When coins and retail bullion products are tight, like they have been, you should be able to get very close to spot when selling. Maybe even more. Dealers make money on the “spread” and will offer better prices to coax people to sell. It’s kind of a sliding window of prices compared to the “spot” price. If you go to buy, on the other hand, the premium over the spot price may be large as well.
The retail market is different than futures and the big bars. Smaller coins like 1 oz Maples or Kruggerands are basically just jewelry, in a sense. They are desirable in the sense they don’t need assay, difficult to counterfeit, and are convenient to both buy and sell. Being able to purchase one or two at a decent price is kind of deceptive. In big cities, they won’t even let you in the door unless you’re buying 10 at a time. The profit margin on gold bullion is very small and competitive. They might make 50 bucks on a generic bar or coin buying or selling.
Just trying to move a couple of 1 oz Buffaloes.