How to Buy Coins from Contractors and Pickers

To buy coins from contractors and pickers, give each one a standard way to send you their coin lists, check each list before it becomes a purchase, and agree in writing whether you buy outright or split the profit. Record every purchase against the contractor, and pay on a schedule with a statement that shows exactly what you owe and why.

Contractors are how many dealers get fresh stock: pickers who work estate sales, buyers who walk shows for you, smaller dealers who sell you their extras. The coins are often good. The paperwork usually is not. Lists arrive as photos of a legal pad, texts, and spreadsheets with columns in a different order every time. Profit-share deals live in someone's memory. The method below fixes both.

Keep a record for each contractor

For each contractor, keep:

• Name, contact, email, phone, and address.
• Tax ID, if your accountant needs it for payments.
• What kind of seller they are: contractor, dealer, coin show, private seller, auction company.
• Their default deal terms, if they work on a profit share.
• A short code for their coins, such as "JS", so SKUs like JS-0042 show where a coin came from.

Then every purchase points back to the contractor, and you can see what you have bought from each one, what you owe, and how their coins sell.

Get lists in one format

The most useful thing you can do for both sides is give contractors a template. A spreadsheet with fixed columns:

Description	Quantity	Grading service	Grade	Certificate number	Line cost
1881-S Morgan Dollar	1	PCGS	MS65	41234567	300.00
1921 Morgan Dollar, BU roll	20				1,100.00

Ask them to fill in what they know. A price per line is best. If they price the whole list as one number, that is fine too, as long as it is written down.

Not every contractor will use a spreadsheet. Accept photos or a PDF of a paper list as well. Someone still has to turn those into lines, but at least the list arrives in one place with a date.

Check the list before it becomes a purchase

A list is an offer, not stock. Before anything goes into inventory:

1. Match coins to the list. When the coins arrive, check each one.
2. Look up certs. A slab whose cert does not match its grade is a conversation to have now.
3. Agree on the price. Per line or for the whole list.
4. Then record the purchase. Only now do coins enter inventory, with their cost.

If you get a list and do not buy, dismiss it, so it does not sit in the queue forever.

Outright or profit share

	Outright	Profit share
When the contractor is paid	At purchase	After coins sell, on statements
Who carries the risk	You	Both sides
Your cost	The price you paid	Usually the agreed cost, or nothing
Paperwork	One purchase	Purchases plus periodic statements

Outright is simpler. A profit share helps when a contractor brings coins whose value is uncertain, or when you want to keep a good picker bringing coins to you.

Write down the profit-share terms

At minimum:

• The share. For example, the contractor gets 50% of the profit.
• What comes off first. Commonly the coin's cost, grading fees, auction or platform fees, and shipping and insurance. Any expense not on the list comes out of your share.
• When statements are made and paid.
• What happens to unsold coins if the deal ends.

Worked example

A profit-share deal: the contractor gets 50%, and the cost, platform fees, and grading fees come off first.

	Amount
Coin sells on a platform for	$1,500
Coin's agreed cost	$1,000
Platform fee	$150
Grading fee	$40
Profit to split	$310
Contractor's 50%	$155

Now say a second coin from the same deal sells at a loss: sold for $400 with a cost of $480 and fees of $40, a loss of $120. If profit is pooled across the deal, the pool is $310 − $120 = $190, and the contractor's share of the pool is $95. If you already paid $155 on the first statement, the next statement shows −$60. Most dealers do not ask for money back; they carry the −$60 to the next statement and take it off future earnings. Say in the terms which way you work.

Statements: how to settle up

On each statement, list:

• The period it covers.
• Every sale and return from the deal not on an earlier statement.
• The gross, the expenses taken off, and the net.
• The change in the contractor's share since the last statement.
• Any amount carried from the last statement.
• The amount due.

When you pay, record the date and check number. A paid statement should never change. If something was wrong, fix it on the next one.

Common mistakes

• No template. Every list arrives in a new format and takes an hour to type.
• Coins entered before the price is agreed. Your inventory shows stock you may not own.
• Profit-share terms in your head. Two years later, nobody agrees what "half" meant.
• Paying share per coin with no pooling and no carry. One loss later, you have overpaid.
• Editing paid statements. Make corrections on the next statement.

How CoinManagerPro handles contractors

CoinManagerPro contractors keep each seller with contact details, tax ID, type, an inventory code that starts the SKUs of their coins, and default profit-share terms. Each contractor page shows their purchases, the total cost, and what you owe.

You can make a list link for a contractor. It works without a login. On it the contractor downloads an Excel or CSV template, uploads it filled in or their own sheet with a description column, types lines, or sends up to 5 photos or PDF pages of a paper list, with a price for the whole list and a note. A filled template imports with no column mapping. Sent lists wait on the Purchases page and the contractor page until you make a purchase from them or dismiss them. AI reads photos and PDFs into lines only when you click Read list, and uses credits for each page. A link stops after 90 days without a sent list, and a new link stops the old one. You can also invite a contractor to a seller portal, where they see their purchases and coins.

For profit-share deals you choose the share and the expenses that come off first. Statements take every sale and return not settled yet, carry a negative amount forward, export as CSV or PDF, and lock once marked paid. The steps are in the help articles on contractors and profit share and the contractor list link. Each purchase from a list is recorded with cost per coin.

The short version

Keep a record for each contractor. Give them a template and one place to send lists. Check lists before they become purchases. Write down outright or profit-share terms, including what comes off first and how losses carry. Pay on a schedule with statements, and never edit a paid one.