bluffer

Ouch. That is nasty! Why did you buy it? Just for weight, for the coin to look at? You need to realise even (old) bullion will have dents, dings etc. best value will be a level below that. I think you might be onto plums as they are best value, not even bullion. But you can always ask, as if you dont ask you dont get...

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since you mention it... but one pence, two pence, 5 pence etc makes more sense to me

i know. its been annoying me that long 🤣

i think its not an immediate hit, but will grow on me. for some reason it looks almost like the australian coins. the one penny does annoy me though when everything else is pence.

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have you downloaded an app called coinoscope. its pretty good for identifying coins, its not foolproof but it would be a start. other apps of course are available.

costco UK also sell gold bars and coins in the warehouses. they are usually cheaper than coin shops but can be more than online dealers. the thing is they dont do live pricing on the shop floor and maybe change the price once a day so sometimes they are behind the curve both going up and down. just checked there and nothing onlien in the uk that i can see for coins or bars.

an enhanced 5% cashback from topcashback at the moment. remember to use your cashback sites whilst remembering not to use the credit card that stings you for cash advances fees as bullion is cash. 🤨

playing devils advocate, we have just left a period when new designs were being flung at us left right center up down and almost every angle on the compass almost weekly, the change from QE2 to C111, the memorial, the jubilee, the coronation, the cypher, bullion gold, bullion silver, bullion platinum, cuni proofs, circulating commemoratives, as well as the other regular releases. To be honest I think we and RM deserve a respite to allow space. Next year maybe is the time for more new stuff. But then how often do they change it, every year, every two. five....? The quality issues i will be "generous" and say "some" has been down to the quantity of releases. Milk spotting - no excuses there. If other mints can do it, so should the oldest in the world and most prestigious. ( according to their web site )

silver one is a nice basket filler to get your over a free postage / gift limit. but maybe also a nice gift at that price for youngsters as well to introduce them to coins.

not so sure. is it actually plated or just gold painted cuni?? only 90% binlord but tbh, if i can buy something at £2 and sell for £20. thats not a bad business. wonder if HMRC know??? strangely enough stumbled across a you tube video about world postage which explains why china can export at almost no cost as its being subsidised by us and the us etc as its a "developing country". i cant find it but when i tried to i found this from 2018 and its still ongoing https://www.ft.com/content/3af8bfb8-ad3a-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c Retailers in the UK say they are struggling with unfair competition from Chinese online sellers who benefit from subsidised postal costs. Domestic vendors say it can be cheaper to send a small item to London from Shenzhen than from Sheffield, partly thanks to international rules. UK postal operators such as Royal Mail are reimbursed by the operator in the country of origin some of the cost of processing and delivering letters and small packets under 2kg from overseas after they arrive on UK shores. However, countries classed as “developing” — such as China — are charged significantly less for the service than industrialised nations under a system called “terminal dues”. Donald Trump has demanded reforms to the system, claiming it undermines American business. The US president has threatened unilateral action unless the rates are increased to end market distortions. Nick Glynne, founder of Buy It Direct, which sells appliances, electrical equipment and furniture, described the situation as “outrageous”. “Royal Mail is subsiding Chinese resellers. People have no idea the scale of what is happening. It is cheaper to get something direct from China than for us to deliver it from the UK,” he said. Two million items a week from Asia About 2m items are thought to arrive in the UK each week from Asia. An army of small-scale Chinese traders on websites such as Wish, Amazon Marketplace and Ebay buy stock direct from wholesalers and then dispatch electrical goods, cosmetics and other lightweight items in bubble-wrap envelopes, which are transported by air freight to the UK, often within days. The Financial Times purchased a Samsung phone charger on Ebay from a UK seller for £3.19 with free postage. It arrived in a week from China and contained Samsung branding and CE marking. The same model costs £19.99 from Carphone Warehouse, although that product also includes a USB cable. The FT also bought a tube of eyelash glue on Amazon for 58p. It arrived after 10 days, post-free, from an address in Laos. I have always tried to steer clear of stuff they [Chinese online sellers] can do. You cannot compete with subsidised products Nick Whitehead, Xbite “It is unfair and it needs to stop,” said Steve Oliver, cofounder of Music Magpie, a vendor of second-hand CDs, DVDs and mobile phones. Royal Mail said the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN agency, sets limits on the rates that China pays for postage once it reaches the UK. The UK operator has a separate bilateral deal with China but declined to give details on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. “The agreement ensures we are paid adequately for our services,” the company added. Royal Mail also declined to disclose how much international mail it handles. Its annual report for 2017-18 stated that the top three countries for cross-border purchases into the UK were China, the US and Germany. Cheap imports hitting UK high street The availability of cheap imports has hit high street retailers in the UK as well as online merchants. Maplin, the chain that went into administration in February, sold small electrical components available direct from China. It attempted to move to higher value items but could not adapt quickly enough. Zeif Hussain, of PwC, one of Maplin’s administrators, said UK retailers were facing unprecedented pressure from rising costs and international competition. “Overseas sellers have a lower cost base and some products are loss leaders to attract shoppers,” he said. UPU guidelines endorse the principle that each country should be compensated by the sending country for the delivery of inbound packets and documents at a rate of about 70 per cent of the domestic postage, with varying levels of discounts for developing economies. However, many operators give each other much larger discounts, according to Jim Campbell, a US consultant and lawyer. Recommended Peter Navarro Global postal rates give Chinese companies an unfair advantage OPA LOCKA, FL - DECEMBER 04: U.S. Postal service mail handlers Stephen Johnson and Melonyee Ross (R) sort packages at the U.S. Postal service's Royal Palm Processing and Distribution Center on December 4, 2017 in Opa Locka, Florida. The U.S. Postal Service is projecting more than 850 million packages will be sent during the busy holiday shopping and gift giving season. More than 6 million packages are expected to be delivered each of the five Sundays before Christmas in select major markets. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) “The reality is that industrialised countries are charging substantially less than 70 per cent of the domestic postage [price] for the delivery of inbound small packets,” said Mr Campbell. Legacy national postal groups offered discounts to protect their position in the ecommerce delivery market against competitors, he added. The system is undergoing reform. In 2016, the UPU agreed new rates that specifically increased costs for small packets from China and other middle-income countries, such as Turkey and Russia, with an ultimate goal of applying the same terms to all nations by 2021. An extraordinary congress of the UPU this week is discussing the issue, along with a number of others. Mr Campbell said the new uniform rates would still offer a substantial discount to overseas sellers. “The UPU is now significantly increasing the rates that China pays for postage,” said Royal Mail. “China will pay similar rates to major European posts by 2021.” ‘You cannot compete with subsidised products’ Many small UK retailers and online sellers believe more needs to be done. Nick Whitehead is the managing director of Xbite, an online retailer in Chesterfield founded in 2004, which today employs 90 people. He said he had suffered from the “crazy” system and had to switch to more expensive products to survive. “I have always tried to steer clear of stuff they [Chinese online sellers] can do,” added Mr Whitehead. “You cannot compete with subsidised products.” Mr Whitehead said it was not just cheap delivery that threatened the UK retail trade. Sellers can under-declare the value of products to avoid VAT, charged only on packages worth more than £15, and they may not have performed full British safety checks. Some retailers also fear that Chinese sellers could route goods through nearby countries that might continue to benefit from favourable postage rates during the transition period to higher rates. The UPU declined to comment before the congress finished on September 7.

til the chinese start knocking them out at 49p inc postage. 😱 But seriously, nice idea and just on those working samples, the slate ones look better. Would be interested to see them once you trial and error to perfect production. could do a full RM series - royal beasts, monarchs, myths and legends.................. 🤣

not really. it wont be posted until 2026.

released months ago https://www.royalmint.com/annual-sets/2023/

limited edition NFTs. I mean, nothing could possibly go wrong. 😱 Could it?

didnt think they let crims out of oz? chards obviously keeping up standards and saw you coming 🤣

i started buying proof sets a couple of years ago but didnt this year, just because it wasnt the "full" set. so glad I didnt seeing so many posts like these.

as paul mentioned above - depends where you are talking about. heres my tuppence worldwide guess Silver Eagle Maple Panda ( only cause of the chinese ) Brit Kangaroo Generic Rounds may come into the top five if you add them all together but thats cheating! Also Libertads may sneak in as the yanks may buy a lot of them Uk Brit Maple Roo Silver Eagle Krug

best transfer bonus is £200 to rbs/nat west then £175 for first direct. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/#switch

and they are making that money back and probably more in other ways. there is no hit on the overall bottom line. as soon as it hits the bottom line, they pull it. where did all the 5% cashbacks go if it doesnt hit the bottom line?

they have been sustaining it by charging more for other services to you and others. banking is not a charity, it has to come from somewhere.

we should start a spreadsheet 🤣 and make it a sticky. @ChrisSilver worth a sticky?

This. I have a Tesco card like the OP. Confusingly RM is split, so buying something out the shop or booking the tour isnt classed as cash. neither is buying circulating coins and sets. but bullion is. BPP, Bleyer, Britannia Coin Company arent charged as cash either by Tesco and no fees. I think Silver Trader is the same but its over a year ago so not 100%

the only drawback with a spreadsheet is that you cant help but see the overall total of what you have spent 😱