Coins

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Claimed/Unclaimed
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4.10 (1 review)
226 Dean A. McGee Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73102

APMEX stands for American Precious Metals Exchange.  APMEX is one of the largest precious metals dealers on the Internet.  Besides gold and silver, APMEX also sells platinum and palladium, collectible currency and a variety of supplies.   Over the years they claim to have sold 2 million+ ounces of gold and over 94 million ounces of silver.

They currently list 900+ different silver products.  They sell everything from silver eagles to large 1000 ounce+ silver bullion bars.  They sell gold and silver in virtually any format you can image.  Besides their bullion products, they do a large business in 40% and 90% silver US coins, by the dollar, roll or bag.  They also can sell lots of US silver coins based on grade.  They do offer full collections like a 1916 – 1947 Walking Liberty Half Dollar set, complete in a Dansco album.  APMEX also sells several gold and silver products that can be accepted into IRA plans.

APMEX pricing is middle of the road.  Some items are more expensive than other dealers and some are less expensive than other dealers, so make sure you shop around.  They, like most large dealers, markup the price of your products if you buy with a credit card.  APMEX’s credit card premium is about 3.5%.  That said, they will do what they call QuickShip, or next day shipping,  for orders using credit cards and bank wires.

APMEX has a hard time keeping many of the popular products in stock like certain $100 bags of 90% silver US coins.  This is normal for a high volume dealer.  They clearly mark when items are out of stock and allow you to set an email alert for when they are back in stock.  I like that they mark IRA products.  I also like that they will show, in many cases, their premiums on many products.  Furthermore, APMEX includes customer reviews on most of their products.  I also like that they show their “Buy Price” for certain products on the product listing.

What has been your experience with APMEX?

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4.30 (1 review)
15850 Dallas Parkway Dallas, TX 75248

Provident Metals, based in Dallas TX, is one of the leading gold and silver dealers online.  They have a nice, clean, easy to navigate site, with a full line of products as well as some unique items.  All of the big retail dealers seem to have a hook and for Provident, their hook maybe that they are a little weird.  Don’t get me wrong.  They carry all of the normal name brand products like Johnson Matthey, Engelhard, OPM, Perth, Sunshine, the US Mint and more.  But they also have their own extensive line of private mint bullion products like Zombucks, Starving Liberty Coins and a large number of copper rounds.  Their Provident Prospector silver rounds have some of the lowest premiums of any 1 oz silver bullion products.  Perhaps one of the more unusual product lines that they sell is their Survival and Preparedness food and gear.  (Update Feb. 2016 – Apparently, Provident no longer provides preparedness supplies other than precious metals and related supplies and storage services. ) I think it is a smart, secondary line of products which serves a growing market with a large cross-over.

Besides coins and bullion, Provident does sell certified coins, mint sets and other world and US commemorative coins.    They have a large selection of in-stock items although they also list a number of products which are out of stock.

Some of the products will include the premium over spot price in the description.  Provident’s premiums seem to be right in line with the other large dealers like APMEX, BGASC, JM Bullion, and Amagi Metals.  I do like that you can see the credit card price for a product right in the product listing rather than having to go to the shopping cart to see the difference.  they too include customer reviews on their products as well as their “Buy Price”, which makes it really convenient to shop.

Provident Metals also sells IRA approved products and has partnered with Elemetal to provide physical precious metals storage services.

What do you think of Provident Metals?

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4.70 (1 review)
959 Hwy 95N, Shiner, TX 77984

Texas Metals is a spin off of the prolific Kaspar family of companies, in business in south Texas since 1898.  The firm is managed by Jason Kaspar and Tarek Saab, both prolific contributors to the media and analysis side of the precious metals industry.

Texas Metals doesn’t have the super broad selection of an APMEX or a large selection of their own private mint products like Provident Metals does (although they do offer a 1 oz round).  What makes Texas Metals unique is what they don’t have, namely, inventory listed on their website that they don’t have in stock.  If they don’t have the product, they don’t sell it.  Sounds simple enough.  But many gold and silver buyers have fallen victim to dealers who have failed to deliver promised and purchased products.    Many dealers sell their demand forward, counting on the ability to pull ordered products from expected future deliveries.  But, you can easily see the horrible domino effect when there is a shortage of product in the market, or when allocations are cut, as happened with American Eagles from the US mint.

Texas Metals very CLEARLY marks products that they don’t have in stock as such and then moves them off of their website in a timely fashion.  Furthermore, when inventories are low, they will tell you how many of a particular product are available.  That makes for a simple and fast shopping experience, with few surprises.    The product descriptions give you a clear idea what the specification and condition of the products are as well as whether they are IRA approved.  Furthermore, Texas Metals also indicates their “Buy Price” in the product listing – usually spot price + a premium.

Shipping is done within 3 business days.  But they ship UPS overnight on all orders in a secure package.  They can also store bullion for you through their partnership with CNT.

One particularly unique thing about Texas Metals is that they will allow you to buy bullion with a limit order.  that means you can create a standing order for gold or silver for the price you want to pay.  If silver is trading at $16.50 and you want to buy it when the price hits 15.70, Texas Metals will hold an order open for you until the price of silver meets your limit price.

Also, they do not accept credit cards, but they will accept cash for pickup orders.   On their order process page, they state “If you are picking up in person, be advised that we are Texan, so the entire staff is armed. ” 🙂   Awesome.

 

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4.60 (1 review)
P.O. Box 9119 Calabasas, CA, 91372

Until 2014, I had never heard of BGASC, but boy am I glad I did!  I had seen BGASC ads all over the Internet, with increasing volume and decided to visit their website.  Yes Virginia, Internet advertising does work!

BGASC stands for Buy Gold and Silver Coins.  They have a lot more than coins on their very professional eCommerce enabled website.  BGASC carries a full line of gold and silver bullion products, 40% silver and 90% silver US coins, certified cents, mint sets, commemorative coins, and very unique Hobo Nickels and other carved coins.  They also have a large selection of supplies.

The website is very easy to navigate.  Items related to products you are looking at are included at the bottom of the page.  The description of the products is clear and concise.  The shopping cart is straightforward and they will lock in prices for about 10 minutes.  Because of the rapidly changing nature of precious metals prices, after the 10 minutes expires, BGASC will refresh the price of the product in your cart to reflect the current sales price.    You can pay by check, credit card or bank wire.  Doing a quick check, credit card prices seem to be about 4% higher than check or bank wire prices, as is typical in the industry.

As far as price goes, BGASC seems in the ball park.  Premiums on gold seem to run between 4% – 5%.  Lower priced products have a higher premium and higher end products like 10 oz gold bars have premiums in the 1.5% – 2% range.  Silver premiums are much higher: in the 6% – 25% range.  However, they are in the ballpark compared to other dealers like Apmex, Texas Metals and Provident.

Besides a great buying experience, I find the real value from BGASC is in the shipping.  Shipping on orders over $250 is free and most products are shipped the next business day.  I had a great experience with them and would highly recommend BGASC.

What do you think about BGASC?

 

 

 

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4.30 (1 review)
11700 Preston Road Ste 660153 Dallas, TX 75230

JM Bullion, located in Dallas Texas, is one of the largest and most trusted online silver dealers in the country.  With a great website and a large selection of gold and silver products, it is easy to see why 30,000+ people gave them a favorable review on Shopper Approved.  Besides their coins and bullion, JM Bullion also does a good job at educating the buyer, especially when it comes to setting up a precious metal IRA.  Their unique products like the 1.25 ounce Silver Bison coin and their amazing weekly sales makes JM Bullion one of the site you must consider when investing in silver and gold.

Full Review

JM Bullion has done a great job decluttering their website. It is intuitive and easy to navigate. They have a large selection of gold bullion on their site including gold Eagles, Gold Buffaloes and large selection of gold bullion bars from PAMP Suisse.

Products

Their silver selection is more impressive with 50 different types of silver bullion bars and a large selection of both us and world bullion coins. They also have numerous types of silver rounds ranging from 1/10th ounce to 5 ounce varieties for you to choose from. Their selection of junk- or circulated silver, while not as large as say APMEX’s, is sold in increments as low as $10 FV (Face Value) or by the bag – $100, $200, and $500 FV. They also carry numismatic silver coins.

In addition to gold and silver bullion and coins, JM Bullion also sells copper and platinum products.

One of the nice things about their site is a clear and concise description of the process of buying precious metals for a self directed IRA. They also mark all bullion that has been approved for inclusion in a gold or silver IRA, which saves a lot of time on research.
They do indicate whether a product us in stock and how long it will take to ship right on each product listing page.

Prices for Common Silver Bullion Products

As of publication time:
(1) 2014 1 Ounce Silver American Eagle Price: $22.39 for a single coin, $4.35 per ounce premium, 24% over spot
(1) 10 Ounce Generic Silver Bar: $189.30, $1.82 per ounce premium, 10.4% over spot
(1) $100 Face Value: $1465.76, $3.31 per ounce premium, 18.4% over spot
*NOTE – These are credit card prices, so reduce the premium and % accordingly when
comparing. Also, these are the prices for single items. Buying in volume can get you a significant price break.

Payment

JM Bullion accepts bank wires, Paypal, major credit cards, and paper checks. As with most dealers, it will cost you more to pay with a credit card than to pay with a bank wire or personal check. The difference between credit cards and paper checks/bank wires seems to be a bout 4%. The drawback of payment by check is that a check may take up to 10 days to clear. This is significant when precious metals prices are volatile. However, if you are investing for the long term, you may consider saving the 4% and pay with a check or bank wire. Order minimums and maximums are dictated by the payment type.

From the JM Bullion Site, “Order fulfillment times range from a day to a maximum of a month, in addition to any posted delays, although the majority of our orders ship out within two days of approved payment.” JM Bullion currently only ships to addresses in the US.

Unique Products and Services

One of the really interesting products that JM Bullion sales is a 1 1/4 ounce silver Bison coin. this coin is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint exclusively for JM Bullion. The unique thing about this custom minted coin is that it also has a face value and ostensibly would be accepted as currency in Canada.

Also, every Monday, they list sales for the week – as long as supplies last – and some of the sales are absolutely killer. The week of Jan 19th, 2015, they were selling 1 ounce gold bars minted by Ohio Precious Metals (OPM) for only $14.99 per ounce over spot. That premium is about 1/4 of what is typical!

Conclusion

JM Bullion is very proud of their products ans service and they should be.  They have more than 30,000 transactions on Shopper Approved and have rated a 4.8/5 or 96%!  If you want gold bars other than PAMP, then you may need to go somewhere else or check back later.  If you are looking to buy silver or gold or invest in a precious metals IRA, JM Bullion is definitely worth checking out.

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4.20 (1 review)
5930 Royal Lane Ste. E-151 Dallas, TX 75230

If JM Bullion’s commitment to becoming the largest precious metals dealer in the industry was ever in doubt, Silver.com should lay those concerns to rest. In 2012, the company invested nearly a million dollars in acquiring the domain name Silver.com in order to create a successful parallel brand running along side their flagship JM Bullion brand.  Their ubiquitous ads all over the web should be another indicator of this commitment.  And with over 5500 shopper ratings averaging 4.8 out of 5, they seem to be off to a great start.

Full Review

“We take great pride in offering a wide selection of precious metals products at market-leading prices. That, along with our sincere commitment to quick shipping and fast, friendly customer service, keeps investors coming back to Silver.com time and time again.” – Silver.com

That pretty much sums up their mission statement.

Silver.com has created a very simple shopping interface.   The large silver product inventory is well categorized.  One has the ability to add products to one’s cart from the listing page, or they can drill deeper on the individual product page which has a extensive description of the product, including specifications.  One of the nice features is that the FAQ, Frequently asked questions list is visible on every product page and yet does not feel like clutter, not interrupt the shopping experience.  While Silver.com is the name of the brand, the website has a large inventory of gold products including coins, bars and rounds.

Products

The site carries name brand products from Perth, Pamp, Valcambi, Johnson Matthey, Sunshine, A-Mark and other well know private mints as well as American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leaf coins, and a variety of other bullion products from government mints in Austria, Australia, China, Canada and the US.  In addition to the bullion products, Silver.com carries a selection of NGC graded coins for collectors.  Most of these are graded bullion coins like American Silver Eagles, but they also have a small selection of graded Peace Dollars.

Silver.com does have a page that explains precious metals IRAs.  There are a couple of small links that point to IRA eligible products.  And, if you are a browser, you will be able to see the IRA Eligible designation on appropriate products, though the text is a bit small.

The site indicates that everything listed on it is in stock.  I am a little skeptical.  Either one doesn’t see their full product line and they have an amazing staff and eCommerce system that automatically adds and removes products as inventory indicates, or the “In stock” button is stuck in the on position.  It is unusual to see an online dealer, especially a busy, manage their inventory so well, that they don’t show any out of stock items, even for just a little while.  I would love some more feed back on this.

Prices

Silver.com has great prices, especially for individual bullion coins like American Eagles and Maple Leaf coins.  However, their price breaks are pretty large.  For instance 2014 American Eagles have a price break on the premium of $0.30, but only after you buy 500 coins.  Credit cards will cost up a bit more than cash, check, or wire.

As of publication time: (1) 2014 1 Ounce Silver American Eagle Price: $20.46. for a single coin, $3.59 per ounce premium, 21% over spot.   (1) 10 Ounce Generic Silver Bar (Sunshine Mint): $183.77, $1.60 per ounce premium, 9.5% over spot.   (1) $100 Face Value 90% silver circulated US coins (mixed bag): $1395.54, $2.74 per ounce premium, 16.3% over spot.   *NOTE – These are credit card prices, so reduce the premium and % accordingly when comparing.  Also, these are the prices for single items. Buying in volume can get you a significant price break.

Payment

Silver.com accepts checks, bank wires, credit cards and PayPal.  Expect to pay about 4% more when using credit cards, which is pretty typical. They accept Paypal, which has the same incremental markup as credit card payments.  The company indicates that 90% of orders are shipped with in a business day of payment clearing.  Make sure you look at the fine print carefully, as with all other dealers, so that you fully understand about price locks, and payment minimums and maximums.

Unique Products and Services

Silver.com really focuses on silver, even though they have gold products.  One of the things that is unique about them is that they do not buy or source silver from the public.  This makes the composition of their inventory pretty homogenous from month to month.  That means that buyers will get better prices because silver.com is not spending time and money marketing products that don’t sell and that silver.com doesn’t have to make up losses in weak demand products by jacking up the prices in higher demand products.  Even still, they have a very large selection of silver products and numerous brands.  They have half a dozen 100 oz. bar brands whereas many dealers only have a few in stock.

Conclusion

If you want to buy silver, Silver.com is a great place to start.  They have low premiums and a broad variety of products.  They can also help you with precious metals IRAs.  Because they are a JM Bullion brand, you can be sure that they are not a fly-by-night outfit and invest in customer service and inventory management controls to ensure that buyers have a great experience.

Tell us what you think.

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3.00 (1 review)
17860 N. US Hwy 41 Lutz, FL 33549
(813) 482-9300(813) 482-9300

This review of Gainesville Coins is very interesting to me.  They are one of the largest bullion dealers in the country and have a loyal following, however, they also have some serious detractors.  There are some really good things about them like their inventory stocks, product mix, and unique features that really make them stand out like retailing metal detectors.  There are some real negatives though.  Some are minor annoyances, others are yellow flags for certain.  Please check out the review and leave your comments below.

*Strangely enough, Gainesville Coins is not located in Gainesville, but in Lutz, FL, 120 miles away from the University of Florida college town.

Quote from the About Us

“Our company was founded on the vision of offering every customer the opportunity to buy U.S. and World Silver and Gold Coins at prices never before possible. Our world class team of professional numismatists and outstanding support team of customer service representatives will provide you with a fast, courteous, and professional experience.”

Services

Gainesville Coins is a full service gold and silver dealer with an emphasis on coins and rounds.  they carry the standard products like 40% and 90% circulated silver coins, bar, round, and coin bullion from the major brands like Johnson Matthey, Engelhard, Sunshine, Heraeus, and Trident.  They of course carry American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leaf Coins, Austrian Philharmonics, and Australian Perth Mint bullion as well as bullion from a number of other government mints around the world.  Besides gold and silver, Gainesville Coins sells platinum, palladium and copper bullion.  In addition to precious metals, GC also sells supplies.  One can find a number of clearance and sales items from their main website navigation bar as well.

Gainesville coins does support Precious metals IRA programs with their IRA eligible products clearly marked no both the category and product pages as well as devoting a special section to IRAs.  The information in the section gives one a great head start understanding how to go about establishing a silver or gold IRA.

Some of the things that makes GC unique are the education section, the way they buy coins and bullion, and that they sell metal detectors!  I really like the education section with the infographics that help make the buying of coins and precious metals less intimidating.  Gainesville Coins also buys coins and bullion from the public, however they do it with no minimums.  Many other dealers (not cash for gold types) will buy your silver or gold but require a large quantity.  GC has no minimums for buying coins.  This is a big plus, however the negative is that it results in lower prices than you might find at the other dealers who require a minimum.  Instead of a $1.25 premium on your American Silver Eagles, you might only get spot price from GC.

Another one of the things that makes them unique is that they also sell metal detectors!  And why not?  Their showroom is in Florida  and metal detectors are a perfect fit for the location and demographics.  Besides, who wouldn’t rather find treasure than buy it?

eCommerce and the Website

I have not made a phone call to a precious metals dealer in years.  I either buy in person, when it is convenient, or I buy online.  Gainesville Coins, like most large bullion dealers, has an eCommerce website so you can shop and purchase 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  And while GC has a very extensive website, compared to other sites/dealers we have reviewed, it is a bit clunky.

First the good things: GC clearly identifies IRA items in both the category pages and the product pages as well as the main navigation.   I like that on the category pages you can change the viewing mode from list style to grid style.  I also like the filters on the left side of the page which allow one to get really granular when searching for specific products.  I think that the education section with the videos and posts is very helpful.  I like the ability to set price alerts.

I like the idea of daily deals and clearance sections.  I like the graphical progress bar that show you the amount of relative inventory left.  The site would be better, IMO, if they had the same feature on each product page.

Overall though, I feel like the site is too cluttered.  Some navigation items or widgets are on the right hand side of the page on one page then they move to the left on another.  On one page, contact info is at eye level in the right hand column, on another, one must hunt for it.   Without a drop down menu, one must make extra clicks and wait for additional pages to laod that might not be necessary.  That may be part of their merchandising strategy, but in my experience, having as few pages to wade through as possible makes for a better buying experience.  Also, the site doesn’t appear to have a responsive design, so your viewing experience may depend on your device, browser and operating system.  The site did recognize my Android phone and give me a mobile version, but it did not look very good and some elements were off screen or frame.

Additionally, when clicking on a clearance item that has been sold out, I get sent to a 404 page.  The “Comparison Tool” sounds great, but when I tried to click on the link, I was redirected back to the about us page.  Some of these are technical issues, but they affect how someone perceives a business.  and a large dealer like this really should have a shopping experience that matches the reputation they tout.

Prices and Premiums

GC touts their low prices and for some items, especially in their Deals of the Day or Clearance sections, they have very low premiums.  For instance at publication time they are selling random 10 ounce bars for $0.45 per ounce over spot.  That is an extremely low premium.  For credit card orders, be prepared to pay about about 3.2% more on your order than if you used bank wire.  Here is how they stack up price-wise on some of the most commonly sold products across the industry:

As of publication time: (1) 2014 1 Ounce Silver American Eagle Price: $21.33. for a single coin, $3.91 per ounce premium, 22.4% over spot.   (1) 10 Ounce Generic Silver Bar : $186.48, $1.23 per ounce premium, 7.1% over spot.   (1) $100 Face Value 90% silver circulated US coins (mixed bag): $1417.47, $2.40 per ounce premium, 13.8% over spot.   *NOTE – These are credit card prices, so reduce the premium and % accordingly when comparing.  Also, these are the prices for single items. Buying in volume may get you a significant price break.     On the items we priced on their website, there were no volume discounts and shipping and insurance was always charged.  So the prices are lower than typical, however since they add shipping/handling fees to the order, you may have similar pricing with GC’s competitors.

Payment and Shipping

Gainesville Coin only accpets major creidt cards and bank wires, although they do accept cash in their showroom.  No checks.  Again, they charge for shipping and insurance in addition to your product price and ship via USPS or UPS.    Make sure you check out their return and market loss policy.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot to like and some not to like about Gainesville Coins. I have not personally bought from them, but in talking to people and reading lots of reviews, I can say this for a certainty:  People seem to either love them or hate them.  There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.  If you look at their BBB rating, it indicates an A+, however, that only indicates that Gainesville Coins has addressed the complaints.  The fact that they have had so many complaints over the past couple of years is a little bit concerning.    Perhaps that is just a function of volume.  Prices seem pretty good, but keep your eyes wide open and read all of the “fine print”, which is good advice for any business transaction.

What has your experience with Gainesville Coins been?

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