I was in Winston-Salem yesterday, had given my son-in-law 50 silver dimes for his Christmas present - and then of course we got into a very long discussion of silver coin pricing. I gave him a link to melt values, and we went through several pages on Ebay to compare melt value with asking prices, hopefully educating him on the tricks and incidental expenses like shipping.
We went touring through Craigslist, and found an ad for quarters at 16x face. Okay, figure spot melt value of a quarter is $3.62. Take 4 quarters @ 16x face would be $16.00. 4x 3.62 = $14.48. That's a buck 52 premium, or slightly over 10%. You're always going to pay a bit of a premium, I don't believe there's any real suckers left after over 34 years of a booming silver market.
So, with the intent of long term, and silver to rise again soon, I considered that a good purchase - though we did not pursue it. The main intent of the exercise was to educate my son-in-law.
And, let the buyer beware as well - a Craigslist incident from several weeks ago.
Saw a local ad, I looked at the deal, felt it was a tad high, and responded with a counter.
The individual responded back with a figure. I accepted the deal and noted we'd want to meet in public, and I would want to count the coins and check them out.
Never received a response from him again, and the ad continued to run, though it's now off but a little different ad now from the same individual.
Left me wondering if he was legit or not. Did the fact that I wanted to see and count the coins expose him?
Keep the faith, and let the buyer beware!