How buying works

How do you price your products?

Every item is priced from the live spot price of gold plus a stated premium. Spot is what an ounce of pure gold trades for on the wholesale market right now. The premium is what sits on top of it to cover minting, distribution, handling, insured shipping and our margin. When spot moves, our prices move with it.

What is a premium over spot, and what is a normal one?

If gold is $4,100 an ounce and a one-ounce coin sells for $4,400, the premium is $300, or about 7.3% over spot. Premiums are not arbitrary — they vary by product for real reasons. A one-kilo bar carries a low premium because one pour produces a lot of metal. A one-gram bar carries a high percentage premium because the cost of making, carding and shipping it is nearly the same as for a far larger piece. Sovereign mint coins carry more than generic bars because of the mint's guarantee and their resale liquidity. We publish the premium on every product so you can compare it rather than take our word for it.

When is my price locked?

Your price is the price shown when you place your order. Gold moving afterwards does not change what you owe. This is also why we ask that payment be sent promptly — see the payment section below.

Why don’t you advertise like other gold dealers?

Because advertising is overhead, and overhead comes out of the premium.

Gold is sold hard in this country — celebrity spokesmen, radio sponsorships, mailers built on fear of what is coming next. Those campaigns cost real money, and the money comes from somewhere. It is carried in the premium on every coin that dealer sells, for as long as the campaign runs.

We do not run any of it. No endorsers, no cold-calling, no bought lead lists, no countdown clocks. This is not a moral position, it is an arithmetic one: the less we spend persuading you, the less has to sit on top of the metal. It is also why we publish the premium rather than bury it — that number is how you check whether any of this is actually working.

Do I pay sales tax?

It depends on where your order ships, and sometimes on what is in it. Sales tax on a shipped order is set by the destination state — not by where we are — so the answer genuinely differs from one customer to the next. Your cart works it out at checkout and shows you the exact amount before you approve anything. Nothing is added afterwards.

What surprises people is that two items in the same cart can be treated differently. A number of states draw a line between investment-grade bullion and ordinary retail goods, on the reasoning that bullion sits closer to a financial asset than to merchandise. Where that line exists, plain bullion tends to fall on one side of it and jewelry and collectible pieces on the other. Some states attach further conditions — a minimum order size before an exemption applies, or a minimum fineness for the metal to qualify at all.

We are not going to publish a state-by-state table. These rules are set individually by each state, they carry conditions and exceptions, and several have changed in recent years. A list on a dealer’s website is exactly the sort of thing that is accurate the week it is written and quietly wrong a year later, and a wrong answer here is worse than no answer.

Two things worth knowing. Tax not being collected on an order does not by itself mean none is owed — a number of states ask the buyer to report untaxed purchases directly. And we are a gold dealer, not a tax advisor: nothing here is tax advice. Your state’s revenue or taxation department publishes the current rules, and a tax professional can tell you how they apply to your situation.

Why do you only accept bank wire and ACH?

Because card fees would eat the margin that keeps our premiums low. Both are secure bank-to-bank transfers you make through your own bank.

Card processing costs roughly 3% of the transaction. On a $4,400 gold coin that is about $130. Our entire margin on that coin is a few hundred dollars — so accepting cards would consume something close to half of it on a single sale. Dealers who take cards cover that cost the only way they can: by raising premiums for everyone, or by quietly charging card customers more.

We would rather not do either. Bank transfers settle at face value, so the saving stays in the price you see.

There is a second reason. Gold is a high-value, instantly resaleable product, which makes it a favorite target for card fraud and chargeback abuse. Wires are final. Keeping payment to settled bank transfers keeps that risk — and its cost — out of our pricing.

What is the difference between ACH and a wire?

An ACH transfer is the standard bank-to-bank transfer used for payroll and bill payment. It is usually free and takes one to three business days to settle. A wire is faster, often same-day, and most banks charge a fee of roughly $15 to $35 to send one. For larger orders we may require a wire.

How do I get your banking details, and how do I know they are genuine?

We send payment instructions after you place your order.

Please read this carefully, because it protects you: our banking details never change. We will never email you to say our account has been updated, our bank has changed, or that funds should go somewhere new. Criminals target exactly this moment in precious metals transactions — they intercept or spoof an email and substitute their own account number. If you ever receive a message like that, do not send anything. Call us on +1 (917) 830-3762 and confirm with a person first.

When do you ship relative to payment?

We ship once funds have settled, not when a payment is merely initiated. For wires that is usually the same or next business day. ACH takes a little longer to clear.

How do you ship, and is it insured?

All orders ship fully insured for their full value, in discreet packaging with no indication of the contents. Larger orders require an adult signature on delivery.

Do you ship internationally?

We currently ship within the United States only.

Can I return an order?

No. All sales are final.

This is standard across the industry and it is a direct consequence of how pricing works. We buy the metal to fill your order at the spot price at that moment. If gold falls and we accepted returns, we would be buying back at your price and reselling at a lower one — a loss we would have to recover by charging every other customer more. Final sale keeps the premium you pay honest.

Can I cancel an order?

Contact us immediately. If we have not yet committed the metal we will do what we can. Once your order is placed against a live price, cancellation may involve a market-loss adjustment.

Do you buy gold back?

Not at this time. We sell gold; we do not currently make a market buying it back. We would rather tell you that plainly than quote a buy-back number we are under no obligation to honor later.

That does not leave you without an exit. Physical gold is among the most liquid assets a private individual can own, and there are several established routes:

• Local coin shops and precious-metals dealers. Most will buy common bullion over the counter, often the same day. Their offers vary more than people expect, so call two or three and compare. What you are shopping for is the smallest spread — the narrowest gap between the spot price and what they will actually pay you.
• Online marketplaces such as eBay. Recognized sovereign coins and sealed, carded bars sell readily there, frequently closer to retail than a local dealer will pay. In exchange you handle the listing fees, the shipping and the insurance, and you wait for a buyer.
• Large national bullion dealers. Most publish a standing buy price and will send you a prepaid, insured shipping label.

Two things make selling easier whenever you get to it: buy widely recognized products, and keep assay cards, capsules and mint tubes sealed and intact.

Expect any buyer to pay somewhat below retail. That spread is how they earn a living, and it exists in every market from cars to houses. It is also the clearest reason the premium you pay going in matters.

How do I get the best price when I sell?

Work out your melt value before you speak to anybody. Multiply the item’s gold content by the current spot price — the gold content, not the gross weight, which on an alloyed piece are two different numbers. That figure is your yardstick. Walking in without it is how people take poor prices, because they have nothing to measure the offer against.

Then ask every buyer the same question: what are you paying as a percentage of spot? Put that way, three offers on three different items become directly comparable, and a buyer unwilling to answer in those terms has told you something useful. Get at least three quotes, and get them close together — spot moves, and a number from last week does not compare with one from today.

• Settle the price before you hand anything over. Nothing should be unsealed, filed, acid-tested or carried into a back room before a number is agreed. A sealed item that has been opened is worth less than it was five minutes earlier.
• Recognized products get the best offers. A sovereign mint coin or a sealed, serial-numbered bar is accepted on sight. A generic unpackaged bar may have to be tested first, and that friction comes out of your price.
• Mind where you sell. Mail-in envelope services, hotel ballroom buying events and general pawnbrokers tend to pay well below a dedicated bullion dealer. They are charging for convenience, footfall, or your lack of alternatives, and the discount can be steep.
• Jewelry sells on its metal. Expect an offer built on gold content less a refining allowance, whatever the piece cost new.

We do not buy back, so we have nothing to gain from any of this. It is simply what we would want to know.