The "traveling coin buying outfits" rip off!!

[pennypicker]

Yesterday I was at my local "legitimate" coin shop and his current sell price on '64 Kennedy halves was 26X face and his buy price was 23X face. Fair buy/sell spread and he will lessen the spread for large amounts. We also have a second coin shop in town. You know the type; they sell coins, baseball cards, comics, ect. He has a sell price at 28X face and buy at 20X.

THEN you have those traveling outfits that advertise in your local paper with a full size ad listing all that they are buying and that they pay the highest prices. They list some printed testimonials of happy customers and they rent a hotel lobby to greet customers and inspect their items. Well one of those traveling shows is in town today and in today's paper they have their full page ad with this interesting line: "paying 8X face for pre-'64 silver half dollars". Just for the fun of it I called them and told them they had a typo and they probably intended it to read "18X face" and the person replied that the ad was indeed correct at 8X face! Oh the humanity!

[68Camaro]

All I can say is - wow...

[Red King]

Doesn't surprise me. Last year, I worked for a 'We Buy Gold' company (Only work I could find at the time..).
This place offered a whopping 6x FV for pre-64 stuff.

What's even more interesting is that nearly everyone who brought old coins in was impressed with the offer. Often, their eyes would light up, and they would smile, saying "Wow, i didn't know they were worth that much!"

I kid you not, one lady came in w/ a full laundry hamper full of pre-64 Kennedys she inherited from her late father (no exaggeration). After I spent nearly an hour counting, she happily took the offer, without question.

I needed a shower after doing that.

After I left the company, I tried to call her to make my own offer on the rest of her stuff. She changed her number

[Mossy]

A local dealer could park outside the hotel with a sign telling people they will beat the offer made inside?

[NDFarmer]

Those traveling buying companies and a lot of local dealers are just taking advantage of the uninformed and a lot of the time the elderly. When they bring in a 50 cent piece that has been in the closet for 50 or 60 years and the guy offers them $5.00 or $6.00 for that 50 cent piece they think WOW $6.00 for a 50 cent piece that's great. I would not and could not do business that way.

[pennypicker]

I would not and could not do business that way.

That's because you possess another commodity that is becoming scarce in our society--ethics!

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

A group like that is in town this week...3 full pages of advertising in the paper. If I had the cash...I'd rent me a room at the hotel and take them on....yep...a huge rip-off!

[shinnosuke]

OK, maybe this is another potential business opportunity for us. Anybody want to give it a spin?

By the way, it is not just the traveling shops that rip people off. I stop at garage sales and ask about coins. Two Saturdays ago I had a guy brag that he took all his coins to a shop in downtown San Antonio. I know the place; it's been there for years. This guy was proud to have received $5 each for all his 1962 (he meant 64's) Kennedys. His expression changed when I said that I would have gladly paid him $8.

[Heartkill]

I recall reading an article on Coinflation about a small coin show in Iowa or somewhere doing exactly that; they set up at a hotel down the road from a traveling gold buying show and did pretty good making fair offers well above the competition.

[biglouddrunk]

That is easy money buy them and flip them fast that way you don't have to play the market.

[merchoarder]

I recall reading an article on Coinflation about a small coin show in Iowa or somewhere doing exactly that; they set up at a hotel down the road from a traveling gold buying show and did pretty good making fair offers well above the competition.

I remember reading that as well. The traveling rip off circus visits my town 5-6 times a year and after reading that I've always thought, what if???

[Number21]

If people are too stupid to realize what their stuff is worth, then they deserve to get ripped off....

[Market Harmony]

I've never done this, but I'll share a trick with you guys:

These traveling shows go all over the place and their business model is to go to a hotel that is usually right next to a bunch of other hotels and put out aggressive ads in the week preceding their weekend buying bonanza. All that you have to do is recon the site and go to a hotel which everyone who is going to the advertised hotel must pass. Get a room with them and simply buy some signs that say, "buying gold today" and set up shop. Set those signs up at the entrance of your hotel. Everyone coming in from the advertising to the other hotel will see your signs first and hopefully go to your hotel instead. You won't catch all the flies, but you catch many.

I've never done it, but I know that it happens

[barrytrot]

If people are too stupid to realize what their stuff is worth, then they deserve to get ripped off....

How is it stupid to not know what silver or gold is worth for someone that doesn't actively buy it?

Do you know what every one of your possession's fair market value is?

How about the ones that someone gave you or left you after they died?


Please people, lack of knowledge on something has nothing to do with intellect. And if you say, "hey spend 5 minutes on the Internet". If you are selling "grampas old coins" you don't want to bother or "the ring my fiancee gave me that also slept with my sister" you definitely don't want to bother.


Also, why is it that paying 1/4 value for silver and gold is "wrong" but if you go to the thrift shop they give me $1 for a clothing item they sell for $25? Is that also wrong?

[Number21]

How is it stupid to not know what silver or gold is worth for someone that doesn't actively buy it?

A little thing called the internet will give you the EXACT price it's worth with just a few seconds searching, and if you don't have a computer you can go to the library. If you're selling your gold and you don't know what gold is selling for you are an idiot. Just google "metal prices". Bingo, all the info you could ever need...even on most cell phones.

Do you know what every one of your possession's fair market value is?

Anything valueable, yes. If I plan on selling something, I ALWAYS research the price first....

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

At least this one is advertising they will pay 23X's for silver coins. But the one I like is "Paying 20% over face value for wheat pennies!".