DO YOU THINK THE NEW PRICING IN THE BOOK IS MORE REALISTIC IN THE MARKETPLACE

[Greg McDonald]

The ink is still wet on my book but already I've had two really scathing emails from a dealer who has accused me of potentially destroying the industry with the new (and mostly) lower prices published.  With something like 30,000 individual prices listed I am sure I can be taken to task over some but I'd hate to think that the whole book is totally negative.  The unnamed dealer was particularly unhappy with pre-decimal commonwealth  coins but alluded to the fact that many other areas had been "slaughtered".

I have always encouraged dealers and collectors to contribute to the pricing. Having said that I spend just as much time reviewing the prices given. Self interest is a problem and I've had issues in the past where a reseller will give me one price for the book and than advertise the same item at a lower price. Theory is that people will accept the book price as the correct retail and so any price offered for less is regarded as a bargain.

Price also have to last until the next book and this is where a crystal ball would be handy.  This is especially so where really low grade coins or bullion coins are priced according to bullion prices which, in turn, are governed, not only by the changing spot price but also the relationship between the US$ and the Australian $. Since the last book the Aussie $ has dropped by a third.

Anyway if you have a really serious issue with any price, it would be helpful if you could reference it with an auction or listing to support your argument.

OK, over to you!

Best wishes

Greg

[ausjack]

I'm so trying to be good, tell them to go get f@@ked and that you can't help what the market is doing in these tough unpredictable times we are living in at the moment, people are scared they'll loose their jobs and our dollar is shit and gold and silver have taken big hits over the last few year and not really something you can control so now you have to panda to  *I HAVE A POTTY MOUTH* that aren't happy with prices. Tell them to look at ebay or anyone else that sells coins and you can see it's been trending down for quite some time and like other parts of the economy it will come back in time. Sounds like someone wants you to artificially stimulate the market place Just pay them no mind and don't let them get you down mate :friends: again sorry for my rant :angel:

[trout]

A coin is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Your book is a "Guide" not a bloody pricing catalogue .
Any dealer worth his/her salt will do their own market research using various means , Bluesheet, eBay, NGC and PCGS, also various auction results that are freely available.
I imagine that you do your absolute best to have the pricings accurate at the time the book is printed and that is all you can physically do Mate.
If you left the inflated pricings as they were the dealers would be happy because it would give them "Leverage" to charge more.
BUT you wouldn't be doing any of the other 99% of the buyers of your book any favours.
This other 99% by the way are the  collectors

[ausjack]

Maybe put in a footnote saying "due to the current trends/ebbs and flows in the economy/market place some prices are subject to change" or something along those line, sorry I can't be of much help due to my current circumstances :winkextra:

Yes that's right trout, if I don't have the money how can I buy the coin be it $5 or $5000 and also like trout said it's a "guide".

[JeffH]

People do take the price guide as gospel. That's their problem. not Greg's.
The dealers have one take on it. Here is another I have come across -someone has deceased grandfathers collection, compiled over many years, and they are not interested in coins. So they make a list, go to the library and ask if any coin catalogues are available. Indeed they are but possibly several years old.
They mark up the prices on their list (with no understanding of the significance of grades) and think they are sitting on a valuable asset. Go to a dealer to cash in and...you can guess the rest.
Greg you are in a no win situation here. As the poet John Lydgate said "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time". Later adapted by Abraham Lincoln by substituting "fool" for "please".

[stevo1962]

As we've all said your pocket book is a guide only and mostly wasn't expected to reflect actual selling prices.The people
whining about the new pocket book probably used the old books as reference to rip buyers off so would be unhappy
seeing the new guide bring prices back to earth.Anyway you know the saying "you can't please everyone".There
will always be someone who is not happy but they will have to live with it

[autocoupler]

Better to be realistic than publish inflated prices that does nobody any good in the end. Now I can go purchase my first since 2009 :good:

[runway]

The dealer you mentioned Greg has no right to attack you,nor does any individual.

[Bigfellani5]

I have not received my copies yet.......but expect so today. I therefore can not comment on the pricing in the book yet. My thoughts however are that the market has dropped in the last 12 months and has so for a few years. Both Renniks and Maccas prices have been over inflated in the past. This is because of the network both publishers used to get information. Of cause it is in a dealers interest to see high prices so if the information is gotten from dealers then here is where the fundamental problem exists.

Now assuming the prices have been completely rejigged in Gregs book and they are closer to being accurate then if it stuffs a market....then it stuffs a market.....that cant be helped....that is just the market. Greg writes a non-fiction book.....not a work of fiction.

My comeback to being attacked would be the facts. I would pull a dozen or so items from the section in question.....look up recent auction pricing (ebay, nobles, roxburys etc) and average it....add a reasonable dealer margin, GST and auction fees and if that came to book price (or there abouts) then argument is dead and buried. It is hard to argue with facts.

My biggest gripe over many years is that if a coin catalogues for $200.00 and when I sell/buy it at auction it comes out at say $75.00  then the book is inaccurate.  There has been too much of that for a long time.

I know being a publisher of this type of book you will have critism. As long as you can back things up with fact you can shoot down any argument. Good luck with this years book Greg and keep you head up!

[interest]

In the past when, for example, I have paid $20.00 for a $1.00 coin my wife has said, "you paid how much for a dollar?"
I have been able to show her the book to see how much it has gone up since I bought it,
wont be able to do that any more.

[drakesterling]

Now assuming the prices have been completely rejigged in Gregs book and they are closer to being accurate then if it stuffs a market....then it stuffs a market.....that cant be helped....that is just the market. Greg writes a non-fiction book.....not a work of fiction.

Too right. The dealers who complain that realistic pricing stuffs up the market need to deal with the real issue - which is not Greg's book (he is just the messenger after all) - but the market itself. If prices are coming off, they're coming off. Dealers should not complain about it but use it as a buying opportunity instead! I know I am.

Eric

[stevo1962]

To tell you the truth I wasn't going to buy a price guide this year because it was going to be more
 of the same inflated prices but since the coin prices have been brought down closer to actual market price
 values I am now interested in getting a copy as it is of more use to me and another measure of what these
items are actually worth in the market ATM

[robbiegal]

but what I don't quite get is that I can go to maccas for raw coin prices (with all of the backdrop of the whinging) with a set reliability each year

then the slabbers buy  for way under the raw price in maccas - the so called 'inflated'

 then the same slabbing guys sell the same coin for say, 20 times maccas's valuation and nobody so much as sneezes

it is an unreal world once you cross the boarder to the slabbing game

and the real life contradiction is that once it is in an American slabb
people accept the incredibly inflated prices - without all the sooking and whinging - especially if they are selling

frankly I am sick of it all

[trout]

frankly I am sick of it all

The reason the "slobbed" coins sell well is because they are usually graded honestly and are authentic.
This is a far better option than buying an over graded or cleaned coin from an uneducated/ shonky  dealer :ok:

[runway]

No catalogue has slab prices
Slabs are a beautiful presented coin with PCGS grading they are what they are
Congratulations Greg McDonald and Rennicks for publishing great reference books/guides,real people buy them for education not prices