How to Find Honest Coin Dealers
There are two golden rules to finding an honest online house or dealer. And the two rules work together. The first rule is:
BE PATIENT
Online sales or mail order sales are ripe with rip off artists. Many business men are successful because they are very good at making themselves look good and making you feel good - just before they rip you off. I would say more than 60 percent of businesses live by this model at least part of the time. What do I mean by 'part of the time'? Simple. They generally will not rip off their local clientele because they have to operate in their local community - and the locals are returning customers - and their complaints can have real repercussions in their business community. But online or through mail order, they can be a different beast all together. They figure it is your responsibility to protect yourself and if you are too ignorant or too honest to do that, then you are fair prey. They use their online store fronts to get rid of some of the things their local customers would not buy. I am not just talking coin dealers. I am talking online business in general.
Most of the honest guys do not last in business or they make only meager incomes as they scrap along. What happens is the unscrupulous folks do in fact make more money and they can then afford the expense of advertizing. And so they are far more visible to people online. And so the system feeds itself. And it feeds on people's trust and lack of knowledge. The point is, you have to work hard to make the honest guy successful and make the online shopping a good experience for everyone else. Not everyone is willing to take the time to do that. But I will tell you how if you are motivated to do so.
To understand how to avoid bad dealers, you have to "put yourself in their shoes." You have to understand them. If you are going to rip people off, you want to do it fast and for as much money as you can - because you know they are never going to come back. And so they have to make their profit on that one big sale. I mean, think about it folks, if you're intent is to rip people off (and in most cases it is premeditated) you know the customer is not going to come back. And you know you are not going to waste your time listening to the customer's complaints. And so that is why they do not reply to your email messages or return the phone calls.
Some of you know what this is all about because you have experienced it. Some of you will deny my words - and either you are one of those unethical people or you will soon become one of their victims.
One tactic business people use is your desire to personalize your relationship with them. They will play on your sense of giving them the benefit of the doubt. Do not give businesses the benefit of the doubt. That includes individual coin dealers. They are NOT people. They are businesses. That is the difference between the "business world" and "private life". There are some good dealers out there, but they understand the situtaion and will not be offended. If they are, it is very likely a sales tactic - an act - they are probably playing on your sentimentality and still trying to make a sale. And they want you to think you have offended them... so that you will feel sorry... and give them a 'goodwill' purchase for hurting their feelings. Which is what their intent was all along. They played you in the oldest con game there is. Now, if you drive or run over your neighbor's cat, that is a different situation. There is no sale or purchase involved. You can feel sorry for them. And you can offer them a 'goodwill' contribution. But when a sales pitch is involved, that is another issue entirely. Do NOT get sentimental when dealing with purchases or sales. This is how good people are victimized.
Sometimes, if they think you are worth a lot of money, they may bait you on a few good sales and then try to take you on one large 'profit margin'. You need to understand how this one works too. You figure you have made a few sales with them and so you feel trusting. Right?
WRONG !!!
Never give in to the urge to buy on impulse.
Now, you are thinking that I could be baiting you. Right?
RIGHT !
Absolutely. I could be - yes - and I encourage you to suspect even me. But by the fruits of this article and how it uncovers fraud, you will know I am not the bad guy. Now - here is the Golden Rule for online and mail order purchasing.
Never, EVER, make a purchase that is more than 20 percent of your total annual purchases with a particular company.
What do I mean by that? Imagine you are shopping online as a return customer and you noticed a really nice coin with a sale price of $100. Do you buy it? To answer that question, you add up all your previous sales with that company. If you have previously spent $300, then you do NOT purchase the coin. Why? Because 20 percent of $300 is $60 - and that is your limit for that company. The $100 coin is more than 20 percent of your previous purchases of $300. This is how you apply the rule.
Now, this does not apply during the first couple sales. I mean what is 20 percent if you have never done business with the dealer before? So you have to take a small risk to start. And those first few purchases must be small enough that you are confortable with the potential loss. So make those first few purchases under $5. And then evaluate their service. This is where the first rule comes in - being patient. It is going to take time (10 or 20 sales) before you can have any VALID trust in a company for larger sales.
Now what about the baiter? The one that pats you on the back and gives you a few good small sales and then offers you that $1000 special deal?
Remeber the golden rule. Spend no more than 20 percent of previous purchases with that dealer. By the time this dealer can get you to purchase $1000 he has to be honest with you for many sales worth a total of $5,000. And it is just not worth his time or effort to make that many honest sales before ripping you off. You have significantly reduced his profit margin in the long term. That is how patience plays it's role.
Be patient. It is your own greed of 'wanting it now' that the bad guys play upon.
A good dealer knows that he will build trust with his clients over time. That is how he operates. And he is up front about it. In fact whether a dealer is up front about this is a good initial measure of the company. If a company does not talk about it openly on their website, then they may not be the most honest kind of business. I am old enought to remember the business of the 50's and 60's and this is the honesty that used to be prevalent out there. Not so today. You have to look long and hard to find the old honest kind of dealers. And that dealer is not only willing to do small sales with you, he encourages you and he will be candid with you about slowly building up trust with his sales. And he will never, ever bait you with that special high priced deal that he says you should not pass up. Like you, he will be patient. And so you need to look for that both in yourself and a dealer.
If you found this article helpful, please consider sending me a few coins. Pre-1930 lincoln cents would be nice. Even if it is just a filler. Something I can sell to help support the website. Alternatively, consider using our coin listing service. I would welcome you here.
You can copy this article if you provide clear reference back to this website and the original source of the article. Honest dealers can place this article on their websites under the same conditions. And if you do that, I will put a link here at the bottom of this article back to your company. And so people reading this will know where to go. And we can start to build a real movement of honest dealers. You can also print this article in your clubs newsletter too - again, under the same conditions as above. Or just pass the link on to a friend or post in your favorite forum to help other people out. But the conditions of the copyright are that you give clear reference back to this site. Please.
Thank you very much.
