Where to buy silver bullion & coins in the EU

[Pete]

Prior to purchase I always do a comparison and include shipping costs etc so I work out a NET LANDED COST.

 

My short list is Atkinsons, BullionbyPost, APMEX, Aurinum and Silver-to-Go.

The last two are in Germany.

 

Before the changes to VAT in Germany it was possible to pay only 7% VAT compared to 20% in the UK.

Aurinum was by far the cheapest but you had to bulk up your order to amortise shipping costs otherwise it was only marginally better than buying from Atkinsons.

 

Atkinsons then decided to include shipping costs on coins and that made them much more expensive when ordering more than one coins.

They have a mix and buy system now to partly compensate but do your sums.

 

APMEX is a benchmark only and a measure of mark-up on coins.

Having ordered from them previously by the time I paid Fedex and UK customs I didn't save that much.

 

If prepared to order say 50 - 100 ounces then you will most likely narrow your search to either Aurinum or Silver-to-Go.

Aurinum ships by DHL / ParcelForce and STG by UPS.

Shipments are tracked so you can check status.

 

You need to pay Aurinum in Euros but STG will accept Euros or GBP.

 

Check shipping costs according to your basket and add a few coins here and there if necessary.

 

If buying gold there is no VAT and there are bullion dealers operating on 3% or thereabouts margin so shop around.

[Danny-boy]

50-100oz orders??

In my wildest dreams. Ha ha.

I was told that STG would incur bank transfer costs, is that not true for GBP?

[ChrisSilver]

50-100oz orders??

In my wildest dreams. Ha ha.

I was told that STG would incur bank transfer costs, is that not true for GBP?

Currently silver-to-go has a GBP based account in Germany. You can send in GBP, obviously there are no exchange fees but your bank will charge as an international payment so depending on what they charge there might be some fee.

Silver-to-go are also working on getting a UK account opened. When I purchased from their sister company coin invest direct in the past, I paid via bank transfer in GBP to their UK account. It was about the cheapest place around for buying silver coins in Europe. From experience both STG and Coin Invest Direct (now Coin Invest) have awesome customer service.

Prices are quite good value on STG but not necessarily the cheapest, it depends exactly what you are after and how much you are after. As one dealer may have slightly higher prices but shipping might be better for the quantity you want. Like Pete said you need to work out the total net landed costs before making a decision.

Liberty Silver and STG are my most favourite dealers in terms of prices. But you can get cheaper from other dealers in Germany depending what you want to buy. There is a German price comparison site that another member posted a link to, which is very useful.

If buying just a few coins at a time it's probably cheaper to buy from a UK dealer than to import from Europe.

If buying a larger order it's normally a lot cheaper to buy from Germany or Estonia.

[Flanders]

hi guys, thanks for the welcome

 

yes I was refering to silver-to-go, did not realise there might still be charges although you can pay in GBP

 

I am also considering using http://www.perthbullion.com they have some good prices and also would like a few of the silver bullets

 

has anyone in uk brought from perth bullion, what payment did you use?

[Danny-boy]

I haven't, but I'm interested to see how it goes for you.

Please report back mate.

[ChrisSilver]

hi guys, thanks for the welcome

 

yes I was refering to silver-to-go, did not realise there might still be charges although you can pay in GBP

 

I am also considering using http://www.perthbullion.com they have some good prices and also would like a few of the silver bullets

 

has anyone in uk brought from perth bullion, what payment did you use?

I have never used them, or to be honest heard about them. But then I don't know of that many dealers in australia, shamatti might be able to give you some info on this company. 

They look like they have some older kooks that aren't that expensive, I might have to start collecting a few of the old kooks soon.

[klacey]

Perth bullion is one of my main sources. I buy in bulk and would be more then happy to add more to an order if you want to save on shipping. Which can get very expensive as its done on a per coin basis.

 

You will have to take VAT and customs charges into consideration also.

 

I think delivery starts at 35 AUD and grows from their.

 

I will be getting some silver bullets, let me know what you want and I will look into it.

[Pete]

50-100oz orders??

In my wildest dreams. Ha ha.

I was told that STG would incur bank transfer costs, is that not true for GBP?

I was dismayed to find my bank charged me £22 for a GBP transfer and had I chosen to pay in Euros the fee would have been only £10.

The exchange rate used in converting from Euros by STG was better than the bank rate from GBP to Euros so it worked out about the same.

If I buy from STG in the future I will use an on-line money transfer dealer who will only charge about £5.

The service from STG was super and I got some Falcons at a much cheaper price than CoinInvest because they used the "Differenzbesteuerung nach #25a" which for all intents & purposes we can call the "dodgy VAT".

[Danny-boy]

You will have to take VAT and customs charges into consideration also.

Do you get hit every single time bud?

[Pete]

hi guys, thanks for the welcome

 

yes I was refering to silver-to-go, did not realise there might still be charges although you can pay in GBP

 

I am also considering using http://www.perthbullion.com they have some good prices and also would like a few of the silver bullets

 

has anyone in uk brought from perth bullion, what payment did you use?

Be aware that you will pay 20% VAT plus a facility fee - the courier may pay VAT on your behalf but charge a fixed fee for doing so.

VAT will also be charged on the shipping costs. You need to check the small print of your chosen courier to see all the costs AND be careful as many well known couriers will NOT ship or insure PMs. When I looked at buying from Australia the initial price looked great but once I worked out the net landed costs it was not worth it.

[Danny-boy]

Agreed, I only buy specific coins from outside the EU due to taxes etc.

I have found some dealers that will mark prices down to avoid VAT, but it is then shipped at your risk.

[klacey]

I get charged 90% of the time Dan, sometimes not as much as I expect, other times more. So it kind of balances out.

[Pete]

Agreed, I only buy specific coins from outside the EU due to taxes etc.

I have found some dealers that will mark prices down to avoid VAT, but it is then shipped at your risk.

Not sure how you would avoid the VAT but I guess if they were described as "used" or "secondhand" for example and a low value declared that would keep the VAT reasonable. If the package was lost then the insured value would be low so you do take a risk but with trackable parcels that is minimal BUT it does happen.

[Danny-boy]

Agreed.

Normally they are marked as medallions with a nominal value.

It hasn't failed yet, but I understand the risks.

Got some coins coming from the US at the moment, we shall see how this one goes.

[Danny-boy]

I get charged 90% of the time Dan, sometimes not as much as I expect, other times more. So it kind of balances out.

Wow, that's high dude.

Bet it's rather exciting if it slips through, especially if it's a sizeable order.

[motorbikez]

Yes I've bought from perth bullion before,they were called bullion bourse before the name change.I found them very helpful and professional prices good too,I bought a few 1oz & 2oz lunar horses.

I paid by paypal,no problems and that shipment slipped the VAT .

 

I have bought extensively from Australia, one charge that no one has mentioned yet.When you buy from anywhere outside the EU on top of the VAT you normally get clobbered with our PO also charges without fail £8 on top for collecting the VAT .So buying 1 or 2 coins is not viable at all.

 

hi guys, thanks for the welcome

 

yes I was refering to silver-to-go, did not realise there might still be charges although you can pay in GBP

 

I am also considering using http://www.perthbullion.com they have some good prices and also would like a few of the silver bullets

 

has anyone in uk brought from perth bullion, what payment did you use?

[motorbikez]

Do you get hit every single time bud?

 

In my experience it is about 50-60% of the time Danny and there is no rhym or reason to it,I nearly stopped buying from Australia altogether as I got stung on 5 reasonable sized orders on the trot.

 

Obviously it can go the other way as well last 3 orders slipped through.I can concur with Klacey,customs can't do simple arithmetic sometimes they overcharge,sometimes they undercharge but it is not worth the hassle challenging it as it balances out.

[Danny-boy]

There are some great priced german sellers, I'll stick to them and ESB. Klacey will be seeing some of my hard-earned too.

[ChrisSilver]

The customs charges seem almost random, I think they just pluck a number out of the air because they certainly don't use calculators to work out 20%.

I didn't realise Perth bullion is Bullion Bourse, I stopped playing attention to silver and everything changed.

[ArthGoch]

Some money saving tips

Another thing to consider when paying in Euros is that the SEPA ( Single Euro Payment Area) is not only for the Eurozone but include 10 other non eurozone states and which gives reduced rates when the transaction is remited in Euros.

Check with the seller if they have a Euro account. I have bought from a Czech dealer and I know the commission charge dropped by about 15-20 pound when money was remited in euros as opposed to koruna. Also ensure that your Bank remit via SEPA and that your online banking portal does not direct you otherwise

If you sell as well as buy, consider opening your own Euro account to hold funds and thus negate the spread between the buy and sell price on the currency.

Travelex have teamed up with UKForex and offer good rates on currency transfers to oversea bank accounts and can be funded by your debit card. The buy and sell spread margin is a lot smaller than banks and also keep an eye of their webpage as they will do special deals in respect of international transfer commissions; (lowest I have got was a 99p special!)

Finally (and for those of us on the wrong side of 50!) get yourself a Saga Credit Card. All international transactions are commission free, and thus the only cost is the spread between buy and sell and which is regulated and in line with Visa. This will save you upwards of 5% on a purchase, albeit that the dealer will need to take credit cards

Keep saving and keep stacking

[motorbikez]

Probably wise that for bullion Danny it is nearly always cheaper buying bullion in the Europe or the UK , unfortunately for me there are not too many proofs kicking around and proofs,.at least the ones I'm after make top money here and in Germany.

 

Plus as in another post Australia has some beautiful underrated proof sets which generally only come up there, although you can pick up the odd coin here now and again.

[CurryMuncher69]

Anybody purchased from GEIGER EDELMETTALLE, These guys https://www.geiger-edelmetalle.de/edelmetalle.php?metal=Ag&types=bar,coin&fw=0&x=22&y=7&available=1

I would like a tube of noah ark coins they sell here https://www.geiger-edelmetalle.de/edelmetalle_info.php/info/p691_.html

They are asking 369 euro including delivery to the UK. Now would I need to pay any other fee ? They already have charged me the 19 percent VAT judging from the checkout. 

 

A tube of Noah Ark coins will cost me under £310 using currency Fair. 

What is the general experience like from this company 

[ArthGoch]

Geiger are the producers for the Noah Ark coins; thus it is logical that they should be one of the cheapest if not the cheapest for the series

 

During the period when Germany had the lower tax threshold i bought via the net but had Geiger store the coins and I would pick these up from their showroom just outside Stuttgart while traveling through Europe. It was never a problem to store with them and the staff were always courteous and helpful 

 

Since the tax harmonization I have bought coins and had them shipped directly to me. Again no issues, and the price that you see is the price that you pay.

 

When you check out, at the bottom of your invoice/receipt there is a list of about four different German banks to which you can remit your money, and via a SEPA payment the money is usual transferred within the day. Delivery is usual via Deutsche Post then Parcel Force 

 

I would highly recommend them

[CurryMuncher69]

looks like I have found a new Retailer !!!

[Danny-boy]

I have used them and was quite impressed, no additional charges this end.

D