Purchasing Palladium

[silverghost]

Does anyone here have any pointers or advice on buying Palladium? I was thinking of picking up a few bars this week as it really appears to be going somewhere.

[AuNuggets]

Find a dealer that deals in name brand bars and MAKE SURE he offers a two way (buy and sell) market on this stuff with a reasonable spread before you buy. It can be a pain in the assets to sell...... Very few of the smaller local shops I deal with will even touch palladium, and platinum is pretty much in the same boat at recent price levels. I recently had a friend who bought a 10 ounce platinum bar, and decided to sell it back to the dealer a few weeks later. Platinum had risen almost $100 in the interim, but the dealer only wanted to pay him $50 PER OUNCE LESS than he had paid for it. Talk about a scalping !! Palladium premiums also seem to be considerably higher than other PMs for some unknown reason (currently in the 10% range), so expect the spreads to follow suit. If you're looking to make a large "block" investment in palladium, consider one of the 100 ounce bars that come right out of Russia, but be sure to get an assay certificate and written guarantee. I believe these bars are also traded on the major exchanges, so may actually be more liquid than the small 1 ounce bars.

[silverghost]

Find a dealer that deals in name brand bars and MAKE SURE he offers a two way (buy and sell) market on this stuff with a reasonable spread before you buy. It can be a pain in the assets to sell...... Very few of the smaller local shops I deal with will even touch palladium, and platinum is pretty much in the same boat at recent price levels. I recently had a friend who bought a 10 ounce platinum bar, and decided to sell it back to the dealer a few weeks later. Platinum had risen almost $100 in the interim, but the dealer only wanted to pay him $50 PER OUNCE LESS than he had paid for it. Talk about a scalping !! Palladium premiums also seem to be considerably higher than other PMs for some unknown reason (currently in the 10% range), so expect the spreads to follow suit. If you're looking to make a large "block" investment in palladium, consider one of the 100 ounce bars that come right out of Russia, but be sure to get an assay certificate and written guarantee. I believe these bars are also traded on the major exchanges, so may actually be more liquid than the small 1 ounce bars.

Thank you for the advice. The 100 oz bar is beyond my means by about 95 oz., so I'll stay the course with silver and gold. Thanks again.