Atkin$on$ v. Silvertrader

[TheShinyStuff]

I am buying the Perth Mint S3 Lunars in silver - half, one and two ounces. Marmite I know, but I like them...

Anyway just wanted to point out the gulf in price between these 2 dealers as of today.

Atkin$on$ £129

Silvertrader £106 (including discounts)

How on earth can Atkin$on$ justify that? I have bought a fair amount from them in the past, but apart from the odd bit of preowned I can't recall when I last bought from them. And that is not likely to change as long as they take the mince like this.

[bluffer]

the truth is sometimes one dealer has a special offer on and sometimes they dont.  it all depends on when you look at them.

 

i say this as someone who has bought from both and have no skin in the game.

[AaaGee]

Maybe Atkinsons has more staff and bigger overheads?

[TheShinyStuff]

2 minutes ago, AaaGee said:

Maybe Atkinsons has more staff and bigger overheads?

Then economies of scale would suggest they would shift more and could therefore charge less?

If Morrisons was more expensive than the corner shop, then no one would go to Morrisons. (Other supermarkets are available...)

[TheShinyStuff]

17 minutes ago, bluffer said:

the truth is sometimes one dealer has a special offer on and sometimes they dont.  it all depends on when you look at them.

 

i say this as someone who has bought from both and have no skin in the game.

As I said, I have easily spent a few £k with Atkinsons, but they really do take the mick with their pricing now. This time last year they listed the 2oz Rabbit coin at £100. I emailed them to ask if they were being serious, they reduced the price to £75 later that day.

They used to be my go to - cheaper than both BBP and Chards, but not anymore. Shame.

[ZRPMs]

I've used both traders and each have their own merits. I've phoned up both and managed to get really good deals from both after talking with them. Must just be on this occasion Silvertrader can move them on at a more competitive rate. 

[sixgun]

As far a silver has gone i have only ever bought secondhand silver from Atkinson's. i have managed to get some good deals in the very dim and distant past.
Excepting a few specialist buys, these days i only ever buy off the forum or goldsilver.be.
On my side of the channel the same coins from goldsilver.be are 103.01 € which is £88.40.  - and i voted Brexit. 

[TheShinyStuff]

What a great idea brexit was...

[TexasSilverStacker]

Here in the states, there’s a popular site, that shows the pricing of bullion items from all the big online dealers.  (I won’t name it cause I am not sure if that’s against the rules). I like Libertads.  I just checked it.  8 large online bullion dealers.  Cheapest price for a 23 Bu is $30.10. Most expensive is $41.79. It is common for the cheapest vendor to rotate position, as it’s never always the same vendor with the best price. An $11.69 per coin difference is pretty bonkers to me.  
 

All these big bullion vendors do weekly specials. So that partly explains why they change so much on the price ladder. I suppose some of the higher priced ones may also have all they are going to get, and don’t mind sitting on them and waiting for the market to come to them?  

Atkin sounds like Apm@@ here in the states. Never the best price, and they have the widest selection. Why anyone would buy bullion from them boggles my mind. Yet they probably sell the most. Different business model than a couple of the other ones who operate on thin margins and fight for market share. 
 

Happy Shopping. 
 

 

[MBTPSilver]

From my observations within the trade; Atkinsons were for a while selling basically at break even, and at a loss on some items. I expect this was a mixture of them being bought/invested into by A-Mark and the general good trading conditions in 2022 and early 2023. They were likely happy to sell at a loss on a lot of bullion to gain a good rep and market share, and pick up profit elsewhere (collectables etc), perhaps with some subsidising from their new owners.

Now that the honeymoon period is over for A-Mark and the trading conditions have worsened in the latter half of this year, they're liking bringing premiums back up to the kind of levels they need them to be to actually make a profit.

I have no particular knowledge of Atkinsons trading practices beyond the publicly available information so I can only speculate, but that would be my guess.