Buying, Payment, & Taking Delivery

When you visit any competent silver and gold dealing website you should be able to buy from their website 24×7.

To commit to buying a product, the website will need collateral from you typically in the form of a live active credit or debit card, or full payment via card or PayPal.

No business savvy bullion dealers will lock in prices for you based on a verbal or even email promise. You have to put real skin ($) in the game to lock in your product(s) and price. Why is that? Because people walk from their commitments if the price falls, leaving the dealer holding the bag unless there is sufficient collateral already “locked-in” on the trade.

Once you’ve locked in your price the payment game begins. Check? Credit/Debit Card? PayPal? Bank Wire Transfer?

Bank wire transfer ($25 USD typically) and personal check (5 day holds for cancellation reasons) payments are going to cost you in either currency or time. That said, they are the most cost effective online payment options.

Depending on the size of your order and the speed with which you want your product, the choice of payment is yours.

I have always used bank wire transfer on $10,000+ sized orders, and personal checks on my smaller random stacking additives.

How to Take Delivery Like a Ghost

God there is nothing like the first time you take delivery of physical bullion!

So covert and important an operation it can be. Every detail of that first time experience (and even later ones) is a thrill. This is a big reason for the phenomenon of silver or gold unboxing videos, which organically have occurred on YouTube (Note: maybe doing this is not very secure, but people like to share their excitement, show off their newly purchased metals, and relay their bullion buying experiences with other like minded bullion buyers).

It really is not all risky to take delivery of heavy, nondescript, soundless, fully insured parcels. Unless you are taking delivery of 500 oz silver mint cases, the delivery employee will most likely remain clueless as to what they are delivering.If you are concerned about your delivery to door address and you are thinking to diversify delivery options, might I suggest setting up a P.O. Box with your local USPS office.

Of course you don’t have to. I get bullion delivered to my address all the time without hesitation. I only toss out the P.O. Box concept because it an additional layer of security for those wanting to put in the additional work and pay the additional fees associated.

As well, there are many bullion buyers who take delivery at their business or office addresses.

Really you are only really limited to your imagination and nerve when it comes to where you want your parcel delivered.

Perhaps the most private of all deliveries is when one sets up a proxy company (typically via a private nondescript LLC) to take delivery in a non-bank vault account.

Aside from some tracking numbers, the bullion delivered is then virtually untraceable.

What you do with your delivery is your decision and private business.

I simply want you to know there are various options available.

One other note – shred and destroy all packing slips or return addresses once you have taken delivery. You don’t want someone finding packing slips with your name and information.

The next article in our Beginners’ Guide to Buying Physical Bullion will discuss storing your bullion.

» How To Store Your Bullion