Joe's Money

With the recent run up in price for gold, silver, and many other commodities, you may be wondering where to score the deals for those precious metals.  I haven’t personally been buying too long, only a couple of years.  However, here are my experiences.

Apmex (Online Merchant)

A few years ago, I made my first silver bullion purchase from Apmex.com.  Little did I know, they cater more to large volume buyers as the only time you can get a decent price is if you are ordering 100+ ounces of silver at a time.  To some, that may not be that much, but I certainly couldn’t afford it.  On otp of the high premiums for low volume buyers, there are shipping fees, credit card fees, etc.  If you pay by check or money order, the credit card fees are obviously removed.

Final Say: Better for large volume buyers, no so much for the low volume.  Service is impecable.

eBay Auctions

Boy ohh boy, where do we start here?  In the past, deals were difficult to find, but were there.  With prices where they are now, this is not the case.  Lots of buyers have been bidding well past the normal premium prices as of late.  I did a little research and have found that most of these buyers fall into the category of simply being unfamiliar with their purchases.  Another group is folks that only buy an ounce or two at a time and are willing to pay a high premium.  The last and likely smallest group of folks paying these insane premiums are folks using reward programs like eBay bucks or eBay gift cards.  The discounts bring the actual paid price to a level consistent with other venues.

I have however heard that there are still respectable deals to be found in “junk” silver.

Final Say:  For well versed buyers, this is probably the last place you should try to strike a deal.  Individuals just looking for a piece or two of silver, this could be an ok route.

Local Coin Shows

Keep in mind my findings around local coin shows may not be what you experience, all markets can vary greatly depending on the amount of buyers and sellers.

Local coin shows around my area (Twin Cities Metro Area) tend to have some of the best prices around.  Silver eagles usually go for a much smaller premium than online sellers or eBay.  Eagles have almost always been available.  These are likely the most sought after silver bullion items available.  Generic silver bars or rounds can be difficult to find, especially in quantities.  However, premiums when you can find them, are very low, barely over spot price.

Other common selections from my local shows are the Australian Kookaburra round, the Chinese Panda round, and the Canadian Maple Leaf.  All of these coins have detailed, beautiful designs.

Final Say:  Likely the best prices around, no tax, get to work with folks from your own community, etc.  Possibly a limited selection.  Clearly the best choice as far as pricing goes.

Silver has been on a dominant run up over the last year or so.  However, the increases in price over the last few weeks have been unprecidented.  I have never seen such a large short term gain.

This morning, silver briefly opened up well above $48 an ounce before settling around $46.50 or so.

Individual investors generally pay a few dollars per ounce over spot for investment grade silver.  This could be pushing them towards the assumed resistance point of $50 per ounce and causing some resistance to purchase more.

In addition, the $50 per ounce price may also trigger some sell offs as well by both large and small investors alike.

In my personal opinion, silver and the commodity price rises as of late are caused largely by inflation fears so the rise in prices are to an extent justified.  I say to an extent because it would appear silver is rising at a significantly higher rate than most if not all other commodities including its close brother, gold.

Only time will tell if the wild silver rise is in line with current investors or if the market has been severly overbought.  Back in the 1980’s, silver also went on a intense rally reaching a high of approx. $50 per ounce.  We haven’t quite hit that yet.  Including inflation, we haven’t come close to matching the silver run up in the 80s.