US Mint fees on silver Eagles for tier 1 buyers

[fastlanwan]

I  have done some searching with no real luck on U.S. mint fee's to Bulk Tier buyer of silver eagles other than the discount they get it for the tier they are. i.e. Tier 1 gets 3% off. 

Does anyone know  approx. how much in $ (not %) over spot the U.S. mint charges tier 1 or better, bulk buyers per uncirculated silver eagle?

Thank you for any information on this. Dan 

[mr1030]

I had read that all of the AP's  (APMEX, A-Mark, MTB etc) pay $2 over spot per coin.

[Bimetallic]

@mr1030 is correct. The US Mint charges a $2.00 premium over spot for Silver Eagles. This is a flat rate that does not change with volume ordered or spot price level. Silver is the only metal where they charge a fixed dollar amount premium. For gold, platinum, and palladium, they charge a fixed percentage over spot. All of the US Mint's premiums for Authorized Purchasers are listed here.

If you want to know who the Authorized Purchasers are, Coin World lists all twelve of them here (as of Feb 2018).

The US Mint's rules and requirements to become an Authorized Purchaser for silver specifically are here (PDF). They're quite onerous.

GSI Exchange has a good article on this issue here.

[Bimetallic]

This reminds me that we should probably lobby or petition for Congress to pass a law forcing the mint to open up its business model and have more of a free market. Right now, you have to be in business for several years, you have to be well known in the business, be a market maker, and have a net worth of at least $10 million for the last three years. That's just some of the requirements – there are a lot more. It's a very closed market, more like crony capitalism than real capitalism. It inherently destroys any chance for a startup to buy bullion from the mint.

The $2.00 wholesale premium is probably the main reason Silver Eagles are so expensive compared to Maples, Britannias, Kangaroos, etc. I'd reform their policies and sell to just about anyone who was willing to pay. A business either has the money to buy the coins it wants or it doesn't. If they wired in the requisite amount for their order, that's all the mint needs to know and care about. There's little risk in selling to buyers who pay in advance.