Mint order limits

With the high interest in the 5 coin silver eagle 25th set, the 5 set limit was way too high i think. A single set limit for the first week would have evened the field for everyone. Any suggestions on how the mint could stop the multi-set (more than one set of five) purchase violations?

 

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The mint isnt in the business of being fair. They are in the business of making money. Their business model showed to be very fruitful on this particular set.

 

The big corporations / dealers will always find a way to get more than the limits

 

If the mint doesn't make a statement in the next two-three business days, I'd assume that the 5-set limit will stand for this set. I agree that five was probably high but the mint set the limit and flippers will pay the game in this free market situation. Looks like eBay averages are $500 and climbing.

I suggest people wait until sets are IN HAND and the sealed packaged are pictured in the auction.

I have a funny feeling that the mint might come back and change the limits on everyone within the next 24 hours but we'll see. Personally, I hope it stands.

 

APMEX is offering $425 for each individual set already... Goes to show that the dealers will end up with these and corner the market. After the bull market in metals of the last quarter, purchasing a 100,000 sets of something at $500 is still only $50M, a small number for someone with good credit, lots of inventory, and plenty of cash.... Think about it... We're headed for $1000 sets... My $.02

 

True, but limiting them to 1 per set would have made it harder and let more collectors get a set.

 

How is the mint in business to make money?
Why do they need to make money when we the taxpayers paid for the mint and pay the people who work and run it.
This is why i never buy from them because its more like the goverment handing me another hidden tax but i do get to choose to pay it.
They have found that a lot of people now save coins so they now make not just coins for the public use but have found people who are willing to pay unheard of prices for coins that years ago were minted just for keeping up with supply and demand.
You are playing into their hands and its another way for the goverment to rake in even more of your money without calling it a tax.
Even better for them it is 100%profit as all the the tools needed are already there even the labor to produce it.Ill never belive when the mint was first started it was supose to make a profit only to fill the world with needed coins.

 

im ordering 4 , 3 to profit 1 to keep

 

This whole fiasco is why I collect classical coinage. I have even cut back on the new commemoratives I order. I may leave mint offerings completly alone and begin looking at world coins as my secondary choice to classicals. Some very ugly personalities and comments have popped up on threads recently. I think I'll pick up my marbles and go home. :>)

 

And what is that way? The same as all those collectors who are planning to profit from flipping sets are using, buying five sets and doing so using multiple addresses/accounts.

Sure and who are they buying those sets so they can corner the market from??? All the collectors buying multiple sets for flipping. Should we pass a law forbidding coin dealers from buying coins from collectors?

I rest my case. A collector profiteering. But dealers are evil.

 

Would you prefer the alternative? That they operate at a loss? Who would pay for that loss? And who benefits from a government agency operating at a profit?

What could be better than profiting from folks who freely choose to buy or not? Isn't this what a free market is all about? You get to choose.

That's because it's not a tax. Taxes, by definition, are imposed. The Mint isn't forcing anyone to buy anything.

100% profit? You should rethink that statement. Consider material costs, manufacturing costs, labor, the overhead of maintaining buildings, equipment and tools. The list is endless.

Sorry, I don't understand your beef.
Lance.

 

If the order limit had been one per houshold the web site would still be down.

 

I got 5 but completely agree it should have been a limit of 1.

Before you throw rocks at me for ordering the 5, I was simply playing their game. They set the rules, I agree the rules were wrong but I simply followed them. Besides, it would have probably just been an EBay flipper who got the other 4 anyway.

Chris

 

I don't think that will happen simply because of the way their database is setup.

However, they do, and have always had, the option of minting and selling more.

As for the dealers bypassing the limits, folks have NO idea how much these dealers are PAYING for those extra sets. I've seen anywhere from $50 to $125 per set which IMO is totally fair play.

If folks really want a set but were unable to order, my advice is to simply wait. Buying right now is just plain silly and the prices could very well settle.

This reminds me of the 2008 Rev of 2007 SAE's. Folks paid $25.95 for them from the US Mint and sold them for hundreds.
Is this wrong or simply free enterprise?

 

The website fiasco is an example of the US Mint just being lazy and slow in updating their systems. If a Lady Gaga concert can sell out 35,000 tickets in 15 minutes at some venues, and Ticketmaster.com can handle that traffic, then it is a farce that the US Mint can't handle 100,000 sets ordered over 6 hours.

Personally, I will not spend one red cent on overpriced bullion sets. I got the same emails from "dealers" that everyone else is talking about, and I could not have cared less. There's a sucker born every minute, and yesterday it seems there were at least 20,000 of them all trying to get onto usmint.gov.

 

"This reminds me of the 2008 Rev of 2007 SAE's. Folks paid $25.95 for them from the US Mint and sold them for hundreds."

When ordering, no one knew they would get that coin. It was a mint mistake, remember? It's the same as finding that monster error coin in a mint roll.


"Is this wrong or simply free enterprise?"

Simply free enterprise

 

The US Mint pays for itself and IS NOT subsidized by US taxpayers. The US Mint actually deposits their profits into the US General fund. By profits I mean after everything is paid for which includes salaries, materials, equipment, manufacting space, etc. Everything.

As a matter if fact, the US Mint is the only Federal Agency which does show a profit and is NOT reliant upon Federal Income to operate.
Read their annual reports.

 

I believe that this is a comparison of Apples to Oranges in that Concert Ticket Sales can be made by big promoters in "blocks" of possibly hundreds. Were they limited to a maximum of 5, they'd certainly not sell 35,000 in 15 minutes.

BTW, there were TWEO methods of buying 25th Anniversary Sets. Website AND Telephone. (Just like Ticketmaster)

 

BTW I for one do not see justification for the mint to spend money on a new computer system. I for one have had more hours of power outage this year than I've of internet outage at the mint. Something that works 99.98% of the time and is secure dosn't need replacing IMO.

1 divided by 364 = .0027472 considering that total outage for the year is 24 hours.

 

So, if everyone is buying 1 to keep and 4 or more to flip maybe the price will go down since app. 80% will be back on the market almost immediately. I think they should have either minted more or limited orders to 1 or 2. I'm still upset about not ordering the 2009 UHR because gold kept rising causing the price to go up. I remember on the last day they were available I decided not to buy and have regretted it ever since.

If the coin is unique and the mintage is low I will buy. I'm even considering some of the First spouse in BU the mintages are very low and seem to be trending lower. I am the nice guy who will be selling my extras to relatives who could not get through to order.

Lack