Trying to understand how refiner fees actually work, what am I paying for, and does the fee move with spot?
I’ve got a pile of scrap and sterling silver I’m thinking about sending to a refiner instead of selling piece by piece, and I want to understand the mechanics before I commit rather than just accepting whatever number they quote me.
A few things I’m unclear on:
Does the fee scale with the silver price? If spot goes from 60 to 90, am I paying a proportionally bigger fee, or is the cost mostly fixed so the effective percentage drops when prices are high?
Is timing just “sell when spot is high,” or do refiners widen their spread during price spikes when everyone’s dumping? Basically, does a high spot partly get eaten by worse terms?
Anyone in Europe (Belgium specifically) dealt with the bigger refiners or the smaller regional ones? Curious how VAT is handled on the payout side too.
Thankstrying to learn the background rather than just get a number.