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Where do Wholesale Dealers get their Coins From????

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I am a wanna be Coin Dealer.

 

I have sat at Orlando FUN, Central States, and some other shows at some WHOLESALE DEALERS Tables....Like Coleman Foster and Ace Coins to name the ones I have dealt with. Where do they get there coins from????? They are getting very large lots of coins at Blue Book prices or less. I have a inkling that the high end dealers wholesale the lower end stuff out to them...like Nachbar Coins.

 

What do you all know on this perplexing question in my mind as a wanna be dealer....

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I am a wanna be Coin Dealer.

 

 

 

 

Why?

 

 

 

 

This question is not intended to be flippant or rude, and I do not intend to demean or belittle you or your desires. I am just interested in your reason(s). :)

 

BTW, I am not a dealer.

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Some larger dealers who have an actual coin shop will wholesale coins in bulk that come from walkins. I've asked the same question myself before but don't remember the name of the dealers who sell in bulk.

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Coin estate auctions, Shows, private collections and walk-ins

 

They also buy from other dealers. I've sold material to Coleman Foster. He's bought a few thousand dollars worth of coins from me, and I was a "small fish." I've seen him buy tens of thousands worth of coins from the larger dealers.

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I have asked this question because I would like to know how to get into the "business" of buying, selling, and collecting coins. I am sure most everyone who buys 200 or 300 coins for their dealer inventory would always ask "WHY CAN"T I GET THESE COINS AT A CHEAPER PRICE" instead of buying from a big wholesaler like Coleman Foster. I guess the answer is WHO DO YOU KNOW and HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE IN THE 5 FIGURE RANGE and HIGHER.....

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let the local dealers know that you may be interested in the items they are not. i have told the comic folks/coins/pawn...and now if they have someone come in and offer something and they dont want it, i get a call.

 

i have goten many great deals by simply talking to the owners of the shops, and you can also put in the clasifieds in local papers that you are a buyer and they will flock to you.

 

at the same time i am helping the economy here and pay taxes on my ventures (its income/inventory). the customer is also happy and will return to the shop for further dealings. i never give my personal number to there customers so if they have something they go to the shops first. everyone is happy and i get much luv!

 

good luck on your venture! :)

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I have asked this question because I would like to know how to get into the "business" of buying, selling, and collecting coins. I am sure most everyone who buys 200 or 300 coins for their dealer inventory would always ask "WHY CAN"T I GET THESE COINS AT A CHEAPER PRICE" instead of buying from a big wholesaler like Coleman Foster. I guess the answer is WHO DO YOU KNOW and HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE IN THE 5 FIGURE RANGE and HIGHER.....

 

There is nothing to stop you or anyone else from getting into the coin "business" and "setting up shop" but doing so successfully is another issue entirely. Until recently, I was able to buy some of the coins I collect (South Africa Union and ZAR) on eBay, from dealers or public auction and sell them for large mark-ups. But it never was (or could be) large money because it is a niche, the economy and in this case also the FX rate has killed it.

 

But doing what I did and what others on this board do as a part time activity is one thing and making it your livelihood or primary source of income is another. Most people, myself included, are probably not cut out to be business owners or at the least, it would take a lot of "re-programming". In today's society, most people are dependent upon someone else for their job and need to make a big adjustment to become self sufficient in that manner.

 

As for becomng a coin dealer, you need inventory and you need customers. And you need to be able to acquire inventory at a price low enough to be able to resell it for a decent profit. With the coins I sold, I had no problem selliing them for large markups because I had little competition. I sold them for less than other better known sellers or dealers would have but still made good money on them. The problem I had was finding enough coins that were worth buying for resale which is the same problem I have acquiring coins for my own collection. I seldom bought any coins for resale that I would not be interested in keeping for my own collection and I consider my standards fairly high.

 

I've dealt with only a few dealers with any frequency and all of them are either specialists or have been in the business for a long time. Two sell by mail and the other is Northeast Numismatics. The latter I would consider to be one of the more successful dealers in the country. I make this claim based upon the inventory they carry plus the fact that they buy their world coins from many of the same auctions that I follow.

 

I do not believe that someone like Northeast has that much of a distinct advantage over everyone else in buying coins but they might when it comes to the prices they can get. They seem to have a good reputation and that seems to result in them being able to sell their coins for higher prices than the "typical" dealer.

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I have asked this question because I would like to know how to get into the "business" of buying, selling, and collecting coins. I am sure most everyone who buys 200 or 300 coins for their dealer inventory would always ask "WHY CAN"T I GET THESE COINS AT A CHEAPER PRICE" instead of buying from a big wholesaler like Coleman Foster. I guess the answer is WHO DO YOU KNOW and HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE IN THE 5 FIGURE RANGE and HIGHER.....

 

There is nothing to stop you or anyone else from getting into the coin "business" and "setting up shop" but doing so successfully is another issue entirely. Until recently, I was able to buy some of the coins I collect (South Africa Union and ZAR) on eBay, from dealers or public auction and sell them for large mark-ups. But it never was (or could be) large money because it is a niche, the economy and in this case also the FX rate has killed it.

 

But doing what I did and what others on this board do as a part time activity is one thing and making it your livelihood or primary source of income is another. Most people, myself included, are probably not cut out to be business owners or at the least, it would take a lot of "re-programming". In today's society, most people are dependent upon someone else for their job and need to make a big adjustment to become self sufficient in that manner.

 

As for becomng a coin dealer, you need inventory and you need customers. And you need to be able to acquire inventory at a price low enough to be able to resell it for a decent profit. With the coins I sold, I had no problem selliing them for large markups because I had little competition. I sold them for less than other better known sellers or dealers would have but still made good money on them. The problem I had was finding enough coins that were worth buying for resale which is the same problem I have acquiring coins for my own collection. I seldom bought any coins for resale that I would not be interested in keeping for my own collection and I consider my standards fairly high.

 

I've dealt with only a few dealers with any frequency and all of them are either specialists or have been in the business for a long time. Two sell by mail and the other is Northeast Numismatics. The latter I would consider to be one of the more successful dealers in the country. I make this claim based upon the inventory they carry plus the fact that they buy their world coins from many of the same auctions that I follow.

 

I do not believe that someone like Northeast has that much of a distinct advantage over everyone else in buying coins but they might when it comes to the prices they can get. They seem to have a good reputation and that seems to result in them being able to sell their coins for higher prices than the "typical" dealer.

 

 

I own and operate 2 businesses. I rarely if ever make my business someone elses in terms of where I get my stuff or anything else for that matter. That being said neither of my businesses are coin dealerships. Part of being in business is figuring out these things. Asking doesn't hurt and is good, because someone interested in finding someone to resell their products will pick up on this. When you think Coin Dealer you need to think about the size and scale of your biz. If your thinking large scale you need to be looking no less than a dedicated distributor of the products you are interested in and start making calls. Get on the net and start searching. It may take days... weeks or even months to find what you are looking for. Running your own business is very time consuming and requires an enormous amount of energy and drive. Being optimistic is not an option but a requirement. Working all hours of the day is sometimes required.. no vacations.. blah blah. All depends on what you want from it. I know there is times I wish I had never started my own businesses. Hard on the family and the health. Just my opinion from my perspective.

 

Also.. remember you have to sell yourself at all times. Get noticed. Most of my clients are word of mouth.. I rarely advertise. Quality, Good business, The more people you meet and know.. THE BETTER. One bad deal and the customer will tell almost everyone about you.. Good deals don't get the same amount of gossip time.

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I always wondered about Coleman Foster's table. Is there a secret handshake or passcode or can a regular chump like me sit at his table and look at his coins? Of course, I would need a machete to hack my way to a seat

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Probably from folks like me who needed cash and did not want to wait for an auction house to take 15% sellers plus 15% buyers fees. I had a whole slew of stuff I wholesaled off to HLRC at a significant loss. :(

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