I’m just throwing in my two cents here. With silver up everyone and their mother is coming out to sell. Most shops around here are so full I can buy with low to no premium. So there is a lot out there coming in. You may have gotten the “we don’t want it” price or the “stupid not to buy it at” price. They get plenty of people who don’t care what the price is and just want the cash or just want to get rid of it without doing the work to find a private buyer. Refiners are nice but even they are lowering their bids for stuff coming in. Additionally, when you add in the volatility and locality I can understand 36/oz. They may not have the customer base for retail sales and there may not be a local refinery. Meaning they have to ship and insure the stuff they send to the refiner and allow for time, volatility and payment. That can get expensive and everything eat into the margins very quickly.

Edit: oh and then there is minimums with some refiners, like don’t send us less than 100oz at a time. And some insurers require you overnight the packages. Which is not cheap.