Silver Bullet Silver Shield now only selling 20 ounces or more directly to consumers.

I've been keeping up with what these guys are doing and I've purchased a few or their rounds. They are the guys who produced the Debt and Death, Trivium, Slave Queen, and Freedom Girl rounds that are very trendy right now (there are other threads on their products around here).

In their newest video on YouTube, it is explained that 80% of their orders are for one round, but that 80% makes up only 20% of total sales. Because of this, they will now only ship orders of 20 or more. If you want less than that, you must buy from a third party.

I, personally, am not at the point where I buy 20 ounces at a time. I'm fairly young, so I have other expenses (young children, mortgage, expensive steaks), and time to build my stack over many years. I'm sure many SBSS buyers are like me, or just don't buy 20 ounces at a time for a number of reasons. Do you guys think they are alienating much of their customers base?

I understand their sales numbers, but selling the small orders, to me, seems like it feeds to the hype beast that allows them to make those larger sales. It should be known that you can buy these elsewhere for less of total cost with shipping, than directly, but I don't feel that much of their customer base wants to deal with third parties and feels like this is a slap in the face.

I, personally, will just buy them from Provident, but are these guys on their way to destroying the hype they've built with this move?

 

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Interesting... haven't been keeping up the last few days but I guess it makes sense... They have quite a few distributors now and if people want only 1 get it from them or on feebay...

It won't really affect me but is an interesting move... i'm sure it will help out quite a bit on the processing times~

 

They can say or do whatever they want. I will NEVER give them 1 dollar of my money again. Ordered everyone of their coins, started off O.K. then everything went downhill after that. Freedon Girl tooks 2 1/2 months to get. E-Mails not answered, lied to on the phone for shipping times. Then when they closed shop to get orders in line they said 2 weeks, Its still not back up, been over a month. They burned alot of people. If this is their new model then why did they sell to us 1 at a time to start? Made their money off of us to get their operation going, now whe are the problem? GOOD LUCK SBSS. NEVER AGAIN

 

Simple buy your 20 and sell 19 on here, maybe even for a small profit.

 

BIG PICTURE here. (I have no horse in this race, either.)

If you've watched their vids, you know M2 is a TINY outfit. I counted 10 guys - and when they get slammed, the PR guy and the investor guy are also working the machines. Sweatin'! Common sense dictates you NOT expect expedited service, lots of hand-holding, bells & whistles, etc. Large lot orders get priority... yet there are still delays. This is exactly what you'll get from a small private mint producing artisanal bullion rounds.

Might make me sound like an oldster (I'm not) but once-upon-a-time, rational people understood that 'things take time' and are always done to scale (big customers come first, etc.) In the age of the internet, uninformed or unrealistic consumers expect small operators to produce with the same cost- and efficiency-optimization of Amazon or whatever. WRONG! These mom-&-pop micro-firms are not ever going to able to deliver everything: high-turnaround, high-touch AND discount prices. You (we) just need to understand, period.

BIN? ya, head to Provident, APMEX, etc. or Feebay and pay the one-sies premium. That's fair, actually.

Someone else suggested a) become a distributor yourself or b) organize a buyers club. Both are sensible ideas, and Mulligan Mint's "move" was quite appropriate too. Can you imagine how disruptive the silver stackers' repeat calling & emailing must be against production demands? NIGHTMARE. The want-want whining of spoiled children coveting a single shiny medallion and expecting it last month would drive me nuts!

 

They are a prive mint. what difference does it make if it takes a little while to get your coins as long as you get them? I've used them three times and no problems. Gainesville or Provident will probably sell them, so no worries.

 

You guys aren't grasping my question. Yeah, it matters little to us, but is their move alienating their base and killing their hype?

 

I know you get it but lots of people obviously don't.

I want it yesterday.
I want premium service.
I want it China-cheap.

For better AND worse, the internet has transformed the way we view ALL our commercial transactions: expectations are 'to the moon' and the disconnect is frankly breath-taking. Can anyone even remember or understand the age-old proverb "Patience is a virtue" ?

And don't even get me started on the rudeness of consumers (as restos, stores, etc.) screaming complaints at some indebted post grad now paid min wage...

 

Well stated Juan~ Personally I knew when I ordered from them it may take a while... I did send in a complaint email as the shipping times did increase from my purchase of the Trivium coins to my Slave Queen proofs, but that was only after a month or so of seeing them listed on Ebay etc... My order was shipped within a week of my email and also included a copper Debt & Death coin which I though was a brilliant jesture on their part. My biggest concern was having a bunch of money out there and wondering if I would ever receive my medallions...

Well I have now placed about 5 orders totaling over 260 oz from them, all completed, silver now in my hands (WHICH IS WHERE I LIKE IT ) A little delayed, but here now and that is all that matters as I wasn't buying them to flip on Ebay, which I will probably do sooner or later, or post a few here.

On another note I have been trying to join the Coins for the Cause /SBSS affiliate program but am still awaiting info... you can purchase the coins direct and earn commissions on your sales of about $.50 per BU medallion, up to $4 for 1/10oz gold...

I saw a teaser of the next release and am not blown away by the design... I need to decide to invest in more silver, or a project Porsche 911.... Hmm...

Whaddaya think? 200+oz of silver or this 911??

 

They are allowed to so whatever they feel. If it isn't cost efficient to sell one coin at a time, they don't have to. If you want to buy one coin at a time, buy from an online dealer that they supply to. This will also help reduce shipment times and possibly reduce the premiums.

 

Canary yellow. Eeeeewwwweww

 

Maybe that's why it's a project lol. First order of business paint job!

 

Hahaha what are you talking about?!?!? The color is half the reason I want it! This car has a lot of posatives to it... 78 SC... 3.0 liter motor... just need to get some dual webers and it will be Greased Lightning!

So i'm gonna guess with this crowd I should go for the silver, eh???

 

Candy Brandywine with large gold flake......................... Its sweeeeeeeeet

 

Well it is a bit irritating you can't buy direct from them anymore. I was hoping to avoid fleabay's hefty premiums on some of the SBSS's. I wanted a Trivium but they're too much. Also the Death & Debt coin is too much. That is what I liked about buying direct, spot plus 2.99 premium. Not bad in my opinion. Either way I'm glad at least they are still available.

 

I ordered one at the end of February and have yet to receive it. Getting to be a bummer.

 

Although my original question hasn't been touched by anyone, for those of you who want to buy direct, I actually made up a cart of one freedom girl at provident and the shipping was less than five bucks. This is less than what SBSS was charging for shipping directly. For those in the know, the price is actually cheaper. That has nothing to do with my original question, but FYI.

 

To your original question - yes, it will probably alienate some, but that will most likely be a small percentage of the potential customer base. What's the biggest gripe of them right now - they take so darn long to get to you after you order, and it results in eventual disappointment and resentment, turning you off of future purchase. I would say that is more of a risk currently to lose more customers than to no longer allow them to purchase direct. Personally, I could care less where I'm buying from as long as it's a reasonable cost and I get my product in a reasonable timeframe. They're currently meeting the first, but failing miserably on the second, so something has to change or they risk it all going down the tubes.

Filling single orders to single customers is time consuming, and very costly per customer. It's much easier and cheaper to stack a tube of 20 and ship it out, as opposed to single rounds with packaging in a box to 20 single customers. Look at it this way - they are staring at a choice between hiring more staff and/or very expensive machinery to fulfill orders of onesies, or the ability to keep those they have now but move much larger volume of orders. I know which one I'd choose.

It's more cost effective to offload your single orders to bigger dealers who already have established processing and shipping lines and bulk discounts from the major delivery carriers. Where there's volume, there's savings, and as pointed out you found it was actually cheaper going through Provident than going direct.

 

I have been waiting since February 24, 2013 for my Freedom Girl Proofs.
First I was told 14 days average for the order to ship.
Im into my second month and today they say 2-3 weeks more.
Never ever again.
Looking more and more ponziish as time goes on.