Really seems to be a silver shortage

[jim4silver]

At least with respect to what is available at today's prices. I checked on a well known national website APMEX just to see what they had and at what price. I have never bought or sold PMs online and never plan to, but I like this site to gauge prices, etc.

Their current inventory is almost nil. They usually have lots available, but now only have high priced maples and such.

The shortage is really people not wanting to part with their metal at today's crappy prices, not that the stuff has disappeared from the face of the planet. I imagine that if silver shot up to 18 per ounce overnight you would see more inventory showing up at coin stores.

Anyone noticing any shortages at their local coin stores?

Jim

[alpha105]

The place im buying em right now is selling em for a bit more above spot then normal ($1.00)....but the still have a few hundred oz's for sale.....too bad i dont have a few thousand dollars

[BBcardsRI]

The shortage is really people not wanting to part with their metal at today's crappy prices, not that the stuff has disappeared from the face of the planet. I imagine that if silver shot up to 18 per ounce overnight you would see more inventory showing up at coin stores.

I know for a fact that this is correct at least at 4 of the 5 shops I have been to in my area. And I have been saying this on multiple forums, etc.

One dealer I know fairly well has a TON of stuff but flat out telle me he won't sell for less than 17 an ounce and that I can find better deals else where. I was in there right before it dropped below $17 an ounce and he had 100ozers coming out his ears as well as smaller bars and rounds... no way that he sold that stuff... its just sitting in the back waiting for the price to recover. He even told me yesterday that he has a bunch of $1k face junk silver bags in reserve for when he buys and needs to ship out and wait the 2 week period, so he never runs out of money to spend, and that once gold rebounds, all the display cases that are filled with "that worthless gvc coin crap" as he calls it and a bunch of his lower end jewlery will be FULL of the "good" gold stuff.

He is just sitting on it.

~Dave

[Silver Stripe]

I seem to be addicted to APMEX these days, placed my third order there last night in just over a week- maybe I have a week mind haha. After my second order they were out of anything of interest, then yesterday they got in a bunch and I just couldn't help myself. I hate the wait but my local guy is outrageous- I spose if I went in and wanted to spend all my CRH money at once he would get a little nicer but to ME $300 at a pop is a lot. I'm still trying to be frugal with my hunting $$$ but it ain't easy- they got a KILO Engelhard (old pour style) that I'm just achin for- only reason its not mine already is the $3.99 premium but someone better buy it soon, don't know how long my willpower will hold out LOL. HH Mark

[BBcardsRI]

How long does it take you on average to get your orders in from them? And what kind of stuff are you buying and with what premiums over spot?

~Dave

[Silver Stripe]

How long does it take you on average to get your orders in from them? And what kind of stuff are you buying and with what premiums over spot?

~Dave

Hi Dave, I am more or less collecting and investing in one- I don't buy silver to buy silver only. I only buy what I like. I pay apmex with money orders so takes a few days to get there then about a week to clear and a few days back to ME- I don't get the $6 MO at the post office and don't know if that would speed things up or not, the MO I get at the grocery cost ME .20 apiece. As to the Prems- the (2) Engelhard 10 ozers I got last night were $1.99 over spot, little steep but I am collecting them and didn't have them yet. The Philharmonics were a little more but alot less Prem than they used to be. The guys on GIM that night were buying them up like crazy- like 8000 sold one evening and overnight, when I got up at 6 am there were 72 left and I figured if I wanted to add to my collection I better so I got 20 to make the shipping worthwhile. You have to watch that place all the time, last night I got on and they had some Silverthorne 10's for $151.20 and I was really considering but didn't. 20 mins later they had the two Engelhards and I checked my funds to make sure I could get them and still pay for todays boxes- checkout- MINE! LOL. They've got 1000ozers now for .35 over spot, don't know what the shipping and ins. would be on that haha. I'll post a pic when they get in. HH Mark

[BBcardsRI]

Nice work on your purchases. Personally I can't force to pay like 2 dollars a pound over spot for a 10ozer. even though that is still cheaper than you can buy stuff for on ebay or from dealers that are holding their stuff until the price recoveres.

The .35 cents over for a 1,000ozer isn't that bad, but I have heard bad things about those 1,000ozers. That they can be like 911oz all the way up to like 1,080oz. Huge spread on them. Not sure how reliable that info is, but I have read it in multiple articles online oncerning those monster bars.

I'll have to pay a bit more attention to the apmex/bulliondirect/kitco type sites just as price and availability reference.

~Dave

[Silver Stripe]

Your right about the 1000 ozers but they are stamped with the weight and you pay for that weight. Here's a link to that page. http://www.apmex.com/Category/518/Si...rket__New.aspx
The other part of my post about my local guy being outrageous in his prems. When I first went in there I pi$$ed him off by making him get off his stool to sell ME just one lil bar. I was pulling silver like crazy out of boxes and just wanted something special haha. After that I tried to get on his better side and started a small collection of 10 ozers, silver was $17-18 the first time and his prem was $1.5. Next time silver was $15-16 and same prem and I got two. I know he has cut ME a lil slack (barely) since then. He has a tray of nasty SAE's that were $2.95 over spot back then- I didn't even ask about the prem on nice ones. Last week I was in there and added a Canadian Maple Leaf to the collection for $16.50 when them BS art bars with no markings were $15.50 (spot was right at $13). He said he sold his last 100 ozer for $3 over spot and didn't have any 10's left- too bad I hadn't bought them all when spot was $15 would have been cheaper.
Anyways HH, Mark

[BBcardsRI]

Thanks for the link.

Yea... that dealer is really messing with you with those premiums. But he is HARDLY the only dealer doing that.

Wish there were more "honest" ones out there.

~Dave

[MalteseFalcon]

Seems someone is manipulating the price of silver and gold:

http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1219417468.php

[BBcardsRI]

I was forwarded the above link when it first came out.

It has some decent stats, but HARDLY enough to substantiate anything. I DO believe it is manipulated, but in order to prove it in the way that Ted is trying, he needs more than a single list of data from only 2 months. He needs to give us the DAILY futures numbers for AT LEAST a full 2 months and preferably at least 3 months so that a TRUE comparison between spot price and bank shortages/future contracts can be seen.

I mean the statistics he gives could just as easily show that those holding futures were HURT by the drop in spot and not that they MADE it drop because there simply isn't enough date or specific enough date given by him.

~Dave