Looking for the following, in the 100g to 1kg range, for cast, poured & possibly minted.. - Umicore - Nadir Metal - Emirates Gold Dealer must meet the following requirements: - Reasonably / fairly priced - Ships internationally / to the US (preferably via the "less expensive" postal system) - Accepts international credit card / PayPal (I'm used to the extra fees by now, LOL) Did some digging around, and found a possible candidate or two. Have to look into them further. At least some of these seem to be more available in Southeast Asia, which is obviously closer to AUS than to the US -- with the latter simply having little to no availability for certain pieces. And I'm in no rush to pick some up right away, as the budget has been hit lately.. But, soon enough. Thanks! P.S. If any site sponsors would care to carry these someday, please feel free!
I'm pretty sure Umicore is fairly widely available in Europe/UK as it's a Belgian company. You're going to get smashed by shipping fees buying from Australia.
Thanks. Yeah, I've been poking around there for those. And shipping prices from Europe to the US haven't been all that terrible, from what I've experienced so far, anyway. In fact, they can be quite comparable to items being shipped *within* the US! Just gotta wait a little longer, LOL. Unfortunately, a number of European pieces that I want at a fair price aren't always shipped internationally, have very limited/strict payment options, and/or only use expensive private carriers such as FedEx & UPS. Though I still need to do some more digging. So, my choices are: - Pay more, anywhere from 25% to 100%+ more (apples-to-apples final cost) if ordered from a *US* dealer/seller -- if they even have the piece available, that is; - Do without.. (Fat chance!); - Order from other countries, including Australia, in my case.. which despite CC/PayPal fees, currency exchange fees & potentially higher shipping costs, actually oftentimes isn't all that bad -- when you know how to comparison shop with calculator in hand & squeeze every dollar you can (dips in spot price, eBay Bucks/Bonus Offer/Coupon, cash-back credit card, relatively stronger currency exchange rates, economy shipping, etc.) Again, it's not as bad as one might think, if you focus on the other variables aside from just higher shipping. And remember, no VAT/GST here in the US. Yet. Besides, don't people sometimes pay higher premiums for nice things that they want from within their country, already? Nothing wrong with twisting that a little & perhaps paying a little extra for something that's *not* available in their own country at a reasonable price (if at all). BTW, as an example, I worked my financial magic recently & picked up a sweet kilo from AUS for *lower* total cost than I could have for a bland ubiquitous lower-quality kilo sold here in the US.. Go figure! Never mind compared to the outrageous asking prices of the same sweet kilo which is difficult to find from a US dealer -- and obviously they know it. So, yeah.. It is most definitely worth it to some, if one is willing to put in the time & effort for nice "non-ubiquitous" pieces at a reasonable price. And that goes for no matter which country one is currently living in. Not going to lie, though.. There is a bit of a learning curve as one hones their methods for maximum financial efficiency. So think it through & work it out fully before pulling that trigger. And definitely shop around.
Its really funny to see that I really don't like Umicore because the only think you can find in my region is Umicore. Same reason I hate philharmonikers... Dutch
Well, if it makes it makes it any funnier, during my online exploration earlier today I found myself at a website from yet a 3rd part of the globe.. There they were complaining about the ridiculously-high premiums of "scarce" current-year Perth coins in their neck of the woods. Some of them were also excited about finally getting their hands on a few coins rarely seen in their homeland -- Maple Leafs, ASE's, and.. Philharmonics! :lol: Seems like it's a worldwide affliction..
Only one problem when you go digging.. You run into others! Throw in a few more.. - Metalor - Al Etihad - Al Ghaith Anyway, this is proving more difficult than I had originally thought. Bummer. And the question is, do I really want to find out how much it costs to FedEx a package from Dubai (UAE) to the US? :lol:
nadir and IGR products: http://www.chbstore.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=63 bought few times 1 gram gold bars from them. no problems. Turkish company, but I think they have office in USA too.
I have emirates gold, 500g, 1000g, al gaith1000g, nadir 1000g. recently relocated back to aus from Dubai. may be interested in trade if worth my while.
