Selling PM & How that May Affect your Choice of Metal

[Pete]

Many of us stackers are adding gold and silver to our portfolios and some of us are swapping and trading so what metal makes most sense to hold ?

I like many others have a mix of gold and silver and I add specific coins for date runs etc and when there is a bargain tend to accumulate more.
However there will be a time when I may have to sell some coins and aside from listing on the forum there are the well known dealers that will buy back coins.

I was seconds away today from buying my first platinum bar but hesitated. I have no experience of platinum and no idea of resale prices other than assuming it would be treated very much like gold. Platinum of course has 20% VAT added but I was buying it VAT free.

I checked with the Royal Mint Bullion department and found the following very interesting -

The bullion people will buy back PMs at the following rates -

Gold - 96%
Silver - 85%
Platinum - 90%

Okay HGM and others will pay a bit more for gold BUT why is Platinum a poorer trade than gold ?

I wonder how many stackers also realise the rather poor buy back for silver ( even worse if you paid VAT on top ).

Only thoughts to start you thinking deeper and I can see more pluses to buy gold than any other PM but since the gold silver ratio is so high perhaps silver is like a volcano waiting to erupt ?

 

[oliversw5]

For the life of me I still don't understand why people would sell to a dealer unless its of last resorts in which case you shouldn't be in PMs

The gig economy dictates you will always sell for more than those numbers you have listed.

* I pay more than spot and still move on the stock I buy surely that says everything you need to know. I am small fish in this game. 

[HawkHybrid]

I think one reason the spread is higher is because the

market for silver and platinum is less liquid than for

gold. not all gold coins have the same spread. less

liquid gold coins at hgm also have a higher spread.

it costs dealers to hold onto items whilst waiting to

sell them on.

 

HH

[airmac]

13 minutes ago, oliversw5 said:

For the life of me I still don't understand why people would sell to a dealer unless its of last resorts in which case you shouldn't be in PMs

The gig economy dictates you will always sell for more than those numbers you have listed.

* I pay more than spot and still move on the stock I buy surely that says everything you need to know. I am small fish in this game. 

Plan for the worse , hope for the best.may come a day where you don' have the choice and need money now. So always plan for the worse sale I say.

[oliversw5]

21 minutes ago, airmac said:

Plan for the worse , hope for the best.may come a day where you don' have the choice and need money now. So always plan for the worse sale I say.

If that is the case, have a proportion of your stack in sovereigns. They won't make you much money but cover you for the downside.

[airmac]

39 minutes ago, oliversw5 said:

If that is the case, have a proportion of your stack in sovereigns. They won't make you much money but cover you for the downside.

Thats what im working on. Only started since a couple of months  ?

[ilovesilverireallydo]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

I wonder how many stackers also realise the rather poor buy back for silver ( even worse if you paid VAT on top ).

 

Silver selling back to dealers and scrap merchants sucks - where possible selling on ebay and forums is your best bet. However, silver is relatively cheap for those who cant afford larger gold purchases, fractional gold has really high premium. Silver also comes in a range and varieties that makes stacking it enjoyable and as a hobby, I would much rather lose 20% of my "hobby" money than say 100% if I had another one that doesnt return any funds. 

I prefer to stack numis, semi numi, and collectable vintage silver as well as some generic stuff, but I know if I have to sell quick, I am going to lose a fair chunk. I try and balance that by buying as close to cost when possible, and mining ebay for spot and below spot deals - we in the UK have it hard when it comes to silver due to high premiums and VAT... 

[oliversw5]

18 minutes ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

fractional gold has really high premium

That is true but you get the premium out on the other side. 

1/10s are my favourite coins to sell, They are hard to source at a good price but if you do you can sell for a decent premium due to supply and demand. 

If you consider that when selling the market place is a spectrum. The lower the premium the easier it is to sell. If you are happy with spot minus 2% you can sell to anyone, the more you move the premium up the less and less buyers there are. Now there is a differential of current sale price of around £20 for 1/10s. you can sell between 95ish to the dealers to around 115 plus post to people on social media who will happily pay less than the online dealers. If you buy for spot plus 3 which is around 100 pounds you can make anywhere between 10 to 15% and still be cheaper than most online dealers. The problem is not selling, you need to be prudent when buying. The same applies to any other coins (choose the metal) and other investments

The gig economy dictates that the spreads are not as wide as the OP suggests, if you are stupid enough to sell at these prices then you shouldn't be investing money in anything as you have clearly not understood the risks of investing or taken the time to consider all aspects on where your hard earned money is going. Life is difficult and you have to fight for marginal gains

[Markh]

I only have ever sold one coin since I started accumulating PMs. This was to a dealer , the reason was they offered cash. You might get a better price elsewhere but to me cash is king. Wife can't trace it along with the pax man also no names and addresses given out. So the do have advantages.