If you are selling coins how should you use the Red Book guide. If other words, if the book lists a coin for $50 what is a fair price to sell it for? Or a $20 coin? Should you ask for a certain percentage of the listed price and what percentage? Thanks, Erin
i find the red book prices are too high. you can almost always buy the coins for less. the percentage probably varies but I would estimate most prices are 10 to 20 percent too high. others may chime in with different opinions.
Red Book values are retail values. Very few people pay retail in the coin business. If you want a closer approximation of prices, you should subscribe to the Greysheet, otherwise known as the CDN (Coin Dealer's Newsletter). That will give you dealer to dealer wholesale prices. http://www.greysheet.com/ The price spread between Red Book and Greysheet varies by coin and condition. But I've found that as a general rule of thumb, greysheet prices will be on average 10-30% less than Red Book prices.
Read the 3rd page " The purpose of this book". Quote: Coin values listed in the Guide Book are reteail prices averaged from data supplied by contributors several months before application. Hinse why there's a book every year. Though you may have a 2010 issue the 2011 is being printed with different prices as we speak... I second the greysheet. It's the hot list that you get weekly. Also, be prepared to cry for some prices you will see you probably paid to much. LOL
Your best bet is to find something else to use - anything else. My Red Book (2008) says a 1942-S Lincoln goes for $5.50. I would love to get 55¢ for mine and probably would accept 15¢. However, it also lists a 1909-S VDB MS60 for $1400. Greysheet (similar time) is $1650. What good is something that is only accurate to -95% to +10%? FWIW, you will get the same answer for most any published list (exception is possibly the greysheet). The only accurate method is to use past sales be it Heritage, eBay, teletrade or whatever.
Even Greysheet is only an aggregate of opinions. The poster "rlm's cents" is not alone in assuming that it is more accurate or precise than the Red Book or Coin Values or the Standard Catalog or even eBay sales. I agree with "rlm's cents" that active sales are what counts. Though, I also keep in mind that the past does not exist: past price is irrelevant. Future price is more important, but all that counts, really, is the present price: how much this buyer will pay. Period. And you still have to know the context. I have been at ANA convention auctions where terrific coins went unsold and where dealers drove each other to the wall for prices many times more than the estimated price with the whole room wondering what these two guys knew that no one else did. The Red Book is fine. At a convention, lots of people carry Greysheets to think that they can pass for "dealers." Myself, I figure everyone is a dealer: we all buy and sell. I carry the Red Book ... from 1973 ... all marked up with stuff pasted in and my own charts and tables drawn by hand in the back... Like this note pasted in: "14.7 million Large Cents melted from 1871-1881." All Large Cents are potentially underpriced as the mintage figures are misleading. There's a guy who swears that silver Washington Quarters are going to be rare, if they aren't already, because so many were melted. My 1973 Redbook and my 2007 Redbook and my new Professional Edition all claim that 1837 Dimes and 1836 Dimes have the same price, even though the 36 has three times more mintage, making the 37 a steal at that price (maybe). Bust Dime collectors feel differently about it, often bemoaning the lack of worthwhile material at any price. Whatever you price your coins at, the buyer is going at ask if you will sell this one for a lower price. You code your coins to know what you paid for them, and you never worry about the profits, no matter how small because it will be the losses that keep you awake at night.
Aggie, What if you were selling a gold coin and when your Red Book was published gold spot was $1,050 but today gold spot is $1,250. Should you ask a certain percentage less than the Red Book price? Of course not! The Red Book is good for a great number of things but pricing is NOT one of them.
I can't understand the hype of the Red Book. Sure you get a lot of information, but you can find info anywhere. If the prices aren't accurate, why bother?
First, no coin is priced as X. It must first be properly graded which is an art into itself and then CONDITION must be taken into account. ONLY then is any price guide of any use whatsoever. Most are fairly close to what you will pay for a coin in that grade in good CONDITION. MOST coins are not in that condition and allowances must be made for corrosion, discoloration, scratches, dings, etc. Then, if you are selling to a dealer, you must consider that he must make a margin for expenses and profit so the price he pays will be between 50% and 90% of retail depending on how well that particular coin is likely to sell. Most people get real excited when they find a coin in AG-F grade and look up a price which only shows MS63. The price difference is ENORMOUS many times. If the price in the grade isn't shown, it's probably not worth much in that grade.
Red Book is only a general guide, the prices are sometimes fairly accurate and other times they are completely off. Some good advice in this thread, pay attention.
Race, If "Very few people pay retail" then would that not actually be retail anymore? What I'm trying to say is if everyone pay's say 10% back of Red Book then 10% back of Red Book would be retail then
Nothing is perfect. Redbook is useless. Greysheet is the closest thing you can find to predict dealer buy prices, and even then most dealers pay back of bid. The best way to get accurate pricing is to look at actual transactions -- eBay, Teletrade, Heritage, etc..
