Questions about ordering bullion from Kitco...

jmski52

I've never ordered from Kitco, so I would be interested in any feedback from someone who has.

Another thread made me think about this, since Kitco offers rolls of bullion coins that are unsearched and direct from the mints, like Apmex does. Apmex designates these as "Mint Direct" while Kitco calls them "First Mint".

Do you pay a duty for shipments from Canadian companies such as Kitco?

Apmex seems to be competitive with Maple Leaf pricing on "new" rolls, so I'm wondering how that works if you order something from Kitco?

PerryHall

Why buy from a company in a foreign country when there are many good bullion companies in the USA that you can buy from? Nothing wrong with Kitco. I'm just curious why you would want to deal with customs and currency conversion issues when you don't have to.

jmski52

I'm just asking out of curiosity. I've bought Mint Direct rolls from Apmex and I'm wondering if there's a price advantage in trying Kitco because Apmex does take as much out of the transaction as they can possibly get.

I know they need to stay in business, so I'm not complaining too much - just "exploring my options".

freechance

Kitco keeps some inventory In the US in New yok. That's why some items are listed as US only and some for non US.
I haven't had any problem buying from them in the past. US currency wired to a Bank in NY.

bronco2078

You sold the good bullion on the BST now you want terrible bullion from Canada?

jmski52

@bronco2078 said: You sold the good bullion on the BST now you want terrible bullion from Canada?

Bronco, my good man - if the bullion I sold on BST was so good, then why didn't you buy it?

What would you define as "good" bullion? I mentioned that my goal was to "tidy up" and lemme tell ya, I needs to tidy up. I have over 1,000 line items on my spreadsheet, so I'm trying to pick out stuff to sell that doesn't mean much to me.

Seriously, what attributes do you consider "good" and what do you consider "terrible"? Part of my objective is to make management easier, and to reduce the number of transactions overall - both in buying and in selling.

My questions surrounding Kitco would be mainly about cost-competitiveness and the ability to get my hands on "fresh" coins. You may think that idea to be foolish but I like the idea and am willing to pay a small premium for it. The one thing I like about Maples in general is their newer, built-in security features.

Granted, when I retire (or get the inclination to do so), I will probably buy a precious metal scale like the one Weiss uses along with some other authentication equipment, for my own gratification.

Since the days when I tried to make a profit on every precious metal purchase that I ever made, the real world has intervened. There does come a time when liquidity and convenience begins to matter. Selling one or two rolls of 90% silver at a time isn't convenient, and the fees, gasoline, mailing costs and time involved in labeling, packaging and transport does eat into whatever other endeavors you want to pursue.

If you liked some of what I was selling - don't worry, there's more!

bronco2078

You are churning silver though , WHY???. Sell 20 ounces then buy 20 ounces in a different form you are losing the transaction costs on every lot both ways.

Your BU rolls are a better form of silver than some maple leaf churned out yesterday by the bazillions. And you already own them. So what if they are harder to sell? You are doing just that now , getting something else means you sell the BU rolls and whatever you replace them with. That is 2 sales , 2 sales are harder than 1 sale plus you are contemplating buying from outside the country to replace some metal you already own. It makes no sense. It's actually crazy.

Get rid of the spreadsheets and mush the stuff into a big pile . Spreadsheets are your enemy , if a spread sheet convinces you to sell BU rolls to buy maples or vice versa then the spreadsheet is wrong.

If I have too much silver or need to raise cash I sell the stuff I'd like out , call it Greshams law good bullion drives out bad.
If in the past I bought something that turned out to be a mistake because its awkward or poorly looked on by future buyers then I don't do that again. I don't sell it then buy a better format. I hold it and exit it at a profit or trade it to someone who sees some advantage in it.

If I don't have enough I buy more , choosing the form that my current experience level tells me is best.

I never sell one form of silver for dollars to buy another form with dollars. Its batshit crazy

Keep no records beyond how many ounces. Its not a football game , the records are meaningless. Your buy and sell records tell you nothing.

I keep a diary of impressions to remind me when I do bad things and good things . It has entries such as the following.

IDIOT !!!! DON"T EVER BUY WAR NICKLES AGAIN!!! I don't care how cheap they are no one likes them.

IDIOT CANADIAN FISH DIMES SELL AS THOUGH THEY ARE ONLY 50% SILVER!! Yes the buyer knows some are 80% but he won't pay for 80%

IDIOT NEXT TIME YOU CAN BUY SILVER DOLLARS FOR 20$ each REMEMBER PRE-1921 , peace dollars always sell for less so pay $15 or less or don't buy them at all

IDIOT NO ONE CARES ABOUT AU DOLLARS NEVER BUY THEM AGAIN , AU XF, VF , VG , G , slick blah blah common dates regardless of what the price guide says are worth exactly the same , buy the highest grade but never pay one cent extra.

There are a few lines where I don't call myself an idiot but I'm not going to share those .

jmski52

Let me provide you some relief to your angst over churning. I never said I was selling 20 oz of silver to turn around and buy 20 oz more silver. Aside from that, I beg to differ with you that 20 oz of one type of bullion is the same as 20 oz of another type of bullion. Not so!

There comes a time when you are going to sell, or you are going to die and someone else will do the selling. I'm at the stage in life where I simply have to start selling, and the stuff I'm selling will be the stuff that isn't as interesting to me anymore. I'm the one who can still extract the most value from something I know about. Makes sense, doesn't it?

I also disagree about the spreadsheet. I love to be able to pick and choose what to sell in order to neutralize my tax liability. The sad truth is that even if you make all the most amazing market calls and sell at the top, your tax bite tends to smooth out your take-home proceeds over the long run. The gains & losses are pretty moot unless you happen to hit back-to-back grand slam home runs in the bottom of the 9th in the 7th game of the World Series, then take the proceeds and bet on the winning PowerBall ticket.

To ditch the spreadsheet and dump everything into a pile would make it impossible to extract the premiums from many of the items that I own, and it would create an instant tax quagmire. Do you sell @ 10X face when you could sell @13X face, and do you hand your tax receipts over to an accountant in a shoebox every year?

One of my goals in life is to properly avoid paying those bastiges. Hence, good recordkeeping and a balanced selling approach. Your mileage may differ.

All of this is peripheral to the whole point that buying precious metals is rescuing dollars from certain destruction. Just because I tidy up in one area of the portfolio doesn't mean that I can't establish a new position, with a new cost basis. I'm simply at the point where doing it in larger chunks makes more sense. The dollars still need rescuing.