Hi Stackers My beef as a trader is the damage of the internet and businesses online with their graphs of gold and silver prices, which then is available to the public Eg strange species arrives at my stall asks me what my bracelet or chain is worth? On disclosing my price I am told that the spot price is this or that. I am so sick of it as I am entitled to ask my price as every other shop dealer jeweller or trader on the planet does. This strange type of species cracks it usually a derogatory comment like I am some nut case that has come from Mars I can't buy or make good pieces of jewellery or deal in coins buying at spot and have always paid a few percent over this terrible word I accept scrap at spot but for Gods Sake I deal in collectable estate items etc I do blame it on the internet etc and have to endure this every day at my local markets. Some nutcase that wants to buy a 1ounce coin or a Victorian gold F.O.B or jewellery and demands SPOT I'm sure I am not alone in the trade to voice my anger It has got that bad that even if you want sell something like a gold nugget or bullion chains coins rings etc the auction house will say the buyers will only pay 10% under spot as they have pay a premium to the auction house so that is how far this cancer has spread! I have heard of bullion deals for $ 100K and over and the seller demands 1 to 5 percent over spot And some big time weekend warrior wants to spend $30 to $300 and demand SPOT there I go again it makes my blood boil So I think the public needs to be re educated and hope fellow traders gives this blog a thumbs up Had my say
It is a market. And ATM, it is a buyers market. Don't get angry... you don't have to sell at the bid.
So let me get this straight - you are a dealer who takes spot into consideration when buying but you want your customers to be ignorant of spot when you sell to them
I buy under spot all the time, auctions are great for that as they are the ultimate must sell environment. bottom line is if you don't want to sell it to someone for what they are willing to offer then so be it. if you don't want to buy it for what people will offer then you can choose not to if you NEED to trade at what the market will buy/sell then you have to accept the market rate simple really, don't get upset about it
You should be thanking the internet for educating your customers for you, the only problem is that it doesn't complete the job. Silver is just the ingredients of a coin or a piece of jewellery. The same as a loaf of bread costs more than the cost of the ingredients. You just need to remind them that fabrication and distribution all cost money as well. If people want spot, offer them some junk silver, try and sell them some broken jewellery. When they turn their nose up at it you can tell them that silver is silver, but if they want something better than scrap you can sell them some better quality silver but at a price that reflects the amount of work that has gone into manufacturing it.
It must be pretty tough to be a bullion trader these days. Consider: * Perfect spot price information in real time via smart phones * Rational and increasingly educated buyers thanks to the internet * Online competitors with minimal overheads * Large numbers of dealers * Increasingly homogenous product offerings between dealers * Low barriers to entry for prospective bullion dealers
Just show them the polypropylene spot price of 0.02 cents per gram. How much does one of your $100 notes weigh?
SPOT LBMA this and that :lol: really hate that now. shiny oh yes, fresh and direct from mother earth. good good one. stop that lbma this lbma that "lbma silver spot fix". this is sucks!!! and thumb down.
It is interesting to hear some of the responses by fellow Stackers I have been in the Antique Australian Art & Collectables industry for 35 years I am a Gemologist by trade and am currently involved in the Opal industry in Melbourne, where I cut sell and wholesale opals to the trade and public I am involved in Opal mining Lightning Ridge NSW and represent our own company and other miners from there Don't get me wrong I love my markets as it is a habit for the last 20 years in my spare time and have a good solid following for my wares I don't regard myself as a bullion dealer please let's get that straight, but I buy collectable gold and silver coins ingots etc to add to my inventory always looking for new and interesting items as new stock As I have purchased from fellow stackers and have paid good money never once thinking that I would get something for spot as it is collectable and sometimes rare. I see it I believe in it and I buy it My beef is that I do encounter this rare species and am tired of them Thank God they come early in the morning when it is dark with their flashlights as when dawn approaches they disappear. I am trying to educate a few of the hard core buyers and sometimes have a win it is just sad to say NO to potential buyers It is the word through the public domain SPOT that cracks me up Rare Species example " how much are your sovereigns mate " You mean the Rare sort after one $ 2500? What !!! And those other ones $450 Again a Shriek What!!! Look sovereigns are going for that on his website I say mate go and buy them from him he's just around the corner I use Gold Stackers website as even the plain sovereigns and silver coins have a collectable price guide TY I have fellow Jewellers in the CBD that pull their hair out when public come in and ask for D colour Vvs 1 carat diamond ring and want to pay $4000 carrying their iPads or pages that they have downloaded from their computers that's what the internet says mate The poor fellow just answers politely Please go and buy it from the internet site or Ebay etc So trading has changed a lot since I started Fellow Stackers my secret weapon is Heads or Tails my Asian clientele love that it draws a crowd and we flip and the funny thing I'm educating the Rare Species they actually are starting to flip as well And you should see the faces on them when they lose SHUCKS I paid 20 percent over spot I turn to a fellow colleague who you all know from Stackers who comes to help me out sometimes and go YESSSSSSSS ha ha Thank You All for your responses and time to read my blog
I'd love to buy at spot sometimes I get lucky it is normally an item that I need to repair or remake to add to the item to be able to sell it Example if I get a florin put it into a handmade bezel or buy a ring with no stone and add to that or repair a bracelet etc etc but what I'm looking for can cost me 50% to 200% as I seem to like rare and sought after pieces Sooooo I can make an earn Scrap Scrap I really don't deal in that I suppose you can deem Spot
Back in the day (before the moon shot) I could buy 50% silver predecimal coins for below spot, in bulk, on eBay. I could sell them for spot and still make money on them, I picked up 23Kg over time and the people who sold it to me below spot had been sitting on it for a while so they made money too. I just picked up some junk 925 coins for a fraction over spot as well, bent, holed and dirty but at spot. Silver is still available at spot but you don't get the nice stuff, see if you can pick up some of the damaged coins, stick them in a pot on your stall with a small sign saying 'silver at spot', that way people don't have to ask you for it, they can see it for themselves. Whenever I buy I always work out the percentage over spot that I am being charged, especially if I am not after any gold coin in particular, if any gold coin will do then I want to get the best value for money. It can often be hard to work out which is the best value between non equal coins such as sovereigns vs maples. Knowing the percentage over spot will allow me to get the best bang for my buck, but unless it is a damaged coin, bent or holed I would not expect to get it for spot, even a well worn example is usually above spot. Gold stackers has a section on low premium offerings, maybe you could have a low premium section and guide people over to that, saves them asking you questions all the time if they are not interested in the numis value. Heck, I'd even put a big sign up with the day's spot price on it, you have nothing to lose by doing that as everyone already knows it but it will show that you aren't trying to rip anyone off. At the time of the moon shot I was a regular at the local market, one guy hadn't changed his prices for years as none of his stock turned over very fast, he didn't track spot price and most of his numi stuff was being sold for less than spot, I pointed this out to him and the next week all his prices had gone up, he still gives me a discount. I think if you can build up a relationship with some decent customers the rest can be treated as a distraction. Trouble is when you have to deal with the public you have to deal with the good ones and the bad ones as well.
