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 Replies: 25 / Views: 15,466 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
648 Posts |
Alright, I have a person who has offered to sell 2 Pamp Suisse Gold Bars. Each bar is 50 grams and I am considering purchasing one (maybe both) bar. He will gladly meet at ANY location and these bars are sealed. He promises these bars are the real deal - no fake and has provided many pictures to me. Should I meet him at a coin / gold shop bank etc. to do the transaction? I've attached the pictures he sent me and will be very sure those serial numbers match the bars he has in hand. Please let me know your experience from purchasing from an individual from Craigslist or some other method online. I've got a considerable amount of my $ going into this transaction. He's asking Spot + 3% Premium which I am cool with.   Edited by tripncoins
03/16/2011 11:10 pm
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Valued Member
United States
212 Posts |
I've sold on Craigslist before and always meet in a public place. A restaurant or cafe works well.
Edited by schnauzer
03/16/2011 11:33 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
I have one of those exact bad boys, but it is only 2.5 grams, dang it man buy those beauty's! But, one may want to wait a few days, just to see how much more gold drops this week, with market appears very unstable right now. Could save you a decent chunk on purchase the size of 100 grams. Wow that is great, good for you, nice start.... The wise investors of the world that say they would rather put 100 grand into land instead of gold, cause they can at least grow something on it, where as all you can do is stare at gold an hold it did not take into account, when ya got yella fever like me, you can set and hold it/via look at it (my precious rof  ), and it is very satisfying to me at least, and if you are enjoying life, is that not more than half the battle? Why do you think the Egyptians tried to take it with them.... Edited by Silverhawk74
03/17/2011 12:02 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Unless you're a multi-millionaire, that's a big chunk for your first gold purchase. How are you planning to pay? Cash? Check? Money Order? Will you exchange contact information with this person? Fake is one thing and stolen is another that would concern me.
Yes, you should meet in a bank or other well-traveled public place during daylight hours and you should have a small, electronic scale with you to weigh them. The card will add a few grams to the weight but this will give you a ballpark. They should weigh 55g each minimum. Verify the integrity of the assay card. Buying that much gold, I'd go through a reputable source and not someone on Craigslist but that's me, you can do as you wish. These bars are widely available at 3% over spot - there's no need to take any chances.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3184 Posts |
Meet at a location with lots of people like a restaurant or a bank. I've dealt with many on craigslist with no problems however just be careful though!
PS. Nice 50 gram bars!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Yeah be very careful on this deal, and like bh1964 pointed out, consider looking around for a more reliable source at same price.... Really in the end, when buying an item like this, I would feel much more comfortable buying from an established ebay seller who has 18,456 100% positive feedbacks, instead of the guy with a 58 and a couple of negatives.... And that is the thing with Craigslist, you are taking a shot in the dark on the ethics an character of the seller.... It looks real to me, serial numbers match, sealed very important. But after reading about these fake Morgans and gold bars, sounds like if it will fool the crook, via looking good enough, they will try an sell as real.... |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
648 Posts |
Thank you for everyones responses. Trust me, I saved enough money to purchase 100 grams of gold as an investment. I don't need to buy any today, but would like to start some where! All of this is paid in cold hard cash. After looking at PAMP's official website (very nice) - I might order from there as well. It's not as if I was getting a major deal to begin with.
I even went as far as emailing info@pamp.com and sent them the photo's I received. Unfortunately (what I expected) they couldn't validate because they needed the bars IN hand.
I appreciate everyones advice on this topic. Dropping 4k+ is quite intense when dealing with Craigslist!
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New Member
United States
23 Posts |
In my opinion, he's not offering any sort of deal for dealing with him outside of an official channel, plus I assume he's going to be selling it to you tax-free and leaving you wondering if you got scammed. A reputable gold seller like APMEX has Credit Swisse bars with assay for about 2.8% over spot, you could buy three of those and have peace of mind by only shelling out $25 for shipping. I stopped dealing with Craigslist, because of the people it attracts. Simple ads for moving services and the like brought lots of scammers, creepy phone calls, hagglers wanting double what I offered to pay, and people who commit and never show up. I would never buy gold from it. At least you have the right idea by really checking it out though. I wish you best of luck with your purchase. |
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Valued Member
Canada
442 Posts |
I agree with westsea, pay the lil bit of extra shipping for peace of mind, especially if you're buying 100g of the yellow stuff!
if you were buying under an oz, it might be worth the risk, but everyone has there own risk tolerance levels. I'm a paranoid tin foil hatter so I don't trust anybody!
If you think he's an honest seller than go for it, but it might be wise to get his driver licence or at least some form of ID if something is fishy.
cheers, let us know how it works out!
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Valued Member
Philippines
386 Posts |
You can never go wrong in Gold investment more particularly the gold bars you have posted. But in my own personal opinion, it is more thrilling and much exciting if you will invest Gold in form of coins. You may acquire Rare Gold coins if you want. Because through these Gold coins, you are not just waiting for high price of bullion value to sore-up in the years to come but you are also investing on a much higher demand in these Rare Gold coins in the future. As we all know the supply of these type of coins are constant while the demand rises as new set of coin collectors emerges in the future, thus the law of supply and demand is applicable. In other words, you will be hitting two birds in one stone through amassing gold coins - "rise in the value of gold while the demand on coins also rises". Not to mention the opportunity of owning such Rare Gold Coins. Goodluck in your investment  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Pandesalapi makes a fine point, as I love the "Two birds with one stone" angle....
I used to work at a pizza shop years back and would always make four cal-zones on one board and tell all the other guys " I just killed 4 birds with one stone", and they all called me "Two birds", lol....
It is just efficiency in the end, consolidation of steps someone taught me years ago....
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
Another little note,
I'd consider going with smaller bars than 50g unless you just gotta have them.... then you have more options for selling in the future
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Pillar of the Community
United States
648 Posts |
Follow up. I took the forums advice and opted NOT to deal with Craigslist. After thinking about it, I just didn't feel right. As an update, I will be attending my local coin show in TX (next weekend) where I know it's legit. I went to one last month to observe and take notes, yet I was dying to walk out with SOMETHING. Side note: This weekend, I did purchase a 1 Gram Engelhard gold bar from my local store dealer (as an appetizer) and a couple of oz's of Engelhard silver bars to add to the mix. I'm about supporting the local shops in the community. They are cool guys who are willing to help and answer my newbie questions. When giving back my change he asked me if I wanted a $2 bill or two $1 coins - funny. It's things like that which keeps me going back. But yes, I will be looking into the coin side of gold investment as well. I also appreciate the rarity of the coin & mintage itself. It's true that you kill two birds with one stone when going for the numismatic perspective as well - not just the bullion perspective. After researching gold and silver for many many months and reading through many forums, websites, monitoring ebay (creating my custom watch list)- I feel a lot more educated before ever making a single purchase. I passed on a 1 Gram Pamp Suisse the dealer had this weekend because there was no certificate. I did purchase from him the 1 Gram Engelhard signed by a certified assayer. All 1 Gram bars were the same price FYI. While some might not care, it certainly doesn't hurt from a resale perspective. Wouldn't you guys want a gold piece signed by a certified assayer? I will say buying bullion of any metal (or coin) is a test of temptation as I almost purchased the certified/signed Credit Suisse 1/4 oz Platinum bar ($478+tax). Then I remembered the sweet US Minted Liberty Platinum coins....so many options! 1 oz (or gram) gold bars are minted all the time. A 2008-W Gold Buffalo isn't minted every year. I see both sides for sure and will be diversifying my gold / silver portfolio as such. Thanks ya'll.   Edited by tripncoins
03/27/2011 7:32 pm
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
The PAMP bars are beautiful bars, and those appear to be legit. But others here have it right. His price isn't anything spectacular enough to warrant questions on your purchase.
Shop around online with reputable dealers. You can find them for roughly the same prices, and have peace of mind to boot.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
648 Posts |
I returned from the coin show today and added a 1 oz. bullion bar. There was 15 minutes left at the show and the dealer was closing up shop. He had an empty case but when I looked closer there was a PAMP Suisse bar and he said I'll give you a deal for $1470. I thought about it for 10 seconds and said "deal". My first oz of 999.9 gold! Now I'm going to spend some $ on silver tomorrow at the show....what a great day.   Edited by tripncoins
04/01/2011 7:49 pm
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Replies: 25 / Views: 15,466 |
Posted 03/17/2011 12:01 am
