New Level of "We Buy Gold..." Ripoff

[Hawkeye]

There is a total junk pile "pawn shop" in a town around where I live that has now morphed into a "Pawn Shop/ Used Car dealership/ 'We Buy Gold and Silver!' place". Literally all three in one tiny, shady building. I knew the guy was as crooked as could be, but I thought I would see just how bad it was. I took in a few nice looking but non silver halves and one decent looking 1953 Franklin half and asked if they were worth anything. His offer on the Franklin? One dollar. "They're not worth much- you'll double your money." OK, thanks pal. No wonder a lot of people are suspicious of people who want to buy silver.

[INTRINSICK]

Thats just wrong... anytime i buy from people i tell them exactly what the coin shop will pay them and what retail is.then we discuss a reasonable 'middle' so we both get a deal...this is what hurts the hobby.Because of this ALL my friends and co-workers who dont collect bring me everything they find.

[Hawkeye]

Nice. I mean, I know that any gold and silver buyer (myself included) has to make a profit, so I don't have a problem with people making a fairly low-ball offer. But that just seemed wrong.

[njoElec]

Unfortunately I stopped collecting coins because I got fed up with crooked dealers. There is only one place where I shop and know the owner personally. I always get great deals when I buy silver from him, and I've brought him a lot of business referring friends to him.

Crooked coin dealers and pawn shops are the reason why the entire coin collecting hobby gets a bad rep.

Hawkeye - is it just me or are there tons of "WE BUY GOLD AND SILVER" shops starting to show up??

[Hawkeye]

I agree. They are everywhere. That's the deal with this guy. He's had a seedy pawn shop for a while and he added used cars a few years ago, but it was just recently that he got into the gold and silver buying business. It seems like everybody with a building and a business is adding "we buy gold and silver" to their signs. This might just be one of the many little things adding up to PMs going throught the roof in the fairly near future. Crooked dealers drive me nuts. And there is a decent coin shop who will treat people fairly about 2 blocks away.

I went in expecting a pretty lowball offer, but a buck?!?

[oober]

Should have said after his offer " I will buy all of yours for $2". "double your money"

[Mossy]

Wonder what he would have said if you'd shown him a one ounce round and played the innocent dummy?

[Rodebaugh]

Should have said after his offer " I will buy all of yours for $2". "double your money"

+1

[strikeaxe]

So according to coinflation spot for 90% is about 24x face right at the moment. I would like to poll some members willing to post what they think would be a fair offer to an individual so that both buyer and seller are happy. Speaking only metal content, I ask the question in an attempt to define wholesale vs retail and what fellow sorters are willing to pay for the shiny dirt. I really am not looking for a long explanation on overhead, bills and the lights don't pay for themselves yadda yadda. Just a simple poll on if X is spot I pay 50, 75, 90 % of that and feel good.

[Rodebaugh]

So according to coinflation spot for 90% is about 24x face right at the moment. I would like to poll some members willing to post what they think would be a fair offer to an individual so that both buyer and seller are happy. Speaking only metal content, I ask the question in an attempt to define wholesale vs retail and what fellow sorters are willing to pay for the shiny dirt. I really am not looking for a long explanation on overhead, bills and the lights don't pay for themselves yadda yadda. Just a simple poll on if X is spot I pay 50, 75, 90 % of that and feel good.

Good wholesale price paid = 95% spot of ASW (weight based not face) Delivered with no Assay fee.

Shameless plug for one of Realcent's finest: http://marketharmony.net/uploads/Refini ... n_Fees.pdf

[barrytrot]

Unfortunately I stopped collecting coins because I got fed up with crooked dealers. There is only one place where I shop and know the owner personally. I always get great deals when I buy silver from him, and I've brought him a lot of business referring friends to him.

Crooked coin dealers and pawn shops are the reason why the entire coin collecting hobby gets a bad rep.

Hawkeye - is it just me or are there tons of "WE BUY GOLD AND SILVER" shops starting to show up??

There are 1,000+ coin dealers out there and more than half are honest. Why would crooked dealers even bother you? Just don't deal with them? It's pretty straight forward.

There are crooked dealers of food also, do you still eat?

There are crooked preachers do you still (if you ever did) believe in God?

There are crooked educators have you given up reading?

"Choice" allows you to deal with those you deem worthy of your time. Coin collecting is quite fun and often can show a profit unlike other hobbies. Don't knock it because some people do it for the quick-buck.

[INTRINSICK]

I just bought some silver tonight from my wifes cousin...my local coin shop is buying at 20x,retail is 24x. I paid her 22x i think this fair.we both got a deal

[wbeck]

In my mind there's nothing that "wrong" with paying 20%, MAYBE even 30% less than "average fair market" prices for any type of goods. That's just super awesome deal territory. Now depending on the type of goods in question there are different markups between the wholesale and retail price. Some things have slim margins (PMs are a good example) where as with many they have wide margins. My father owned a record store that sold a lot of vinyl, after vinyl was no longer the main format. For LPs it's not uncommon to start out at 10% (you read that right) of what you HOPE to retail it for. Obviously it's common to go up from there as well, but not generally above 20% of retail unless it's something really good. Long turnover times, and haggling are common so you need that type of margin to make it work. That's fairly standard stuff in that industry.

SO depending on the thing, as I said, 20 something percent less than what would be usual is OKAY. When you get into paying less than half something is worth or whatever that's just bad. Thank god my local coin store rocks. I used to buy online until I realized they ALWAYS have their US silver coins for LESS than anywhere online, barring eBay auctions that happen to sell for well below normal levels for various reasons.

[Hawkeye]

Should have said after his offer " I will buy all of yours for $2". "double your money"

Good one. I didn't know what to say when he threw out "one dollar." Part of me wanted to laugh and part of me wanted to punch him in the face. I have no problem with a guy trying to make a profit, but that was ridiculous. Oh well - judging by the looks of his "business," I doubt he does much legitimate business. He will likely be back in prison fairly soon. It just kind of annoys me that somebody could go in there with grandpa's coin collection and get totally ripped off. It would only take one or two at those prices to make him some serious money. Seller beware!

[Mossy]

Ahhh, "back in prison"? Most places prohibit felons running hock shops exactly because they can so easily become fences.

[Hawkeye]

Yep. Wire fraud a few years ago. Apparently Iowa doesn't have that law or he ignores it. However, come to think of it, he no longer has "pawn shop" on his sign although that's obviously what it still is. He has "Used Autos and "webuygoldandsilver" on his sign painted over "pawn shop." Weird.

[Mossy]

Hmmmm. Interesting.

http://www.startupbizhub.com/Starting-a ... siness.htm

http://www.dmv.org/oh-ohio/buy-sell/car ... ensing.php

[wbeck]

Yep. Wire fraud a few years ago. Apparently Iowa doesn't have that law or he ignores it. However, come to think of it, he no longer has "pawn shop" on his sign although that's obviously what it still is. He has "Used Autos and "webuygoldandsilver" on his sign painted over "pawn shop." Weird.

What a dirtbag! Well, hopefully he'll get his sooner or later... People like that usually do.