In numismatics and collecting, we encounter almost daily two seemingly opposite situations that actually have the same cause:
- In the first, someone is selling a coin, banknote, decoration, or an entire collection, and a potential buyer declares the offered price „rude,” „abnormal,” or even an attempted scam (with „robbery” not being ruled out either). Such statements are regularly accompanied by grimaces that convey disgust and contempt.
- In the second scenario, the seller expects a certain amount, receives an offer that is significantly lower than their idea of the item's value, and reacts by calling the offer „insulting,” „ridiculous,” or „humiliating,” often asking how anyone could even dare to offer so little, while cursing and personal insults are not uncommon.
In both cases, the basic problem most often it is neither a coin nor its objective market value, but the fact that one party's expectations were not met, after which a mere difference in assessment begins to be perceived as personal message. Then price ceases to be a number and becomes a matter of ego, „respect,” „seriousness,” and the other person's supposed attitude toward us, although in most cases there is no real basis for such an interpretation.
On the numismatic market, it is therefore good to adopt a very simple rule: The price can be above our expectations, in line with them, or below them, and none of that in itself is either an insult or a compliment.
Why is one's own item almost always worth more?
A person who something selling quite natural wants to get the best possible price, which applies to both the professional dealer and the collector selling part of their collection, as well as to the heir who, following the death of a family member, received a box of old coins and banknotes they know almost nothing about. The only difference is that an experienced collector usually has more information, knows the market, auctions, catalogs, the rarity of individual issues, and the impact of condition on value, while a person encountering numismatics for the first time is just trying to figure out what they actually have.
Nor does experience eliminate the psychological element of value. In psychology, a well-known effect causes people to often attach a higher value to things they own precisely because they are theirs. With collectors, this is especially understandable because an item may not be just a piece of metal or paper, but the result of years of searching, a memory of a certain period of life, or a specimen that was once very difficult to find. A man who paid a large sum for a coin twenty years ago will also find it difficult to accept the possibility that today's market is prepared to give less for it.
With heirs and people without numismatic experience, expectations often arise differently. After a few minutes of searching the internet, they find a seemingly identical coin offered for 500, 1,000, or 5,000 euros and very quickly conclude that their own specimen is worth just as much. In the process, they easily overlook details that can be crucial in numismatics, such as the year, mint, rare variety, grade of preservation, authenticity, or some other feature due to which two seemingly identical items can have completely different values.
Even more important is one difference that beginners and those unfamiliar with numismatics (and collecting in general) very often fail to recognize: the asking price is not the same as the realized price. The fact that someone asked 3,000 euros for a certain coin on an online classifieds site does not mean it is worth 3,000 euros, but only that the owner decided to ask for that much. A more relevant piece of information is whether there is a market willing to pay such a price and at what amounts comparable specimens actually sell. One should also not ignore the transaction costs of the sale, because it is not the same if the potential market (and buyer) is close and easily accessible to the seller or inaccessible to them (another country, continent, special transaction conditions, etc.).
„I thought you were a serious man”
The problem arises when expectations created in this way meet a concrete offer. The seller may be convinced that their item is worth 1,000 euros, while the person who wants to buy it, after assessing its condition, rarity, demand, and potential for resale, concludes that they can offer 300 euros.
At such times, reactions such as the following are not infrequently heard: „That is an unserious offer,” „You must be joking,” „Why are you making fun of me?”, „I thought you were a serious man,” or „Such an offer is insulting.” Such statements are almost invariably accompanied by physical reactions in the form of grimaces, eye-rolling, suddenly standing up, dramatic gestures, and the like. Sometimes, however, the reaction turns into mockery, disparagement of the other person's expertise, personal insults, and raised voices, and in the worst cases, even threats appear, as if a disagreement over the market value of an item were a justified reason for a personal conflict.
However, if a potential buyer states how much they are willing to pay, they have not thereby determined the value of the person selling the item, nor have they made a judgment about their intelligence, status, or dignity. They have merely expressed their own financial position.
In doing so, the buyer may have access to information that the seller does not, may know the results of recent auctions, may estimate that the item will be difficult to resell, may calculate costs and risks, and in the case of a professional dealer, must also take into account the fact that they are purchasing the item for future resale, and that there must be economic sense between the purchase and sale price. All of this can lead to an offer that is much lower than the owner's expectations, but the mere fact that an offer is low still does not turn it into an insult.
Of course, the way an offer is made can be rude, manipulative, or condescending. It is an entirely different matter if someone knowingly provides false information, tries to prove to an uninformed person that a valuable item is „worthless,” or treats them disrespectfully in the process. Such behavior can be unethical, but the problem then is not the amount of the offer itself, but the manner of conduct.
The simplest response to a bad offer
If someone offers you 300 euros for an item you expect 1,000 euros for, and you don't want to sell it for that much, there is a very simple and quite sufficient solution: thank them for the offer and decline it.
„Thank you for the offer, but for that amount, I wouldn't sell.”
You can say that you will think about it, make a counter-offer, or explain that you are not willing to go below a certain amount, but there is no need whatsoever to question the seriousness of the person who offered you less than you expect. They have the right to their assessment just as you have the right to yours.
This is especially important in numismatics, where the community is relatively small and the same people have been meeting for years at fairs, auctions, in clubs, shops, and on the internet. A person you failed to reach an agreement with today over a single coin might tomorrow have the exact rare specimen missing from your collection, so it is completely pointless to permanently damage relationships over a difference of a few tens or hundreds of euros.
Polite behavior does not mean accepting someone's bad offer. It just means knowing how to refuse it without insulting.
A person who reacts violently to an offer they don't like and consider too low is simply showing how immature and mentally unstable they are when such a minor life situation can throw them off balance. Mature and stable people know how to accept „no” as an answer without any anger or outbursts.
Can a price even be „obscene”?
The same logic applies in the opposite direction. At a fair, auction platform, or online classifieds site, we see a coin for which the seller is asking 500 euros, while we are convinced it is realistically worth 200. We might immediately think the price is excessive, and perhaps we have very good arguments for this, because we have checked auction results and know that comparable specimens regularly sell for significantly less.
Does the seller still have the right to ask for 500 euros.
He has the right to ask for 1,000 as well.
That doesn't mean we will pay that much, nor that anyone else will. If the price is truly unrealistic, the market will simply punish it by the item not being sold. The seller will hold onto it for months or years, after which they might lower the price, accept a counteroffer, or give up on the sale.
Therefore, the buyer does not have to educate the seller or explain to them that they are crazy, greedy, or frivolous. It is enough to say: „Thanks, but at that price I'm not interested. I can offer so-and-so much, and if you change your mind, feel free to contact me.”
That says it all.
The market exists precisely because different people have different perceptions of value. If all buyers and all sellers thought the same about everything, negotiations would practically not exist.
Outrage, eye-rolling, dramatic turns, insults, attacks, and belittling are not needed here either. They achieve nothing and leave a very poor impression of oneself.
The internet has increased the amount of information, but also the amount of misconceptions.
Today there are more ways to check numismatic prices than ever before. Archives of major auction houses, online databases, shops, specialized portals, forums, social networks, and catalogs are available, and in a few minutes it is possible to contact multiple collectors or dealers and get several different opinions.
Therefore, when we encounter a price that seems excessive to us, there is no need to react with anger. We can check other sources, look at realized auction results, compare the condition grade, and see if there are reasons why a particular specimen is more expensive. If after all that we still feel the price makes no sense, we simply won't buy it.
This also applies when we are selling. If someone offers us an amount we consider too low, we can request a few more offers, put the item up for auction, or wait for a buyer who might pay more. If, after ten different evaluations, it turns out that everyone is offering approximately the same amount, perhaps the problem is not with the ten buyers after all, but rather with our initial expectations.
The market is not perfect, but in the long run it very efficiently corrects both excessively high asking prices and excessively low purchasing offers.
Price is not a measure of personal respect
The most important psychological step in any sale and purchase is to separate one's ego from the subject of trade. If someone doesn't want to pay what we're asking, it doesn't mean they don't respect us. If a seller rejects our offer, it doesn't mean they consider us unserious. If they ask twice as much for their item as we would be willing to give, they are not insulting us just because we simply cannot buy it at our price.
The seller wants to achieve the highest possible amount, the buyer wants to pay as little as possible, and a successful trade occurs when a number is found between those two positions that both sides can live with. If there isn't one, there is no deal either, which is also a completely legitimate result of negotiations.
Most problems arise when a person cannot accept that simple fact and begins to interpret someone else's „no” as an attack on themselves. That is when insults, belittling, and the need to prove to the other party that they are frivolous, incompetent, or even stupid arise, simply because they did not validate our own sense of self-worth.
Such behavior is not a sign of business determination or numismatic knowledge, but rather of the difficulty to separate economic interest from personal ego.
A little more good behavior wouldn't hurt
Numismatics is not only a market for coins and banknotes, but also a community of people who exchange knowledge, experiences, and information with one another, who meet for years, and who often help each other acquire items needed for their collections. Precisely for this reason, there should be room in this community for a bit more politeness and good manners.
No one is obligated to sell an item at the price a buyer wants to pay, just as a buyer is not obligated to pay the amount a seller expects. Both parties have every right to say „no,” without that „no” needing to be accompanied by any personal conflict.
If the price is above our expectations, we can reject it. If it is in line with them, we can accept it. If it is below expectations, we can try to negotiate or look for another opportunity.
The same applies to the offer we are receiving.
Ultimately, the whole thing is much simpler than we sometimes make it: There is a price above expectations, a price in line with expectations, and a price below expectations. Everything else are emotions we have added to the numbers ourselves.
In the numismatic and collector market, therefore, it is worth remembering something very simple: price is not a compliment, an offer is not an insult, and rejection is not humiliation. If there is no agreement, there is no deal. Let's say thank you, remain polite, and move on.
Because when it comes to price, after all, there's no need for drama. No emotion, just math.
Author: Zlatko Viščević with AI assistance
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