/libertads, prospectors, silver Maples in the plastic sheets, etc. My onzas/libertads sold out as did the prospectors. I got roughly $21 to $22 for common year old style libertads and a bit more for the "modern" ones. I had some better year libertads that didn't sell like the 1999. The prosepectors sold for $22 but I came down to $21 if they bought more than one.

I tried to sell various "art" bars but only sold a few because the people didn't recognize that they go for much more on ebay. These are cooler ones from the 70s and 80s that actually are well known and not just random generic silver bar type things.

The US commems did well in that I sold for a buck or two over dealer "bid" and showed the "customer" the grey sheet price. A few of the buyers specifically looking for commems had a grey sheet with them in hand. Most of my really cooler stuff didn't sell because I would not come down low enough. I decided to not drop more than 15% off final sale ebay prices for my Koalas in presentation cards, older Kookaburra proofs, Libertad proofs, and other items that sell great on ebay that I will sell there later on.

I sold a fair amount of Saltwater Crocs, Spiders, Niue goats, Turtles, etc. But not too many of these compared to the libertads and prospectors. On the second day of the show I stopped at a local store that gives me good deals and picked up some generic silver bars that I got cheap and took those and sold them. Some buyers had asked on the first day about cheaper bullion and I didn't have any to sell. The stuff I picked up that morning to sell went fast but I only made a buck or so per ounce on those but it was fun. I discovered that as soon as one person stopped by to look at stuff more would show up. I engaged the folks who seemed interested and more like silver bugs and they seemed to like it that a "dealer" was being nice to them and explaining things (like where the coins came from and mintages, ebay prices, history of the series, etc).

One type of buyer I didn't anticipate but was able to do well with were folks asking: so you have any coins with a dog, cat, horse, train, plane, sporting event, naked lady-I'm not kidding, etc, etc on it. They had no idea what they wanted only that it had a certain theme. I was able to get rid of alot of stuff this way. My 50% silver canadian dollars (and a few sterling) that I bought a while back and wanted to dump were popular because they have awesome art work and I sold them for 2 bucks over melt with the box and COA, etc. This type of buyer couldn't have cared less that such coins are sterling (or 50%) as opposed to .999. My local stores wanted to pay me 80% of melt on these a few months ago when I tried to sell them locally.

The other dealers said this show had very low traffic historically speaking but I don't have anything to judge by. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be but I had a large amount of folks at my table, even more than the other booths around me. Most booths had fancy and expensive slabbed coins and old us gold, etc, and all I had was silver. One out of state dealer made a snarky comment to me when she came by and found out I was not a real coin dealer (I didn't hide that fact)- she said "oh, you guys always sell things for too cheap", or something like that. I guess I was selling stuff cheaper than she was and she was not happy about it.

For the amount of work involved I didn't make the amount of $$$ I can make at my day job, but it was 1000 times more fun to do the show and I was able to promote my non coin business a bit with a couple of folks so that might lead to some new business there possibly. I was also able to dump some of my stash that I didn't really want anymore and not lose any money, as I would have if I sold it to the local dealers.

From the minute you are there you have to be alert to make sure you don't get stuff taken by thieves, so there was really no "relaxing" from early morning until the show ended each day. Then it was back home to figure out what to bring the next day and how to doctor up the display to make it better, etc.

Sometimes when the action was "hot" I was dealing with 2 or 3 buyers at a time and money was flying back and forth- it was quite chaotic but awesome.

Jim

 

[kingskid1611]

Sounds chaotic but also like you had a blast. Congrats!

 

[Goose-0]

Ah, a non-coin dealer at a show.....that's great. You sure seemed to have fun in dealing with people. I've been to 100s of coin shows and really never knew what to expect being a seller. At recent shows I've attended, I have noticed 'inflation' on several types of U S coins.....common U S Walking Liberty halves going for $12 in G-4, Barber halves going for $21 in G-4, common A U Morgan dollars going for $30, common Mercs priced at $6 in A U, etc. Geeze, if I could get 50% of those prices for my stuff, I'd be quite wealthy. Like you, I'll have to start selling my stuff......just too much, and also being infected with Numismatosis (=overloaded, wants to sell, and keeps buying), its really hard to get rid of the stuff.

 

[jim4silver]

Ah, a non-coin dealer at a show.....that's great. You sure seemed to have fun in dealing with people. I've been to 100s of coin shows and really never knew what to expect being a seller. At recent shows I've attended, I have noticed 'inflation' on several types of U S coins.....common U S Walking Liberty halves going for $12 in G-4, Barber halves going for $21 in G-4, common A U Morgan dollars going for $30, common Mercs priced at $6 in A U, etc. Geeze, if I could get 50% of those prices for my stuff, I'd be quite wealthy. Like you, I'll have to start selling my stuff......just too much, and also being infected with Numismatosis (=overloaded, wants to sell, and keeps buying), its really hard to get rid of the stuff.

I plan to do the same show again next year. I spoke to one of the organizers and I can get my own booth if my friend decides to not attend next year. I also found out I can get a booth at a different show next year as well if I want. So maybe 2 shows next year? LOL!

Jim

 

[Tejaas]

Here is my coin show report.

First, I have to say I never realized how mentally and physically exhausting this would be. Having said that, it was the most "fun" I've had in a while. I was able to take a few days away from the office before the show to get everything "organized" and such. I also spent a bit of time online learning more about certain items I was selling such as mintages, ebay prices, etc.

The first day of the show after dealer set up and before the public was allowed in, the other dealers went from table to table looking for things. There were also dealers from out of state who didn't have tables but walked about with their little suitcase on wheel things buying up stuff. My dealer friend told me these guys (without the table and not local) work for large dealers and their jobs are basically going from show to show all across the country looking for specific items. Most of these guys were looking for very specific things: foreign silver sets, one guy wanted coins featuring "ships" and "boats", etc.

I didn't sell much to the other dealers because they didn't want to pay enough. I sold the "ship" guy some and he paid well. I had an 8 foot table to myself and rented 3 lockable glass showcases for the entire show.

I noticed what everyone else knows, that "most" of the non-local coin dealers were not very friendly, even to other dealers. The local public buyers were great to deal with. Most wanted to negotiate the price each time but I expected that and adjusted the prices accordingly. One tactic I fell for once was where they buy several items and negotiate down on each price, then when totaled try to get another chunk off the final price. I let that happen once but it was OK because I still made a profit-the next person that tried that I said NO!, you already got a break on each piece. I made a profit on every item I sold. Some of my older crap I bought when silver was higher that I wanted out of I might have only made a dollar or so due to the change in silver price, but I didn't lose any money.

Pretty much all of what I sold was semi numis or oddball stuff. I sold some US dollar commems, foreign silver proofs and such, etc. I also sold onzas/libertads, prospectors, silver Maples in the plastic sheets, etc. My onzas/libertads sold out as did the prospectors. I got roughly $21 to $22 for common year old style libertads and a bit more for the "modern" ones. I had some better year libertads that didn't sell like the 1999. The prosepectors sold for $22 but I came down to $21 if they bought more than one.

I tried to sell various "art" bars but only sold a few because the people didn't recognize that they go for much more on ebay. These are cooler ones from the 70s and 80s that actually are well known and not just random generic silver bar type things.

The US commems did well in that I sold for a buck or two over dealer "bid" and showed the "customer" the grey sheet price. A few of the buyers specifically looking for commems had a grey sheet with them in hand. Most of my really cooler stuff didn't sell because I would not come down low enough. I decided to not drop more than 15% off final sale ebay prices for my Koalas in presentation cards, older Kookaburra proofs, Libertad proofs, and other items that sell great on ebay that I will sell there later on.

I sold a fair amount of Saltwater Crocs, Spiders, Niue goats, Turtles, etc. But not too many of these compared to the libertads and prospectors. On the second day of the show I stopped at a local store that gives me good deals and picked up some generic silver bars that I got cheap and took those and sold them. Some buyers had asked on the first day about cheaper bullion and I didn't have any to sell. The stuff I picked up that morning to sell went fast but I only made a buck or so per ounce on those but it was fun. I discovered that as soon as one person stopped by to look at stuff more would show up. I engaged the folks who seemed interested and more like silver bugs and they seemed to like it that a "dealer" was being nice to them and explaining things (like where the coins came from and mintages, ebay prices, history of the series, etc).

One type of buyer I didn't anticipate but was able to do well with were folks asking: so you have any coins with a dog, cat, horse, train, plane, sporting event, naked lady-I'm not kidding, etc, etc on it. They had no idea what they wanted only that it had a certain theme. I was able to get rid of alot of stuff this way. My 50% silver canadian dollars (and a few sterling) that I bought a while back and wanted to dump were popular because they have awesome art work and I sold them for 2 bucks over melt with the box and COA, etc. This type of buyer couldn't have cared less that such coins are sterling (or 50%) as opposed to .999. My local stores wanted to pay me 80% of melt on these a few months ago when I tried to sell them locally.

The other dealers said this show had very low traffic historically speaking but I don't have anything to judge by. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be but I had a large amount of folks at my table, even more than the other booths around me. Most booths had fancy and expensive slabbed coins and old us gold, etc, and all I had was silver. One out of state dealer made a snarky comment to me when she came by and found out I was not a real coin dealer (I didn't hide that fact)- she said "oh, you guys always sell things for too cheap", or something like that. I guess I was selling stuff cheaper than she was and she was not happy about it.

For the amount of work involved I didn't make the amount of $$$ I can make at my day job, but it was 1000 times more fun to do the show and I was able to promote my non coin business a bit with a couple of folks so that might lead to some new business there possibly. I was also able to dump some of my stash that I didn't really want anymore and not lose any money, as I would have if I sold it to the local dealers.

From the minute you are there you have to be alert to make sure you don't get stuff taken by thieves, so there was really no "relaxing" from early morning until the show ended each day. Then it was back home to figure out what to bring the next day and how to doctor up the display to make it better, etc.

Sometimes when the action was "hot" I was dealing with 2 or 3 buyers at a time and money was flying back and forth- it was quite chaotic but awesome.

Jim

I really enjoyed this post... I enjoy coins for what they are historically, and could care less about the silver/gold aspect - needless to say I'm not any type of collector other than having a few Whitman boxes full of foreign coins and discontinued U.S. (is that what y'all call coins that aren't minted anymore?) coins.

Your post was cool because I've always wondered what actually goes on at these kind of events. I like your explanation and casual approach and the fact that you don't have snide comments about the guys who are interested in numismatics, but don't know where to begin - or the guys who don't give a rats butt about anything other than collecting a "theme"... If i ever started collecting at a more committed level, I'd almost guarantee that i'd be a "theme" collector. For example, the one coin i want to buy is a 1936 Texas Centennial Half Dollar. I don't want it slabbed, i just want to put it in an air-tite capsule and on an acrylic stand in my texas history curio cabinet. I still don't own one only because I'm terrified to buy one on Ebay because I'm uninformed and want to ensure i get an authentic one, haha.

My idea of awesome coinage is getting a steel cent back in my change.

I wish someone would make a post just like yours about one of the big Virginia or Tennessee Civil War Shows.


~Tejaas~