Valuation or Offer to Buy

Every day we get asked many times can we value somebody's coins. Our first job is to establish whether the person actually wants a valuation or simply an offer to buy. Astoundingly, most people don't seem to realise that there is a difference.

Is There a Difference?
If you asked a property surveyor to come and value your house, you would expect him to make a thorough survey, followed by a detailed report, and a bill for his time and expertise. You would not expect him to make an offer. Similarly if a potential buyer came to view your home, and he made you an offer for it, you would not expect him to send you a bill for his services. Obviously there is a difference.

What's the Difference?
Very simply, a valuation is a professional service in which you are employing the valuer to provide you with expert advice. You surely would not expect any professional to provide this service for nothing.
When you visit a dealer or any other potential buyer for your property, it is open to you to state your asking price, and it is equally open to the dealer to make you an offer to buy, or to decline to do so.
Some dealers are not prepared to make offers because they believe that many people are only getting a free valuation.
This applies equally to real estate, coins, jewellery, or any other goods.
When a dealer makes an offer to buy, he understandably has to consider the time it will take to prepare his offer against the likelihood of his offer being successful. Some dealers only ever make very low offers, and make their money from buying very cheaply, often reselling almost immediately to another dealer. Those dealers who habitually make very good offers can easily become frustrated or annoyed when people cannot make up their minds, want to shop around or haggle.

We Provide Valuations
We are happy to provide valuations, for insurance, replacement, probate, disposal, sale between two parties, or whatever other basis you wish. We do need to know for what purpose you require the valuation, and we do make a charge. We believe that we perform our valuations on a highly professional basis. Our charges depend partially on the value, partially on the time taken. We can provide further information on request.

We Will Make Offers to Buy
We are quite happy to make offers to buy, but please be aware that we are working for ourselves when we do so. Our offers are reasonable and competitive, so we do not expect to enter a haggling competition. We are quite happy for sellers to shop around.

A Third Way
There is a third way. If you know how much you want for your item, you could always state your expected price, and if this is not accepted ask the dealer for his counter-offer.

Start with the Facts
Whichever approach you take, it is sensible to share with the potential buyer any information you already have. This could include the original purchase price of individual items, total cost for a collection, or your hoped-for amount. The advantage of this is that it saves the dealer time, and this may help to get you a better price. If you doubt the accuracy of the last statement , then consider this. If you took a very large collection to a dealer which would take him several hours or even days to appraise, and he was not sure whether or not you would accept a reasonable offer, he may make a low offer to start with rather than risk wasting precious time.

Selling Coins to Us
If you have a coin which you want to sell, and you know how much you want for it, you can use the form below to contact us.
Please don't use this to ask us the value of your coins, read the other pages of our site:-

Should I Keep or Sell My Coins
Value Depends on Condition
Worth Keeping Coins From Change?
I've Found an Old Coin. What's It Worth?
Why Does an Old Coin Cost Less Than a New Coin?

What To Do Next
If you would like to send your coins to us, we will happily make you an offer. We would ask you to send it to us, along with all the information you have and a covering letter explaining how much you would like to get for the piece(s) and a cheque for £10. Please ensure you include your contact details, especially your telephone number as we find it a lot quicker and easier to telephone you with an offer rather than spend time writing to you! If you accept our offer we will return your £10 cheque along with a cheque for your coins. If you decline our offer we will use the £10 cheque to cover our costs and the cost of insured return postage.