Has anyone purchased silver from gainesvillecoins.com? I'm looking into buying some 1oz and 10oz silver bars from their website and was wondering what you all think of them or have experienced. They have a wide variety of both bars and rounds and a professionally made website, so I was just looking for feedback. Cheers, Mike
GV is one of the larger online PM stores online in the US. Nothing to worry about with them. Watch their shipping prices though, it can get expensive.
Gainesville refuses to take back defective coins. I called within their huge 3 day window and they refused to take the defective coins back. Ask Maggies about Gainesville. Provident and Goldmart are the same.
I prefer providentmetals.com and goldmart.com. Usually better prices and lower shipping costs. You might also want to check out sdbullion.com.
Gainesville use USPS. Read all the terms and conditions very carefully before locking in with Gainesville.
I have dealt with Gainsville coins for years and when they were smaller they were much better service. They are reliable as far as shipping your coins that you order but as far as any coins with high premiums it is really hit or miss with them they may sell you a $100 /oz numi coin which seems like a great deal only to discover it has been opened and has damage, and the packaging damaged, lowereing any premium you may get in the future to a few bucks over spot , they do not usually disclose the quality. I think as far as bars and cheap bullion they are ok but I would personally avoid them with any NUMI type coins , been burned too many times by gainsville espescially after referring several people who have spent 100s of thousands of dollars with them , there are many great dealers out there with high integrity I just hope they keep it that way..
Looks like I've got some shopping around to do. Personally I would just be buying bars or low premium bullion coins, so if it's not in prestige condition that's understandable considering you're only pay $1.50 premium.
Read on the BrotherJohn forum about why they pulled Gainessvile from their recommended list. Had to do with a bankruptcy scandal of the owners with a previous coin shop to the tune of 30-45 Million USD. I will see if I can find more info on it.
Here is Bernank of BrotherJohn's forum's and CompareSilver comments on Gainesville: http://silvervigilante.com/gainesville-coins-sketchy-bernank-has-removed-can-no-longer-vouch-for/ After learning recently that the supposed owners of Gainesville Coins are in their early 20s (see: http://www.coinlink.com/News/genera...ille-coins-team-up-for-“collect-for-a-cause”/ ), I was intrigued to do a little more research on this company which seems unable to meet appropriate shipping tables. Needless to say, Bernank has uncovered a sleuth of information linking Gainesville Coins to National Gold Exchange (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1022261.ece) a company already well anointed for its shady dealings with its creditors' 30 million collateral. Needless to say, after this information became evident to the Bernank, I can no longer in good faith recommend users of this site to use Gainesville Coins as it appears from the point of view Bernank Shmuelle Rockwell & Sons that there is reason to believe this company is merely a shell company hiding inventory collateralized from the bankruptcy of National Gold Exchange, a company owned by the fathers of young Mark and Joseph Yaffe.
Thanks for the info and the links silvermed, I'll have some time to read those later Sounds messy, I've been looking into Provident Metals and Gold Mart for a 10oz year of the dragon bar anyway.
Also found the following on a reseller-rating message board. Not my words, I have not checked into this yet, but at glance it adds up to what Bernank said along with the news report I read the other day: ------------------- "I'm not wanting to flame a company, but inform consumers about a major FACT. Gainesville Coins isn't really a new company. Please google "National Gold Exchange, Tampa" - the Yaffe's went bankrupt in a questionable way, hosing lenders to the tune of some 35-50 Million dollars. One of the brothers Mark Yaffe built a 28,893-square-foot mansion for $25 Million and during this time and claimed he didn't know where all the coins were. He used the proceeds to build the mansion and crowned the misdeed by cooking National Gold Exchange's books to conceal the exchange, Sovereign Bank said. Turns out these exact same guys own Gainesville Coins and when the bankruptcy went down they were already running it out of the same location and the court had trouble with what gold/silver belonged to what entity. Today, the store is literally 1 block away from the gate to their home community where he still has his "fraud" Mansion. It's amazing how this type of business exists today when all this information is available online but few have read about it. Tulving is another company that has filed bankruptcy 2+ times and was even charged with fraud by the FTC. Gainesville & Tulving are some of the dogs of precious metal world - and again, it's all available online for people to research."
Damage due to careless packaging. Good packing box and plenty of peanuts. Packer stacked the coins together, then took a very thick rubber band and wrapped it around the coins. Damage was due to the coins rubbing against each other during shipment.
I received silver tigers bars from Provident that were damaged due to idiotically negligent packaging. I have posted the details somewhere. Even though I called immediately, they also refused to take them back and of course deleted my review. My last two orders from Goldmart included some ASEs to get to the free shipping price point. All the ASEs from both orders were defective. They blamed the problems on the mint. The mint didn't send me the coins and the problems covered about 2/3s of each coin. Of course, my review was deleted. Apmex has been getting all my business lately. Fortunately for me, I have bought most of my gold and silver, because most of the North American dealers are not good. Used to be, my only concern was if I was ordering an older coin. Now, except for the perth mint, I am getting defective 2012 coins.
Ah, disappointing. Can no one ship a piece of metal without screwing it up? APMEX's 10oz dragon bar is $365.10 while Provident's is $357.20 (using a personal check.) I would much rather pay an extra $0.79 per oz more if I'd have a better chance of recieving a superior product, especially since this will be my first 10oz'er.
SD Bullion has been blowing everyone else out of the water since Tulving went bankrupt. I feel rather fortunate as I purchased my bulk of my precious metals six years ago from Apmex. I then went over to Tulving for a short time and their customer service was awful. I've sent 3-4 moderate size purchases through SD Bullion. Prices are great and the customer service reminds me of working with my local coin shop. Down to earth stackers instead of trained sales people who have no interest in pms.
APMEX is the best hands down. Returns no question. Gainsville the worst in returning product. Provident isn't so friendly either. I got a bunch of kooks and they were in different capsules, scratched, finger prints...simply atrocious. I called my credit card company and told them I was baited and switched on, and I got all my money back. I will never buy from either one again...no matter the price...unless I was buying rounds, and was just getting the lowest price over spot...in that case, who cares where you buy from...but I buy coins, numismatic, and semi-numismatic! I'm very careful these days.
I only bought once from Gainsville. I bought a roll of 1 oz coins and some loose 1 oz coins. The loose 1 oz coins were just bundled together. By the time I opened up the packaging, the plastic capsules of the loose coins were marked with scratches. Unlike APMEX, they will pack each coin in a plastic bag. Although Gainsville offers better pricing than APMEX, I don't think I will buy from them again.
