LCS.

[scarecrow]

In the past I've bought a couple or three sovs from a local coin shop when there wasn't much on TSF. The prices were £30-£40 dearer.  I know they have to make money to pay their bills, but my question is are these shops genaraly overpriced?

Tin hat on.

[Petra]

Local pawn shop .. part of a national chain has had choice of dates sovereigns for £420 for quite some time. Two other shops both local people, one has coins as an additional to other stuff and either has proofs for really stupid prices or battered 1oz silver. The other is a local owned pawn shop and has a lot of gold coins in, only way to get a price though is go in and ask. A month ago a Gillick was £420.

[Gordy]

1 hour ago, scarecrow said:

In the past I've bought a couple or three sovs from a local coin shop when there wasn't much on TSF. The prices were £30-£40 dearer.  I know they have to make money to pay their bills, but my question is are these shops genaraly overpriced?

Tin hat on.

yep....

[Bigmarc]

2 hours ago, scarecrow said:

In the past I've bought a couple or three sovs from a local coin shop when there wasn't much on TSF. The prices were £30-£40 dearer.  I know they have to make money to pay their bills, but my question is are these shops genaraly overpriced?

Tin hat on.

If they only sell coins then yes, I have one near me that sells mainly jewelry but does coins on the side. I have had some great deals from him. 

[MickB]

My local bullion dealer isn't as cheap as he was just over a year ago, so I end up shopping around elsewhere. He does have some good deals every now and then and will let you haggle prices but for sovereigns he doesn't budge.

[SidS]

Many coin dealers recently seem to have Gillicks on at about £410-£420.

[BullionBob]

5 hours ago, MickB said:

My local bullion dealer isn't as cheap as he was just over a year ago, so I end up shopping around elsewhere. He does have some good deals every now and then and will let you haggle prices but for sovereigns he doesn't budge.

Margins tend to be very low on bullion sovereigns for dealers. My regular dealer tends to buy from the public at spot price and sells at spot +5%. Will also never budge on price for bullion sovereigns but will usually be willing to negotiate on world gold coins, often depending on how long he has been sitting on the stock and of course how much he paid for the coin(s).

Edited August 18, 2022 by BullionBob

[Orpster]

A jeweller local to me buys sovereigns £20 below spot and sells them £20 above, cash only

Never sold them any but have bought a handful.  Nothing fantastic but if they have them in I pick up any Victoria's or Gillicks.  Waiting for the day they have a load of shields in  

[scarecrow]

4 hours ago, MickB said:

 will let you haggle prices but for sovereigns he doesn't budge.

Seems to be the norm for sovs.

[LawrenceChard]

8 hours ago, scarecrow said:

In the past I've bought a couple or three sovs from a local coin shop when there wasn't much on TSF. The prices were £30-£40 dearer.  I know they have to make money to pay their bills, but my question is are these shops genaraly overpriced?

Tin hat on.

It sounds like your's is, and possivly most local  coin shops.

There is a great one in Blackpool though.

😎

[scarecrow]

11 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

It sounds like your's is, and possivly most local  coin shops.

There is a great one in Blackpool though.

😎

I've the Blackpool one once or twice. No problem there😉

 

[StackemHigh]

On 18/08/2022 at 21:57, LawrenceChard said:

It sounds like your's is, and possivly most local  coin shops.

There is a great one in Blackpool though.

😎

So if i'm in the blackpool area can i wander in off the street with a large wad of cash and ID to purchase a few fractional gold coins and some bars or do i have to have an appointment and request coins i'd like to view with intention to buy some of them?

@LawrenceChard

[LawrenceChard]

12 hours ago, StackemHigh said:

So if i'm in the blackpool area can i wander in off the street with a large wad of cash and ID to purchase a few fractional gold coins and some bars or do i have to have an appointment and request coins i'd like to view with intention to buy some of them?

@LawrenceChard

That's a good question for a number of reasons.

@ChardsCoinandBullionDealer are currently running an appointment system to manage the number of customers in the showroom at the same time. This started partly as a Covid precaution, but we still need it. It also ensures we have enough Customer Service staff available to manage the counter, while also dealing with telephone deals and enquiries, e-mails, and more. 

Appointments are also limited to about 30 minutes.

Greater security means high value stock is stored further away from our counter, which is an inevitable trade-off against speed and convenience.

A stock bin system makes it slower for someone like me to locate some stock, although it does mean we can find specific items more reliably.

This all helps our internet based, largely mail order, side of the business function much more smoothly and efficiently. It does have a slight negative effect on our ability to spend time chin-wagging with customers and enquirers.

In the "good old days", I often spent an hour or longer chatting with interesting customers, but this often had a negative effect on our postal service. A long time ago, I used to do some of the packing and despatch, so there was a risk that if I was enjoying a conversation, orders might get delayed or rushed.

Subject to the appointment system, yes you can still wander in, we still accept cash subject to a few limits. It may help speed things up if we know in advance what someone wants to look at.

There may be slightly less awareness on our part of recently acquired secondary market stuff, but less of it now gets shunted into a FILO sidings system like it used to.

Again, in the "good old days", if someone was asking about something like one ounce gold coins, I might wander into the back room and emerge with a one kilo gold bar or coin, just because I guessed the customer might like to see it, even though I was aware it was beyond their budget. I also used to dispense opinions and advice more freely, even if I had not been asked. TSF members might notice a pattern here.

So, yes we are still a Local Coin Shop, but with a few differences, mainly for the better.

😎

 

[Darr3nG]

20 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

I often spent an hour or longer chatting with interesting customers

Now you get to spend hours, chatting to the inmates of TSF