# Best place to buy physical gold



## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

My friend (older fellow) wanted me to ask on here if anyone on here knows a good place to buy physical gold. He is interested in the bullion wafers. We live near Regina sk and he isn't opposed to having it shipped to his house or picking it up in town.


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

J&M Coin and Currency in Vancouver has worked for me.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Scotia Bank branches will handle precious metal purchases. Not sure about the other banks.
Per: http://www.scotiamocatta.com/products/buy.htm


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## da718 (Feb 8, 2013)

Check out www.silvergoldbull.com. They deliver right to your home. Also have a phone number to call if further assistance is required.

Whoever you choose, ensure you are aware of the total costs of the purchase (Spot price +premium+insurance+shipping+ any other administration expense)

I have found dealing with banks they nick you with the administration expenses.

Silvergoldbull has your purchase price (spot + premium) listed on their website. The only other expense is shipping which is dependant on number of items purchased. 
Total cost identified on check out.

One cost that is typically not accounted for is that if you have to go to pick up at a bank branch is your time, gas and parking.

da718


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

why on earth would you buy real gold vs GLD... preparing for the end of the world?


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

it makes a nice house ornament


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## merangu (Oct 13, 2013)

*Re Best place to buy physical gold*

It's a good investment, however need to know it's better to buy it in bar form (1 ounce per bars the max) because it is exempted from GST/HST. You should be charged same price per ounce as it's trading on bourses on that day plus maybe $20 more per ounce.
But, if you buy gold in coins, it will cost you much more than the bar gold price and when reselling it you won't get as much $ due taxes/labor cost involved in coins' price, unless you want to wait for ages.
I used to buy gold for jewellery making purposes from "Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange" in downtown Vancouver on Pender street.
Since I have to melt it down, I buy it in grain form which will cost exactly same as bourses. But grain form would be unwise choice as an investment and will be extremely hard to resell.
The bar form can be converted to cash at any time and it's the best form that reflects the market price.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

blin10 said:


> why on earth would you buy real gold vs GLD... preparing for the end of the world?


Because GLD is a paper asset and there are *lots of middlemen* between me and the real gold. Yes the fund holds gold, there is real metal behind it. But there are some big caveats. There is a complex network of custodians and sub-custodians between me and the real metal. This creates opportunities for fraud, tricky paperwork, and mistakes. It also appears that GLD is permitted, by its structure, to lease gold out and this it not even transparent. There is likely some counterparty risk in there.

These are not things you want to be exposed to if you are a bullion investor. Just buy the real metal, and be thankful you don't have a stack of middlemen involved in your gold investment.

I get tired of hearing things that are meant to dismiss valid criticisms, like when you say "preparing for the end of the world". Did you forget how Lehman, Bear Stearns etc collapsed in 2008? Or when MF Global collapsed last year and lost $1 billion of "segregated" client money?

The world didn't end in these cases.

So it's not the end of the world you should be worried about, but the solvency of financial institutions and the trustworthiness of financial middlemen who use complicated tricks when managing assets for others. I don't hold gold because I think the world is going to end. I hold it because I distrust banksters,


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## underemployedactor (Oct 22, 2011)

I would try the local coin dealers in Regina; George Mantz, KC coins and others. They sell bullion coins and wafers at spot plus a premium if that's what you're looking for, but also sell "junk" gold ie gold sovereigns, Austrian philharmonics etc, coins with no numismatic value and only the value of the PM they contain. These can usually be had for spot price with no premium and is usually the best deal.


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## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

Thanks everyone. I believe my friend wants the gold in physical form due to not wanting his gold hidden by smoke and mirrors.


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## PuckiTwo (Oct 26, 2011)

SpendLessEarnMore said:


> it makes a nice house ornament


^^^ + 1 and ..... identifies you as very trendy lol


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## PuckiTwo (Oct 26, 2011)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Scotia Bank branches will handle precious metal purchases. Not sure about the other banks.
> Per: http://www.scotiamocatta.com/products/buy.htm


Beware of ScotiaMocatta has one of the highest premiums + shipping fees in the country. You can try your local Royal bank. J&M, Vancouver, works well. So does Kitco. J&M usually cheaper (st).


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## Ice Cream (Apr 22, 2013)

I was also wondering the best way to buy physical gold, Thanks for all the tips. But on the other side of things. Where and how would you go about selling the gold?


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

The dealers (like J&M where I buy from) will buy it back from you. Just do a google search on "Where to buy gold" and then check out the sites and compare buy & sell prices including shipping and insurance. For peace of mind try to find some references like checking out this site. Its really pretty simple. When I have purchased it I usually only purchased a few ounces at a time as one always worry that they will get your money and you wouldn't get your gold. I doubt if this is a problem as long as you deal with a reputable dealer. I don't have much, it is stored in a safety deposit box, and I just keep my eye on the price of gold and will buy whenever I feel the price is right. Some people say 5-10% of your portfolio should be in gold which seems high to me but I guess it depends on your total worth. I'm certainly not in this camp and what I have will be passed onto the family.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

swoop_ds said:


> I believe my friend wants the gold in physical form due to not wanting his gold hidden by smoke and mirrors.


I think that's a wise move. The financial industry has a well established track record of trying to hide assets behind smoke & mirrors.

It's very important to buy your gold through a reputable broker, and I would recommend buying through one of the big banks. A couple reasons. First is that you absolutely should make sure that the bar you purchase is in good shape and from a major refiner. Bars purchased from the large banks will meet these criteria. It's called the LBMA good delivery list:
http://www.lbma.org.uk/pages/index.cfm?page_id=147

So for instance bars stamped from Royal Canadian Mint, Johnson Matthey, Valcambi are all bars I have encountered from banks and these are all on the good delivery list. Don't ever accept a bar that isn't on this list.

I suggest you just shop around between the banks, get quotes, and figure which has the lowest fees over the spot price.

For selling back... the banks will also buy gold from you, but that's much easier if you've bought it from the bank and kept the paperwork. Other than the banks, provided the bar is in good shape and on the good delivery list, you can pretty much sell it to any gold dealer anywhere in the world. Gold is liquid.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

frase said:


> Some people say 5-10% of your portfolio should be in gold which seems high to me but I guess it depends on your total worth.


I have 6% of total wealth in gold, but some of that is in CEF.A. Though I like Central Fund of Canada, I still think physical ownership is superior.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i have used bordergold.com and liked them, they have very competitive prices and run a very professional shop
i also use my local coin dealer

do not buy physical unless you plan to hold for at least several years

you will get killed by the spread if you need to sell it back to a dealer

it's not a good way to "play" gold

most bugs do what james does (and i do) own both paper and physical


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

I got mine from my local small town Royal Bank branch. They gave me a much better deal than Scotia. I think it was $35 an ounce over the London Gold Fix price of the day. Then, there was a $15 delivery charge. The delivery charge is the same no matter how many ounces you buy.

The first time I did this it took a few days as they had never done it before. Since then they have had several other customers buy gold.

Coins or bars are available. For some reason there is sales tax on coins but not on bars so I bought bars. It would make more sense if it was the other way around because coins are money and bars aren't but, who knows why the government does anything. I got the bars.

They also told me they would buy the gold back at any time without an assay fee as long as it was a brand of gold they sell.

I have a small part of my net worth in silver and gold for insurance against disaster but so far, it is worth more than I paid for it even though it has been going down.

Buying gold 40% off the high is a very safe way to invest. It will always have value, exactly how much is up to the market, but at today's prices it is hard to see much down side. Cost of production at most mines is $1200 an ounce.


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## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

Thanks for the info everyone. The RBC route sounds interesting. I live in a town of about 800, there is a credit union and an RBC so ill give them a call tomorrow and see what happens. If the premium from RBC is only $50 after shipping, that seems like a decent deal to me.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

if you can walk in to a branch and pick up (the ultimate delivery method) an ounce for $50 over spot, that is hard to beat ...
these are great bars: http://www.apmex.com/product/72805/1-oz-royal-canadian-mint-rcm-gold-bar-9999-fine-in-assay


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## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

I had some initial luck with RBC but they said I need to be a customer, which I am not. I guess it's not too hard to just sign up for an account for a month... I talked to my local small town branch over the phone but I think I will stop in person sometime as the lady wasn't overly knowledgeable and didn't know what the fees would be. As Fatcat said above, if I can get $50 over spot that seems like a good deal.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Well get quotes from the other banks, somewhere you do have an account


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## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

I also went to td over the weekend but their prices were not great.


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## MoreMiles (Apr 20, 2011)

You can store the value of a house in a size of brick. You can place that brick anywhere like your door steps. For paranoid people, it's an alternative way to keep wealth.


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## bphilip (Jul 24, 2013)

I prefer coins since they seem more real to me 
I've used Kitco in the past, today they seem to be 30 over + 5.49 insurance , plus 30 per order to ship. 2500 minimum order. The other hidden cost is that they require a bank wire which is another cost. It seems pretty cheap all in when you order 10 or so at once.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

In case I was not clear... RBC charged me a premium per ounce over spot. I don't recall exactly but it was not a lot, $30 or $35. This was for gold bars.

In addition there was a delivery charge to deliver it to the local bank. This was $15 for any amount, not $15 an ounce. In other words it was a flat $15 whether you bought 1 ounce, 10 ounces or 1000 ounces.


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## plen (Nov 18, 2010)

Take a look at https://www.cachemetals.com


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## swoop_ds (Mar 2, 2010)

I ended up going through a local coin shop. The owner was pleasant, and his prices were VERY similar to the cheapest rates that I could find online. In most cases, it was cheaper than online since there wasn't a shipping fee.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

if you have a good local coin shop it is well worth paying a little bit extra for all the convenience they offer


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