Pete

We always treat the Channel Isles as part of the UK but they are outside the EU.
Anything being shipped from the Channel Isles below a value ( around £12 I think ?? ) is subject to VAT and packages have always had to have a customs declaration, or if postage paid electronically a declaration filed on-line. So now that the transition period is ending, all goods arriving from the EU will be subject to VAT but not duty or quotas as that's in the agreement. Buying from GS.be or the European Mint for example will be invoiced VAT free but subject to UK VAT on arrival. Freedom of movement of goods has come to an end.

Can you share this information please as I would like to compare prices - thanks.
Ignore buying just a single coin as the argument will be the cost of shipping so maybe compare a full tube of Maples, Eagles, Britannias etc. and maybe use the exchange rate quoted by TransferWise and not a bank or the sellers rates.

These sets from makers such as Pinches are not worth much more than scrap value. There is no collecting market for these overpriced items. 
Personally I'd clean them using a silver dip and a soft cloth. You might add a few percent extra on the price you can get. 

They are mass produced medals, made specifically for their aesthetic value and as such, heavy toning like yours spoils them IMO. They are currently little more than bullion.
Personally, I would draw a distinction between these and coins of numismatic value and happily dip them if it restored them to their original condition.

Thanks - reasonable for 1 or 2 but for a full tube somewhat high.
I can order in Germany for €32 each but will wait until the dust settles post Brexit to see what happens.

Silver trader had 170 in stock yesterday and with his discounts and prices breaks might be good for you

£33-£34 is the best you will find them at the moment in the UK. So a pretty high premium. I won't be buying any more lol

I would just like to highlight the risks of trading on the forum. This has been previously mentioned multiple times and is also in the forum's terms & conditions.

Although the vast marjory of trades happen without issues there have very occasionally been a few incidents where problems have occurred and members were unable to reach an amicable resolution. I would like to highlight though that this is a very small percent.

In a recent issue I pointed out the forum's terms and despite the fact that TSF do not offer a mediation service, I tried to help and spent a lot of time to try to get the parties to come to an agreement, whilst also clearly stating that this is not a service that TSF provide and I was merely trying to help. The member in question had been offered a refund by the seller, but wanted to change the terms of the refund. To which there was finally an agreement, however the other member had not replied to finalise everything. This unfortunately ended with one member cancelling their Premium Membership and the other member not coming back to the forum after being bombarded with multiples messages from the other member when I was asking for their patience and to give a chance for the other member to reply.

I would like to highlight that neither TSF nor myself can be blamed should a trade unfortunately go wrong. TSF simply provide the platform (free of charge) for members to trade on, the responsibility of a trade is solely on the parties involved in the trade as TSF is no part of any trade that takes place. And under 7.4.1. neither TSF nor myself mediate trades, any such contact or help provided by myself (ChrisSilver) in regards to trades is merely myself trying to help and I do so at my own discretion. 

We work very hard to make the forum a fair and honest place for members to trade on. And we ask members to report any suspicious activity. If we believe that a member has shown themselves (through multiple actions on the forum) to be a danger to the community, we will of course remove that member. Their Premium Membership status has no baring on their account, we have in the past removed top tier Premium Members members who we believed could pose a threat to the community. Although we do not mediate trades, we ask again to report any suspicious activity under rule 7.4.10. so that we can be made aware of any issues. 

There are 18,297 positive trade feedback reviews at the time of writing in the trading feedback section, to which TSF has received no commission on, nor will we ever charge a commission for members to trade on the forum. 

Please also see this topic here which gives some helpful suggestions for when you do your due diligence before a trade. Which was posted on 6th October 2020.

You may also wish to use BackyardBullion's intermediary service.



Forum's rules at the time of writing in regards to Risk of Trading.
Note that the above may not be the latest version of the rules. For the up to date rules and for the full terms & conditions please see here: https://www.thesilverforum.com/guidelines/

You've guessed it - no activity in this section because there are no deals to be had in Platinum.
Dealer margins are ridiculously high and availability is tight so not the time to be buying.
Pity as we loose our low VAT routes in the next week or 2.
Late Spring low cost return flights to Estonia perhaps ?

If you overlay DXY(green) on silver(pink) and flip it vertical

 
They've only really decoupled as opposites and fallen together in November
People pulling out of fear assets to go into recovery possibly (incredibly optimistic) 
You can see price spiked 50% in a short space of time in 2008 then had a down period, I think we're in history repeating and the highlighted area, short term down but long term up. 

I know why silver plunged because I just took delivery of my last bulk EU order before the VAT kicks in.
If silver drops a bit more the reduced VAT savings will be wiped out.
Sod's Law.
 

I know why silver plunged because I just took delivery of my last bulk EU order before the VAT kicks in.
If silver drops a bit more the reduced VAT savings will be wiped out.
Sod's Law.
 

Call me old fashioned but if you're not happy with a purchase don't you have a private chat with the person you bought from rather than calling them out?

I second that comment

I too received some 2021 coins this week including the Kook, Australian Lunar, Britannia and the QB Greyhound.
Every Perth Mint unmarked and in a capsule.
8 out of 10 QB coins were scuffed on Her Majesty's face & neck
4 out of 5 Britannias also showing rub marks on their highest points.
Awful handling by our Royal Mint and such a shame because the designs are outstanding but in my mind devalues each scuffed brand new coin to little more than scrap.

 

I too received some 2021 coins this week including the Kook, Australian Lunar, Britannia and the QB Greyhound.
Every Perth Mint unmarked and in a capsule.
8 out of 10 QB coins were scuffed on Her Majesty's face & neck
4 out of 5 Britannias also showing rub marks on their highest points.
Awful handling by our Royal Mint and such a shame because the designs are outstanding but in my mind devalues each scuffed brand new coin to little more than scrap.

 

I too received some 2021 coins this week including the Kook, Australian Lunar, Britannia and the QB Greyhound.
Every Perth Mint unmarked and in a capsule.
8 out of 10 QB coins were scuffed on Her Majesty's face & neck
4 out of 5 Britannias also showing rub marks on their highest points.
Awful handling by our Royal Mint and such a shame because the designs are outstanding but in my mind devalues each scuffed brand new coin to little more than scrap.

 

I too received some 2021 coins this week including the Kook, Australian Lunar, Britannia and the QB Greyhound.
Every Perth Mint unmarked and in a capsule.
8 out of 10 QB coins were scuffed on Her Majesty's face & neck
4 out of 5 Britannias also showing rub marks on their highest points.
Awful handling by our Royal Mint and such a shame because the designs are outstanding but in my mind devalues each scuffed brand new coin to little more than scrap.

 

I too received some 2021 coins this week including the Kook, Australian Lunar, Britannia and the QB Greyhound.
Every Perth Mint unmarked and in a capsule.
8 out of 10 QB coins were scuffed on Her Majesty's face & neck
4 out of 5 Britannias also showing rub marks on their highest points.
Awful handling by our Royal Mint and such a shame because the designs are outstanding but in my mind devalues each scuffed brand new coin to little more than scrap.

 

Hi All,
I thought it would be useful for to add a thread on gold / precious metal scams.  
There have been a few questions posted over the last year that indicate that some new forum members might be being scammed or are thinking about taking part in a "venture" that is is a scam....or worse being used to launder money.  This post can be used as a 'lookup' for new members and also for forum members to flag any scams that they have seen.
Forum members, please do flag up scams or any other advice that would be helpful to people.
Best
Dicker
 
The "Hook"
A gold scam is the same as any other scam - someone is trying to entice you into parting with your money for a product that does not exist and you will never receive.The 'hook' to catch your interest is often the prospect of making significant money by buying gold at a discount.  Margins on PM's are tight and you will find that even miners in remote regions of third world countries know the price of gold!
 
Types of Scams
Financing the importation of gold - Where there is a spurious source i.e. Gold looted from from Saddam, Gadaffi, ISIS, a corrupt mine manager etc  Financing the purchase and sale of gold in another country  - You are invited to fund the purchase and sale of gold using a bogus tax scheme - you are supposed to get the profits when the deal is completed Buying gold dust - "left over" from a mine crusher, smelting plant etc Buying from an fraudulent online dealer - Who has just setup shop and is selling gold at a deep discount Buying from a corrupt politician / government employee - Who just happens to have access to a load of gold Tax avoidance - Funding the purchase and sale of PM's across different tax jurisdictions with you taking a cut of the profits My client wants to buy a lot of gold - Or a bullion dealer, or a refinery.  This is essentially where a victim has been "won over" by a scammer and is then being used to scam others.  We had an example on this forum a while ago where a member was enquiring about buying vast quantities of gold (central bank quantities) or a large refinery...  I think in the end the forum member left, still thinking that we were wrong and she was had a client who wanted that quantity of gold..... Money laundering - You are used to move money around using your bank account (private or company), on the premise you are dealing gold, whereas you are moving money that comes from the proceeds of crime (mostly drugs)  
No one would fall for that right?
Sadly people do, and more frequently than people think - especially senior citizens.  Many scams are extremely elaborate, well planned and well financed, with months or years in the making.
Sending a sample as a 'convincer' - To convince a victim that they are genuine, it is not unknown (but not common) for a scammer to send a sample of gold to a victim for testing.  "Keep the 1/10th ounce sample, we have lots more......" More common is a video or documentary evidence of gold being tested with a piece of paper with your name on.  The gold may be real or may be totally fake, but you won't know Most frequently, stock photos of gold seem to be used as part of scam - using Google Image Search or Tineye is good for searching for the picture to see if it has been used elsewhere Pushy People - Frequently scammers are pushy, with a time frame and deadline put in place to pressurise you to handover cash Scammers are not necessarily pushy, and are willing to play the long game - for example selling a victim 2oz gold at 30% under spot, then waiting for the victim to say - lets do it again with 30oz's Documentation and Websites - Are sometimes surprisingly well put together, and enough to fool a non-expert Wire Transfer - Having a BIC Code and asking for payment by SWIFT MT103 dent mean the recipient is genuine  
Spotting Scams
Stranger danger - The majority of fraud against an individual is carried out by someone not known to them (but there are of course exceptions) Too good to be true - buying PM's significantly under spot doesn't happen - the market is too 'tight' with margins and pricing to match.  (Check the Forum Sale section - you are lucky if you can buy gold for Spot!) Dubious legality - Some scams purport to be close to the law, or in breach or it in order to make money, or someone says they have found a 'loophole'.  Example smuggling gold to avoid tax, claiming tax rebates on gold in another country Urban Legends - Were you hear of gold discovered and belonging to Gadaffi, Hitler, Saddam, that was left in a bank or looted only to be found by the scammer Government Involvement - The person you are dealing with purports to be a government minister, judge, central bank officer - they will not be, even in very non-democratic countries Payment by Western Union, Moneygram - these are immediate red flags.  Both of these companies have implemented checks for 419 scams (sending cash to West Africa and elsewhere) but it remains essentially an anonymous way to receive funds  Cash - To date, all of the scams that I have seen have involved the victim sending cash (physical or by wire) rather than precious metals, but this may not always be the case Google is your friend - Google the name of the company and the person you are dealing with - it doesn't take long to find that (or example) Judge Thomas Mensa of Ghana is in fact deceased, and not in possession of $USD20 million of gold he wants to sell to you at a discount (Mail I received last week...) Your personal information - Scammers often want your personal details ASAP The location of the scammer - From what I have seen (and I appreciate this is anecdotal) a large proportion of the gold scams originate from West Africa, and particularly from countries where 419 Fraud is common  
The following is a good watch and explains why people get caught out and then cannot stop funding a gold scam.   
 

My experience also so that's why I have been gradually "dumping" boxed sets, commemoratives and certified proofs.
Selling at a loss but lesson learned.
Fantastic empty shelf space once the fancy packaging has left the building.
Also in my experience the popular slabbed coins with MS-69 / 70 often don't cover the additional cost of grading.
There will always be odd exceptions to quote though.
On the opposite side I wish I hadn't sold last year my collection of Queen's Beasts Griffins looking at the current price.
Nice to see the Dragon creeping up a bit and wonder how the series will develop ?
 

A long term stacker !!
Did you follow the herd and buy during the peaks in 2011 ?
Sadly I bought a lot - things were at a fever pitch and coins were selling on eBay the moment they were listed.
At the time you had to pay full VAT buying from the likes of CoinInvest but the German rate of VAT was low ( 7 or 9% ? - cannot recall ) so I bought mainly from German dealers.
I saw my "investment" crash but luckily I wasn't relying on this to pay the bills.
Fortunately I also managed to buy when silver was low and by selling some of this have kind of cancelled some, but not all, of the book value losses.
GS.be and the European Mint have been super but only if you bought sufficient to amortise the shipping.
GS.be also allow you to build up multiple orders to have shipped as a single lot but I wonder how things will look in the new year.
Maybe this is an opportunity for a future branch GS.ie as it may take decades so sort out trade outside of the EU.

My experience also so that's why I have been gradually "dumping" boxed sets, commemoratives and certified proofs.
Selling at a loss but lesson learned.
Fantastic empty shelf space once the fancy packaging has left the building.
Also in my experience the popular slabbed coins with MS-69 / 70 often don't cover the additional cost of grading.
There will always be odd exceptions to quote though.
On the opposite side I wish I hadn't sold last year my collection of Queen's Beasts Griffins looking at the current price.
Nice to see the Dragon creeping up a bit and wonder how the series will develop ?
 

A long term stacker !!
Did you follow the herd and buy during the peaks in 2011 ?
Sadly I bought a lot - things were at a fever pitch and coins were selling on eBay the moment they were listed.
At the time you had to pay full VAT buying from the likes of CoinInvest but the German rate of VAT was low ( 7 or 9% ? - cannot recall ) so I bought mainly from German dealers.
I saw my "investment" crash but luckily I wasn't relying on this to pay the bills.
Fortunately I also managed to buy when silver was low and by selling some of this have kind of cancelled some, but not all, of the book value losses.
GS.be and the European Mint have been super but only if you bought sufficient to amortise the shipping.
GS.be also allow you to build up multiple orders to have shipped as a single lot but I wonder how things will look in the new year.
Maybe this is an opportunity for a future branch GS.ie as it may take decades so sort out trade outside of the EU.