Really conflicted about which direction i should go

[Therustyb]

So i have managed to turn what used to be a fun part time way to fund some of my collecting into a full time Ebay and facebook business. Im learning a lot and have surrounded myself with the best in the business in the roundtable guys in my opinion and they've really been extremely helpful to me both in mentorship and making it possible to buy a little better than  i could otherwise I believe. Today i was looking at my inventory and realized that i had sold ALL of my bust halves. And ALL of my slabbed morgans. Which wouldnt seem like a big deal normally but it kinda got me thinking....am i a dealer (wannabe) or am i a collector. Ive been told by several real dealers that its hard to be good at both. What do you guys think?  I want to  continue to grow my business and i think the level of service i provide and my pricing that should take care of itself. But the collector in my wants to put this 1909s vdb ms65rd that i have coming back from the other grader with 4 letters on their abbreviated name away and diligently start working on building a set with that as a minimum standard. But the business man tells me i need to focus on cashflow and turning over my inventory. First world problems i know folks but want to get the advice of the wise ladies and gentlemen on this forum and hopefully make some new acquaintances. this is my first post as im a brand new ngc member and am looking forward to taking advantage of the benegits of roundtables partnership with NGC moving forward. I appreciate all the knowledge and insight ive seen so far in the forums. You guys really know your stuff and im so grateful to be able to hang out and soak as much up as i can. Thanks again! 

 

R

[Just Bob]

Welcome to the forum.

It may be possible to collect and also sell, if you take steps to avoid having the two areas conflict with each other. For example, you could sell some series and collect others. There are several guys on here who deal and collect, and I will leave it to them to describe the approach that they take. 

[jgrinz]

You cannot have OCD and do both … sorry tried that :-) it doesn't work.

You can do both but you need to decide what you want to collect and become very knowledgeable on the subject matter. 

You can sell anything as a business  but when you collect personally you have to be real selective and buy what fits your budget.

I use a certain percentage out of profits to go to personal use and the rest back into buying inventory for the biz and stick to it.

That's about it for me ...next .. Welcome to the boards. One other thought - this should not have been put here in this forum but in one of the discussion ones

You would get a few more responses there.

j

[Mohawk]

Hello and Welcome!

I do both all the time!  I collect and sell, though I'm admittedly not trying to make a living at selling coins.  Basically, how I do it is by being very focused in what I collect and by largely selling coins that I have no urge to collect whatsoever.  I mainly sell US coins, which have the dual benefits of selling well and holding no temptation for me whatsoever.  They're simply stock for me.  I do sell non-US coins as well, but not as often as they're a little more dangerous to me in the temptation category but I usually override it.  As for collecting, I allow myself to collect three things now: coins with birds and other dinosaurs on them, coins with babies on them and Roman Empress silver coins.  Those things, I do not even stock.  When I buy them, they're for keeps as time has shown me that these are my main collecting interests.  They're the things that I don't lose interest in.  By compartmentalizing, I manage to successfully sell and collect at the same time!  But that's just me and what works for me.  Hopefully, it is of some help to you as well!

Cheers!

~Tom

[Zebo]

Good thread and welcome. You can do both as others have said if you stay focused on what you are collecting and not expanding as you see nice material come across your desk. It also depends on how much you want or need to get out of your business. There are trade offs. 

[Jason Abshier]

I talked to dealer friend I asked him same question , does he collect coins himself even though he a dealer . To my surprise he does he said it difficult when buying coins on wholesale level and trying to make a profit .

 

but every once in a while “you have treat yourself to a steak dinner” for all your hard work ... in this case you treat yourself to a nice coin for “your” collection 

 

in his case he sold a lot of US coins , he branches out to to collecting older world coins 1600-1900s that what he collects, now the world coin market is a big place many roads to walk down in that market but you can never get bored of world coins so many designs and history in world coins it’s mind blowing! ... keep your collecting and your selling separately! 

After talking to him he turned me into a world coin collector myself , I been on a Looooong break from collecting US coins ....