Low premium gold deals for the US, why not us?

[ChrisSilver]

I am subscribed to the apmex email list for some reason and I often get emails about deals.

Just had an email, 1oz Swiss gold bars for only $17.99 USD over spot price! They seem to be serialised as well. That's about 1.41% premium over spot!

I sure wish we had deals like that in the UK.

One thing I have noticed is that spot price seems to generally drop after apmex have low premium deals. Not sure if that is just coincidence or if they have some sort of strategy to sell certain items before a sudden suspected drop.

[TheBullionBoy]

I am subscribed to the apmex email list for some reason and I often get emails about deals.

Just had an email, 1oz Swiss gold bars for only $17.99 USD over spot price! They seem to be serialised as well. That's about 1.41% premium over spot!

I sure wish we had deals like that in the UK.

One thing I have noticed is that spot price seems to generally drop after apmex have low premium deals. Not sure if that is just coincidence or if they have some sort of strategy to sell certain items before a sudden suspected drop.

 

The cheapest 1 ounce gold bar I found in the UK was 3% over spot. The US have got alot of things on the cheap and their average salary is similar if not higher than ours.

[ArthGoch]

I am an Apmex Club Member. The 'goodies' that they offer are pretty meaningless to those living outside of the US, but the two worthwhile things that they do give is market data and a dedicated customer support.

 

The person who has been assigned to me is fairly knowledgeable about matters and is candid in answering questions. The volumes that Apmex achieve in sales is staggering and he indicated that on an average day the number of orders are in the region of 4k to 5k; (looking at the sequential numbers of the orders that I have placed over the years this seems to tally.), In addition he commented  that with the potential exception of the US and Oz mints they are the worlds largest direct to retail sellers of bullion.  Thus economies of scale alone gives them a significant head start even though their margins on discounted/promoted items appears to be very fine. 

 

One of the white papers that they sent out explained how Apmex are actively involved in commodity hedging and that they have a dedicated team assigned to this activity. Anyone who has worked in industries where hedging is a component  know the complexity and risks of such a strategy, but similarly it cannot be under estimated how commercially advantageous this can be if you get it right 

 

I think a combination of economies of scale and commodity hedging goes a long way in explaining how Heraeus bars can be offered at what appears to be give away prices,

 

[Cornishfarmer]

The cheapest 1 ounce gold bar I found in the UK was 3% over spot. The US have got alot of things on the cheap and their average salary is similar if not higher than ours.

[Pete]

Not surprised - we in the UK traditionally pay through the nose for most things.

Returned from the USA a few weeks ago with a casefull of branded clothes and other stuff typically half our price.

I also drove 800 miles in a full size car and petrol didn't even cost $100

Silver is especially a bargain with no tax whatsover.

[ChrisSilver]

 

The volumes that Apmex achieve in sales is staggering and he indicated that on an average day the number of orders are in the region of 4k to 5k; 

 

That's 4k to 5k orders! If an average order was only $250 that would be a minimum of $1million USD turnover per day! 

[ArthGoch]

Not certain if the exclamations are in wonder of their sales, or is questioning the legitimacy of the statement.   

 

 Latest stated sales figure that I can reference (2012) indicate sales turnover per annum around $600 million. Thus may be your rule of thumb calculations might be on the conservative side

 

I  think people under estimate  the size, scale, and commercial clout  of Apmex’s operations. The fact that they are housed in a former US federal reserve bank, have customer storage with Brinks ( of Brinks Mat fame!)  as well as the size of their catalogue  is a marker that they are one of, if not, the biggest retailers out there

 

Also as a side note, they indicated in an email circular at the end of last year that they were going to commence with European based operations. Just seen a notification that they now have a Ebay.de shop listing. They have a full and wide offering ( not as much as their US site,) but  price wise the site comes nowhere near the US. -  must be hampered by a combination of Ebay fees and taxes.

 

 

 

 

[ChrisSilver]

I was trying to excamate (that's not even a word) the fact to everyone that 4000 - 5000 orders per day is a large amount, by giving an example in dollar terms.

If I was questioning the legitimacy of your statement I would have probably used a question mark followed by an explanation mark?!

[silversword]

Excamate is a perfectly cromulent word.