QOTW #12: Which is worse, slimy unethical dealer? or slimy unethical collector?

[James_OldeTowne]

Who damages the hobby more? Shady dealers who fleece the public, sell overgraded garbage and downgrade other dealers' coins to get the steepest discounts possible? Or a slimy, sneaky collector who would shoplift coins at the first opportunity and would steal and dump his grandpa's beloved coins if given the chance?

 

What other sinister actions have you heard of regarding dealers AND collectors?

 

Your opinion, please!

[BillJones]

Sleazy dealers do more to damage this hobby than anyone else. They rip-off unsuspecting customers who are often new the hobby and often sour them forever. They also rip-off family members with excuses like, “Your Uncle Jim’s coins don’t amount to much, and I can only pay you a few hundred for them,” when the collection is really worth thousands. They also market “third world slabs” that contain over graded, damaged or even counterfeit coins.

 

Currently the Chinese counterfeiters are threatening to unseat unscrupulous dealers as the biggest threat to the hobby. If enough of their garbage gets into numismatic circulation, the credibility of the entire hobby will be compromised.

 

Crooked, sneaky collectors are usually more of a bother than a threat. Most of them are not sophisticated enough to beat knowledgeable dealers, but they give other collectors a bad name. Quite honestly I don’t like to fool with people who play games. I’d just a soon avoid them than try to purchase anything they have. Usually what they have is junk anyway.

 

Some these foolish collectors can’t get through their heads that a dealer has to make a profit to stay in business they think that a dealer has ripped them off with he pays $100 for a coin and marks it at $140 in hopes of selling it for $125. If these fools knew what the mark-ups that are need to keep most stores in business, perhaps they would understand what an honest dealer needs to get to survive.

 

[bsshog40]

As they say, there is nothing worse than a thief and I think that both examples represented above fall into that category.

[Schatzy]

I would say hands down Shady dealers!!

[Mark T]

Nothing worse then sleazy dealers the likes of which have ruined EBAY .

My two major rants are ( anyone who knows me already knows them):

 

1) Self slabbed garbage

2) Raw coins sold with a totally bogus grade and doctored photos

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Raw coins cold with a totally bogus grade and doctored photos

Let's keep in mind that there are collectors who do this on eBay as well! Great discussion so far, guys... more opinions, please!

 

(Slimy dealers are "winning" so far...)

[RWB]

#1 “Pop Market” sales crooks on TV/Cable, bill stuffers, and newspaper display ads. They create more deception, confusion and misinformation than all slimy coin dealers combined.

#2 Chinese counterfeiters (and those who aid and abet them). They will eventually destroy the trust of collectors in even the legitimate authentication services, thereby polluting the hobby and drowning both commerce and hobby. (Not the same as copies of manufactured products, legitimate distribution of which can be controlled.)

 

Slimy dealers and collectors are way down the list because their impact is limited by the need for contact with the ignorant off which they feed – kind of like slime mold.

 

[PerryHall]

RWB nailed it. Totally agree.

[realone]

A loose/inconsistent TPG is by the far the worst of all, just think if there were more than one tpg as just described doing business at the same time. Oh the humanity!!!

[Didz]

Shady Dealers get my vote. Especially shady EBAY dealers. Seems more coins change hands there than anywhere. At least from my perspective. I agree on the pop market as well.

[FILTHYHOARD]

What about the "thieves" on shopNBC & other coin programs which sell "rare" modern stuff for 3 times the market value but offer "stretch-pay" or "flex-pay" options.

You're paying 3 times more, but you can pay us off in 5 monthly installments!!!

[Didz]

What about the "thieves" on shopNBC & other coin programs which sell "rare" modern stuff for 3 times the market value but offer "stretch-pay" or "flex-pay" options.

You're paying 3 times more, but you can pay us off in 5 monthly installments!!!

 

You do have a point.

[Mark T]

 

Bottom line – as bad as these sellers are they need a gullible buyer to complete the transaction. If these buyers would spend a little time to educate themselves a lot of the junk would not be so easy to sell. I am talking about the simple basics of coin collecting such as recognizing the acceptable TPG’s from the self slabbers.

 

The Raw coin photo doctors on EBAY can fool people unless you know how to spot a doctored photo. . This is not always easy .

 

 

[WinstonWare]

They’re both terrible. Whoever has contact with the most people.

[BillJones]

#1 “Pop Market” sales crooks on TV/Cable, bill stuffers, and newspaper display ads. They create more deception, confusion and misinformation than all slimy coin dealers combined.

#2 Chinese counterfeiters (and those who aid and abet them). They will eventually destroy the trust of collectors in even the legitimate authentication services, thereby polluting the hobby and drowning both commerce and hobby. (Not the same as copies of manufactured products, legitimate distribution of which can be controlled.)

 

Slimy dealers and collectors are way down the list because their impact is limited by the need for contact with the ignorant off which they feed – kind of like slime mold.

 

Having argured against "registry insanity" (item #!) across the street and having called every name in and out of the book for doing it, I applaud this post. If it were to be posted across the street, RWB would make the black list given the attitude over there.