Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and trust during one of the most extraordinary periods the precious metals market has ever seen. Over the past several months, we have experienced unprecedented demand, record prices, and supply challenges that have put pressure on the entire industry. Throughout it all, you have stood with us — and for that, we are truly grateful.
Today, I am pleased to share that shipping times and customer service levels have returned to the fast, reliable standards you expect and deserve. Our fulfillment, customer service, and supply chain teams have worked tirelessly to refine our processes, expand capacity, and eliminate the delays that impacted service earlier in this market cycle. We are once again meeting our service level commitments with the speed and consistency that have defined APMEX for years
It is also worth acknowledging that many firms across the industry are still working through supply constraints and service challenges as markets remain elevated. In times like these, the differences between providers become clear, and your continued trust in APMEX is something we do not take lightly. We remain committed to earning it every day.
Thank you again for sticking with us. We are here to serve you, and we look forward to delivering the exceptional experience you count on — today and for the long term.
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
Dear Valued Customer,
I want to start by again apologizing for service levels that are not up to the APMEX standard. I have personally spoken with several customers, and please know we do not take your business for granted. Investing in precious metals is an intimate relationship built on trust. You expect your partner to do what they say, with transparency every step of the way. When a company is unable to deliver on its commitments, that trust can be damaged.
This is why we have been vocal about the challenges we are facing. Throughout this period of unprecedented demand, we have provided our best estimate for when your orders will ship — even when those timelines were longer than normal. We are running about 93% to the revised date, which is not up to our standards and something we have been working hard to address.
Thanks to the hard work, and in some cases, truly herculean efforts of our employees - I believe we are now out of the woods. This market can change on a dime, with extremes that are difficult to predict. That said, I believe our staffing and operational capacity are now positioned to manage these demand spikes effectively.
With that in mind, here is where we stand today:
- Customer orders: Starting tomorrow, orders received will have three business days added to the normal estimated ship date (ESD). We expect this to improve to one or two days soon. As a result, we are removing order minimums effective immediately.
- Sell to Us: Sell to Us orders are also down to an approximately three-business-day delay, and we expect this to improve dramatically in the next few days. As with customer orders, we are removing minimums for Sell to Us orders effective immediately. I’d also like to highlight that our team has averaged less than one hour over the past week to provide detailed quotes. For core products, our QuickQuote functionality continues to provide pricing within seconds.
- Customer service: Service levels on the phones have improved dramatically and we are fully current on emails and chat. I was just looking at our dashboard and am pleased to share that over 80% of calls are being answered within 20 seconds.
- Product availability: Our in-stock levels are among the best in the industry and it is not even close. Our merchants, traders, and mint teams have done a remarkable job, and the vast majority of our inventory is in stock and ready to ship.
I hope this is my last update and that we will quickly be back to the standard you have come to expect from APMEX. Thank you again for your patience and happy stacking!
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
February 2, 2026
Dear Valued Customer,
Last week was nothing short of historic by any measure, and I’m proud to say that we are holding up well. The APMEX website experienced all-time-high traffic and order volumes with no service disruption — a significant accomplishment under these conditions. We improved phone service levels, set new productivity records across our supply chain, and our mint is nearing full operational capacity. Despite this progress, sustained volume levels have limited our ability to reduce the existing backlog. On Friday alone, we received the equivalent of several days’ worth of orders, and demand remained elevated throughout the weekend.
To accelerate recovery, we are implementing additional measures beginning this week. Operations will add a second shift, and all employees across the company will contribute four hours of support in the vault. Additionally, I have reassigned our entire Numismatic team — all 18 members — to focus exclusively on processing “Sell to Us” orders. The message is we continue to pull out all the stops to get current.
As of today, outbound order processing is averaging approximately eight business days. Inventory availability has improved meaningfully, particularly for products we mint in-house. “Sell to Us” orders are currently averaging six business days, and I expect this to improve quickly as these additional resources come online. At the time of order placement, we provide an estimated processing date, and this continues to be a reliable guide, with limited exceptions. Before contacting us for a status update, we ask that you please reference the date provided, as inquiries received ahead of that timeframe will reflect the same projected processing information.
I would also like to take a moment to remind customers that buying precious metals is typically a long-term investment. There will be up and down markets and it is nearly impossible to time buying and selling, just like with the stock market. Our view is precious metals are a tremendous diversification strategy that has proven over time to hold up in tougher market conditions. The fact that precious metals have been a top performing asset class for several years is an added benefit. We are here to support both your buying and selling needs and appreciate the increased publicity that precious metals are receiving as they have long been an asset that is under invested in, especially when considering their long term performance.
We are here to serve you, and we sincerely thank you for your continued patience and trust as we work diligently to return to current service levels.
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
January 26, 2026
Dear Valued Customer,
In an effort not to sound like a record on repeat, markets continue to accelerate. Gold, silver, and platinum continue to set record highs, hitting levels many of us could not have imagined in such a short period of time. We are experiencing volumes that we have not seen in our history. This past weekend alone, order volume reached nearly seven times that of a normal weekend.
Compounding these challenges, Oklahoma City experienced one of the largest snow events in its history. We will always put the safety of our employees first, resulting in the shutdown of fulfillment and our mint for the weekend. We are up to 70% strength today and should be back to full strength by tomorrow.
I know there are various opinions on how to handle a situation like this. My philosophy is to be transparent while looking out for the well-being of our employees. With this in mind, I wanted to share our current service times:
- Customer sales orders: Orders placed today are expected to be shipped within eight business days from payment received date, or the product’s pre-sale date if later
- Customer “Sell to Us” transactions: Will be processed and funded in eight business days from time of packaged receipt at our location
We ask that customers refrain from reaching out for an order status if you are within the above time frames. This will allow us to serve customers at a higher level during these historical volumes.
Finally, as we look at options to provide improved service and get back to our normal lead times, adding staffing is not going to get us there in the near term. As a result, we will be introducing a couple of more changes. Once we can get to 3 days or less delay and/or not have our employees work extremely long hours, we plan to remove the various restrictions.
- When selling to APMEX, order minimums will increase to $20,000
- When buying from APMEX, we will maintain our $500 minimum on our website, which data shows has had minimum impact on the customer experience
- Marketplace (eBay, Wal-Mart, etc.) businesses will be adjusted (assortment, pricing) to place more emphasis on APMEX.com
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
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.
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
Dear Valued Customer,
The past two weeks have marked a historic moment in the precious metals market. Both gold and silver have reached record highs multiple times, driven by a convergence of global uncertainty, inflation concerns, and renewed interest in hard assets. With these price movements has come a surge in demand—one unlike anything we’ve seen in years— as new customers enter the market and seasoned investors act decisively to adjust their positions.
This level of demand brings real challenges across the entire industry. Supply is tight, order volumes are elevated, and service channels are under pressure. Many firms are struggling to keep pace. In moments like these, the difference between providers becomes clear.
I want to personally assure you that APMEX was built for environments like this. Our scale, long-standing supplier relationships, and operational investments allow us to continue offering the depth of inventory, product quality, and reliability our customers expect even when market conditions are strained. While no organization is immune to the realities of unprecedented demand, we are ideally positioned to navigate it effectively.
Our teams across fulfillment, sales/customer service, minting, and operations are working extended hours and expanding capacity wherever possible to keep orders moving and to support our customers. We are doing this with the same commitment to accuracy, security, and service that has defined APMEX for more than 25 years. Additionally, we have taken the following actions to address volume and corresponding capacity concerns:
- When you place an order, you will see an estimated ship date (ESD) that reflects our current ability to ship. Typically we add one business day, but due to volumes we are now adding 4 business days until further notice. We were about to lower the additional days until the increased surge in demand this week.
- Our Minting teams have narrowed the product assortment we are focused on to get core products in-stock; we have identified 31 core production silver products and currently have 21 of these in-stock, up from sub 15 a few days ago; we expect to have the majority in-stock by this weekend, unless demand increases further; additionally, we have turned the majority off pre-sales unless we feel we can ship the product within 2 weeks
- Finally, on sales/customer service, we have increased headcount by 25% - leveraging talent across the organization
We recognize that delays, longer hold times, or limited availability can be frustrating, particularly in fast-moving markets. Your patience during this extraordinary period is greatly appreciated, and it is not taken for granted. Please know that every decision we make is guided by a long-term commitment to earning and keeping your trust.
Thank you for choosing APMEX as your precious metals partner. We value your business and look forward to continuing to
serve you—today and for the long term.
Ken Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
APMEX
