Which website/place usually have the best cheapest prices deals on Gold Britannias?

[very452001]

Which website/place usually have the best cheapest prices deals on Gold Britannias?

Correct me if I'm wrong on following statements:

- Your liable for CGT Tax on all gold coins and bars except Gold Britannias?

- Your liable to pay import tax on Gold from EU exports to UK?

- The Queen and UK Government have powers to forcefully sell your gold to them for cash legal tender face value on the gold coins when there is a £GBP currency crisis like high inflation or hyper inflation?

- In times of currency crisis where online sellers no longer accept fiat currencies, how do you pay for stuff online using physical gold/silver?

- When the Queen dies soon then what will happen to all the cash notes and coins including precious metals with her head on it? Needs replacing with the new king charles?

[modofantasma]

44 minutes ago, very452001 said:

Your liable for CGT Tax on all gold coins and bars except Gold Britannias?

Not financial advice but, incorrect. 

There are other gold coins currently exempt from CGT like Sovereigns and Queens beasts etc that have a £ face value. If you look on many dealers websites they state whether a coin is free from CGT liability 

Dealers premiums, offers and stock levels vary also depends if you're buying a single coin or multiple as to which is cheapest 👍🏽 

[stackerp5]

Hi @very452001 I'm selling a bullion 1oz 2021 Gold Britannia on the forum, £1450 with free insured Special Delivery postage. Check it out!

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by stackerp5

[Martlet]

Cheapest will be Chards probably.

CGT answered above. 

You shouldnt pay import on gold to UK but seems customs and delivery companies often get this wrong and even corrected fees may have to be paid. After shipping unlikly to be cheaper. 

No such power exists today. 

You dont, cant send physical over the ether. But online sellers will always accept fiat (albeit poor exchange) and this is where crypto comes in. 

All coins and notes will be changed over through banks, as happend many times before. 

 

[chrisdobb]

Having monitored websites over the last few months my findings are that Chards are the cheapest but charge delivery on top, Atkinsons are actually the cheapest including delivery, however this will change depending on the number of coins purchased at a time.

If you are buying one or two coins at a time then in most cases Atkinsons will offer the best value.

[MJCOIN]

2 hours ago, very452001 said:

Which website/place usually have the best cheapest prices deals on Gold Britannias?

Correct me if I'm wrong on following statements:

- Your liable for CGT Tax on all gold coins and bars except Gold Britannias?

- Your liable to pay import tax on Gold from EU exports to UK?

- The Queen and UK Government have powers to forcefully sell your gold to them for cash legal tender face value on the gold coins when there is a £GBP currency crisis like high inflation or hyper inflation?

- In times of currency crisis where online sellers no longer accept fiat currencies, how do you pay for stuff online using physical gold/silver?

- When the Queen dies soon then what will happen to all the cash notes and coins including precious metals with her head on it? Needs replacing with the new king charles?

There is a page on the Silver Forum which compares prices across a number of dealers for the cheapest price.

See here - https://www.thesilverforum.com/compare/uk/ 

Also I sometimes use this site too: https://www.coincompare.co.uk/ 

Edited February 28, 2022 by MJCOIN

[LawrenceChard]

5 hours ago, very452001 said:

Which website/place usually have the best cheapest prices deals on Gold Britannias?

Correct me if I'm wrong on following statements:

- Your liable for CGT Tax on all gold coins and bars except Gold Britannias?

- Your liable to pay import tax on Gold from EU exports to UK?

- The Queen and UK Government have powers to forcefully sell your gold to them for cash legal tender face value on the gold coins when there is a £GBP currency crisis like high inflation or hyper inflation?

- In times of currency crisis where online sellers no longer accept fiat currencies, how do you pay for stuff online using physical gold/silver?

- When the Queen dies soon then what will happen to all the cash notes and coins including precious metals with her head on it? Needs replacing with the new king charles?

It sounds like you have been getting advice from very questionable sources, as all your "statements" are incorrect or unsubstantiated. 

Other TSF members have already provided anwers to most of them.

I would add that, after 1952 when King George VI died, his coins continued in circulation until 1971, and then only because we decimalised, and not because he was no longer king.

It was not only his coins which continued in circulation, but also those of George V, Edward VII, Queen Victoria, and occasionally William IV, George IV, and George III. So there is absolutely no precedent for replacing a monarch's coins when they die, not in the UK, and not anywhere else in the world, now or in the past, unless anyone knows of any exceptions, and can correct me.

Answers to most of you statements can also be found on the website of a well-known Blackpool coin and bullion dealer.

😎

[dicker]

Just remember that the CGT rule is at the whim of any government. Can be removed at the stroke of a budget.

[GoldDiggerDave]

7 minutes ago, dicker said:

Just remember that the CGT rule is at the whim of any government. Can be removed at the stroke of a budget.

Amazing this door is still open to us mere mortals.  

[LawrenceChard]

22 minutes ago, dicker said:

Just remember that the CGT rule is at the whim of any government. Can be removed at the stroke of a budget.

 

10 minutes ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

Amazing this door is still open to us mere mortals.  

But if the goverment closes it, this might put the Royal Mint our of business.

Also the CGT rule is not specifically about coins, it is about disposals of Sterling, of which British coins and banknotes are only an example.

[Darr3nG]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

a well-known Blackpool coin and bullion dealer

Honest John's Coin and Rock Shop?

[LawrenceChard]

2 minutes ago, Darr3nG said:

Honest John's Coin and Rock Shop?

The very place!

[very452001]

7 hours ago, modofantasma said:

Not financial advice but, incorrect. 

There are other gold coins currently exempt from CGT like Sovereigns and Queens beasts etc that have a £ face value. If you look on many dealers websites they state whether a coin is free from CGT liability 

Dealers premiums, offers and stock levels vary also depends if you're buying a single coin or multiple as to which is cheapest 👍🏽 

You mean any coins made in UK basically?

[very452001]

6 hours ago, Martlet said:

Cheapest will be Chards probably.

CGT answered above. 

You shouldnt pay import on gold to UK but seems customs and delivery companies often get this wrong and even corrected fees may have to be paid. After shipping unlikly to be cheaper. 

No such power exists today. 

You dont, cant send physical over the ether. But online sellers will always accept fiat (albeit poor exchange) and this is where crypto comes in. 

All coins and notes will be changed over through banks, as happend many times before. 

 

Even bullions coins need to be changed through banks?

[very452001]

5 hours ago, MJCOIN said:

There is a page on the Silver Forum which compares prices across a number of dealers for the cheapest price.

See here - https://www.thesilverforum.com/compare/uk/ 

Also I sometimes use this site too: https://www.coincompare.co.uk/ 

Great you know any dealers on that list that accepts Crypto such as Btc or $USDT or $USDC as payment? If so how do I send them crypto without expensive Ethereum gas fees? Is there a conversion fee to convert $USDT or $USDC into £GBP pounds before making the payment or is there a option on the dealers website to change currency to $ to see prices in $ that ships to UK?

[MJCOIN]

1 minute ago, very452001 said:

Great you know any dealers on that list that accepts Crypto such as Btc or $USDT or $USDC as payment? If so how do I send them crypto without expensive Ethereum gas fees? Is there a conversion fee to convert $USDT or $USDC into £GBP pounds before making the payment or is there a option on the dealers website to change currency to $ to see prices in $ that ships to UK?

No idea.  I have stayed away from crypto because I don't understand it.  I'd rather hold physical gold.

Someone else might be able to help you.

[LawrenceChard]

2 minutes ago, very452001 said:

Even bullions coins need to be changed through banks?

No, most UK banks don't even deal in bullion coins. The Royal Mint does but it is uncompetitive, closed at weekends, and even closes when things get busy.

Privately owned coin and bullion dealers make a competitive market in gold and other precious metal coins, and bullion bars.

@ChardsCoinandBullionDealer in Blackpool, which I founded, is one of the most competitive, and is also the longest continuous operated coin and bullion dealer in the UK.

You may sometimes be able to buy or sell small quantities at smaller spreads here on TSF, or at some of the smaller UK dealers, but for quantities over 1 single piece, we try to be the most competitive. We are also better resourced and more professional. Our bullion coins are guaranteed genuine. Our website and backend systems are highly secure. I cannot speak for our competitors on these last two points.

In case you were not aware, our website is here:

https://www.chards.co.uk/

I tried to gently hint at it earlier, as I try not to actively self-promote.

 

[Roy]

12 minutes ago, MJCOIN said:

Someone else might be able to help you.

I could help but I don't like the OP's line of questioning.

Not a single please or thank you in the whole thread.

Perhaps the rudest member on TSF, after myself of course.

[LawrenceChard]

1 minute ago, Roy said:

I could help but I don't like the OP's line of questioning.

Not a single please or thank you in the whole thread.

Perhaps the rudest member on TSF, after myself of course.

and Barry!😎

[Ukbullionfan]

3 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

No, most UK banks don't even deal in bullion coins. The Royal Mint does but it is uncompetitive, closed at weekends, and even closes when things get busy.

Privately owned coin and bullion dealers make a competitive market in gold and other precious metal coins, and bullion bars.

@ChardsCoinandBullionDealer in Blackpool, which I founded, is one of the most competitive, and is also the longest continuous operated coin and bullion dealer in the UK.

You may sometimes be able to buy or sell small quantities at smaller spreads here on TSF, or at some of the smaller UK dealers, but for quantities over 1 single piece, we try to be the most competitive. We are also better resourced and more professional. Our bullion coins are guaranteed genuine. Our website and backend systems are highly secure. I cannot speak for our competitors on these last two points.

In case you were not aware, our website is here:

https://www.chards.co.uk/

I tried to gently hint at it earlier, as I try not to actively self-promote.

 

Any reason why you have decided to charge postage and packaging ? Bullionbypost don’t and you are cheaper than most but when you add the cost of P&P you are either level with most or just a tad over. Any plans to scrap the P&P charge in the future ?

[LawrenceChard]

6 hours ago, Ukbullionfan said:

Any reason why you have decided to charge postage and packaging ? Bullionbypost don’t and you are cheaper than most but when you add the cost of P&P you are either level with most or just a tad over. Any plans to scrap the P&P charge in the future ?

Yes there is. In fact there is a reason for everything we do, and all our policies. We believe these are good valid reasons.

We are also highly transparent about our business, and many of the reasons we make particular decisions.

We have a blog page here:

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/free-postage/26

Which explains a lot about so-called "free-postage".

"Free postage" is propaganda, and an illusion, which unfortunately fools many gullible people into thinking that they are getting something for nothing, when in fact they are often paying more for it. If I remember correctly, I have also posted an article on TFS about it. 

However, as you asked, let me give you a little history:

Once upon a time, two cousins opened a coin shop in Dale Street, Blackpool. Amoongst other things, they (we) bought and sold gold sovereigns. Our shop was "bricks and mortar". Most of our sales were to local people, from perhaps a 20 mile radius, but people also travelled from further afield like Manchester and London to buy from us.

Most of our trade in those days was in person, over the counter, but we also offered mail order, including for gold sovereigns, almost the only gold bullion coin available or worth buying in those days. Krugerrands were not invented until 1967.

One of our old adverts in Exchange and Mart read:

Gold sovereigns £4 each, £37.10 per 10, £365 per 100, £3500 per thousand. In those days, we traded as R&L Coins, at number 10 Dale Street, Blackpool. Perversely, these prices included postage although we did not claim postage was free, partly because the advert would have cost us more.

The main reason I have related this is because we were "Bricks and Mortar", before the term was even coined It was well before the internet and "clicks". In 1998, a little late, we set up one of the first coin dealers websites 24carat.co.uk, which still exists and works, although it has started to creak slightly. We were now "Clicks and Bricks", although the term had not been invented.

Apart from a few old adverts similar the above, we used to charge postage separately on mail order transactions. With our website, our mail order business grew, but we have never abandoned our showroom base. It was the simplest and fairest method, and at least 99% of people were happy with it.

We offer free collection, which many of our competitors don't, because they don't have a showroom or shop, and don't want the extra inconvenience of people turning up on the premises, taking up staff time. Shops and stores cost money to run. Why waste money on providing this facility, when you can run a "cut-price", no frills services, where people have to buy online, pay online, and you don't need to employ knowledgeable staff to deal with customer enquiries. 

I say "cut-price", but most of our competitors charge more than we do, so I should have called it "cut-cost". 

At this point I should ask you a question:

Do you or have you ever worked out a pricing system for any business? How are you at arithmetic, maths, logic, algorithms, formulae, spreadsheets, databases, and I.T. systems?

If you can truthfully answer "yes" or "good" to the above, then you will understand that developing an automated pricing system requires a lot of knowledge, skill, and care. But I suspect you don't because otherwise you would not have asked the question.

If not, then how would you go about designing a system which would calculate prices, including quantity discounts for, for working out your retail prices for every quantity from 1 to a few thousand? Two answer spring to my mind. The first is "with great difficulty", and the second is "you wouldn't". We find it simpler, easier, quicker, and better to operate a system whereby we price the actual goods, then calculate shipping costs separately, rather working out prices including shipping. We are are quite simple people!

It is almost beyond doubt that our "free postage" competitors set their prices by looking at their cost price, adding their margin, adding postage packing and insurance, to arrive at their retail price. Then they lie to you and all their customers by telling you that their postage is free, which it is not, but you believe it because we want to believe it. In our business, we do not treat customers as suckers, prefering to treat them all as intelligent, sensible people, unless or until we discover otherwise.

Another bit of historic information:

When we set up our first website, we wanted a simple postage charge system, so we decided on (within the UK):

£2 postage at customers own risk, or £5 fully insured.

This was easy for us to implement, and easy for customers to understand

Eventually, it started to cause a problem. When someone phoned us and wanted to invest a large amount, for example £100,000 on gold coins, they were understandably unsure and concerned when we asked only £5 to post and fully insure the delivery. Sometimes, I or a staff member had to spend valuable time and energy assuring customers that our paltry charge did indeed cover full insurance. In fact, the cost to us was around 0.11% at the time, so on a £100K sale, we were subsidising the shipping cost by about £100 equivalent to about £1 per thousand, because it was easier to calculate. We possibly even lost some sales because we were not charging enough! Eventually, we learnt our lesson, and changed our shipping costs to £5 per order (later £6), plus £1 per £1000 insurance. Most of our customers were happier about this than they had been before. We have tweaked these charges to fine tune them a few times since.

If you feel you should only buy from people who offer free postage, then if you want a brand new 2022 bullion sovereign, you should buy one from Harrington & Byrne. The run a loss-leader strategy to get your name on their mailing list. Don't do it by phone, otherwise you will lose about 20 minutes of your life trying to avoid their unethical and possibly illegal "bait and switch" tactic. They then follow up by offering you lots of rip-off price items, and exclusive new issue coin offers, which most dealers don't offer so there is not much competition. If you like any of their other stuff, and can wait a few years, you should be able to buy it on the secondary market at much lower premiums, possibly half price. Their loss-leader offers are limited to one per household per year, so if you wanted to buy a second coin from them, you might be able to, but only at their higher "usual" price, and the two coins will cost you more than buying from Chard, even after postage.

You will also find that many of the bullion pages of our Chards website include a UK dealer price comparison, and this includes Chards prices with and without postage, to make comparison quick, simple, effortless for our customers, and transparent. For example:

On our 2022 Gold Sovereign Bullion Coin page

https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-sovereign-uncirculated-coin/15066 

Price Comparison Against Other UK Bullion Dealers - Updated at 01-Mar-2022 06:34

Qty	Chards (Excl Delivery)	Chards (Inc Delivery)	B*	G*	A	BB	UKB
5	£353.46	£354.86	£358.80	£358.70	OOS	£360.05	£361.25
10	£352.46	£353.26	£358.00	£358.00	OOS	£359.55	£360.52
25	£351.12	£351.56	£357.30	£356.90	OOS	£359.05	£359.98
50	£350.62	£350.96	£356.60	£355.90	OOS	£358.55	£359.43
100	£349.78	£350.07	£355.90	£355.00	OOS	£358.25	£358.71
250	£349.62	£349.96	£355.60	£354.60	OOS	£357.85	£358.35
500	£349.28	£349.57	£355.20	£354.30	OOS	£357.55	£357.98
1000	£349.11	£349.37	£354.70	£353.60	OOS	£357.55	£357.44

As far as I am aware, we are the only UK dealer to feature this price comparison. Our competitors don't want you to be able to compare easily, for obvious reasons.

I could say a lot more, but I have other stuff to do.

😎

P.S. I just realised I could have answered your question much more quickly and easily by saying:

"Yes"

😎😎

 

 

 

[Ukbullionfan]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

Yes there is. In fact there is a reason for everything we do, and all our policies. We believe these are good valid reasons.

We are also highly transparent about our business, and many of the reasons we make particular decisions.

We have a blog page here:

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/free-postage/26

Which explains a lot about so-called "free-postage".

"Free postage" is propaganda, and an illusion, which unfortunately fools many gullible people into thinking that they are getting something for nothing, when in fact they are often paying more for it. If I remember correctly, I have also posted an article on TFS about it. 

However, as you asked, let me give you a little history:

Once upon a time, two cousins opened a coin shop in Dale Street, Blackpool. Amoongst other things, they (we) bought and sold gold sovereigns. Our shop was "bricks and mortar". Most of our sales were to local people, from perhaps a 20 mile radius, but people also travelled from further afield like Manchester and London to buy from us.

Most of our trade in those days was in person, over the counter, but we also offered mail order, including for gold sovereigns, almost the only gold bullion coin available or worth buying in those days. Krugerrands were not invented until 1967.

One of our old adverts in Exchange and Mart read:

Gold sovereigns £4 each, £37.10 per 10, £365 per 100, £3500 per thousand. In those days, we traded as R&L Coins, at number 10 Dale Street, Blackpool. Perversely, these prices included postage although we did not claim postage was free, partly because the advert would have cost us more.

The main reason I have related this is because we were "Bricks and Mortar", before the term was even coined It was well before the internet and "clicks". In 1998, a little late, we set up one of the first coin dealers websites 24carat.co.uk, which still exists and works, although it has started to creak slightly. We were now "Clicks and Bricks", although the term had not been invented.

Apart from a few old adverts similar the above, we used to charge postage separately on mail order transactions. With our website, our mail order business grew, but we have never abandoned our showroom base. It was the simplest and fairest method, and at least 99% of people were happy with it.

We offer free collection, which many of our competitors don't, because they don't have a showroom or shop, and don't want the extra inconvenience of people turning up on the premises, taking up staff time. Shops and stores cost money to run. Why waste money on providing this facility, when you can run a "cut-price", no frills services, where people have to buy online, pay online, and you don't need to employ knowledgeable staff to deal with customer enquiries. 

I say "cut-price", but most of our competitors charge more than we do, so I should have called it "cut-cost". 

At this point I should ask you a question:

Do you or have you ever worked out a pricing system for any business? How are you at arithmetic, maths, logic, algorithms, formulae, spreadsheets, databases, and I.T. systems?

If you can truthfully answer "yes" or "good" to the above, then you will understand that developing an automated pricing system requires a lot of knowledge, skill, and care. But I suspect you don't because otherwise you would not have asked the question.

If not, then how would you go about designing a system which would calculate prices, including quantity discounts for, for working out your retail prices for every quantity from 1 to a few thousand? Two answer spring to my mind. The first is "with great difficulty", and the second is "you wouldn't". We find it simpler, easier, quicker, and better to operate a system whereby we price the actual goods, then calculate shipping costs separately, rather working out prices including shipping. We are are quite simple people!

It is almost beyond doubt that our "free postage" competitors set their prices by looking at their cost price, adding their margin, adding postage packing and insurance, to arrive at their retail price. Then they lie to you and all their customers by telling you that their postage is free, which it is not, but you believe it because we want to believe it. In our business, we do not treat customers as suckers, prefering to treat them all as intelligent, sensible people, unless or until we discover otherwise.

Another bit of historic information:

When we set up our first website, we wanted a simple postage charge system, so we decided on (within the UK):

£2 postage at customers own risk, or £5 fully insured.

This was easy for us to implement, and easy for customers to understand

Eventually, it started to cause a problem. When someone phoned us and wanted to invest a large amount, for example £100,000 on gold coins, they were understandably unsure and concerned when we asked only £5 to post and fully insure the delivery. Sometimes, I or a staff member had to spend valuable time and energy assuring customers that our paltry charge did indeed cover full insurance. In fact, the cost to us was around 0.11% at the time, so on a £100K sale, we were subsidising the shipping cost by about £100 equivalent to about £1 per thousand, because it was easier to calculate. We possibly even lost some sales because we were not charging enough! Eventually, we learnt our lesson, and changed our shipping costs to £5 per order (later £6), plus £1 per £1000 insurance. Most of our customers were happier about this than they had been before. We have tweaked these charges to fine tune them a few times since.

If you feel you should only buy from people who offer free postage, then if you want a brand new 2022 bullion sovereign, you should buy one from Harrington & Byrne. The run a loss-leader strategy to get your name on their mailing list. Don't do it by phone, otherwise you will lose about 20 minutes of your life trying to avoid their unethical and possibly illegal "bait and switch" tactic. They then follow up by offering you lots of rip-off price items, and exclusive new issue coin offers, which most dealers don't offer so there is not much competition. If you like any of their other stuff, and can wait a few years, you should be able to buy it on the secondary market at much lower premiums, possibly half price. Their loss-leader offers are limited to one per household per year, so if you wanted to buy a second coin from them, you might be able to, but only at their higher "usual" price, and the two coins will cost you more than buying from Chard, even after postage.

You will also find that many of the bullion pages of our Chards website include a UK dealer price comparison, and this includes Chards prices with and without postage, to make comparison quick, simple, effortless for our customers, and transparent. For example:

On our 2022 Gold Sovereign Bullion Coin page

https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-sovereign-uncirculated-coin/15066 

Price Comparison Against Other UK Bullion Dealers - Updated at 01-Mar-2022 06:34

Qty	Chards (Excl Delivery)	Chards (Inc Delivery)	B*	G*	A	BB	UKB
5	£353.46	£354.86	£358.80	£358.70	OOS	£360.05	£361.25
10	£352.46	£353.26	£358.00	£358.00	OOS	£359.55	£360.52
25	£351.12	£351.56	£357.30	£356.90	OOS	£359.05	£359.98
50	£350.62	£350.96	£356.60	£355.90	OOS	£358.55	£359.43
100	£349.78	£350.07	£355.90	£355.00	OOS	£358.25	£358.71
250	£349.62	£349.96	£355.60	£354.60	OOS	£357.85	£358.35
500	£349.28	£349.57	£355.20	£354.30	OOS	£357.55	£357.98
1000	£349.11	£349.37	£354.70	£353.60	OOS	£357.55	£357.44

As far as I am aware, we are the only UK dealer to feature this price comparison. Our competitors don't want you to be able to compare easily, for obvious reasons.

I could say a lot more, but I have other stuff to do.

😎

P.S. I just realised I could have answered your question much more quickly and easily by saying:

"Yes"

😎😎

 

 

 

That was a cute reply fella. Anyway if you didn’t charge for P&P it wouldn’t really affect your wealth would it ? You would become even more of cult hero. Let’s say you did whipe out the P&P you would still make money in the premiums.

[BullionBuyerUK]

On 28/02/2022 at 14:41, very452001 said:

Which website/place usually have the best cheapest prices deals on Gold Britannias?

Correct me if I'm wrong on following statements:

- Your liable for CGT Tax on all gold coins and bars except Gold Britannias?

- Your liable to pay import tax on Gold from EU exports to UK?

- The Queen and UK Government have powers to forcefully sell your gold to them for cash legal tender face value on the gold coins when there is a £GBP currency crisis like high inflation or hyper inflation?

- In times of currency crisis where online sellers no longer accept fiat currencies, how do you pay for stuff online using physical gold/silver?

- When the Queen dies soon then what will happen to all the cash notes and coins including precious metals with her head on it? Needs replacing with the new king charles?

I find tavex bullion to be the cheapest when it comes to bullion coins. Silver brits, maples, kangaroo's and gold brits and kangaroos are the cheapest I can find

[sjhdesmond]

Having read through this thread from the start, I could feel my IQ dropping to the point that @LawrenceChard could have said anything and I would have agreed.

[chrisdobb]

4 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

Yes there is. In fact there is a reason for everything we do, and all our policies. We believe these are good valid reasons.

We are also highly transparent about our business, and many of the reasons we make particular decisions.

We have a blog page here:

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/free-postage/26

Which explains a lot about so-called "free-postage".

"Free postage" is propaganda, and an illusion, which unfortunately fools many gullible people into thinking that they are getting something for nothing, when in fact they are often paying more for it. If I remember correctly, I have also posted an article on TFS about it. 

However, as you asked, let me give you a little history:

Once upon a time, two cousins opened a coin shop in Dale Street, Blackpool. Amoongst other things, they (we) bought and sold gold sovereigns. Our shop was "bricks and mortar". Most of our sales were to local people, from perhaps a 20 mile radius, but people also travelled from further afield like Manchester and London to buy from us.

Most of our trade in those days was in person, over the counter, but we also offered mail order, including for gold sovereigns, almost the only gold bullion coin available or worth buying in those days. Krugerrands were not invented until 1967.

One of our old adverts in Exchange and Mart read:

Gold sovereigns £4 each, £37.10 per 10, £365 per 100, £3500 per thousand. In those days, we traded as R&L Coins, at number 10 Dale Street, Blackpool. Perversely, these prices included postage although we did not claim postage was free, partly because the advert would have cost us more.

The main reason I have related this is because we were "Bricks and Mortar", before the term was even coined It was well before the internet and "clicks". In 1998, a little late, we set up one of the first coin dealers websites 24carat.co.uk, which still exists and works, although it has started to creak slightly. We were now "Clicks and Bricks", although the term had not been invented.

Apart from a few old adverts similar the above, we used to charge postage separately on mail order transactions. With our website, our mail order business grew, but we have never abandoned our showroom base. It was the simplest and fairest method, and at least 99% of people were happy with it.

We offer free collection, which many of our competitors don't, because they don't have a showroom or shop, and don't want the extra inconvenience of people turning up on the premises, taking up staff time. Shops and stores cost money to run. Why waste money on providing this facility, when you can run a "cut-price", no frills services, where people have to buy online, pay online, and you don't need to employ knowledgeable staff to deal with customer enquiries. 

I say "cut-price", but most of our competitors charge more than we do, so I should have called it "cut-cost". 

At this point I should ask you a question:

Do you or have you ever worked out a pricing system for any business? How are you at arithmetic, maths, logic, algorithms, formulae, spreadsheets, databases, and I.T. systems?

If you can truthfully answer "yes" or "good" to the above, then you will understand that developing an automated pricing system requires a lot of knowledge, skill, and care. But I suspect you don't because otherwise you would not have asked the question.

If not, then how would you go about designing a system which would calculate prices, including quantity discounts for, for working out your retail prices for every quantity from 1 to a few thousand? Two answer spring to my mind. The first is "with great difficulty", and the second is "you wouldn't". We find it simpler, easier, quicker, and better to operate a system whereby we price the actual goods, then calculate shipping costs separately, rather working out prices including shipping. We are are quite simple people!

It is almost beyond doubt that our "free postage" competitors set their prices by looking at their cost price, adding their margin, adding postage packing and insurance, to arrive at their retail price. Then they lie to you and all their customers by telling you that their postage is free, which it is not, but you believe it because we want to believe it. In our business, we do not treat customers as suckers, prefering to treat them all as intelligent, sensible people, unless or until we discover otherwise.

Another bit of historic information:

When we set up our first website, we wanted a simple postage charge system, so we decided on (within the UK):

£2 postage at customers own risk, or £5 fully insured.

This was easy for us to implement, and easy for customers to understand

Eventually, it started to cause a problem. When someone phoned us and wanted to invest a large amount, for example £100,000 on gold coins, they were understandably unsure and concerned when we asked only £5 to post and fully insure the delivery. Sometimes, I or a staff member had to spend valuable time and energy assuring customers that our paltry charge did indeed cover full insurance. In fact, the cost to us was around 0.11% at the time, so on a £100K sale, we were subsidising the shipping cost by about £100 equivalent to about £1 per thousand, because it was easier to calculate. We possibly even lost some sales because we were not charging enough! Eventually, we learnt our lesson, and changed our shipping costs to £5 per order (later £6), plus £1 per £1000 insurance. Most of our customers were happier about this than they had been before. We have tweaked these charges to fine tune them a few times since.

If you feel you should only buy from people who offer free postage, then if you want a brand new 2022 bullion sovereign, you should buy one from Harrington & Byrne. The run a loss-leader strategy to get your name on their mailing list. Don't do it by phone, otherwise you will lose about 20 minutes of your life trying to avoid their unethical and possibly illegal "bait and switch" tactic. They then follow up by offering you lots of rip-off price items, and exclusive new issue coin offers, which most dealers don't offer so there is not much competition. If you like any of their other stuff, and can wait a few years, you should be able to buy it on the secondary market at much lower premiums, possibly half price. Their loss-leader offers are limited to one per household per year, so if you wanted to buy a second coin from them, you might be able to, but only at their higher "usual" price, and the two coins will cost you more than buying from Chard, even after postage.

You will also find that many of the bullion pages of our Chards website include a UK dealer price comparison, and this includes Chards prices with and without postage, to make comparison quick, simple, effortless for our customers, and transparent. For example:

On our 2022 Gold Sovereign Bullion Coin page

https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-sovereign-uncirculated-coin/15066 

Price Comparison Against Other UK Bullion Dealers - Updated at 01-Mar-2022 06:34

Qty	Chards (Excl Delivery)	Chards (Inc Delivery)	B*	G*	A	BB	UKB
5	£353.46	£354.86	£358.80	£358.70	OOS	£360.05	£361.25
10	£352.46	£353.26	£358.00	£358.00	OOS	£359.55	£360.52
25	£351.12	£351.56	£357.30	£356.90	OOS	£359.05	£359.98
50	£350.62	£350.96	£356.60	£355.90	OOS	£358.55	£359.43
100	£349.78	£350.07	£355.90	£355.00	OOS	£358.25	£358.71
250	£349.62	£349.96	£355.60	£354.60	OOS	£357.85	£358.35
500	£349.28	£349.57	£355.20	£354.30	OOS	£357.55	£357.98
1000	£349.11	£349.37	£354.70	£353.60	OOS	£357.55	£357.44

As far as I am aware, we are the only UK dealer to feature this price comparison. Our competitors don't want you to be able to compare easily, for obvious reasons.

I could say a lot more, but I have other stuff to do.

😎

P.S. I just realised I could have answered your question much more quickly and easily by saying:

"Yes"

😎😎

 

 

 

Your post comes across to me as disingenuous; people are not stupid and are able to think things through.

How you conduct your business is of course your business and no one knows better than you how to conduct it, for your benefit.

However to the consumer rhetoric does not matter, what matters is the true cost of the item to be purchased, if that item is a known quantity the real factors are the price and the service and confidence they have in their suppliers, people know full well postage and insurance needs to be paid somehow.

I have studied the internet prices for some time, mainly for Sovereigns and Britannias, (low numbers) and I conclude you run in second place to Atkinsons in terms of price, for very low quantities.

I cannot speak for larger numbers.

I have purchased from you both and I can say Atkinson have never given me cause for concern.

My first purchase from you did however worry me, regarding the way you handled my queries and it took multiple emails for your staff to satisfy my concerns and fulfil my order.

Other orders have been satisfied with no problems.

I value your opinions and bow to your vast knowledge but do feel your insinuation that people cannot work out that postage and insurance costs money as insulting to my intelligence.