Will the mint change their prices?

With gold now below $900/oz, do you think the mint will make good on their pricing schedule and drop the price of their gold coins?

Beginning in 2009, the mint has decided to re-evaluate their pricing of precious metal coins (gold & platinum) on a weekly basis and adjust pricing accordingly. The pricing schedule can be found here. The pricing schedule changes on every $50 change in market price. The mint uses the London Fix weekly average to determine their prices... but here is what the mint says,

"The new pricing methodology is based primarily on the London Fix weekly average (average of the London Fix prices covering the previous Thursday A.M. Fix through the Wednesday A.M. Fix) gold prices, which reflect the market value of the gold bullion that these products contain."

Do I see an out for the mint here? "The new pricing methodology is based primarily on the London Fix weekly average" So is there a secondary way that the pricing is based on? Why didn't they just say, "The new pricing is base on the London Fix weekly average."? I am just curious. I think that the mint has worded it this way to leave themselves an out if the London fix numbers are not what they want them to be. So how I am interpreting this is that they base their prices primarily off the London fix, but also use secondary and tertiary, (i.e. other methods) for determining their prices.

Since the beginning of the year, I believe the mint has adjusted their prices up wards at least two, maybe three times. But now that the price of gold for the London Fix is under $900, a new price should be released after Thursday. So lets wait until then, see if the price of gold stays below $900, and see if the mint makes good on their word.

Joe

 

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the prices should not come down because they didnt raise it in the fiirst place when gold went over $900 but yes if it goes below $850 then

 

Considering what the second hand market on UHRs is doing I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

Spock, but they did raise the prices.... just as an example, look at the UHR coin. The initial release price was $1189. This correlates to a market value of gold at $800-850 which is was on Jan 22nd. Then the price jumped up to $1239, gold = $850-900, then it jumped up to $1289, gold = $900-950. This is where it has been ever since. When the first spouse coins were released on March 5th, gold was already over $900 which resulted in an initial price of $629/$616. When I ordered my FS coin this year, I did so because I saw the price of gold going up and actually on the day I had ordered it, it went over $950/oz so I was afraid that it would jump up in price, but the market run only lasted a few hours and then once again dropped below $950 and the prices stayed the same.

So if the market value of gold stays below $900, then we should be able to purchase the UHR at $1239 and the FS coins at $604/$591. Only time will tell.

 

900 oz= 450 for half +225 50 bps premium =675 for the FS

UHR is another story

 

they just came down. check and see.

 

Well, I guess hell just froze over. I couldn't believe my eyes! A whole day early too!

See Spock, there are miracles!

 

yeah except we will be charged the old prices and i wont be able to return mine and claim the difference

 

inspite of the mint having not shipped it yet. i cant cancel my order and i have to pay 629 for something that cost 604-thieves

 

Yep, I tried the same thing too. Fortunately, I ordered the UNC first hoping that this may happen. Also we are only talking about $25.... but every little bit counts. I ordered the proof last night even though I don't have the money. But because I can count on the good old mint to hold my order for weeks, I should have enough saved up by then. Of course, my luck will be that they send both at the same time tomorrow.

 

so u ost 25 bucks on the unc it amunts tot he same thing what a bunch of cheats they should not charge the higher price if they havent shipped the product

 

But there has to be some consistency. So you are saying that they should not charge the higher price because they have not shipped it out yet, but the same thing would have to apply if the price shot up and they hadn't shipped it out. They would have to charge me the higher price at the time of shipment. I would not be happy with that.

Two comments:
1. I like the new way the mint is organizing their pricing. If you watch the market like I do and you want to play the guessing game, you can wait for the price to get as low as possible and buy then. Just like stock. You buy at that moment whatever the price is at that time. If the stock drops in value, you don't return the stock and ask for the difference? So the new system works for me. Unlike last year when I dropped a ton of money on the rev proof platinum set and it dropped like a ton of bricks. The new pricing schedule wasn't in place then so they shouldn't have lowered the price, but they did and it left us early buyers in a miff. But after pondering on this a bit, it is really no different than what could happen now under the current pricing plan. Its all a gamble and I gambled and lost. Who would have guessed that platinum would have sunk so fast? Maybe I should take gambling tips from Paul.

2. Second Rant - I have noticed that the mint has removed the cancel order button sooner than it has before this new pricing and return policy. For example, I purchased the unc FS coin before the price drop this week because gold was actually climbing a few weeks ago and I was afraid the price would go up another $50... so I bought. That was during the first week of April. The coin hasn't even been shipped yet.... or processed for that matter, so when I went to cancel my order the other day when the price dropped, they had already removed that option. When I called them up and asked to cancel the order, their response was I couldn't because the order was already in process. So when I pressed them what does that mean? Am I going to get the coin soon? She couldn't give me an answer! She just repeated that the order was in process and she couldn't cancel it at this point in the process, but if I wanted to send it back as soon as I got it that I can do that! What the heck. It will probably be weeks before I even get the coin. Last year, this would not have been a problem>>>>> but then again, last year we wouldn't see any changes in pricing either.

 

if they havent shipped it u should be allowed to cancel your order what if the gold price ffalls to 500 tomorrow. its ridiculous from a process perspective the customer should come first. what ur saying in terms of stock is not correct noone sells u stock today and delivers it after a month that is just ridiculous

your second point is the same argument i have been making. what the mint is doing right now is unfair. the earlier pricing policy of the mint was not transparent but it was customer friendly.

 

I wonder if you told your bank to not process that order if that would work?

 

What they are saying is that they can't cancel the order on their end anymore, but I can always return it. The whole thing is BS.

And about the stock analogy, well I wasn't thinking about it the way you put it. I agree with what you are saying, but what I was saying was that if you bought a share of stock and the price drops the next day, you can't return it. You just chalk it up to a loss and hope that it comes up again.

 

the mint should reduce one bracket on their pricing chart. it is too high.

 

Why?

 

the mint hasnt shipped my coin for over a month now and i cant cancel my order what a bunch of loonies and now they have overchaarged me on the braille coin but of course that also has not shipped nad i cannot can cancel my order :headbang:

 

look at uhr double eagle at $1239.00 an ounce. the spouse proof at 1208 an ounce. the spouse unc at $1182.00 an ounce. while the gold spot is only $879.20 an ounce.

 

That ought to keep mintages low