Seeing most on-line dealers around $85-88 / oz. Junk silver still be the best /oz prices. All of them have heavy demand / shipping delay warnings.
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I left a comment on a podcast that some entrepreneur should make silver bracelets and belt buckles out of melted 90%.Seeing most on-line dealers around $85-88 / oz. Junk silver still be the best /oz prices. All of them have heavy demand / shipping delay warnings.
January 18, 2026
Dear Valued Customer,
What a week. Markets have been very volatile of late with all-time highs achieved on precious metals during the week. Although pricing has come down a little from those highs, the general feeling is there is upside potential and we as a retailer are seeing this. I will share a few data points for reference, but needless to say, silver demand increases have far surpassed gold over the last 6 weeks leading to historical volume increases.
In my last update, I showed optimism that we could be current in the near term with one caveat, “unless demand increases”. And demand did increase, putting more pressure on our company to provide the service levels you have come to appreciate. As a result, we will have to make some tough decisions, which I will get to in a moment. First, I wanted to provide some perspective as it relates to demand:
- Last week, from an order count standpoint, it was the 4th highest week in our history and 40% higher than the week prior; for reference, our average order count is normally half last week’s volume
- On the purchasing side, with the change to a $10K minimum, we have seen a 20% drop in tickets while purchasing dollars are still up; even with the 20% drop, purchasing tickets are still in our top 5 in our history
- Demand for silver as a % of our revenue hit a new all-time high last week
Our employees have shown massive commitment, working long hours and weekends in an attempt to reduce the backlog. The good news, despite record volumes, service levels have remained stable, with delays averaging approximately 4 days beyond normal. That said, this is not sustainable in the near term and have decided to make a difficult decision, both to benefit our customers and our employees. Effective today, we will be instituting a $500 minimum for online orders. These orders represent approximately 50% of volume and will significantly assist in efforts to get back to the service levels we are known for. I am hopeful this minimum will only last for the week and ask for your patience.
Lastly, we unfortunately had a significant development at our mint, where we produce 90%+ of our silver bars and rounds. As a result, our output will be impacted by approximately 50%, which will lead to silver production pre-sales dates that will be 3-5 days longer than they were last week. You will see posted pre-sale dates that should be accurate based on recent events. And we will not pre-sale inventory 30+ days out as we feel that is not appropriate for our customers as there is far too much uncertainty when lead times get this long.
I want to thank you for your patience during what is historical volume. One more reference point to drive this home. Just yesterday, Saturday – Jan 17th, we had our 3rd busiest Saturday in our history – 4x a normal Saturday. We are committed to flexing our capacities as it is our opinion that demand will continue at heightened levels for at least another month or two.
You have my commitment that we will continue to be transparent and are committed to providing the best possible service that you have come to expect.
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That's a nice way of saying, "Those who remember NWTM need not draw any unpleasant comparisons."And we will not pre-sale inventory 30+ days out as we feel that is not appropriate for our customers as there is far too much uncertainty when lead times get this long.
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I also almost got caught up trying to buy some gold from that guy in California. Can't remember his name right now, but he was that grumpy dude. ...
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Feels like Victory watching from the sidelines while the turmoil unfolds.
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.Actually they all short silver contracts because they need to hedge the physical they just bought. Or vise-versa. It's a complicated and high stakes business.
Silver demand is straining Apmex logistical capacity...