Looks like things there a changing, my LCS use to pay 97% of spot on both GOLD and SILVER , now he tells me its only 93% and this is because the refiners are now charging an additional 2% for processing and this is on the good stuff Buffalos, Eagles, Maples and Krugers and another 1% on bars so is this a temporary thing or is it something we will need to live with..LOL
Why the heck would he be sending those coins - popular, well-recognized, and highly liquid - to refiners? I'm guessing nearly every LCS owner is terrified at current levels of volatility, and widening their margins for self-protection.
I'm afraid it can become the new norm. On monday I took some generic 1 oz rounds I believe spot was around $90, they quoted me $78.75. They said they had tarnished. Some had some minor rim tone on them. They are now back in the stack. Trying to sell 90% is an issue in my area.
With so much volatility you can't blame them. You don't want to buy Silver one day at $100 and just to have it drop to $85 the next. I don't want to buy because of the volatility, or I'm just much more cautious and weary about PM purchases now.
This why I focus on Gold, a currency precious metal. Silver seems more of an industrial commodity, and moving away from a currency surrogate. Shifting market demands, manipulations, and industrial competitiveness seem to make Silver more volatile. Gold volatility is more visible in DOLLAR changes, which get a lot of attention. However, its percentage change may not be as much as Silver. For Bullion, I am watching Central Banks’ purchasing activity. They amass gold. my thoughts…
A lot of folks don't seem to remember 1980 and the Hunt Brothers. How many dealers scooped up silver and held for one day to long and lost their shirts and their shops. I know of 3 in my area alone. Volatility and lack of refiners ability to keep up. Be patient, this will also cease or let up.
I think that the issue, just to much coming in so they can afford to give less, the margins are already wafer thin so they chip away at was LCS are giving i checked my other guy and he,s only giving 90% but will take the extra 4% everytime
Thats highway robbery 1! they should be thrown in jail for that offer, and why should a tarnished roung be pennalized, take some silver polish to it and then return see if you get the same B.S.
A shop that I use to deal with right down the street was really friendly when I came in all the time but basically after a while I realized this place wasent the best, nice lounge free drinks in the fridge and snacks but the buy back premiums were ridiculous after another failed attempt have finally found a place that isn't greedy makes you feel comfortable and offers you a fair price
While I largely agree with you, it seems most people are priced out of gold. Silver, on the other hand, is still accessible to just about everyone. So if gold is to be more recognized as money around the world, it follows logically that so will silver. That silver is increasingly being recognized as a strategic metal just adds to its value. I think silver will always be second to gold, and it gets dismissed because our brains are wired to think in either/or - yes or no.
Chances are really good that the shop who offered the $78.75 likely has to bulk the silver out under spot, and when it pulls back like that, I can totally see why they did it. One of the coin shops in my area bulks it out under spot. It looks like they're trying to swindle a quick $11.25 out of the seller, but in reality they're not. It's honestly questionable as to whether silver is truly worth spot, or if it's a few dollars under.
Yeah, it can take weeks before the coin shops even get paid by the refiners as they are so backed up, solution hire more help !it obvious the current system is not working, if more help isnt the answer new machines might be the answer, i can only see this problem getting worse not better
Hiring more help won't change the laws of physics. Furnaces have capacity limits, and building new furnaces is hugely expensive - and then, when demand returns to normal, they'll sit idle. Any business making huge capital investments on the basis of this spike is... well, I won't second-guess their decision if they're doing that, because I don't know their business. But the assumption that traffic will continue at the levels we saw earlier this year seems really, really iffy.