Would you want to be a coin dealer?

[Ætheling]

Remember the age old saying, "don't mix business and pleasure".

[MisterMcDoo]

Remember the age old saying, "don't mix business and pleasure".

 

I beg to differ!!! I make more than my friends who work at supermarkets, and I have lots of fun with Kirschnotes.

[mmarotta]

I see there is some consensus here. However, is it not true that many collector are really dealers? Do we not all buy and sell? And when we buy, are we not fully conscious of value? Yes, it is a hobby. Yes, to get the one you need you will pay "anything." But, really, you will not. At some level, you could spend your coin money on any other hobby or on no hobby. This is an economic decision.

 

We commonly say that there are businesses with employees and the employees are consumers who are tallied as households.

 

I say that this is socialist propaganda from public, tax-funded, governmentalist schooling.

 

I say that in reality, we are all in business. We sell our labor, mostly, but truly all goods are just services. You could build your own car. But it might not be a very good car and you might not have a lot of fun doing it. So, you hire the service of car-building from other people. Service is the basis of business.

 

That applies to coin dealing. The coin dealer serves as a middleman, a conduit between buyer and seller. We could do without dealers, if we could all be in complete communication with each other -- and we are! ebay has worked a miracle in making it possible for anyone to sell anything. eBay is a service, of course.

 

But there is more to it than that. And we know that. Authentication and attribution are additional services that dealers provide. Recommendations are a special kind of knowledge that dealers have. "I see you like Large Cents. Do you own Newcomb? You do! Great! Do you have the book on 1801 2 3?" The coin dealer provides the service of nuturing your hobby.

 

We do these things for each other for free. We could do them for pay.

I would say that for all the headaches and heartaches of going fulltime as a professional -- and there is no argument on that -- just about every collector is a dealer.

 

Would you want to be a numismatic writer? We write for free. Here I am -- but I get paid, elsewhere, also. I say that anyone who comes online to chat about coins is a numismatic writer.

[Corina]

Yes i Do like Selling Coins And banknotes Helps me Learn About The types of Coins

 

Now i'm A Small Time Dealer Selling Low to Mid grade Coins Nothing Like The MS-60's and Above

[jtryka]

I agree with Mr. Marotta in the sense that as we buy or sell, we are technically "dealers." However, he alludes to an even more important aspect of our numismatic business relationships, in that there are broadly two types of dealers. The first type I would label traders, as they exist mainly to buy or sell coins from inventory. They provide a convenience, as you can liquidate coins quickly (although perhaps not at the best prices) and you can usually buy quickly (even if it's a major rarity, there is likely a trader that has one). These dealers truly are "middlemen" who are there to make the trade. I would also put many auction houses in this camp. The second type of dealer is really more of a numismatic consultant. They do more than buy or sell, but often have deep relationships with their clients. They build up trust, and get to know exactly what interests you. They can recommend books or other resources to enhance your hobby experience, and they know the exact type of coin you are looking for, so when they find it, they know it will find a home quickly. For both types of dealers, you can probably make further distinctions, dealers specializing in types of coins, bullion, certified, raw, you name it. But in generally I would guess that most dealers fit in either of the two categories.

 

Now, back to the question at hand, would I want to be a dealer? Not in the traditional sense. I certainly wouldn't want to own and maintain a retail location, but I could see myself doing some shows, or perhaps having an internet based coin business. That is one area no one said much about in this thread. With the advent of the internet, it would be much easier to launch a mail order type business, where customers could peruse your inventory on a web page or "eBay store" and you don't have the hassles and expense of a physical location. To me, that might be the ideal way to go if I wanted to be a dealer. The problem would still be acquiring inventory to stock the online store, but that might be overcome with local inventory from shows, or even putting an ad in a local paper to buy collections. Once acquired, an online outlet brings the world to your store everyday! Of course I am probably looking at this too simplistically, but then again, I'm not a dealer!

[gxseries]

Many good points!

 

Anyone here can be a part time dealer by selling and buying coins, but to become a full time dealer might be another story. Honestly, I don't know how full time dealers manage to buy and sell enough coins that will nett in enough cash as compared to an average worker in any field and be able to pay the taxes etc.

 

I guess that's a real good reason why dealers only pay approximately 40-70% of the real market value... or they can't possibly afford their own expenses.