How Gold Dealers Ripoff Clients

Most gold dealers advertise on television or radio with spots on popular conservative shows like Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck. Gold dealers are in fact some of the biggest advertisers for Fox Television which begs the question, how can they afford so many commercials each night?

The simple answer is, they push numismatic, rare, collectible coins on unsuspecting buyers who are told a story on how these coins will appreciate faster because they only made so many of them. This “limited supply” is the catch along with many other lies they tell you, from how these coins won’t be confiscated to how they are not taxed in some cases, neither of which is true.

Gold dealers will typically work on an investors fear that the dollar is going to crash or hyperinflation is around the corner. Anything can happen in the future but I have written two books to help investors separate fact from fiction; Buy Gold and Silver Safely and my latest book Illusions of Wealth. I also write on the precious metals markets 5 days a week and offer a fresh take on what’s really going on with the dollar, gold and silver.

One can distinguish a reputable gold dealer form one that is not by simply going to their websites. If they don’t list the coins for sale with prices, then they are more than likely ripping you off by selling you high commissioned coins.

The Unscrupulous Gold Dealers (and believe me there are more than these below)

Some of the most popular gold dealers that don’t list their coins for sale are the exact ones that these popular talk show hosts tout as their go to gold dealer. These are Goldline, Lear Capital (see below analysis) and Rosland Capital or other companies like Goldworth which I’ll get to specifically in a moment. They want you to call for price as you can see from a screen shot from the company William Devane pitches for, Rosland Capital.

I worked closely with the Santa Monica city attorney Adam Radinsky and his team when they went after one gold dealer Goldine for various deceptions including using the confiscation aspect to pushing investors towards coins they claimed wouldn’t be confiscated. The city got $4.5 million in a settlement and they were told they can’t use the word “confiscate” in their sales approach any longer.

Don’t Buy Proof Gold or Silver Coins

But some of these companies still do scam investors, ripping off clients, like Goldworth which I have recently had a client tell me her horror story on how she had lost $84,000 by investing in silver and gold Proof coins in her IRA.  Many gold dealers will push investors towards these shiny proof coins which give them high commission and don’t outperform regular bullion gold and silver coins of the same weight. Here is what she emailed me;

“I paid a 6.5% commission on top of GW’s markup, so all told I likely paid a 15-20% markup.  I would have been better off leaving my IRA alone.  The confiscation tale was told over and over as the main ploy.  Rationale for proofs was that they are “confidential gold” versus bullion which is not.  The statement I received from New Directions IRA is the melt value and per GW the amount I would pay taxes on if I sold my holdings.  GF touts this as another advantage to owning gold and silver.  GW insists another huge advantage of owning precious metals in an IRA is the decreased taxes one will pay upon selling.  ”

There is no “huge advantage” for “decreased taxes one will pay upon selling” when you purchase proof coins. All distributions from an IRA are taxed as personal income. I wrote an article warning investors about proof coins in an IRA in 2013 you can find here; The Problem With Buying Gold And Silver Proof Coins In Your IRA 

The One Question To Ask Every Gold Dealer Before Buying A Gold or Silver Coin

Investing in gold and silver is simple if you know the right questions to ask. That question is;

If I buy this coin from you today at the current spot price and sell it back to you at the same spot price, what will you give me for it?

They may try to squirm away from answering the question, or outright lie to you by telling you this is what we are selling them for today, but it is NOT what they will buy them back for. You will find it hard pressed to get a straight answer.

How To Buy Gold and Silver the Right Way

We here at Buy Gold and Silver Safely want you to ask other gold dealers that question and then call us and ask us that question. We advertise that we charge a 1% commission above our cost for the product and sometimes it is even less than that. Our company philosophy is simply to look at everyone else’s prices for a certain gold or silver product and undercut them in price. We guarantee the lowest and we offer free fully insured shipping on all orders.

The Latest Gold Dealer Scam

Before leaving you on this subject of gold dealers ripping off clients, I want to point you to the latest scam put on by companies like Lear Capital who does both heavy TV and internet advertising.

This scam involves the 1.5 ounce silver coins from the Royal Canadian Mint called Silver Polar Bear but also the 2016 – 1.5 ounce silver Snow Falcon, 2015 and 2016 -1.5 ounce silver SuperLeaf, 2014 and 2015 – 1.5 ounce silver Polar Bear & Cub, and 2014 – 1.5 ounce silver Arctic Fox. You’ll find yourself paying high commission on these coins and you’ll have to earn around 32% on these coins just to break even.

There will be a nice run in gold and silver in the years to come. We know governments will mess things up as they always do. A diversification into metals makes sense, but you must know what you are buying and ask the right questions.

Call us to discuss the best products at the best prices today at the number below or visit our online store and have your metal delivered to your fully insured.

Buy Gold and Silver Safely 888-604-6534