JuanSanchez@JuanSanchez0x0
So, you're interested in precious metals:
I did online marketing after my poker career and one of my clients was a precious metals dealer (a competitor to JM Bullion). Since it was my job to market it, I wanted to understand everything about gold/silver. Over my time there, I sold ~$300mm in gold/silver. Inflation adjusted that's a few billion $ now.
Average age of metals buyer was ~63 y/o when I started, and when I ended 10 years later it was 73 y/o. I assume the average age of a metals buyer is nearly 80's now. We desperately tried to get anyone under 40 to buy, but it never took. We finally gave up and blocked ads from showing to anyone under 55. And this was before crypto and online sports betting. It has to be insanely bad now.
No one wants gold/silver, not even these companies, not even the US Mint. Our bulk silver buyer overbought at a high price during the run up in 2009 and we still had that inventory when I left many years later. Dealers had to take stock of any inventory they ordered, because the US mint didn't want this trash, either. No take backs!
Gold has inflation of 1.5-2% in supply every year. Yes, gold has inflation! The meme of cAn'T mAkE mOrE gOLD is nonsense and you need to laugh at retards who thinks there's a fixed supply of metals. There's more gold & silver produced each year than the market can handle. Grok estimates $500B increase in the amount of gold each year. The market has to absorb that each year before price can go up. BTC current inflation, FYI: 0.8%.
The metals companies are basically traders! They try to predict price and won't buy in a downtrend. Why? Because the public won't touch gold/silver unless it's at all time highs! Just like crypto. The dealers for metals know it's useless and there's more supply out there than they can handle.
The big scam is graded & collectible coins. Each coin is graded (by hand! lol) just like pokemon cards and you get a certificate and case for it's grade. MS-70 is the top. The markup on these is 10-20% over spot yet you'll only get -10-20% UNDER spot for the melt value. The bid/ask spread is 40%, you'll lose a tremendous amount on these.
Historically, none of the precious metals return value over inflation. Almost all the value is a few price spikes: 1979, 2009, and 2025. If you bought during these times, it'll be another generation until you can sell. And you don't even make any money after inflation, carrying costs, and selling under spot. And no you can't get spot price when you sell it, because even the companies themselves can't get spot price for their inventory. Subtract 10-20% from what value you think you have, and then another 10% and you might be close.
The offices & warehouse were littered with gold and silver. No one bothered to steal it because there's nowhere to sell it. Why risk your job for yellow shiny in your drawer? And no one at the company bought any, either. You realize first hand how worthless it is if you can barely give it away.
We stopped giving sales because the same number of sales happened at a discount as regular price. Selling more at a discount this week means you're going to sell less next week: you're just shifting future revenue to current revenue.
The big money was the call center. It was getting seniors on the phone to buy the latest release of some graded coin and remind them of their youth and ask how the grandkids were doing. Whales were assigned specific callers who would talk about their lives with these old people. I'm not over-exaggerating: the ENTIRE demand for gold/silver is tricking old people over the phone. Precious metals are just as predatory as reverse mortgages or life insurance.
The most profitable profession to target: doctors. Older, had disposable income, and didn't have time to research better alternatives.
Gold buyers are overwhelmingly male. Any analytics that said a female purchased was an accident, usually a family computer. Unless of course the gold buyer was somehow also interested in children's TV shows. Also conservative and like guns.
The people at the US Mint are a pile of retards. I was so good at my job, the US Mint filed cease & desists against us for our online advertising and threatened to withhold first releases from the company. They eventually let it go because we ordered so much from them.
Ah, "first release" reminds me of another scam: "first release" coins are early in the print run and are supposedly more "fine" because the die is fresh. It might even be true, but you'll still only going to get offered -10% spot for melt value yet pay an up-charge.
Google ad reps are the most useless people on the planet. Their only advice is to throw money into a hole. Client wanted to feel important so we met with the Google reps quarterly, and I lost brain cells every time. Client lost money testing every Google rep suggestion.
When I was finally let go for being too expensive, sales cratered 75% and 90% of the company was laid off 6 months after I was gone. I just checked: they haven't even modified the website since we updated it in ~2012. Lulz. Dead company.
Regarding online ads in general: LLM's are EXCELLENT at it. It's one of those areas where normies didn't pollute the dataset. Don't bother with an ad agency, just have AI write your ads and devise a strategy.
Tinfoil hat time: I suspect the gold in Fort Knox was melted down and sold to the public. The US goes off the gold standard in 1971. In the 1980's, the US Mint started producing non-circulation coins like silver/gold eagles. What do the years 1979, 2009, and 2025 have it common? All years immediately post-recession and right before the money printer turned back on. Either smart people are trading cash for stuff, or the US gov is pumping markets to sell worthless metals because they're desperate for cash.
Anyway, gold & silver are just shitcoins you can hold in your hand.