Singapore Stackers - BullionStar question

Grizzly

Grizzly

Active Member
I have noticed a few Singapore stackers here, and they pointed me to BullionStar awhile ago. I have been into the shop and made physical purchases there, really liking BullionStar.

Recently I setup a bullion trading account with them, and made a purchase. They had dropped the premium on an item so I bought some, but was not paying enough attention to what I was doing and the spread is higher than I would like. I could go into the shop and take physical possession of them and sell them elsewhere, but I am looking mainly to sell back to BullionStar as I don't live there, I just visit occasionally.

Silver primarily is what I am interested in at the moment. The Merlion 1 oz rounds seem to have a low spread. Also the BullionStar 1 kg bars, but their premium is fairly high compared to other 1 kg bars.

So my question is, what items have you found to have the lowest spread?
 
Grizzly said:
So my question is, what items have you found to have the lowest spread?
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The spread for bullionstar is the largest among all the bullion dealers in Singapore. The "bullionstar" branded coins and bars have the lowest spread - despite much higher premiums. The new 1000 oz bar appears to have the lowest spread.

Since I buy long term, I generally don't take spread into consideration, only the premium above spot and the mint matters to me. Spread isn't guaranteed and can change when you need to sell. The dealers in Singapore are unlike those in Australia, their premium and spread are not fixed and vary across products and even for the same product can change anytime so it's good to shop around.

Have you checked out goldsilvercentral.com.sg? They have some good offerings recently, only disadvantage you have to walk a little from the mrt station.
 
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I have not checked out goldsilvercentral.com.sg yet. I am coming to Singapore in a couple of days, so I might go visit them. So far I have only been to BullionStar in Singapore. I think you or alor mentioned them to me awhile ago and I liked the shop.

I live in Indonesia, so relatively speaking, Singapore is a safe haven. The only places I have found to buy silver here have crazy premiums and I would never trust them with a single ounce for storage! By using Singapore storage, I can buy and sell remotely but then the spread almost becomes more important than the premium. I can also walk into the shop and take possession, but I only go a few times a year, so I really like being able to buy and sell remotely.

I'll go check out the goldsilvercentral.com.sg website now, and definitely pay them a visit when I am there in a few days.
 
have you bought from ANTAM? before
perak_batangan_antam_fine_silver_bar.jpg
 
alor said:
have you bought from ANTAM? before
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I found those 250 gram bars at their Logam Mulia outlet for the equivalent of SGD$303 plus taxes on top of that. Too much compared to buying in Singapore with no GST / taxes.
 
Grizzly said:
I found those 250 gram bars at their Logam Mulia outlet for the equivalent of SGD$303 plus taxes on top of that. Too much compared to buying in Singapore with no GST / taxes.
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I went to their website, interesting to see that the price for gold is not that far off. Tax also much lower. No VAT on gold?
 
sgbuyer said:
I went to their website, interesting to see that the price for gold is not that far off. Tax also much lower. No VAT on gold?
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I had only looked at silver, and the silver price premiums are very high and they say plus VAT.

But your are right, the gold prices per gram are pretty good, and apparently no VAT, only a small tax capped at 0.9% depending on your Indonesian tax status. I assume to get the lower rate of 0.45% tax on gold you have to show your tax number, which then means the Indonesian government might be keeping a record of who has what gold. I don't know that, have never bought gold here, but seems suspicious they link the tax rate to whether you have an Indonesian tax number or not.

But Singapore has zero tax on gold I thought? Same as silver?
 
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Grizzly said:
But Singapore has zero tax on gold I thought? Same as silver?
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Singapore waived GST on investment physical ag,au and pt 999 bullion in 2012. The definition of what is investment is vague but generally, bars with no design are GST exempt. Logos are fine though. ;) For coins, they have a small list of GST exempt coins which includes qb, libertads, maples, britannia, buffalo, silver eagles and for pm, lunars, koalas, kooks, kangaroos, platypus but excludes dolphin, crcocodiles, eagles, etc. Slabbed coins or proofs are not exempt.
 
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sgbuyer said:
Singapore waived GST on investment physical ag,au and pt 999 bullion in 2012. The definition of what is investment is vague but generally, bars with no design are GST exempt. Logos are fine though. ;) For coins, they have a small list of GST exempt coins which includes qb, libertads, maples, britannia, buffalo, silver eagles and for pm, lunars, koalas, kooks, kangaroos, platypus but excludes dolphin, crcocodiles, eagles, etc. Slabbed coins or proofs are not exempt.
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Pefect. Everything I have ever bought is on that GST exemption list. :)
 
Grizzly said:
Pefect. Everything I have ever bought is on that GST exemption list. :)
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Rounds may also be exempt but this is a gray area. The list sucks because a lot of coins that I like are excluded. Double dragons and phoenixes are not in the list. My gold stack would be at least 50% larger if not for the silly restriction.

Most of the gold stored in Singapore are held by foreigners and foreign residents. Singaporeans hold very little gold beyond a couple of jewellery items. Most of the wealth is parked in bank deposits or properties. If there were a return to the gold standard, the Sing Dollar will devalue because Singapore has very little gold (other than those owned by foreigners and stored in vaults..).
 
Neither of the 2 storage companies i contacted in singapore returned my emails - and when one of them finally did after i pestered them to reply - their answers were half-assed - and when i tried to clarify those half-assed answers, they just stopped responding - clearly couldnt give a flying fuck - so i would advise forget about singapore as a storage destination. They were even worse communications than perth mint.
 
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Sham Bolic said:
Neither of the 2 storage companies i contacted in singapore returned my emails - and when one of them finally did after i pestered them to reply - their answers were half-assed - clearly couldnt give a flying fuck - so i would advise forget about singapore as a storage destination. They were even worse communications than perth mint.
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This is normal in Singapore, the dealers are only interested in serving the bigger customers. If you say you will buy a couple of AU kilo bars, they will respond a little quicker.

It is not without reason that I always go down to the bullion dealer’s shop to inspect the goods before purchasing any coin.

Have you tried posting your question on their fb page? You will get a faster response this way.
 
sgbuyer said:
This is normal in Singapore, the dealers are only interested in serving the bigger customers. If you say you will buy a couple of AU kilo bars, they will respond a little quicker.

It is not without reason that I always go down to the bullion dealer’s shop to inspect the goods before purchasing any coin.

Have you tried posting your question on their fb page? You will get a faster response this way.
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i dont want to buy anything i want to bring a stack in and store it there
 
storage spaces are high in demand, sometimes we got lucky as the previous tenant vacate
they want payment by bank giro
there must be long waiting list, same as demand for bank boxes :(
 
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