do they make money on both ends of the exchange?

If Jasper goes in to buy 10 ounces of gold, and the going rate is $1000.00 per ounce.
will they charge him $1090.00 per ounce to purchase it
because they have to make money ?

and if Jasper wanders three miles down to the other dealer within the hour, and sells those 10 ounces to him,
will they only pay him $929.00 per ounce because they have to make money , as well?

Yes.

This.

H&K-Guy

Metal brokers are in business to generate a bottom line.
I believe they make $$ on either side of the transaction.

In short, yes. When you buy metals from a dealer you typically pay a premium over spot. When a dealer buys from you, he pays a discount under spot.

As an example, gold is $1,269.40. For a regular 1 oz gold bar, the buy price is $1,243.13. The sell price is $1,293.99.

quote:

gold is $1,269.40. For a regular 1 oz gold bar, the buy price is $1,243.13. The sell price is $1,293.99.

thats the dealers buy and sell prices, right?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

gold is $1,269.40. For a regular 1 oz gold bar, the buy price is $1,243.13. The sell price is $1,293.99.

thats the dealers buy and sell prices, right?

This, or something like it may help out a bit.

H&K-Guy

quote:

thats the dealers buy and sell prices, right?

That is correct. If you walked in this morning and sold him an ounce of gold, and somebody else walked in this afternoon wanting to buy and ounce, the dealer would make $50.86.

Of course this is not a perfect world and the prices of metal is constantly moving. He may sell it next week and break even, or the week after that and make $100. He may also be selling it to a bigger fish, making a bit less, but not raking the risk of loosing any money should the price dip

Since they are buying below spot and selling above, this gives them a bit of a cushion to the fluctuations.

it would seem beneficial to shop around and shop around until an investor could find a trader that would prefer to make a smaller amount on each transaction , but do four times as many transactions,

instead of
a trader that wants to make much more on each transaction and do 75% fewer transactions

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
it would seem beneficial to shop around and shop around until an investor could find a trader that would prefer to make a smaller amount on each transaction , but do four times as many transactions,

instead of
a trader that wants to make much more on each transaction and do 75% fewer transactions

$50 profit on a 1200 transaction is a pretty slim margin. I can't imagine it would be worth doing for much less

Find a reputable hobby dealer with no overhead and you'll do better on both ends.

A lot of people buy it online for better prices.

https://sdbullion.com/

https://www.providentmetals.co...r-buffalo-round.html

https://www.jmbullion.com/

https://www.govmint.com/

With all due respect, I'm not sure I would call someone buying and selling precious metals from a dealer an investor.
Speculator at best, fish if they're small time, whale if they go big.

buy it at yard sales for 75% spot if you actually want to make short-term money at it.

quote:

$50 profit on a 1200 transaction is a pretty slim margin. I can't imagine it would be worth doing for much less

Especially if gold drops $20 over the course of a day.

Like Yellojacket says....if you want to make the big bucks, you have to be the buyer yourself. Of course this means you need to have your own equipment and know what you're doing. You take the risk, but you also get the reward.