Most, if not all, dealers are experiencing temporary shortages right now. This blog post will address the conditions leading up to this shortage situation, help to ease your concerns and provide you with great alternative products for you to take advantage of the current low price market.
Causes of Product Shortages
When the price of silver, or other precious metals, drops to a low position, everyone who has been waiting to purchase comes in and buys. Whatever silver or gold is in inventory is quickly depleted – not just in our reserves, but also in those of our suppliers. Ultimately, this reduction in supply increases demand, and will eventually increase prices.
This is basic supply and demand. This effect is felt across the marketplace, from suppliers to dealers to the investors.
What We Do When Product Is Unavailable
When the APMEX supply of a given product is gone, we mark the product on the site as “Out Of Stock”. We do not sell what we do not have. This practice of honesty and integrity has gained us the respect and appreciation of the majority of investors in the precious metals markets.
There are companies that will sell what they do not have, leaving concerned investors completely in the dark as to when a shipment will take place. Sometimes getting delivery of a product from these companies may take months, and getting a refund could take longer.
The APMEX policy of not selling what we do not have alleviates this problem. You simply do not have to worry about not getting the products you purchase from us. This is the cornerstone our business is built on.
2008 Silver Eagle Shortage
You probably have read or heard that the US Mint has been “rationing” 2008 Silver American Eagles. We put these very popular products on the website as we are able to get them from the US Mint or other dealers.
Because the price of silver has been low, these products are quick to sell out – other dealers are reluctant to sell their product, fearing that they too will find themselves in an out of stock situation.
Similar situations are the case for other popular items like:
- 1 oz Silver Rounds
- 1 oz Silver Bars
- 10 oz Silver Bars
- 100 oz Silver Bars
- Many Foreign Gold Coins
- Smaller Gold Bars
Suggested Alternative Products From APMEX
Even though we may be out of stock on some items, this doesn’t mean that we are completely sold out of everything. There are many other products listed on our website that provide a fantastic investment opportunity for you. If you have been waiting for a tremendous time to get involved, when prices are low – now is that time. Take advantage of the market, before increased demand inevitably drives up the cost.
Currently, APMEX.com has the following alternative products in stock – and best yet, ready for immediate shipping to you.
Silver Investors:
- 2008 Silver Maple Leafs – priced the same as the 2008 Silver American Eagles
- 90% Bag Silver Coins – roughly 712 oz of pure silver
- Morgan or Peace Dollars
Gold Investors
- 1 oz Gold American Eagle – random years
- 1 oz Gold Buffalo – random years
- 1 oz Gold Maple Leafs – random years
- 1 oz Gold Krugerrands – random years
Final Thoughts on Silver Rationing and Shortages
It is not hard to imagine that once the Silver Maples sell out, we will begin to see the same situation as the US Mint. These coins may follow the 2008 SAE’s, especially if the price of silver remains low.
If you are interested in 1 oz coins or silver or gold you should take advantage of what inventory is still available for immediate shipping.
We certainly hope this will help answer some of the questions you may have about the current market conditions and out of stock items. Thank you for your patience and your business. We are out to see what other rocks we can turn over to find more products for you right now.
If you have more questions, please post them here in the comments and we will do our best to address them as quickly as possible. You can also subscribe to this blog (just enter your email address in the upper right hand corner and click "Sign Me Up!") to get the latest updates and information.
APMEX is the best! Glad my order got in just before the shortage. Its definitely a buyer's market.
If you believe that I have a Florida Condo you can buy!
There is no shortage. Since gold and silver have dropped in value APMEX wants to limit their sales
hoping market price will go back
up. In the mean time they push
higher margin items. Don't believe
me look at their premiums, $45 over
spot on gold...
brillantone
I have been in the bullion bus since 1977 and APMEX is truly one of a kind! Great prices excellent pieces, and sought after products keep me coming back. Truly great people to work with !
I think apmex is a great business. I order as often as I can afford it. COmpares very favorably to online vendors.
But the corner store man never runs out of silver so why apmex. I have to admit incredulity as well.
I think its foolish to limit online sales during price dips because you really risk losing customers. I can always stop by the corner store and buy my stuff and the trip wont cost me any more than apmex's high s/h cost either.
This is a lie. There IS no shortage of available gold or silver eagles at the US Mint --The US Mint makes no mention of it on their site. This is just a scam to drum up artificial scarcity in the face of a 20%+ sell off.
Thank You All for your comments. We understand that the latest news was disturbing to some and confusing to others. The latest news is due in part to significant manufacturing delays by private and government mints... they simply can’t keep up with the unprecedented demands of the market. Let us a address a few of the concerns you have so far:
1.The US Mint has not published this information on their website (we checked again this morning). The news of the US Mint suspending sales and future orders has also been confirmed by Mint Distributors, as well as numerous other dealers. This is a hot discussion right now on various precious metals forums and blogs. We are simply trying to provide information as it becomes available. We were the first to report this information.
2.You are absolutely correct – this situation is strange and doesn’t fit the “normal” supply & demand economic model. However, this is the way it is right now. We don’t have control over the commodities market, so we are in this boat with you. We are not in the position to speculate as to the reasons why this situation has occurred. A variety of theories are being debated in the forums.
3.Some local dealers may seemingly have some product left. This is mostly due to the low volumes that they sell and carry on a regular basis. At APMEX, we sell and ship thousands of ounces of physical metal every day. Local dealers may have some products left for the moment, but may either pull product to prevent losses, dramatically increase premiums to cover themselves or will sell out very quickly when they cannot replenish their supplies from larger national dealers like APMEX.
4.APMEX has not, does not and will not pull product simply because prices are low. We are professionals and have a responsibility to our customers to provide products in demand (as fast as we can secure them) at a reasonable market price. We have structured our business to be able to weather the variables in market conditions, while still providing the expert services and competitive prices for our customers.
At APMEX, we understand your dilemma and are doing everything we can to secure more products for you. We are not manipulating or misleading the information we are sharing with you. As customers, you are very valuable to us and we believe you have a desire and need to know the truth about the precious metals market to best serve your own personal interests.
The mint shortage was called out a while ago on the coincommunity forum. The shortage at the mint is in part due to their restriction to only purchase raw silver stock from U.S. approved producers (U.S. sourced mines). Outside the U.S. silver producers have been ramping up production over the past couple of years.
APMEX est populus bonus
their word is their bond
loyal customer since Jan 1, 2007; wish I were a loyal since 2002, but hey, better late than never
There is a shortage of silver in 1/10/100 oz bar form. Jason Hommel just did a huge survey with his subscribers, they all went out to silver stores in their town on the same day and most found that each store had less than 500 oz of silver in inventory.
The question you guys should be asking is why at $11/oz there is a shortage AND at $21/oz there is a shortage. Answer = manipulation on the paper markets.
I have just made a purchase from AMPEX as I couldn't get more than a little silver from my local store.I hope I have a good experience, I can forsee buying a lot more.
Thanks for the information, we will add this story to our blog, as we have a audience in the gold sectors that loves reading like this. Thanking you.Gold Coins
Apmex has been a reliable, competively priced provider of gold and silver for a long, long time. The coming year should bring some exciting moves in the bullion markets.