What I have found from trying dropshippers in the past...
Is that there is always someone willing to sell for a smaller profit margin than you are. They say not to simply compete on price, but when everyone sells the same items from the same dropshipper, there's nothing else to compete on. The average person won't say hmmm, Here's one of these for $200, nah, I will go buy the other one I seen for $300. It just doesn't work that way.
What I have found is 90% of the items I wanted to sell from a dropshipper, exact same items were being offered on eBay for about HALF of the so called "wholesale" price.
You have to keep in mind, that regardless of what your margins are, eBay gets around 15% straight off the top. So, you have to make 15% (3% to paypal) on an item JUST TO GIVE EBAY THEIR BLOOD MONEY! Then that leaves you at zero gain. So, you have to try to make 30% on every sale or you don't even make as much as eBay did from you!
I am afraid that actual wholesale suppliers are a tightly kept secret. If people are selling something for half of the asking price of a dropshipper, you know the wholesale price is much lower. There's just something that doesn't add up to a fair deal.
There is a lot of hard work ahead of you if you wish to secure a piece of the consumer goods pie through dropshipping. It may not be impossible, but you have to run a huge volume to even stand a chance at making anything, and the truth of the matter is, eBay isn't what it used to be. It's drying up. It is maybe half of what it was 5 years ago. Virtually all my customers have less than 100 feedback and have only been there a year or two. What's happened to all the old eBay users? Did they get fed up with eBay?
Unless you have something of your own to sell. Unless you make something or produce something, I don't know that there is a legitimate eBay solution that will allow you to compete with acceptable margins. And yes I mentioned the word scams, but what else can you call it where eBay makes more than the average dropship seller?
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
US 90% .900 GOLD COINS METAL CONTENT GUIDE $1, $2.5, $5, $10, $20
So, how much gold is in a $20 double eagle or a $2.50 eighth eagle?
It is important to have a definitive list when you are looking to buy coins, so that you are able to bid reasonably. Keep in mind there are sites such as pcgs.com/prices for you to see what the numismatic value of the coins is as well. There should be a lower premium on lower quality coins and common date coins than there are on key date or high grade coins.
These are the St. Gaudens, Liberty, even the Indian head gold pieces. The modern crap bullion coins put out by the mint are not really coins, they are just rounds. I want to make that distinction because when I search eBay for gold coins, I want to find the following, not the modern stuff or the replica stuff.
$20 Double Eagle = 0.9676 Troy Ounces (Only the gold weight)
$10 Eagle = 0.4838 Troy Ounces
$5 Half Eagle = 0.2419 Troy Ounces
$2.50 1/8th Eagle = 0.1344 Troy Ounces
$1.00 1/10th Eagle = .0484 Troy Ounces
So, if you just take those numbers and multiply them by the current spot price, or by the going rate... Since the spot price is $1300 roughly but gold is selling for nothing less than $1500 anywhere you look, there's no reason why you won't get $1500 an ounce for your gold unless you go to a store or pawn shop in which case you be lucky to get $1000 an ounce.
But I want to stress, these gold coins are very collectible, very sought after, they are remnants of a very great era. They should be treated well and never sent to the refinery to be smelted. Buy them, sell them, trade them if you must but please never destroy them. They represent a golden age in America, of prosperity, and sound money, one which I hope to see again in my lifetime but I won't hold my breath.
It is however useful to know how much gold you actually have, and at least now you know how much you are overpaying for your purchases. There's only $62 worth of gold in a $1 gold coin but you can't touch one for less than $140 or so. There's only $150 worth of gold in a $2.50 gold piece but they all are selling at $200 and up. The only time you get close to melt value is with the $20 double eagles, but, then you have to shell out $1350 to $1400 for one coin right now. Economies of scale are true of all things. The smaller coins are a convenience and the bigger coins are bulk economy sizes!
It is important to have a definitive list when you are looking to buy coins, so that you are able to bid reasonably. Keep in mind there are sites such as pcgs.com/prices for you to see what the numismatic value of the coins is as well. There should be a lower premium on lower quality coins and common date coins than there are on key date or high grade coins.
These are the St. Gaudens, Liberty, even the Indian head gold pieces. The modern crap bullion coins put out by the mint are not really coins, they are just rounds. I want to make that distinction because when I search eBay for gold coins, I want to find the following, not the modern stuff or the replica stuff.
$20 Double Eagle = 0.9676 Troy Ounces (Only the gold weight)
$10 Eagle = 0.4838 Troy Ounces
$5 Half Eagle = 0.2419 Troy Ounces
$2.50 1/8th Eagle = 0.1344 Troy Ounces
$1.00 1/10th Eagle = .0484 Troy Ounces
So, if you just take those numbers and multiply them by the current spot price, or by the going rate... Since the spot price is $1300 roughly but gold is selling for nothing less than $1500 anywhere you look, there's no reason why you won't get $1500 an ounce for your gold unless you go to a store or pawn shop in which case you be lucky to get $1000 an ounce.
But I want to stress, these gold coins are very collectible, very sought after, they are remnants of a very great era. They should be treated well and never sent to the refinery to be smelted. Buy them, sell them, trade them if you must but please never destroy them. They represent a golden age in America, of prosperity, and sound money, one which I hope to see again in my lifetime but I won't hold my breath.
It is however useful to know how much gold you actually have, and at least now you know how much you are overpaying for your purchases. There's only $62 worth of gold in a $1 gold coin but you can't touch one for less than $140 or so. There's only $150 worth of gold in a $2.50 gold piece but they all are selling at $200 and up. The only time you get close to melt value is with the $20 double eagles, but, then you have to shell out $1350 to $1400 for one coin right now. Economies of scale are true of all things. The smaller coins are a convenience and the bigger coins are bulk economy sizes!
Sunday, May 11, 2014
WARNING: MODERN "GOLDEN" DOLLARS ARE NOT GOLD
I couldn't believe it... Someone has had the nerve to list a Sacagewea dollar as a gold coin for $140... These are neither gold, nor are they worth $140!
Also, the presidential dollars minted on the same metal as the Sacagewea dollar, have a nice golden brassy look when fresh, but if exposed to the elements at all they quickly become corroded and pitted. Gold doesn't have this problem.
The only modern gold coins that are actually gold, are not really coins. They may have a face value on them but they are not intended to be used in circulation. They are bullion rounds. You can get the Gold Eagles from the US Mint, or the Gold Buffalos, but their face value never comes near the actual value of the metal in them. This prevents them from being used as money even though they are legal tender.
There were real $1 gold pieces minted in the 1800's. These seem to go around $140 or so. They are collectible, and very nice coins. But they are real gold, not to be confused with any Y2K or newer coin that's been minted.
Also, the presidential dollars minted on the same metal as the Sacagewea dollar, have a nice golden brassy look when fresh, but if exposed to the elements at all they quickly become corroded and pitted. Gold doesn't have this problem.
The only modern gold coins that are actually gold, are not really coins. They may have a face value on them but they are not intended to be used in circulation. They are bullion rounds. You can get the Gold Eagles from the US Mint, or the Gold Buffalos, but their face value never comes near the actual value of the metal in them. This prevents them from being used as money even though they are legal tender.
There were real $1 gold pieces minted in the 1800's. These seem to go around $140 or so. They are collectible, and very nice coins. But they are real gold, not to be confused with any Y2K or newer coin that's been minted.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
COLLECTIBLE POSTAGE STAMP CONCERNS
eBay has allowed fake stamps to be sold as long as they are marked on the back indelibly with COPY or FAKE or FORGERY. The problem is, how many replicas are made but not marked so as to deceptively take advantage of unwary buyers?
What particularly raised my eyebrow was having searched for "Airmail" stamps on ebay. It is at times easy to find bargains on nice stamps in the airmail category. What I wasn't expecting was to see pages of Graf Zepplin airmail stamps, many of them mint a few used. Dozens of them in the same denominations. These are highly sought after rare airmail stamps, selling for many hundreds and even into the thousands.
Yes it is possible a big collector decided to cash in. But what is more disturbing is, there are so many high quality reproductions of these stamps that I am concerned the average person might not know a real one from a fake one if they are disingenuously sold as authentic.
PLEASE make sure you CLOSELY examine ANY rare stamp that you buy off of eBay. Do your best to get it authenticated. See a stamp dealer. Consult the scott catalog. If it should turn out to be a reproduction and you find out soon enough you can open a claim and get your money back from PayPal.
And again I must stress beware of anything coming out of Asia. They are masters at counterfeiting anything. Everything from Rolex's to Tiffany jewelry, to coins and of course stamps are going to be on their list. You can't be too careful, and if you see an oversupply of something that is generally hard to find, you should be very suspicious as I was.
What particularly raised my eyebrow was having searched for "Airmail" stamps on ebay. It is at times easy to find bargains on nice stamps in the airmail category. What I wasn't expecting was to see pages of Graf Zepplin airmail stamps, many of them mint a few used. Dozens of them in the same denominations. These are highly sought after rare airmail stamps, selling for many hundreds and even into the thousands.
Yes it is possible a big collector decided to cash in. But what is more disturbing is, there are so many high quality reproductions of these stamps that I am concerned the average person might not know a real one from a fake one if they are disingenuously sold as authentic.
PLEASE make sure you CLOSELY examine ANY rare stamp that you buy off of eBay. Do your best to get it authenticated. See a stamp dealer. Consult the scott catalog. If it should turn out to be a reproduction and you find out soon enough you can open a claim and get your money back from PayPal.
And again I must stress beware of anything coming out of Asia. They are masters at counterfeiting anything. Everything from Rolex's to Tiffany jewelry, to coins and of course stamps are going to be on their list. You can't be too careful, and if you see an oversupply of something that is generally hard to find, you should be very suspicious as I was.
OBSERVATION: CURRENT PRECIOUS METALS PRICES
It is this bloggers opinion that precious metals are VERY UNDER PRICED. If I get into the reasons why I believe they are beyond what I am telling you in this post, I might as well write a book about it. I've been comparing prices of bullion... Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium... Against not only eBay, but Amazon, as well as directly with the refineries that sell their bullion products.
As to be expected, the larger the bullion unit (in terms of troy weight or grams) the cheaper the premium... But.... I am noticing that bullion is selling on open auction on eBay for 10% and 20% above melt value. This can only mean one thing: There is an artificial suppression on the market price. Equilibrium of market supply and demand prices gold at around $50 a gram, but spot (melt) price is barely $41 a gram as of this writing. It doesn't sound like much but with 31 grams to the troy ounce, it is equivalent to losing 15 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold you buy at that rate!
But...
There is little choice for precious metals to go up for several reasons. Even though it feels wrong to buy bullion above melt value by such large amounts, you have to remember that A. not more than a year or two ago gold and silver were at record levels which are FAR above the prices now on bullion, and B. You cannot infinitely print paper money AND have prices drop at the same time. Not for very long. They might be able to continue the manipulation for months or years, but after a few years their hold on the prices will break down and there is no problem for me to believe the prices will shoot up sharply and quickly.
Please keep in mind, you don't buy bullion for short term profits. The actual purchasing power of gold and silver remain the same if you adjust for manipulation and all the crooked stuff going on. It's not the value of metals you are betting on. It is the worth of the money that changes. I don't care what the price is doing, I know metal is desirable when the alternative to metal is paper. Now might be the cheapest you will ever be able to obtain metals for. Yes, it breaks my heart I missed buying boatloads of silver at $4 an ounce in 2003. I knew it was going to go up, but I assumed I had time. Not enough time though. I was too late. The indications are, silver may not drop below $15 an ounce. If they do, it will be because of manipulation and panic, but prices will sharply rise soon afterwards due to all the buying pressure from everyone trying to corner the market. Can you imagine the stampede if all of a sudden a store put up a sign that said "iPhone's on sale now! $25!"... That's what will happen if precious metals drop to a certain point. Everyone knows the dollar loses value every day. The question is what are you doing about it?
I just want to give my readers the insight to protect your future. You remember how hard you were hit when the bottom fell out of the markets not that many years ago? Those who had their retirement in stocks pretty much were doomed to work well into their old age and forgo retirement. I know some people who fall into this category. On the other hand, if you managed to put it into precious metals, you did quite well. Paper wealth will always be manipulated. Real wealth cannot itself be tampered with. The extent of it's manipulation begins and ends with paper. With that said, always take delivery of the metals you own. Never settle for a paper saying you own x amount of metal in y repository. And should you acquire large amounts of the metal, do NOT let people know who have no business knowing. I know it is a genuine concern, but a large value of gold is such a small volume of material, easily concealed. You can even go so far as to bury it, just be sure to remember where.
With the real market keeping pace far above the official values, I would say we are overdue for a market correction very soon. Just keep watching. If you have anything sitting in a savings account drawing 1% interest per year or less, please remember that inflation is several times that amount, so you are actually losing wealth at the same time you think you are gaining money, and that precious metals tend to outperform inflation!
As to be expected, the larger the bullion unit (in terms of troy weight or grams) the cheaper the premium... But.... I am noticing that bullion is selling on open auction on eBay for 10% and 20% above melt value. This can only mean one thing: There is an artificial suppression on the market price. Equilibrium of market supply and demand prices gold at around $50 a gram, but spot (melt) price is barely $41 a gram as of this writing. It doesn't sound like much but with 31 grams to the troy ounce, it is equivalent to losing 15 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold you buy at that rate!
But...
There is little choice for precious metals to go up for several reasons. Even though it feels wrong to buy bullion above melt value by such large amounts, you have to remember that A. not more than a year or two ago gold and silver were at record levels which are FAR above the prices now on bullion, and B. You cannot infinitely print paper money AND have prices drop at the same time. Not for very long. They might be able to continue the manipulation for months or years, but after a few years their hold on the prices will break down and there is no problem for me to believe the prices will shoot up sharply and quickly.
Please keep in mind, you don't buy bullion for short term profits. The actual purchasing power of gold and silver remain the same if you adjust for manipulation and all the crooked stuff going on. It's not the value of metals you are betting on. It is the worth of the money that changes. I don't care what the price is doing, I know metal is desirable when the alternative to metal is paper. Now might be the cheapest you will ever be able to obtain metals for. Yes, it breaks my heart I missed buying boatloads of silver at $4 an ounce in 2003. I knew it was going to go up, but I assumed I had time. Not enough time though. I was too late. The indications are, silver may not drop below $15 an ounce. If they do, it will be because of manipulation and panic, but prices will sharply rise soon afterwards due to all the buying pressure from everyone trying to corner the market. Can you imagine the stampede if all of a sudden a store put up a sign that said "iPhone's on sale now! $25!"... That's what will happen if precious metals drop to a certain point. Everyone knows the dollar loses value every day. The question is what are you doing about it?
I just want to give my readers the insight to protect your future. You remember how hard you were hit when the bottom fell out of the markets not that many years ago? Those who had their retirement in stocks pretty much were doomed to work well into their old age and forgo retirement. I know some people who fall into this category. On the other hand, if you managed to put it into precious metals, you did quite well. Paper wealth will always be manipulated. Real wealth cannot itself be tampered with. The extent of it's manipulation begins and ends with paper. With that said, always take delivery of the metals you own. Never settle for a paper saying you own x amount of metal in y repository. And should you acquire large amounts of the metal, do NOT let people know who have no business knowing. I know it is a genuine concern, but a large value of gold is such a small volume of material, easily concealed. You can even go so far as to bury it, just be sure to remember where.
With the real market keeping pace far above the official values, I would say we are overdue for a market correction very soon. Just keep watching. If you have anything sitting in a savings account drawing 1% interest per year or less, please remember that inflation is several times that amount, so you are actually losing wealth at the same time you think you are gaining money, and that precious metals tend to outperform inflation!
Monday, May 5, 2014
Bullion Buying Tips: Gold & Silver
There are a lot of concerns with bullion. I believe there is a proactive effort on the part of the elite to try and discourage the average person from buying gold and silver. After a huge bull market in precious metals, we seen it crash and not recover. This helps destroy the honest reputation gold and silver has obtained, and "convince" people that they are not "safe". A dollar is not always a dollar, but an ounce of gold is always an ounce of gold. Any opportunity to trade paper for metal is a good opportunity.
But let us look at the forms of bullion.
Antique coins are not necessarily safer or better than bullion, and yes they carry premiums, you end up paying more than melt value for them. But, the numismatic value is significant. It gives you the opportunity to collect something rare that isn't made any more. If you choose to buy coinage such as double eagles ($20 gold pieces), you need to bear in mind you are paying more than just the metal. You can check the value of coins at pcgs.com/prices.
Bullion coins such as gold and silver eagles are just that, bullion. They can be collectible and desirable, but they can carry too much of a premium when other options manifest themselves.
Ingots such as are available from monarchpreciousmetals.com are a great investment. You get a lot of metal for very little premium over melt value. No this isn't a paid endorsement, just genuinely interested in helping those of you secure your fortunes against the uncertain future. You won't find them involved in any scams or scandals and every ingot they make is hand poured.
Now, we will get into a bit shakier form of bullion:
There are specialty forms of bullion which carry MASSIVE premiums. Right now even with $20 an ounce silver, a 1 gram ingot (1/31 of an ounce), runs about $2 retail. This makes it about $62 an ounce to buy it in this form. They might be attractively used in making jewelry or as special gift ideas, but for buying large quantities is not so cost effective.
I advocate having the smallest units of metal which get you closest to melt. This so far has been the 90% silver Roosevelt dimes (1964 and earlier). It allows more flexibility when bartering, and is in a universally recognized form of silver which was guaranteed by the US Treasury to be what it appears to be. It is also not prone to being counterfeited because very few issues of the Roosevelt dime are worth enough to try reproducing, and there are more valuable forms of silver coins for the crooks to try and replicate.
Gold nuggets are one form of gold which can't really be counterfeited. Jewelers have made imitation nuggets, but because of the trace elements nature mixes into the gold on its own, it is very hard to reproduce the look and feel of a real gold nugget. They might do a good job at making them in some instances, but I doubt it would fool an experienced prospector. If you handle a few nuggets, it will be easy for you to know what you are looking at. Gold is unmistakable in it's feel.
There is of course the combibar made by a swiss refinery. Their bars break into 1 gram or 10 gram increments. They are available in gold silver platinum and palladium. Silver is the only metal that has an excessive premium. The rest are close enough to melt that I wouldn't feel bad buying them. Just be careful when buying from any store, online or off. You want to get the lowest possible price because it is a commodity and in the end, they are the same regardless of where you buy from. Why pay more for what you could get for less? Currently as of this writing, you can obtain 100 x 1g combibar of silver on ebay for $117 with free shipping. That makes it $1.17 a gram for silver, or $36 an ounce. You are indeed paying for the convenience of having an easily divisible bar. But on that note, a single 1 gram bar easily sells for $2. So... It is up to you to decide if it is a bargain or a ripoff.
In the end, we see the results of history. All great civilizations resorted to debasing their coinage to help pay for an ever expanding empire and the costs of maintaining those empires. We are at the height of debasement, that is, relying on mere paper. In the end, civilization always returns to commodity based money, gold and silver.
Just remember there are 31.1 grams to a troy ounce. With a little math you can make sure you are not getting ripped off. kitco.com can give you the current spot prices of all the metals. Though, I don't recommend them as a place to buy from.
But let us look at the forms of bullion.
Antique coins are not necessarily safer or better than bullion, and yes they carry premiums, you end up paying more than melt value for them. But, the numismatic value is significant. It gives you the opportunity to collect something rare that isn't made any more. If you choose to buy coinage such as double eagles ($20 gold pieces), you need to bear in mind you are paying more than just the metal. You can check the value of coins at pcgs.com/prices.
Bullion coins such as gold and silver eagles are just that, bullion. They can be collectible and desirable, but they can carry too much of a premium when other options manifest themselves.
Ingots such as are available from monarchpreciousmetals.com are a great investment. You get a lot of metal for very little premium over melt value. No this isn't a paid endorsement, just genuinely interested in helping those of you secure your fortunes against the uncertain future. You won't find them involved in any scams or scandals and every ingot they make is hand poured.
Now, we will get into a bit shakier form of bullion:
There are specialty forms of bullion which carry MASSIVE premiums. Right now even with $20 an ounce silver, a 1 gram ingot (1/31 of an ounce), runs about $2 retail. This makes it about $62 an ounce to buy it in this form. They might be attractively used in making jewelry or as special gift ideas, but for buying large quantities is not so cost effective.
I advocate having the smallest units of metal which get you closest to melt. This so far has been the 90% silver Roosevelt dimes (1964 and earlier). It allows more flexibility when bartering, and is in a universally recognized form of silver which was guaranteed by the US Treasury to be what it appears to be. It is also not prone to being counterfeited because very few issues of the Roosevelt dime are worth enough to try reproducing, and there are more valuable forms of silver coins for the crooks to try and replicate.
Gold nuggets are one form of gold which can't really be counterfeited. Jewelers have made imitation nuggets, but because of the trace elements nature mixes into the gold on its own, it is very hard to reproduce the look and feel of a real gold nugget. They might do a good job at making them in some instances, but I doubt it would fool an experienced prospector. If you handle a few nuggets, it will be easy for you to know what you are looking at. Gold is unmistakable in it's feel.
There is of course the combibar made by a swiss refinery. Their bars break into 1 gram or 10 gram increments. They are available in gold silver platinum and palladium. Silver is the only metal that has an excessive premium. The rest are close enough to melt that I wouldn't feel bad buying them. Just be careful when buying from any store, online or off. You want to get the lowest possible price because it is a commodity and in the end, they are the same regardless of where you buy from. Why pay more for what you could get for less? Currently as of this writing, you can obtain 100 x 1g combibar of silver on ebay for $117 with free shipping. That makes it $1.17 a gram for silver, or $36 an ounce. You are indeed paying for the convenience of having an easily divisible bar. But on that note, a single 1 gram bar easily sells for $2. So... It is up to you to decide if it is a bargain or a ripoff.
In the end, we see the results of history. All great civilizations resorted to debasing their coinage to help pay for an ever expanding empire and the costs of maintaining those empires. We are at the height of debasement, that is, relying on mere paper. In the end, civilization always returns to commodity based money, gold and silver.
Just remember there are 31.1 grams to a troy ounce. With a little math you can make sure you are not getting ripped off. kitco.com can give you the current spot prices of all the metals. Though, I don't recommend them as a place to buy from.
Monday, January 20, 2014
If Shipment Time Matters...
I am only posting this because some sellers only ship through FedEx or UPS. It is very annoying and aggravating. You know why? If something is shipped by the above methods, it is guaranteed to take at LEAST a week for standard shipping. It can take even longer during holidays!
The Post Office used to be derided for being slow and inefficient. I am sorry, but I can order something from New York and have it here in Idaho within three days, maybe four, and that's with first class or standard post!
The choice is yours, but I think you will find you get your items much faster if you avoid FedEx and UPS.
The Post Office used to be derided for being slow and inefficient. I am sorry, but I can order something from New York and have it here in Idaho within three days, maybe four, and that's with first class or standard post!
The choice is yours, but I think you will find you get your items much faster if you avoid FedEx and UPS.
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