Question for you precious metal buyers/sellers

[SDIceMan]

Hi all. I finally got a response to an ad I placed online that basically says I buy anything of value. A guy wrote me today and said the following:

I have 4 Sea Turtle 1/2 gram gold $1 coins
I have 4 Golden Horseshoe 1/2 gram gold $1 coins &
I have 4 Four Leaf Clover 1 gram gold $1 coins
All come with their individual certificate of authenticity listing country of location weight and gold content



He doesn't want to discuss pricing until I have had an opportunity to do some research. I don't have much experience buying precious metals. If I go solely on gold value, a gram should be worth somewhere around $40. I did research the three coins using eBay solds, and it seems like they sell for roughly $60 a piece, whether 1/2g or 1g.

My question is, with the gold value of roughly $320 for the 12 coins, and a potential resale value of approximately $720, what number do I come to the table with? Is this even worth pursuing if the seller is wanting much more than spot?

Thanks!

 

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[jochart]

I would start my offer at 80-90% of spot price of gold and go up from there. Explain that these are not US minted coins and wouldn't have any numismatic value, just gold value.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Raw gold value - NO markup.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Raw gold value - NO markup.

I give about 80% of melt - no matter what it is. I dont always buy gold, but when I do, I get a great deal.

 

[cyberdan]

everybody above is correct. Looks like those were made to become "collectibles" Any time a special cert of auth. is made to go with a product they are trying to create a fake persona about an item. The cert may prove they are gold but is does nothing to give more value unless you are the fool to fall for it.

I once filled the back of my SUV with U.S. coins that were in individual boxes and plastic holders. They were all modern clad. I bought almost everything he had. All he wanted a face value. I paid around $100 for $100 face in coins. The guy's father in law sat in front of the TV always watching some coin investment cable show. I can not imagine how much he spent.

 

[Paleo_joe]

I am not a precious metals guy, but how does buying at 80% of melt give you any profit? For something I could cash out at $320, I might pay $100 - $150 if it were a quick safe flip. Honest question, how is this different?

 

[Paleo_joe]

MIGHT being the key word. Ordinarily I am looking for a 10x multiple but this is gold

 

[AlienLifeForm]

I am not a precious metals guy, but how does buying at 80% of melt give you any profit? For something I could cash out at $320, I might pay $100 - $150 if it were a quick safe flip. Honest question, how is this different?

Because I don't sell for melt, I am very picky about what I am giving 80% on. Most jewelry I buy I try and sell for 3-4X melt. Admittedly, I don't buy much gold - there are easier ways to make money out there.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I am not a precious metals guy, but how does buying at 80% of melt give you any profit? For something I could cash out at $320, I might pay $100 - $150 if it were a quick safe flip. Honest question, how is this different?

If you expect to buy PM's on a regular basis you have to know what buyers are paying locally. In my area the buyers are pawn shops & we buy gold stores. Most of those try to buy for 50% or less but will pay a savvy seller up to 75%. I don't have a store front or a license & can't legally solicit business from individuals. I can legally buy from estate sale companies, garage sales, & thrifts. Most of the local estate sale companies call me when they have jewelry/sterling at an upcoming sale because they know I will pay a fair price and they don't have to worry about theft at the public sale. I pay between 70-75% of what I can sell for.

That margin doesn't sound like much. On a $100 buy I'm looking at a sale of between $133-142 with a profit of $33-42. Seems like it's hardly worth the effort. However, most of the time I'm paying a minimum of $300 ($99-126 profit) with $1000 buys ($330-442 profit) being common. I'm not going to get into specifics other than to say I've made much larger buys. Anytime I can drive 15 minutes each way, spend 30 minutes to an hour buying, spend 15 minutes packing the stuff up(I sell to an out of state refinery), & make a guaranteed 33-42% return on investment I'm all over it. Some pieces are unique enough to go on eBay which increases margins into the 100-1000% range. In most cases I also get to shop the rest of the sale early without competition from other buyers.