[pmorici]

"Physical precious metals have some of the worst spreads/fees"

Here is a site that buys 1 ounce gold bars for $10 below the current spot price and sells them for 30 above. that is 0.8% spread on the side a slightly over 2% on the buy side.

http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/topProducts

Are there bad vendors out there, sure, but they are in every market. Look at Bitcon ATM's some of those charge fees amounting to 10%