Buying Silver Coins

[Fropa]

A woman I work with has a small box of silver coins (less than $100 face value) she found working as a teller. It is a mix of dimes, quarters, and halves. She just had me look through them to see if any of them were worth more than the silver value, unfortunately no scarce dates or errors. She isn't sure if she wants to sell them, but she is thinking about it. She will offer them to me before taking them somewhere else so I'm trying to find out what would be a fair multiplier of face value to pay. I just checked Coinflation and for a silver Washington quarter the full silver value is about 14.7 x face. I'm sure you couldn't expect to get the full value selling it to someone, so what is a fair percentage of that to pay for the coins? I want to offer her a fair price but be able to make at least a little profit if I decided to sell some of them.

Thanks for the help.

 

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[Immy]

My coin shop pays 85% of melt value. Anything less than that is not fair IMO. Maybe offer her 90%? The way silver is going up you'll make your money back in about a month.

 

[Wetgreenie]

I would shoot for 8x face to try and get a decent deal for both of you.
If need be, haggle to 10X, then take them home a roll around in them naked :P

 

[point hunter]

90% silver US coins are selling for at least 10X's their face value on eBay. What I have been seeing in the last few weeks is that much and another 10 to 20 dollars or more for around 15.00 dollars face value. If you can get these coins for 8X's face value or less, buy them before she changes her mind. I would gladly buy the for 8X's the face value if you don't want them.

 

[sneak]

I would shoot for 8x face to try and get a decent deal for both of you.
If need be, haggle to 10X,

I agree. I am trying to get $250 face of silver quarters for 8X.

 

[jrf30]

I saw a three page ad for a company coming to town this weeekend to "buy your silver and gold" Theya reoffering AMAZINGLY HIGH prices, because htey are working out of a hotel and not a store, and their overhead is lower.

They are offering (it is in the ad) 5.5X the face of any silver coins.

Can you believe that? 5.5X value.

What a SCAM. And yet, I saw them last time they were in town, and there was over an hour wait to get in to see them! Ihappened to be in that area last time and stopped in. they had people waiting in the lobby with little containers of coins all OVER the place.

I can't go this weekend, but if I could I'd offer anyone 8X face and take their clients form them. They are SCAMMING people if You ask me, and doing it with three full pages showing that they are big stuff and paying high prices. NOT!!

 

[Codes]

I saw a three page ad for a company coming to town this weeekend to "buy your silver and gold" Theya reoffering AMAZINGLY HIGH prices, because htey are working out of a hotel and not a store, and their overhead is lower.

They are offering (it is in the ad) 5.5X the face of any silver coins.

Can you believe that? 5.5X value.

What a SCAM. And yet, I saw them last time they were in town, and there was over an hour wait to get in to see them! Ihappened to be in that area last time and stopped in. they had people waiting in the lobby with little containers of coins all OVER the place.

I can't go this weekend, but if I could I'd offer anyone 8X face and take their clients form them. They are SCAMMING people if You ask me, and doing it with three full pages showing that they are big stuff and paying high prices. NOT!!

There was something similar to that in my area a few months ago. While I agree its a total scam, it pays to be knowledgable about certain subjects.

 

[GMan00001]

so what is a fair percentage of that to pay for the coins? I want to offer her a fair price but be able to make at least a little profit if I decided to sell some of them.

2 decisions you have to make before making an offer.

1) Are you buying the coins for the profit or because you really want the coins?
2) Will you care what this person thinks of you after the tranasaction?

If you are in it purely for profit and don't care about the other person I say try for 8X face. But if you are trying to be fair and reasonable, and have a small profit I would offer around 10X or 11X face.


Say its $100 face to make the math easier:
Paying 11X face would be $1100. You could probably sell them for around 85% of melt like Immy said (the dealer I dealt with previously had a similar price point) which would be approximately 12.5X face (or $1250) currently. Still a profit potential of around $150 (assuming silver prices stay constant)

If you paid 8X face instead the profit would be around $450.

I paid 5X face for a small collection 2 summers ago. Now I am really glad I did.

 

[DrDetector]

I just bought two rolls of quarters for just under $280. No other place to readily buy them for me aside from Ebay. Anything less than 14x face and I think it's a fair deal for all. Plus I've gotten a good amount of silver for face so I don't mind paying melt every once in a while.

 

[Jeffro]

Forget about all the "x times face" values. Do this instead.

Call around to all the coin shops IN YOUR AREA and ask what they are paying for cull silver coins (not rare and definately circulated).

Average the prices out.

This is what she would get if she sold them to a dealer. Thats the price you offer her. Its fair and it saves her a trip. Plus, you'll make money if you sell them online or to a better buyer than a coin shop.

Win- win for each of you.

Reason I say this is because everyone is from different areas, different areas have different rates, EVERYONE always gets a better deal when selling, and EVERYONE always has a better dealer when buying, LOL!

So call around and find out what REALITY is in your neck of the woods.

 

[jewelerdave]

Gman and Jeffro make very good points.

As someone in between collector and a melter I have to make some hard choices sometimes, But also benefit from the fact the only coin shop in town offers next to nothing to buy from people...and anything sold is all "cull" when dealing with the local shop, and everything is purchased and very low prices.
When I asked about selling my %40s the offer was at 70 cents each. this was 3 months ago when silver was at $14
If your looking at it from a business stand point, you have to profit.
I have had more people come into my shop to sell coins silver and gold since word got out.
Most walk ins are happy to get %80 for scrap sterling compared to %50 at the pawn shops.
Same with gold.
For coins most are tickled when I offer %85 to 90 and full spot for silver dollars on weight.
Even better is when we offer %100 of spot when they do a custom jewelry job with us.

Best part is. I can pull the collectible coins off as they come in and the people who sell them are happy to get melt over the other offers.
either way, with the volume we do, I get 98% from my buyer after melt, and only pay a $50 refining fee. But also get the deal due to the bulk of sending in anywhere from 30 to 100 pounds of silver at a time. The other nice thing about being able to deal in such amounts is I can call when to sell by putting it in a pool account, so if silver dips a quarter an ounce one day, I can say no, pool it, and sell when it goes up if I wish in a couple days.

People wonder why sometimes I sell my silver so often. Its because I am about turn over and not investment. I see making %8 to %18 on my extra money each month as much better than waiting for years for it to maybe go up or down. But even if the market is going down, I still make money, when markets go up as they have been, I make even more. So it does not matter if Silver is $3 an ounce or $300 Turning it will always make money.

But if you plan on holding on to these coins if you buy them, It really does not matter what you pay. If your looking to sell them fast, Then it does.

 

[Fropa]

Thanks for all the advice. I am definitely not out to rip anyone off, whether I know them or not. I had figured somewhere between 10x and 12x sounded reasonable. If she decides to sell I will call around and see what people are paying for them. I don't have any coin dealers in the local area, but will try to find some dealers in the closest larger cities.

I haven't sold any of the silver I've found so I expect I will hold on to them for the time being, but you never know.

 

[bill dilly]

coin dealers in this area are paying 12x for 90% silver. no culls. if you get anything for 10x or less, you are getting super deals.