by JJM » Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:09 pm
I think the big sellers are pretty flush w/ 90% right now, Tulving is selling at a slight discount to spot currently for example. What this has meant in the past is that we are on the "floor" so to speak, price-wise. When the price is near the top, there is much more frenzied buying, and far lesser inventories. (Counter-intuitive, I know, but most folks don't want to look at $29.xx silver as "being on sale", when in reality, it is.) Anyway, I think this "glut" gives the sellers the ability to sell it this way. Also, I know a lot of folks that prefer dimes, but few that prefer quarters, this allows the appeasement of that subset of customers.
I know of one case where APMEX took ~3 weeks to fill a large order place in November, this wasn't with junk silver however. It was a fairly large order, and they handled it very poorly.
I also know they are getting flack at APMEX for putting modern silver proofs in junk silver bags from some buyers, there are folks who only want pre '65 in junk.