Newbie Silver Stack Question (NEWBIE)

[649tom]

Hi all,

I'm going to buy my first silver 1oz coins from silver-to-go in Germany (I'm from the UK)

Daft question but what percentage over spot price do most people pay???  Cant find the answer anywhere.

I was looking a Britannias but I will have to pay about £4 per coin over spot. I've only heard people on youtube saying they pay almost exactly spot when they buy coins.

Please educate an idiot :-)

 

Tom

[BackyardBullion]

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the forum and to stacking silver! 

Buying silver from dealers at spot is basically unheard of - there are always additional costs such as VAT, customs or delivery charges. When you hear people buying spot metal it is often private sales and/or a really great deal. I have bought some silver at spot and one time even under spot off eBay - often its a few factors that combine - i.e. right time and place and the seller needs a quick sale of his/her silver. 

Silver-to-go is a great place to start buying your silver, it is one of the cheapest out there. Another one to look at is www.goldsilver.be - they can be cheaper than silver-to-go so go check them out. 

At the moment you should be able to pick up 1oz silver from the dealers in europe for about £17/oz or less if you buy in bulk. I dont know what percentage this is above spot but it is the best you are going to get.

Hope that helps! If you are new to silver check out my youtube channel - I have lots of videos on the subject :-)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM_iarnIuvnwq8eMMGvWzOA

Backyard Bullion

It also depends on the coin - if you are getting standard britannias £17/oz is good but you wont get the rarer lunar coins or canadian wildlife series coins for that. Check out my top tips video to get an idea of what I am talking about:-

 

 

[Paul]

Tom

A lot of youtube commentors youll find are american based where dont have the problems with VAT as we do in UK

We are a small group of stackers here in the UK compared to the rest of the world

In my experience Silver To Go are my go to place if placing a large order of silver, they are forum sponsor and tested and reliable. 

If you are only buying a couple of coins the international shipping costs outweigh the benefits of using them

If your concern is getting as much metal for your cash you would be better looking into gold

You can buy sovereigns +2% over spot from hatton garden metals or atkinsons and when you choose to cash in get 98-100% of spot price for your gold

If your heart is set on stacking silver an allocated metals account with goldmoney or bullionvault may be better, i have accounts with both and cant fault either as your buy price and sell price will be far far lower spread than buying bullion coins

[Gilver]

Welcome to forum.

As @Paul mentioned only people who could brag with buying silver from dealers near spot are stackers in US and probably Canada. Rest of us are condemned to VAT and many other taxes so IMO best way to buy small amounts of silver is to buy from other stackers or save money for a while and then make bigger order so shipping cost will be small percentage of whole order. 

[BackyardBullion]

@649tom If and when you make an order from silver-to-go or goldsilver.be have a look at transferwise - they will give you better exchange than your bank, save on the processing fee from the website AND you can earn cashback on it too! 

If you use my friend referral link and earn more than £10 cashback you get £7.50 (and so do I!) :-)

Transferwise offer is currently £10.50 cashback for new users of transferwise (as long as your transfer is international and more than £50)

My friend referral link is http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/backyardbullion

All in all you get £17.50 money back, save 2% processing fee AND on an order of £500 you would gain about £30 better rate than your bank is offering. All in all you would gain probably 2-3 ounces of silver for free! Bringing the cost of your order down significantly!

Thanks

 

[649tom]

Thanks for all the info guys!  

Now. I understand that a 1oz coin of silver is a 1 oz coin of silver but I read advice from some people that say when starting out you should buy the least common coins that will gain a higher premium when eventually sold. BUT, some others say you should start with the most common e.i: Britannias, Maples etc. Bearing this in mind what do you think I should go for first? See below details and prices from Silver to Go.....

I plan to purchasee 30 1oz coins, 10 of 3 different types..........

Coin: 1 oz Maple Leaf | Silver | 2016 (Canada) £17,62

Coin: 1 oz Britannia | Silver | 2016 (United Kingdom) £18,34 

Coin: 1 oz Kangaroo | Silver | 2016 (Australia)£17,62

Coin: 1 oz Vienna Philharmonic | Silver | 2016 (Austria)£17,71

Coin: 1 oz American Eagle | Silver | 2016 (USA) £18,41

 

 

Tom

[Kman]

It's also good to consider how/where you will sell things in the near/far future if need be 

It doesn't matter as much if you buy at a premium if you know you can get that premium back when selling

Silver Pandas for instance come at a bigger premium than some other coins, but they're more likely to keep and indeed increase in premium over the coming years so paying more isn't always necessarily a bad thing

But I suppose it depends if you just want as much silver at as close to spot as possible or if you want to be a bit more adventurous

You will come to learn all about these things over time and get a feel for what sits right with you 

[HelpingHands]

19 minutes ago, 649tom said:

Thanks for all the info guys!  

Now. I understand that a 1oz coin of silver is a 1 oz coin of silver but I read advice from some people that say when starting out you should buy the least common coins that will gain a higher premium when eventually sold. BUT, some others say you should start with the most common e.i: Britannias, Maples etc. Bearing this in mind what do you think I should go for first? See below details and prices from Silver to Go.....

I plan to purchasee 30 1oz coins, 10 of 3 different types..........

Coin: 1 oz Maple Leaf | Silver | 2016 (Canada) £17,62

Coin: 1 oz Britannia | Silver | 2016 (United Kingdom) £18,34 

Coin: 1 oz Kangaroo | Silver | 2016 (Australia)£17,62

Coin: 1 oz Vienna Philharmonic | Silver | 2016 (Austria)£17,71

Coin: 1 oz American Eagle | Silver | 2016 (USA) £18,41

 

 

Tom

So you know those in your selection do not come in capsules.  They will be loose in a plastic baggies unless you buy a full tube of them.

In the description on silver-to-go you will see either sachet or plastic capsule.  Sachet is the plastic bag.

You can buy some capsules for them quite cheaply from ebay etc.  Coins supplied in caps are kookaburras, koalas, Australian Year of the Rooster, Chinese Pandas.

[649tom]

2 minutes ago, HelpingHands said:

So you know those in your selection do not come in capsules.  They will be loose in a plastic baggies unless you buy a full tube of them.

In the description on silver-to-go you will see either sachet or plastic capsule.  Sachet is the plastic bag.

You can buy some capsules for them quite cheaply from ebay etc.  Coins supplied in caps are kookaburras, koalas, Australian Year of the Rooster, Chinese Pandas.

I know they will come loose if I order 10s. Will they be worth less that if bought in tubes? I didn't think this was the case

[HelpingHands]

I just mean that they look cheaper coin options now but if you want to buy capsules for them then it's an added expense.

You can leave them in the bags I suppose but I imagine that they are more likely to tone.

An alternative idea would be to buy 1 or 2 coin types 20 or 25 per tube.

.....or coins that come in capsules.

 

[BackyardBullion]

2 hours ago, 649tom said:

I plan to purchasee 30 1oz coins, 10 of 3 different types..........

Coin: 1 oz Maple Leaf | Silver | 2016 (Canada) £17,62

Coin: 1 oz Britannia | Silver | 2016 (United Kingdom) £18,34 

Coin: 1 oz Kangaroo | Silver | 2016 (Australia)£17,62

Coin: 1 oz Vienna Philharmonic | Silver | 2016 (Austria)£17,71

Coin: 1 oz American Eagle | Silver | 2016 (USA) £18,41

All of these are solid bullion coins, but they will not hold high premiums in the long run. I think you should, as others have said, very carefully consider and plan an exit strategy as to how you will sell and make good your investment. Whether that be selling here, eBay or to a bullion dealer - know what you might expect to make and set some goals and targets. An important factor is how long you want to hold the investment for! 1,3,5 10 years?

As for your first purchase I would suggest getting a tube of a certain type as it will help with your storage situaton. Alternitively get lots of different designs of coins and get one or two of them and bulk buy some capsules off ebay! 

My best advise is not to rush. When I started stacking 10 months ago I rushed a little and bought a bunch of generic coins...after learning alot the last year I would probably buy very different coins than I did then! You are doing the right thing by asking on the forum here!

Good luck!

BYB

[vand]

Bullion coins still command a premium, even in the US. It's only round & bar stackers who can get similar-to-gold premiums silver.

Just a quick check on the Apmex shows that the price of an ASE is $22.80 for up less than 20, and $22.60 for less than 100, so that is roughly 18-20% over spot, and you can just about get BU for that low even in the UK if you do your shopping in Estonia and other low/non VAT countries (I think I have paid as low as 16% over spot for Maples).

[StackemHigh]

I would buy a selection of everything you look the like of.  1 or 2 would be ideal. 

Once you know what you like get them. 

I'm a lunar addict so don't be afraid to spend a bit more if you like it. 

My stack is full of allsorts of bullion,  semi numismatic pieces and smaller gold coins. 

Shop around for good prices but remember good service from dealers is worth paying for too.