recommendation please for bullion dealer
botanist
Posts: 524 ✭✭✭
A friend is asking me where to buy at best advantage some bullion gold buffalos, slabbed already by PCGS, who do you currently suggest?
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botanist
Posts: 524 ✭✭✭
botanist
Posts: 524 ✭✭✭
Comments
APMEX, Bullion Exchange, Modern Coin Mart, Liberty (there are others).
All have on-line stores and ebay stores. Make sure your friend understands a higher premium on slabbed, especially the 70's.
"How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn’t see?” - Bob Dylan
Thanks, in previous years I've noted that Apmex, Provident and JM Bullion had the most competitive prices, but haven't been watching recently, and was hoping somebody would know from current experience.
apmex has a steep markup
Ask on the BST.
bullion -> do not buy 70s
I like JM Bullion.
Check what the online dealers mentioned are asking, then Yelp/Google local bullion/coin dealers and see how competitive they are. Eventually they may be ones best resource to also sell to. Plus one can see the coins in person there and pick the ones they prefer.
Agreed but occasional attractive special pricing on their ebay store but one must be quick on the trigger.
For slabbed, you might try Stuppler & Co., Liberty Coin, Modern Coin Mart, and JM Bullion. Sometimes Apmex is almost competitive on slabbed coins. You might even take a look at Kitco.
I knew it would happen.
Thanks to all who supplied suggestions, meanwhile despite receiving several emails with my input, my friend in NYC went ahead and sprung for a bum deal from a firm not mentioned here, paying almost a hundred bucks over Apmex, because he said they will allow him to pay in installments. Apparently NYC doesn't have any competitively-priced bullion dealers, perhaps because it's a high-rent district, but at least in that state there's no sales tax for bullion.
Installments! Ouch.
As Miles said, 'ouch'.
To recap. Your friend asks for advice from you. Ignores it. Pays 6% over Apmex from a local shop. Can't complete the purchase and has nothing to show but a lay away slip.
Ouch x2.
Anyone paying installments on bullion has no business buying bullion. They should first get out of debt so that they have cash to buy bullion. Might as well put the bullion on a credit card and pay 18% interest.
"How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn’t see?” - Bob Dylan
Experience can be a harsh teacher.
Scotsman in St. Louis is also worth checking out for their bullion spreads, although I've not bought slabbed gold from them. What I like about them is that they maintain a current buy-sell sheet on their website, so their pricing is above board.
I knew it would happen.
Thanks again to those who tried helping with comments. However, you can only provide people with suggestions, they decide for themselves how to proceed.
He wanted to start with just a single gold coin, his first, to test the waters, and because he felt a hunch about gold prices rising steeply. I suggested a buffalo because of the magnificent design and the high purity of 0.9999, extremely pleasant to own. I also told him to get one slabbed, so it could be handled and enjoyed without worrying about fingerprints, scratches or nicks, and then to get a PCGS MS 70, random year, which can cost only a tiny premium, about 1%, over a 69 or an NGC, simply because with a 69 he might potentially worry about it being flawed in some way, and because PCGS has a reputation for being stricter in grading moderns. Depending on how it ultimately sells, the premium can be recovered.
His mistake was paying about a hundred bucks over an apparently equivalent item from Apmex, but at least he got the year he preferred, 2020, and they allowed him to pay over time, with no interest, and no extra charges with bullion spot fluctuations, even though he had the cash to pay in full. Gold has gone up about 50 bucks since then.
I just bought a 10 oz. Britannia bar from Monumental Metals. The price was good and no shipping cost or tax.