The United States Mint will make available the numismatic Hot Springs National Park 5 Oz Silver Uncirculated Coin on Thursday at noon ET for $279.95.
In preparation for the collector coin release, the US Mint has issued an alert on its website warning customers that it expects online order delays due to demand and a system that needs upgrading.
"Because of the anticipated demand for the coins, we expect that our online ordering management system will be much slower than usual. As we have previously indicated to our customers, our online ordering management system is in need of upgrade. Fixing the system is a priority. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate an upgraded system being in place until approximately mid-2012," the United States Mint says in its notice.
The US Mint goes on to apologize for any possible inconveniences and asks customers to "be patient during this time."
The United States Mint produced 27,000 of each of the five 2010-dated America the Beautiful Silver Uncirculated Coins, including that of the Hot Springs 5 oz issue for release on Thursday. The low mintage, one coin per household limit, and the pent-up demand for them is likely to result in tens of thousands of customers hitting the Mint website in a very short time span. Products in the past that have faced that type of customer attention have brought the Mint’s order management system to its knees.
The United States Mint has already indicated it will implement a waiting list, as it expects to take in more than 27,000 orders even though each Hot Springs coin is one of the higher priced products at $279.95. The US Mint describes the list as follows:
The United States Mint will institute a "waiting list" for orders beyond the maximum mintage. We may, however, be unable to post notification of a waiting list status in a timely manner so that the customer knows of this status prior to placing the order. A waiting list means that orders have been accepted for the maximum mintage, but if a product becomes available because of an order cancellation, we will fulfill orders from the waiting list on a first-in, first-served basis. The United States Mint will be unable to provide information about a customer’s position on the waiting list.
When an order is placed on a waiting list, you will receive an order receipt, but it is not a guarantee that you will receive your order. If we are unable to fulfill your order, you will receive a cancellation or sold-out notification within one to two weeks. If you paid by check, you will receive a refund.
When released, collectors interested in the Hot Springs 5 oz Silver Coin can place orders online (http://catalog.usmint.gov/) or call the United States Mint directly at 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). Both methods, if expected demand turns into reality, will be very slow on Thursday.
The US Mint warns that if paying by credit card to make sure the information remains current up through shipment time to avoid delays or cancellations.
ordered mine started at 12:00 and was done 12:07.
I also completed the order in under 10 min. Compared to past experiences with other slammed websites, this went very smoothly.
how did you ordered? I could not check out for 20 minutes now, and phone has got NO one answer!
Still trying to get through
I did it through the website “quick checkout” option, with an existing account and cc
But I did start right at 9am (west coast time)…
Yeah i was ready 5 minutes before the sale happened, waited till it hit 12 pm est…and after 23 minutes of getting kicked from the site multiple times with the item in my cart….My order was processed @12:23 pm est. Mr Greed is ……”WINNING!”
ordered mine at 12.00 was done at 12:07. not to bad.
Logging in at 11:50 am EST I was kicked out multiple times until US Mint Site Crashed at 1 pm EST. A note went up on the site that there were “Tech Difficulties” and to call the 800 number. I was unable to get thru on the phone, getting only a busy signals. The US Mint site was up at about 1:50 pm EST and I was then able to place my order. Nothing smooth here!!!
Good luck ordering everyone. This one’s a beauty.
As a frequent U.S. Mint buyer, I too was surprised by how quickly I was able to place my order. To alleviate this, maybe the U.S. Mint could include these coins into its subscription program thereby eliminating the routine “crash” of its system each time new (highly anticipated) coin(s) is/are released.
With a low mintage like this they couldn’t include this in the subscription. At least this way everyone has a shot at one. Lots of these are being sold on Ebay for a handsome profit. Some sellers have more than one. The mint should investigate those sellers. Coin dealers are trying to get people to buy these by paying them a small premium to buy them for them so that they can turn around and sell at a higher price to collectors who aren’t able to get them. I am hoping that they eventually have to buy on the open… Read more »
It’s a shame you didn’t get a set of the bullion. It was rather simple. I got 6 from the AP’s; 2 of them through buying online and the other 4 by simply calling them. I followed sites like this one to inform me of where and how to purchase a set. I got my numismatic version at 12:46 after 46 minutes of trying. I was routinely booted off the site but secured one the old fashion way by calling them! I kept getting busy signals until I slipped in. I’m also a bit tired of people who have sour… Read more »
After numerous attempts on my PC to get through all the steps for checkout, having already been logged in to my account. I started the process on my iPhone while not logged in and started/completed the checkout process as a guest, I was able to get an “order” to go through at 12:31 (EST) listing the product as “Backordered”. So I’m assuming some of the previous posters that say they had an order go through after this time, that they’re assuming this is a completed order or did they somehow get an outright order to some how process after the… Read more »
@Pocchange,
My order status is “In stock and reserved”. ALL coins will have to wait 1-2 weeks before shipping out.
Each person can only order ONE coin. So in order to make sure ONLY one of your orders went through, you should call them, and talk to a real person. They are all very friendly
Am i the only one to say it? When the 5oz Hot Springs went on sale Apr. 28 silver was almost @ $50.00 an ounce. Now a week later..”Still no sellout” and silver has fallen to $36.23 ounce. $279.95 a coin /by 5 is almost $56 an ounce not including Shipping, when silver is $36 an ounce. The Mint played this to perfection.
Holy cow….Silver is at $34.50 and falling. Let’s see $34.50 x 5 = $172.50 in silver in my 5 oz Hot Springs coin i paid $279.95 +shipping.
Got email from mint saying my coin shipped on 5-6
Yellowstone comes out on 5-17. Should sell out faster since it’s the most popular of the bullion coins and hot springs was the least
Silver dropped almost $15, wonder if the mint will sell the coin for $75 less