Is This Happening To Anyone Else Or Am I In A Bad Location?

Seems that the $37 price is right in line with the gainsville price plus shipping. I would take the coins in hand for cash anyday over paying with a cc and waiting for them to be shipped...IMO

I think that's pretty high. My local junk bin was $27 a month ago, and now they're $25. Three months ago they were $33. ASE's are now about $35, and 3 months ago were $42. However I don't know your market. I'll bet NYC would be higher than Phoenix, as would a tiny town with one shop.

ETA: I don't see why junk dollars would go for more than ASEs...

That price is high.If you allow them to take advantage they will.You made the right decision walking away.The fact he purchased at a higher and higher volume then what he could move is his problem.

People often forget you have a choice when buying. You can either buy or not buy. I find dealers prices can vary by large amounts. In addition so can their buy prices.

I feel it is up to the buyer to make the choices of what they are willing to pay. To complain about a seller is a little cheap. Think of it this way they offer a product at a price they feel they need. They do not hold a gun over your head. You can either buy or polity pass.

It is just like anything else you need to look/shop around to find the value that matches what you want to pay.

I like a local dealer and sometimes I buy from him. However when prices are really in flux he carries very little bullion because he tells me his margins are to slim to take the risk. I understand his position and we leave it at that when I cam not willing to pay his higher premiums. That doesn't make him a bad guy or a poor dealer.

My local shops usually beat the web. They're pretty good about sticking with a percent over spot.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're witnessing a decoupling of the physical market from the virtual, or digital market. Remember: This year's peaks in silver and gold came to an end when margin requirements were raised on futures traders--the drop from the top was not caused by any fundamental change in underlying conditions. If two distinct markets were to emerge at a time when prices were declining, those dealing in the physical stuff could be expected to resist the pressure to adjust their asking prices downward simply to track the spot price. Consider that it's customary for dealers in bullion coins to charge a premium above spot on sales that is significantly farther away from spot than the price they'll offer for purchases. At some point, couldn't the "premium" move so far away from the spot price that all players would have to acknowledge that it's not a premium at all--that there are now two distinct markets, the physical and the virtual?

The decoupling argument is usually made by people who don't want to sell cheaper than what they purchased for. My dealer is currently selling at $45/ounce because he doesn't want the loss. I personally would rather book the loss and reinvest the money in something that would turn over again, but that's just what I would do if I owned that business.

As for my personal stash... I'm not selling.

There is pressure in the silver market these days that suggests that the manipulated paper prices are diverging from the actual physical metal price. We've seen this before from time to time. Usually it takes the form of a metal's paper price being down but no metal is available for sale because people are holding it until the price recovers.

One aspect of this is that the CME / COMEX has done an excellent job of making itself completely irrelevant. The out and out theft of REGISTERED serial numbered gold and silver bars from MF Global customers' allocated accounts is absolutely outrageous and it is causing a lot of investors to move away from paper gold and silver. While we are early in this process, it may well get to the point where the futures market in PMs ceases to exist because no one will be willing to take the increasing level of risk that their investment may be stolen.

There are many aspects of the investing arena where TRUST is the primary ingredient. If that trust is lost, then so is that market. For example: The big mutual funds know this and so no customer has ever lost money in a mutual fund company's money market account. A few MM funds have "broken the buck" (become worth less than $1 per share) but the funds' management immediately transferred money from the company accounts into the MM funds to maintain the $1 share price. They knew that if they did not, their customers would grab what was left in their accounts and run. MFG is now dead but the CME / COMEX are still here... for now.

If the government really wants to find the registered gold and silver bars that MF Global clients "lost", perhaps they should check out the secure storage vaults used by JP Morgan and HSBC? Just a thought.