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Hey folks, long time no chat. Thought I'd see what going on the forum tonight and remembered a story from a few months ago and I thought I would share. So I'm sure some if not everybody on here knows that there is the occasional gold and silver hangouts on youtube where people from all over just chat and BS about PM's. Well back at the very beginning of the year I was on a PM hangout and this one guy who is a contractor in Dubai talk about how every time he travels back and forth from the states he'll bring over a few ASE's and sell them to the PM dealers in Dubai for around $70 bucks each and then use that to bring down his costs when he buys gold. I shared this info with a Somali friend of mine at work and he said that his wife was going to visit family in Dubai in a few months. To make a long story short the plan was I'd give my friends wife a ASE along with Perth lunar horses, a Libertad, and a few others and if they wanted $70 for the ASE we would fly to Dubai the next month with a monster box each to flip them. When his wife came back she said that the dealers were interested in the ASE's only and would would pay between 30-$35 each for them. The bad news was that they were only interested in purchasing 70 ASE's so there is no reason to visit Dubai and do the flip. I don't doubt the guy on the PM google hangout which said he sold ASE's for $70 actually happened but I'm guessing ASE's were not going for $20 at the time. If the dealers in Dubai wanted a few monster boxes at 30-$35 per ASE it still would have been a good flip for a few days of work but 70 ASE's is just not worth it.

CtrlAltBernanke wrote:Hey folks, long time no chat. Thought I'd see what going on the forum tonight and remembered a story from a few months ago and I thought I would share. So I'm sure some if not everybody on here knows that there is the occasional gold and silver hangouts on youtube where people from all over just chat and BS about PM's. Well back at the very beginning of the year I was on a PM hangout and this one guy who is a contractor in Dubai talk about how every time he travels back and forth from the states he'll bring over a few ASE's and sell them to the PM dealers in Dubai for around $70 bucks each and then use that to bring down his costs when he buys gold. I shared this info with a Somali friend of mine at work and he said that his wife was going to visit family in Dubai in a few months. To make a long story short the plan was I'd give my friends wife a ASE along with Perth lunar horses, a Libertad, and a few others and if they wanted $70 for the ASE we would fly to Dubai the next month with a monster box each to flip them. When his wife came back she said that the dealers were interested in the ASE's only and would would pay between 30-$35 each for them. The bad news was that they were only interested in purchasing 70 ASE's so there is no reason to visit Dubai and do the flip. I don't doubt the guy on the PM google hangout which said he sold ASE's for $70 actually happened but I'm guessing ASE's were not going for $20 at the time. If the dealers in Dubai wanted a few monster boxes at 30-$35 per ASE it still would have been a good flip for a few days of work but 70 ASE's is just not worth it.

Wow! That's a pretty nice premium to flip when you can.

Interesting. But wouldn't it be difficult to get the monster boxes through customs?

theo wrote:Interesting. But wouldn't it be difficult to get the monster boxes through customs?

No because a monster box is technically only $500 USD and you only have to disclose money that's over $10,000. Now granted a monster box will probably raise a few questions and they'll probably want to talk to you about it. It still shouldn't have been a problem to get on the plane because it's not illegal to do so. Not to mention the TSA's are a joke. I know because I work at a airport although I know this is not a secret.

Thanks. Good to know.

If I was selling a monster box abroad, I'd want to have a good way to authenticate the cash I was receiving. Also, wouldn't there be a problem trying to bring that much cash into the country?

CtrlAltBernanke wrote:

theo wrote:Interesting. But wouldn't it be difficult to get the monster boxes through customs?

No because a monster box is technically only $500 USD and you only have to disclose money that's over $10,000. Now granted a monster box will probably raise a few questions and they'll probably want to talk to you about it. It still shouldn't have been a problem to get on the plane because it's not illegal to do so. Not to mention the TSA's are a joke. I know because I work at a airport although I know this is not a secret.

I believe some countries have restrictions on owning or importing PM's which could explain the premium. It could also cause difficulties bringing in a large quantity.

As far as the TSA (not trying to derail the thread) my wife carries a moderately sized pocket knife in her purse and forgot about it last time we traveled. We sailed through security with it in her carry on bag.

Recyclersteve wrote:If I was selling a monster box abroad, I'd want to have a good way to authenticate the cash I was receiving. Also, wouldn't there be a problem trying to bring that much cash into the country?

We weren't going to bring the cash back. We were going to deposit the money in a bank account over there

Way too much trouble explaining all this to US customs. You'd probably be put on a terrorist watch list too.

Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:Way too much trouble explaining all this to US customs. You'd probably be put on a terrorist watch list too.

I was going to say what about Customs in Dubai? Also, yes with the watchlist thing--I work for Homeland Security, and PM's are a big laundering vehicle, especially when dealing with a middle-eastern country. Those of us who carry guns for a living would be able to get ASE's past TSA, and probably US Customs outbound wouldn't necessarily inspect your possessions, but after a couple of trips you'd be on someone's radar. The forms you fill out have some clause about carrying cash and/or goods valued in excess of $x.xx. Whatever amount that is, you'd be hard pressed to convince an officer that the ASE coins you're carrying are only worth $500.00 total, even though that's their face value.

Make a contact and then ship them! Not as cool as going to Dubai every couple of months though...

rexmerdinus wrote: Whatever amount that is, you'd be hard pressed to convince an officer that the ASE coins you're carrying are only worth $500.00 total, even though that's their face value.

Sooooo, he pulls out his wallet and offers $500 for the box, and then...

Exactly. Or if they were seized, even wrongfully, and then lost or destroyed--as in you can't get them back but can be reimbursed for their value--you could only claim the $500.00. Bad ju-ju. Best to be up front about what you're doing and pay the tax than have to take bad lumps later on.

rexmerdinus wrote:Exactly. Or if they were seized, even wrongfully, and then lost or destroyed--as in you can't get them back but can be reimbursed for their value--you could only claim the $500.00. Bad ju-ju. Best to be up front about what you're doing and pay the tax than have to take bad lumps later on.

Its not about the tax, its a simple reporting requirement.


On another note, has anyone noticed that the $10,000 reporting rule was implemented many decades ago, and by now inflation has changed that game significantly? By now that $10,000 should have been upped to $40k or $50k. Of course the rule will never be altered to account for inflation.

If I've heard correctly, the reportable amount has dropped below $10K. I'm not sure to what.