How to make money coin collecting

[Thogey]

Wait that wasn't Po. Anyway you get the idea.

[Sullysullinburg]

EBAY
you are 15 and your brain is probably more computer savvy than most of us.
"grasshopper, when you can snatch the pebble it will be time for you to leave"

What I look for on there also what's the point of the quote?

That is so funny. I knew he wouldn't get it. We're getting old Chris!

The quote is from a very popular television show in the 70's Kung Fu.
It was part of the beginning when a Shao lin Monk, Master Po, tells a student Kwai Chang Kang when he will have the skills to leave the temple.

When he is able to snatch a pebble from the palm of his hand.

What's the coin collecting equivalent?

[Thogey]

What's the coin collecting equivalent?

Answering this question is all part of snatching the pebble

[NHsorter]

Your a kid in NYC? You should have easy access to a bunch of banks! Do some sorting. Find places that will sell you coin. Get an account at a TD bank and use them as your dump bank, they have fee-free coin counters. Sort pennies, nickels, dimes. You'll learn what to look for and you'll find some stuff to sell. Research the best way to sell it. Might be eBay, or just on here for example. You can do a search on eBay for completed auctions. This way you will see the actual sale price of specific coins, rolls, batches, etc. are. Just looking up current auctions and BIN's will not tell you much. You want to see the completed sale price, including shipping. Then subtract what your fees would be. That is what you can probably sell it for.

Maybe you could even go into a coin store and talk to the owner. See if he has any cheap stuff he wants to unload. Tell him you are looking to flip some stuff on eBay to make a few bucks. He just might have some stuff for you that he does not want to waste his time with, but could still get you a little profit to sell it yourself? Just a thought? Gotta get your feedback rating built up before you try to sell any larger ticket items or you won't get good bids.

There are even timse that you could buy certain coins on this site and then flip them on eBay and make a few bucks. Heck, sometimes you could do it the other way around and sell some graded Morgans on here that you could have picked up cheaper on eBay. Seen it happen. Research selling prices of different types of coins at different outlets. Find sources that will sell you said coins for cheaper. As said in a previous post. Buy Low, Sell High. And be careful. You will lose money on some deals. Seen many here call that "tuition"

Wish I had time to type more. There is no rule book or step by step directions on how to do this. Everyone has their own way. Depends on your location, amount of free time, how you value your time, how strong your back is, how fast you can learn. Plus, most people who have found a sure fire way to buy low and sell high won't be advertising their business model on the WWW for others to copy. Be smart, look for deals, figure out ways to get the most money you can when you sell. Have fun!

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

If I was to start all over again, I'd start with one particular coin. Say wheat pennies. I would learn EVERYTHING I could about them, especially market prices. I say this because you can read coin magazine and website price guides all day and then never get that quoted amount for your coins. Learn to grade. Learn what sells. You have to know your product. And ALWAYS have a buyer for ANYTHING you are buying to flip. If it's not for your personal collection then don't waste your money. It may seem like a great deal at the time but sitting collecting dust while you could have flipped a coin or two doesn't put cash in your pocket.

Find all of your local coin shops. Just because someone owns a coin shop doesn't mean they know anything about coins. They may just be interested in Gold and Silver. Places like this you can clean up on wheats, indian heads, buffalo nickels, and my favorite....foreign coins and foreign SILVER coins.

Watch ebay and see what's hot and what's not. Look closely at the pictures of the coins offered. Once you get comfortable with certain coins, start learning other coins.

KNOWLEDGE is POWER.

Rule #1 for me anymore that I use 95% of the time. If I make a purchase to flip, I must sell it within a week. I'm not gonna save it for a month trying to get a couple $$$ more. FLIP and GO.

Rule #2 This one WAS and still IS the hardest rule. You can't win 'em all. Meaning some flips you will lose on. You need to look at the bigger picture of your flips....per day or week or month. The goal is to have more wins than losses.
( for example in our last KSA's I lost on a few auctions but I made up the difference and did OK even offering a 25% discount of multiple winning lots. At the end of the auction I easily made a profit. I won't retire but have funds to keep going looking for the next flip.)

Tons of information on this site and GREAT people to ask.

Don't be afraid to ask. If you have to, PM someone. There are NO dumb questions here. Most of us were like you one day!(some still are! )

[MatthewsTech]

I also focus on pawn shops.

Care to elaborate on this some more? What are you picking up from them? how often do you visit? Do you put in standing orders of a buy list you have or anything or just wing it every time?

Thanks in advance!

[coppernickel]

Here are some lessons I have learned. If anyone can clarify or correct them, please feel free to teach us all.

20% SPREAD:

The spread is the amount around spot that dealers make to stay in business. DEALERS BUY at 20% under spot, but SELL at 20% over spot. This is a general rule, as markets adjust these change.

If something has a value of, say a silver dollar valued at $20, if want to SELL it then anticipate getting $18, but if you want to BUY it anticipate spending $22.

(I like to trade on RealCent because the spread is smaller.)

Books:
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. Helps one understand money and puts it in a real money world, not fiat.

Reference books:
The official Red Book, a guide book of United States coins, BUY price.
The official Blue Book, a guide book of United States coins, SELL price.
North American Coins and prices, buy price.

I use these to tell me rarity, content and to authenticate purchases. The prices are out of date by the time they are published, so Don't worry about getting the newest addition, a cheap older edition still works. I have some 10-15 years old that I still use regularly. These don't translate well to and electronic format.

Watch out for fakes, counterfeits, remakes, replicas, copies, etc. Some are made to show what the original looked like, some are made to fool you into a swindle. Backwoods Home magazine recently ran an article about counterfeit silver quarters. There is a thread here about some counterfeits folk here have had to deal with.

Markets change fast:

All markets run in fads including coin and bullion markets. You need to adapt quickly to keep up. Gold, silver and copper are really down from recent years. I keep thinking they will turn and go up sharply soon, but I have also been thinking this would happen any day for the past six months.

When I was young the 1970 circulated half was the prize to have. Recently I bought a few at bullion prices. Patience can help you win big, or ruin you.

Attitude:

Keep a good attitude, rude, know it all, and overbearing types turn people off real fast. This forum has some very intelligent well educated people. You asked the right group.

Advise is best served freely, but take all advise with a grain of salt and apply only what works for you.

Conclusion:

In the end you need to act, act boldly, fail, restart, fail and restart. If it works keep it up, if it doesn't change. Keep learning, you can rest when you die.

[coppernickel]

I also focus on pawn shops.

Care to elaborate on this some more? What are you picking up from them? how often do you visit? Do you put in standing orders of a buy list you have or anything or just wing it every time?

Thanks in advance!

Look for coins, or other items of interest. Lots or talking, "net working," to get the things of use and anything they can sell.

[coppernickel]

Hard work, elbow grease and gumption.

[Recyclersteve]

Something else that I haven't read yet- you might consider joining a coin club.

[christostock]

20% spread according to your math means a 40% profit!!!
This is not correct and no one should go into dealing coins thinking that those type of margins are realistic

[Recyclersteve]

If you buy at 80 cents on the dollar and sell at $1.20, that is actually a profit of 50%.

[coppernickel]

20% spread according to your math means a 40% profit!!!
This is not correct and no one should go into dealing coins thinking that those type of margins are realistic

Thank for the comments.

I do know when selling coins the dealer pays no where near the value, but when I buy a coin the price is no where near the value.

That is when I learned about the 20% spread.

[Morsecode]

I was thinking the same, actually. While bigtime national dealers obviously operate closer to the margins Christo is talking about, local coin dealers are much, much closer to the 20/20 spread. And that might only be when they're in a good mood.

Right now, of the 4 locals I deal with (2 are longtime brick & mortar shops, 1 recently opened, and 1 has a flea market booth)...not a one of them is offering a cent over 10x face on 90%. Sell prices range from 12x to 16x. The local pawn joints are even worse.

[Thogey]

I always thought the spread was the difference between the ask and bid.

So a 20% spread on $15 dollar silver would be buy at 13.50 sell at $16.50. $3 bucks spread?

Was I ignorant?

[coppernickel]

I always thought the spread was the difference between the ask and bid.

So a 20% spread on $15 dollar silver would be buy at 13.50 sell at $16.50. $3 bucks spread?

Was I ignorant?

I think we are saying the same thing.

[Morsecode]

Here's a recent example of the spread hereabouts:

Last month, one of the shops sells me 90% for 12x, and I bought all I could. The following week I went back but all he had was scraps and slicks. As I pondered my next move a guy comes in with a coffee can full of Morgans. I'm 5 feet away, so I hear every word of the transaction.

Dealer pays $11 ea...the group is 65 coins, all but a few are 1921. I stole a glance...they looked nice.

Literally 45 seconds after the guy walked out, I asked how much for 10?

"I gotta get twenty a pop for these..."

Now if I had come in AFTER the guy left I would've thought that was a decent price.

[Sullysullinburg]

Ok so what I'm getting form all of you is buy about 20% below value and try to sell about 20% above value. 2 questions where? From what you guys are saying no coin dealers and 2 if found the PCGS price guide app can I trust it?

[christostock]

Ok so what I'm getting form all of you is buy about 20% below value and try to sell about 20% above value. 2 questions where? From what you guys are saying no coin dealers and 2 if found the PCGS price guide app can I trust it?

Sully, please go to your local coinshops and ask if you can work for them during your time not in school.
This is how you will learn what to buy and at what price.

[thepmetalstacker]

Try this
http://www.coinshows.com/
see if there are coin shows near you.
If there are then go to them, all of them, all the time.
Ask questions all the time about everything.
this is important - bring money to buy stuff. if you don't ever buy anything, people at the shows will stop answering your questions.
Here is a great question when you see the same dealer the next time - do you have any new coins for sale.
You need to know what you are buying at what price or you will not make any money. The dealers are there to make money and they know what the coins are worth and how hard they are to sell or how easy they are to sell.
You cannot just buy everything and you MUST say thank you for showing me this but I will have to pass on it this time.

Now, you will not have any success ever unless you go out and start getting involved

How do I know what to buy and at what price? Great info thought.

OP, asking questions on here is well and good but YOU need to put in the legwork and do this for yourself. I realize you're young but if you're going to succeed you have to take the ball and run with it. That means learn learn learn! Get your hands on every reference book you can and READ! There's one thing about the coin industry.....NOBODY knows it all. Just when you think you have a good grasp, someone higher up the food chain will make you realize you don't know half of what you think you know.

Learn to grade, get yourself a subscription to the greysheets so you know what the stuff prices at. Get yourself a redbook so you can identify the coins first. (don't use it to buy and sell though)

[Doctor Steuss]

I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who assisted me when I first started coin collecting. One of the first things he told me was that no matter how much he tried to guide me, and no matter how much I read, I would look at my collection a year down the road and think to myself “why do I have so much crap here?” He was completely right. I went through the same thing several more times, looking at certain coins and wondering why on earth I ever paid more than face value for them.

Basically, the moral of the story is there are certain lessons with coin collecting (and breaking even/making money) that only come from experience. If you aren’t simply looking to deal with bullion type coins, then you are going to need to do a lot of research. You’ll need to memorize key dates, and have a basic grasp on grading. Above all, you will need to interact with collectors. I have learned just as much (if not more) by interacting with people in the hobby (especially at my local coin shop) than I have through all of the books I have.

Also, while price sheets and books can be a helpful guide, they are ultimately just that… a guide. An item is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Sometimes it is much more than the guide may suggest; sometimes much less.