coindealers

Dealing with the Coin Show and its Dealers

by Robert G. Duncan

The following appeared as a Guest Commentary

in the August 8, 2005 issue of Coin World.

Alan R, Scott's letter (May 30 Coin World) extends the recent complaints about show dealers voiced by Terry L. Thorne (May 2 Guest Commentary).

Mr. Scott notes that "out of a bourse of sixty tables or so, (he) maybe gets the time of day from four dealers." Since most dealers "will not even acknowledge (his) existence while standing in front of their table" at these shows, he usually "go(es) home without making any purchases" even though he "usually (has) a few grand in (his) pocket just itching" to be spent.

I wonder how Mr. Scott shops for other things. Does he get "the time of day" at most retail stores when he enters them? And if he does, like he might at Wal Mart, is it the owner who greets him?

I suspect Mr. Scott's very existence might be in jeopardy were he to hold off buying anything until he got the "time of day" from a clerk or waited for the owner of every store he has to go to to buy life's necessities to "acknowledge (his) existence."

A coin show is a little different because the individual sale venues are eight foot tables, and the owner is usually the one behind the table. But the fact is that most dealers have learned from experience that the majority of the folks on the other side of the table are not likely to buy anything even if every one is given "the time of day," so they rely on the buyer to indicate what might be of interest. After all most collectors come to a show with a fairly short list, and at one of those sixty-dealer shows, they have fifty-nine other dealers' wares to see!

Admittedly there are some dealers who think that because they have such great stuff, it will sell itself. Some of these also seem to think they are God's Gift to collectors and are less than consistently courteous, much less aggressively outgoing. But in my esperience in meeting thousands of dealers at hundreds of shows over nearly four decades, these are a small minority. Maybe many could be friendlier, but so could many collectors!

I'd recommend that Mr. Scott start off his next show by acknowledging the existence of the first dealer he encounters. He will likely be surprised to find he gets plenty of the "customer service" he seeks (especially if he mention that he has "a few grand" to spend!). Certainly he will be much more likely to find what he is looking for numismatically, and not have to go home empty-handed. It's called shopping.

Terry L. Thorne's May 2 Guest Commentary was highly critical of coin show dealers.

Mr. Thorne, a former advertising man, finds them "demonstrating the personalities of burned-out door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen...while watching their tables like Pinkerton cops in a ghetto."

While he makes some useful points, I wonder if Mr. Thorne's expectations might be a little too high since he compares coin shows with advertising trade fairs, where competition almost requires booth holders to be aggressively outgoing. A coin show is a different, lower-key venue, where many of the items in a dealer's display may not be available from any other dealer there.

As to dealers who "watch their booth like Pinkerton cops in a ghetto," this may be encouraged by the fact that they trade in small, easily portable and concealable items of rather high value.

One of Mr. Thorne's big complaints was that "most booth displays (lack) enough elbow room for more than two or three patrons to visit at a time." This is because they deal in small objects of fairly high value offered in venues where the cost of renting a single table might be as high as $1000. The more space the coin dealer rents, the higher the overhead and the greater the security risks.

Mr. Thorne recommends "incorporating some thought and originality in displays, while providing the young and the curious with a smile and a sincere offering of help." Any thoughts about originality would have to consider security.

It may be an unfortunate aspect of the show venue that dealers have limited time to recover overhead and come out ahead. As a result, it may make more financial sense for them to concentrate their attention on known good customers rather than the young and the curious, who have a reputation for not being very good buyers.

Mr. Thorne's perspective as a former adman might be of value to dealers without experience in advertising, and his perspective as an observer of how coin dealers compose their displays and respond to "the young and the curious" might inspire some dealers to new or renewed efforts within the unique coin show environment.