Silver bullion

cwazzy · February 1, 2007 12:43PM

Where is the best place to go to sell some one ounce silver rounds and bars? I don't have many and I would rather have the money to buy coins right now. And what can I expect to get per ounce? Thanks in advance.

mrpaseo · February 1, 2007 12:46PM

Yes, and good luck with your adventure.

JeremyDie1 · February 1, 2007 1:03PM

Freak1c · February 1, 2007 1:10PM

I use the BST myself. As for prices you may want to ask around depending on what you have.

Freak

VintageJeff · February 1, 2007 1:16PM

I've bought and sold at www.bulliondirect.com with great success.

storm888 · February 1, 2007 1:19PM

The coin shop in your town will likely pay about spot or a little less.

If you wait a few days, it might go up a tad.

cwazzy · February 1, 2007 1:25PM

<< The coin shop in your town will likely pay about spot or a little less.

If you wait a few days, it might go up a tad. >>

This is going to make me sound like the newb that I am, but what exactly is "spot"? Is that the price that is shown on sites like CoinWorld.com? Sorry. I'm new at all of this.

storm888 · February 1, 2007 1:35PM

"..what exactly is "spot?""

//////////////////////

go to kitco.com for current spot metal-prices.

bluespaceant · February 1, 2007 1:44PM

basestealer · February 1, 2007 3:39PM

<< 

<< The coin shop in your town will likely pay about spot or a little less.

If you wait a few days, it might go up a tad. >>

This is going to make me sound like the newb that I am, but what exactly is "spot"? Is that the price that is shown on sites like CoinWorld.com? Sorry. I'm new at all of this. >>

"Spot price" is the present cash price any given commodity is being traded for on the spot market, a market in which commodities such as gold, silver, crude oil, and grain are bought and sold for cash and delivered immediately. As mentioned in a previous post, kitco will quote current spot price of precious metals (it changes every minute).

If you have less than 100 ounces of silver to sell, I recommend you avoid online dealers, because you will take a hit on the shipping and there will be a delay in cutting you a check. Most cities have bullion dealers (look in the phone book), and jewelers and coin shops also purchase bullion rounds and bars. These places make money via a buy/sell or bid/ask spread. If silver spot is $13.50 for instance, they will usually publish their spread on a sign inside the store (example BUY: $13.30 SELL: $13.90) So on any given day, the bullion dealer will make a small amount of money via the difference in their buy/sell spreads, regardless if the price of silver goes up or down. There are always buyers and there are always sellers in the precious metals market.

Deadhorse · February 1, 2007 3:49PM

<< Where is the best place to go to sell some one ounce silver rounds and bars? I don't have many and I would rather have the money to buy coins right now. And what can I expect to get per ounce? Thanks in advance. >>

PM me with what you've got. I buy all silver melt coins, rounds and bars at very competitive prices and have done so for years from many board members.

Can provide you with a list of board members as references on request. Never had a problem over hundreds of deals yet. Let me know.

In the future, the BST board would be the best place for this stuff. Just drop me a PM, I will beat any brick and mortar dealer by a fair margin on .999 refined product and I'll pay the shipping/insurance as well.

TIA

seemyauction · February 1, 2007 10:19PM

Any dealer should offer you close to silver spot for them.....if you are looking to sell them at higher prices good luck......

AL

VintageJeff · February 1, 2007 11:21PM

There is no reason you should sell at spot and even less reason to sell for less. I don't know if you guys are trying to get deals from this guy or what but I don't know of one source of silver bullion rounds, bars, maple leafs, ASE's, Libertads etc. that do not command at least a small premium over spot.

Casman · February 2, 2007 3:46AM

I've never heard of getting a premium for the bars or rounds, it's always been slightly under spot, otherwise the buyers not making anything off the purchase.

VintageJeff · February 2, 2007 5:54AM

Spot price at this very second $13.35

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz bars $13.75

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz rounds $13.55

If you are selling to a dealer I can see your point but you should really be trying to sell to an investor.

Casman · February 2, 2007 6:09AM

That's interesting, do they have listed prices on large bars blocks too...we dumped quite a few 100 oz bars and some big door stoppers....

VintageJeff · February 2, 2007 6:27AM

10 oz bar $137.50
100 oz bar $1340.00

CaptHenway · February 2, 2007 6:55AM

<< Spot price at this very second $13.35

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz bars $13.75

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz rounds $13.55

If you are selling to a dealer I can see your point but you should really be trying to sell to an investor. >>

You own stock in Bullion Direct? Just went and looked at the site and could have laughed chocolate milk out my nose if I had any chocolate milk.....

That BUY offer for 1 oz. bars at $13.75 per ounce is for exactly FIVE OUNCES. The BUY for 5,000 ounces is at $13.30 per ounce.

The BUY offer for 1 oz. rounds at $13.55 per ounce is for exactly SEVEN OUNCES. The BUY for 5,000 ounces is at $13.10 per ounce.

The BUY offer for a 10 oz. bar at $137.50 is for exactly ONE BAR.

The BUY offer for a 100 oz. bar at $1340.00 is for exactly ONE BAR, but it has to be Johnson-Mathey brand.

Please do not confuse a single offer to buy a very limited quantity of a given commodity with the real world marketplace. In my real world I can buy, right now from another dealer on my teletype system, a hundred ounce bar and 30 mixed one ounce rounds and bars at spot, delivered. Another dealer on the system is offering a $1000 bag of Walking Liberty halves for $9,440.00 delivered. That's a little over $60 under melt. That is the real world, folks. Live in it.

TD

basestealer · February 2, 2007 7:30AM

<< I've never heard of getting a premium for the bars or rounds, it's always been slightly under spot, otherwise the buyers not making anything off the purchase. >>

That's not true. Bullion dealers--picture them with two phones, one in each hand. The left hand holds the "buy" phone, at $13.50 per ounce. The right hand holds the "sell" phone, at $14.00 per ounce. These people "trade" silver all day long, from left hand to right hand, collecting the 50 cent commission or whatever the spread is with every ounce they deal.

VintageJeff · February 2, 2007 9:50AM

<< 

<< Spot price at this very second $13.35

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz bars $13.75

Buy offer on bulliondirect right now for 1 oz rounds $13.55

If you are selling to a dealer I can see your point but you should really be trying to sell to an investor. >>

You own stock in Bullion Direct? Just went and looked at the site and could have laughed chocolate milk out my nose if I had any chocolate milk.....

That BUY offer for 1 oz. bars at $13.75 per ounce is for exactly FIVE OUNCES. The BUY for 5,000 ounces is at $13.30 per ounce.

The BUY offer for 1 oz. rounds at $13.55 per ounce is for exactly SEVEN OUNCES. The BUY for 5,000 ounces is at $13.10 per ounce.

The BUY offer for a 10 oz. bar at $137.50 is for exactly ONE BAR.

The BUY offer for a 100 oz. bar at $1340.00 is for exactly ONE BAR, but it has to be Johnson-Mathey brand.

Please do not confuse a single offer to buy a very limited quantity of a given commodity with the real world marketplace. In my real world I can buy, right now from another dealer on my teletype system, a hundred ounce bar and 30 mixed one ounce rounds and bars at spot, delivered. Another dealer on the system is offering a $1000 bag of Walking Liberty halves for $9,440.00 delivered. That's a little over $60 under melt. That is the real world, folks. Live in it.

TD >>

Actually I use the site and have for years. Yeah there are market makers and small timers. The guy who started this post sounded more like he had a smaller amount to sell. I'm pretty sure if he had 5,000 ounces he would have a pretty good idea of where to buy and sell it. So before you get all high and mighty think about where I was coming from. I offered help since I know about bullion just like some other kind members have offered help to me on coins.

basestealer · February 2, 2007 10:03AM

If some coin dealers have been buying bullion from unsuspecting people at below spot, I certainly don't intend to affect their business. However, I do think it's the duty of those of us posting here to offer unbiased advice when someone asks a question. Large bullion operations are a steady, easy, liquid place to turn bullion into cash and cash into bullion. They offer no nonsense buy/sell spreads based on the most up to the minute spot price. Some are better than others--certainly I've posted from my experience in working with bullion and dealers, and I encourage everyone to find a local bullion dealer near them and check it out, even if for curiousity sake. No need to fight over whether 8x or 10x face is appropriate when a guy with a wad of cashing saying "this is what we pay" will settle the issue once and for all.

Mercury10c · February 2, 2007 10:30AM

<< I've bought and sold at www.bulliondirect.com with great success. >>

Great site, easy to use, probably some of the better buy/sell bullion prices around.

Deadhorse · February 2, 2007 11:50PM

About the only bullion that will command a premium over spot, and it's a small premium, would be ASEs and Maple leafs.

If anyone thinks they can get over spot for common generic rounds and bars, they are mistaken. Sure, you can get a bit better by listing it on eBay, but after the fees and paypal, you're back of spot when all is said and done.

This issue remains one of the most misunderstood over the years and all it takes is one person to claim there are such premiums to throw a thread for a loop. There is always a natural tendency to want to get as much as possible and it's the worst when someone has just a handfull of common generic rounds, they quickly find out that they will be lucky to get spot and sending it off requires the shipping and insurance costs to be figured in as well. It's a very tight and competitive market, the mark is very little even for the big dealers.

Jcarney · February 3, 2007 12:04AM

<< ...on my teletype system, >>

Tom, you guys really still use teletype systems?

jmski52 · February 3, 2007 12:20AM

By selling on ebay, you get what the market is willing to pay. By selling at a negotiated price here or in a local coin shop, or anywhere else, you get what you bargain for.

I think that liquidity has its cost, and there is ALWAYS economy of scale for larger transactions, but if you note what the spot price is on Kitco, you can make an informed decision on how and where to sell.

There might come a day when silver bullion sells at a premium to spot, but you can be sure that the buy/sell spread will still exist, and that the buy premium will be less than the sell premium. When silver takes off and goes for a run, the premiums increase - when it crashes, the discounting happens overnight. It's a classic market in that sense.

Side Note - I find it hard to believe that Bullion Direct is buying anything over the spot price of silver if the rest of the market is selling at a discount to the spot price. Am I missing something here?

roadrunner · February 3, 2007 12:33AM

Appears to me that Bullion Direct is basically offering teaser rates on small quantities of coins (that will cost a high percentage $ to ship)
to get you in the door as a possible customer. What, their giving you an extra $2-$5 on a small deal on small ounce bars to snag a possible customer? Sounds like good business.

roadrunner

CaptHenway · February 3, 2007 1:06AM

<< 

<< ...on my teletype system, >>

Tom, you guys really still use teletype systems? >>

Nah, but it's the same company that used to do it via teletype machines, and us oldtimers still call it that.

TD

CaptHenway · February 3, 2007 1:09AM

<< Appears to me that Bullion Direct is basically offering teaser rates on small quantities of coins (that will cost a high percentage $ to ship)
to get you in the door as a possible customer. What, their giving you an extra $2-$5 on a small deal on small ounce bars to snag a possible customer? Sounds like good business.

roadrunner >>

Exactly.
TD

CaptHenway · February 3, 2007 1:15AM

<< By selling on ebay, you get what the market is willing to pay. By selling at a negotiated price here or in a local coin shop, or anywhere else, you get what you bargain for.

I think that liquidity has its cost, and there is ALWAYS economy of scale for larger transactions, but if you note what the spot price is on Kitco, you can make an informed decision on how and where to sell.

There might come a day when silver bullion sells at a premium to spot, but you can be sure that the buy/sell spread will still exist, and that the buy premium will be less than the sell premium. When silver takes off and goes for a run, the premiums increase - when it crashes, the discounting happens overnight. It's a classic market in that sense.

Side Note - I find it hard to believe that Bullion Direct is buying anything over the spot price of silver if the rest of the market is selling at a discount to the spot price. Am I missing something here? >>

Premiums do fluctuate with supply and demand. When spot prices are low, there are mure buyers than sellers and premiums rise. When spot prices are high, there are more sellers than buyers and premiums drop.

During the Y2K madness of 1998-1999, we could sell anything made of precious metals out the door. We sold one guy 5,000 Belgian 20 Francs gold, which normally you couldn't give away (why, I don't know) and paid over melt from our supplier. After the World did not come to an end, many of the Y2K buyers dumped back into the market, and premiums crashed. We bought those Belgian pieces back at under melt, and burned them.

Look at the gold eagle mintage figures for 1998-2001 and see what effect supply and demand can have. In 2000-2001 there were so many eagles coming back into the market that we seldom had to order new ones.

TD

VintageJeff · February 3, 2007 1:26AM

Seriously if you guys don't know what you are talking about just keep quiet. I have used bullion direct for many years. The company isn't necessarily buying at those prices but users for sure are. If you think a world doesn't exist beyond your little coin shop you are sadly mistaken. I have invested heavily in bullion and even allowed bullion direct to store a large portion from time to time if I think I will be selling shortly. With that feature at BD I can play the market easier with no shipping fees and only pay a 1% commission. The prices and spreads all depend on the market. It is a weekend so the quantities and spreads are different now than they will be Monday at noon. Just like any market it depends on who is buying and selling.

basestealer · February 3, 2007 1:36AM

<< Seriously if you guys don't know what you are talking about just keep quiet. I have used bullion direct for many years. The company isn't necessarily buying at those prices but users for sure are. If you think a world doesn't exist beyond your little coin shop you are sadly mistaken. I have invested heavily in bullion and even allowed bullion direct to store a large portion from time to time if I think I will be selling shortly. With that feature at BD I can play the market easier with no shipping fees and only pay a 1% commission. The prices and spreads all depend on the market. It is a weekend so the quantities and spreads are different now than they will be Monday at noon. Just like any market it depends on who is buying and selling. >>

I agree. I imagine it would be somewhat similar to a bullion guy raiding numismatic coin discussions with his simplistic "take" on it all. It has been my experience that coin dealers and coin shops often do NOT keep pace with commodities, and therefore the buy/sell prices are not up to date. I've purchased silver eagles at the coin shop for $12 each when silver was trading at $11, and I've never sold a coin to a dealer so I wouldn't know what that is like. I've never dealt with bullion direct, but it seems people who have, have positive experiences. I use local bullion dealers so that I can avoid shipping fees and wait times, and of course it's fun to go somewhere in person once in a while.

VintageJeff · February 3, 2007 1:47AM

I would go to a coin shop if I knew where one was. Seems like the few I see are also pawn shops and leave much to be desired.

basestealer · February 3, 2007 1:49AM

<< I would go to a coin shop if I knew where one was. Seems like the few I see are also pawn shops and leave much to be desired. >>

Yeah, I don't think I'd be selling my coins to a pawn shop anytime soon. I'm still in it for 2 large to get my record player back I hocked in 1974. You don't think they still have it do you?

MacCrimmon · February 3, 2007 1:53AM

<< During the Y2K madness of 1998-1999, we could sell anything made of precious metals out the door. We sold one guy 5,000 Belgian 20 Francs gold, which normally you couldn't give away (why, I don't know) and paid over melt from our supplier. After the World did not come to an end, many of the Y2K buyers dumped back into the market, and premiums crashed. We bought those Belgian pieces back at under melt, and burned them. >>

And now they are 2006-W fracs......THANKS !!!! Now, they are finally worth something.

Omega · February 3, 2007 1:57AM

Ebay. People pay stupid over spot prices all the time.

VintageJeff · February 3, 2007 2:01AM

yeah i noticed that too especially with inflated shipping charges. I wonder if some people know there are other places to buy things from besides ebay.

CaptHenway · February 3, 2007 5:41AM

<< Seriously if you guys don't know what you are talking about just keep quiet. I have used bullion direct for many years. The company isn't necessarily buying at those prices but users for sure are. If you think a world doesn't exist beyond your little coin shop you are sadly mistaken. I have invested heavily in bullion and even allowed bullion direct to store a large portion from time to time if I think I will be selling shortly. With that feature at BD I can play the market easier with no shipping fees and only pay a 1% commission. The prices and spreads all depend on the market. It is a weekend so the quantities and spreads are different now than they will be Monday at noon. Just like any market it depends on who is buying and selling. >>

Then stop pretending that a high bid for five ounces of silver is representative of the true market for silver. It is not. The bid for 5,000 ounces is reality.

TD

cwazzy · February 4, 2007 6:42AM

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I only have 8 ounces so I am definately not a big player in the bullion market. You all have given me a lot to think about.

Chris

VintageJeff · February 4, 2007 6:57AM

The fact of the matter is i could fill that 5 ounce order and do 5 minutes of looking around and could sell many more at that same price. Just like anything else if you are patient and know what you are doing you can set your own price. I don't need to dump anything at spot......ever.

bluespaceant · February 4, 2007 8:10AM

If I was selling 8 ounces of silver, I would sell it on Ebay. Just put a Buy It Now at the spot price and it will sell quickly.

As for brick and morter bullion dealers / pawn shops, I would shop around before doing any buying or selling. On the same day a few months ago I got quotes from 3 different dealers on the same day, in the same city, to buy pre-1964 90% U.S. silver at 6X, 6.5X, and 8.2X face value. The guy who quoted me his buy price of 6X face became upset when I told him I would buy all he had at 8X face value. Hehe, I love to do that.

Silver bullion

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