Amos Media Company on Sept. 24 formally launched Coin World Marketplace, a platform for people to buy and sell coins. 

The initiative, conceived by Amos Media’s CEO, Rick Amos, has, as of Oct. 11, 14,567 listings for U.S. and world coins with a dealer-stated total value of more than $55.8 million. Marketplace represents another effort from Amos Media to engage the numismatic community, with a platform designed specifically for numismatists’ use.

The website was developed by Amos Media technical staff and outside contractors.

We reached out to Rick Amos with a few questions about the development and rollout of Coin World Marketplace, and how it fits into Amos’ larger vision of the company’s role in the hobby. 

Amos is from the third generation of family members to helm the company since the founding of Coin World in 1960. He is the grandson of Coin World founder J. Oliver Amos and son of John Amos, former publisher of Coin World.

Chris Bulfinch: Is there any consideration of the outsized influence that large, established dealers might have within the Marketplace? Given the Marketplace’s provenance, do we run any risk of catering to hobby insiders? 

Rick Amos: The Coin World Marketplace has been designed so that any, and all, coin dealers can present their offering to coin collectors. Each dealer has the opportunity to set up their dealer page with content and video that helps them to share their offering, expertise and what makes them a dealer you should want to do business with. We aim to provide a marketplace that caters to dealers of all sizes and specialties.

We provide services to assist dealers with the creation of their “store.” This includes importing of coins being offered, creating videos to allow them to personalize the services, and post content that coin collectors will find of interest. Many dealers don’t have the personnel or resources to create these and we offer our assistance so that everyone can provide a positive and professional image.

CB: Where does the Marketplace fit into Amos’ long-term development plan? Why is now a good time for the release of Marketplace? 

RA: We have been discussing and working on the Marketplace strategy for years. Many dealers and collectors have been asking us to do this because the uniqueness of the hobby needed a marketplace that understands those special attributes and provides value and services to the dealer as well as the collector. For example, our Escrow Checkout provides comfort to a buyer that they will get the coin that they purchased and if there is any problem we will intervene to find a solution. The coin dealers like it because we are validating the buyer and collecting the funds before they ship the coin to the buyer. So they have reduced their risk that they have a fraudulent buyer.

This is the perfect time to launch the Coin World Marketplace! The industry is consolidating and coin dealers have been acquiring lots of great products to sell to coin enthusiasts. The demand from consumers for online buying is only going to increase over the next 10 years, and we can bring services that both the coin dealers and collectors will appreciate. We are already working on several new features we will be adding to the Marketplace over the next 18 months.

CB: Are you concerned that a coin vending platform associated with Amos might imply a coziness between writers and editors and coin dealers? Should a publication dedicated to discussing the hobby be involved in the coin business? 

RA: We will continue to work very hard to provide the very best content for our readers while at the same time provide important ads displaying products for sale from coin dealers. Additionally these collectors have repeatedly asked us to assist them with finding coins they can purchase to add to their collection. We continue to view our role as “bringing buyers and sellers together.” We have been doing that for more than 58 years. We have now evolved into a digital platform that has added buyer protection, guaranteed authenticity and a global marketplace. Think about it: coin dealers and collectors can now buy and sell coins all over the world instantaneously, and we provide a valuable service that protects both parties to make sure it all runs smoothly.

Inside Coin World: Civil War token with a macabre scene: Columns exclusive to the Oct. 22 issue of Coin World focus on Death to Traitors, notgeld, and superclashes.

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