Who are the Authorized Buyers?
Onastone
Posts: 4,027 ✭✭✭✭✭
Who are the authorized buyers that can buy and sell bullion from the mint and how many are there?
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Onastone
Posts: 4,027 ✭✭✭✭✭
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I don't do anything with the US mint but searched their site and found this. Is this what you are asking about?
https://catalog.usmint.gov/coin-programs/bullion-authorized-purchasers.html
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY - Pink Me And Bobby McGee
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
Authorized Purchasers of United States Mint Bullion Coins:
UNITED STATES
A‑Mark Precious Metals, Inc.
American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX)
Coins & Things, Inc. (CNT)
Dillon Gage Inc. of Dallas
Fidelitrade, Inc.
Jack Hunt Coin Broker, Inc.
Manfra, Tordella, & Brookes, Inc. (MTB)
ScotiaMocatta (Scotia Bank)
StoneX Bullion
The Gold Center
EUROPE
Bayerische Landesbank
Deutsche Bank AG
FAR EAST
Tanaka Kinkinzoku
So how does someone like JM Bullion compete with APMEX? - just wondering
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Sad part is APMEX has about the highest premiums of all the online dealers. You'd think by cutting out the middle man they would be among the lowest. If they are paying $2.35 over spot for an ASE they shouldn't be allowed to turn around and sell to the public at a $15/oz premium. Seems criminal to me.
American Eagle Silver Bullion
United States Mint Authorized Purchasers are charged the LBMA Silver Price plus a $2.35 per coin premium.
Minimum ordering requirement: 25,000 ounces
American Eagle Gold Bullion
United States Mint Authorized Purchasers are charged the LBMA PM Gold Price plus a percentage premium as follows:
1-ounce: 3%
1/2-ounce: 5%
1/4-ounce: 7%
1/10-ounce: 9%
Minimum ordering requirement: 1,000 ounces
American Eagle Platinum Bullion
United States Mint Authorized Purchasers are charged the LBMA PM Platinum Price plus $65 per coin.
Minimum ordering requirement: 100 ounces.
American Eagle Palladium Bullion
United States Mint Authorized Purchasers are charged the LBMA PM Palladium Price plus a 6.25% premium.
Minimum ordering requirement: 100 ounces.
https://www.usmint.gov/news/consumer-alerts/business-guidelines/authorized-purchaser-program
As I understand it, JM Bullion is a wholly-owned subsidiary of A-Mark, one of the APs.
Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/a-mark-and-jm-bullion-unveil-cybermetals-an-online-platform-to-enable-digital
Edited
@blitzdude said "...they shouldn't be allowed to turn around and sell to the public at a $15/oz premium. Seems criminal to me"
and it would be....if they forced you to buy them
www.brunkauctions.com
"Congressionally authorized, American Eagle Bullion Coins are minted and issued by the United States Mint. They are intended to provide investors with a convenient and cost-effective way to invest in precious metals"
50-100% premiums are not cost effective. The mint should cease doing business with them. RGDS!
A Mark has a minority interest in Sunshine Mining.
Sunshine Mining is one of four suppliers of precious metals planchets for the United States Mint..
Coins & Things here in MA. Hes one of the authorized dealers. Used to be a place I bought my coins. His dad ran the coin business. Now the coin shop is gone and its just the son doing the precious metals thing.
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This ^^^. It's a market, and they are in business to make money.
When the "public" agrees that a $15/oz premium is excessive, it will stop buying at that price, and the premium will come back to earth. It's nothing more than a function of the mint being unable to satisfy demand, which makes what I learned in Econ 101 to be something other than BS.
Supply < Demand = increased price to clear the market. If the dealers did not grab this mark-up, their buyers would. Just like all the flippers do here when the mint releases limited mintage collector coins where the demand exceeds the available supply.
Premiums will come back down when the supply of silver blanks catch up with demand. Not before.
Thanks! Very interesting! Only 10 in the US and 13 in total. Great name for a business: Coins & Things!!!
Authorized Purchasers of United States Mint Bullion Coins:
UNITED STATES
A‑Mark Precious Metals, Inc.
American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX)
Coins & Things, Inc. (CNT)
Dillon Gage Inc. of Dallas
Fidelitrade, Inc.
Jack Hunt Coin Broker, Inc.
Manfra, Tordella, & Brookes, Inc. (MTB)
ScotiaMocatta (Scotia Bank)
StoneX Bullion
The Gold Center
Of the above, the only companies who appear to sell directly to retail buyers are A-Mark (JM Bullion) and APMEX. A quick look at the websites of the others don't reveal a way to purchase a single specific item from them (a 2023 silver eagle, for example).
A-Mark (JM Bullion) wants $39.43 for one, APMEX wants $39.56.
FWIW...
No different from any market.... Inventory acquired, pricing set. If it sells, good... If not, reduce the price.... If selling well, increase the price... Businesses must make a profit. Cheers, RickO
Just curious, but anybody know which of these Mike Meczak (sp?) from HSN is associated with? He often claims to be an AP anyway.
And it's worth considering that the cost of the coin is not the total cost structure for the operation. If the buy at $3 over and sell at $5 over, they are probably losing money. This is especially true on a purchase of 1 or 2 coins.
I agree with your overarching point.
However, with respect to cc payments, APMEX routinely charges ~4.0% more at check-out (i.e., the customer pays this incremental cost directly).
For example, currently on a 2023 ASE:
Source: https://www.apmex.com/product/258627/2023-1-oz-american-silver-eagle-coin-bu
Fair enough. I've only ever bought from them on ebay.
APMEX routinely charges ~4.0% more at check-out
Wow, didn't know they accept Crypto for payment now. That's Crypto with a (?) ...
That's crypto with a link to information.
And here is the information:
I'm a little surprised at DOGE.
time to resurrect the crypto thread. Lol
I wonder what it takes to become a buyer. If someone is wealthy enough and willing to purchase in such large quantities could anyone do it?
$10M net worth, 5 year continuous history as an established precious metals wholesaler for starters (and thats just to peddle gutter)
https://www.usmint.gov/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/AP-Criteria-Silver-Bullion.pdf
Edit: Up the net worth to 25M if you want to deal in real PMs.
https://www.usmint.gov/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/AP-Criteria-Gold-Platinum-Palladium-Bullion.pdf
That doesn't sound impossible for a corporation. As an individual I'm out but for someone who deals in such things it sounds highly profitable.