What are the differences in these? http://www.goldmart.com/1-oz-golden-state-mint-silver-bar-999-fine-brand-new.html http://www.goldmart.com/1-oz-sunshine-mint-silver-bar-999-fine-brand-new-sealed-in-plastic.html http://www.goldmart.com/1-oz-johnson-matthey-silver-bar-999-fine.html Why are they priced different? What's different about them? Apologize for the Noobie question.
The Sunshine & JM Bars are both minted by The Sunshine Mint. The GSM bars obviously by Golden State Mint. I find the fact that GM is using a picture of an older REAL JM bar to be a bit sketchy. I can guarantee that the one you would buy is a Sunshine minted JM Bar. It's all about what the dealer can get them for at their cost. Some mints charge more for their product, sometimes there's just a higher profit margin. There really is no true science to the pricing.
db23---Gotta hand it to you! You're absolutely right that those 1oz J-M bars are minted by Sunshine. I just talked to the Goldmart people on the phone and they confirmed that. You just burst one of the very few bubbles I still had left. This is as disappointing as finding out my favorite Hollywood sweetie is actually just another botox-and-silicone enhanced bleach blonde. Major bummer!! I've been on a strict, exclusive Engelhard diet for a while now and I think that diet just got made permanent!
I read this on some other forums about goldmart. It sounds like they have a bunch of problems. This was posted on a forum on 2-26-2013
I've placed orders with Goldmart 8 times since August 2012 and never had any problems. They moved from their old location in California to their present place in Carson City Nevada---I think back in 2011, before I started ordering from them. When they moved, I know they got screwed up and caught some bad reviews. Other than that, I haven't thus far seen any other genuine bad press on them. I've gotten ASEs, CSMs and Pandas from them and never got any unacceptable product or had any significant problems. I'm also in another coin/PM forum and never heard anything bad about them over there. I've dealt with Nick and others there and they were never rude to me. They've always responded quickly to any emails I sent them and personally, I find their website less clunky and hesitating than the APMEX site. The worst thing I can say about Goldmart is they've got that "holding period" between when they receive my payment and when they ship my order but they're up front about it and every online dealer does that same holding period thing, so there's nothing unique there. They've never treated me badly. However, after seeing that 2/26/13 post below I may tread carefully... Mjduzane---Where did that 2/26/13 post come from? I need to research the full story on that one. Also, have you had any bad experiences with Goldmart yourself or was your post just stuff you got elsewhere? If you got it elsewhere, please tell where. Your input makes me feel a strong need to re-do my previous research. I don't choose online dealers casually and your input is definitely unsettling, so I really hope you can point me toward your sources. Many thanks for your help.
@ Stacker55 - you've had a few posts up in various places about what to do, what to buy, etc. I don't want to rehash the advice given for those but with respect to the question about trusting Goldmark, my suggestion would be trust them to the extent that they can supply and deliver what you want cheaper than a competitor. If you have any doubts about wither supply or delivery, for the moment and until you are comfortable, choose another supplier. With regard to the differences between the products you listed in your original post, as others said, they are different although similar products and cost to you depends on cost to the supplier.
i read everything on these 2 forums http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=123300&whichpage=2 http://www.pmbug.com/forum/f8/goldmart-268/
Mjduzane---Thanks for the sources. I'm familiar w/ CCF. The most recent post in that thread was over 8 months ago and I've dealt extensively and satisfactorily w/ GM since then, so that thread doesn't bother me. That 2/26 post in Pmbug is somewhat unsettling, but it's hard to tell if it's 100% legit or bitter sour grapes. Well -- I guess "time will tell what it may" -- as it always does. Thanks again for the sources.