I would do a couple of things different.
Limiting myself
At the start I was only focusing on the dealers which accept Crypto.
This narrowed me down to just a couple of shops. I could not use Apmex or any US dealer as I dont want to deal with customs so only Europe dealer for me.
Limiting myself this much led to a couple of problems
a) I was not comparing enough about the minimum prices
b) I was paying a higher premium already as the shops were a bit more expensive
c) I was not seeing what other coins are around
A Little bit of everything
I was not really sure where I want to go with my metal journey. Do I just want weight? Do I want to collect shiny things?
While I don`t see this really as a mistake I just bought what I liked. I was not really concerned about reselling.
I did not understand anything about mintage, quality or the value of a first in a series.
As a hobby I dont see this as a mistake as an investment on the other hand I was investing in something I had no idea about. This holds mostly true for semi numismatics and not for the coins I bought for pure weight.
I was back tracking on some coins which I am not this unhappy about as I really enjoy having them but still...I should have had an idea what I am doing.
Buying Silverbars
I like silverbars. They are pretty and feel nice and you dont have to feel bad if you play around with them. The problem about them is the premium. Coins are cheaper and I dont like bars that much more to pay more...
Not knowing the liquidity of the market
It seems very easy.
- Buy a coin
- Hold it for a while
- Sell it
This is something I am still learning. How to sell your positions. There is always eBay of course but it is easier to find a private group / network to save fees and trouble.
I needed some time to realize what my trade off here is.
missing liquidity + risk = ROI
missing liquidity goes both ways here. There are not this many sellers but not that many buyers as well most of the time.
The risk that the coin is a stinker is always there as well of course.
I am still very happy I entered the world of stacking and a bit of collecting and flipping. Hopefully in a year I will look back and think what an idiot I was and how I could just buy one single oz without knowing xyz and get more and more experience in this space.
There are still things I am uncertain about. For example I was thinking about just buying the Queens Beasts as they combine the best of both worlds. No high premium but as we have seen also a good upside potential on the secondary market.
On the other hand I enjoy the variety and I think this will be the way I will keep going but maybe dial a bit back.
There is still a lot to learn in regards of grading and numismatics but this is such a high learning curve which I think I am not willing to take on.