Umicore poor quality

[LawrenceChard]

5 minutes ago, SilverJacks said:

Sorry. That was a cryptic clue referring to the dealer(s) as described on the Chards price comparison. If you can decrypt the competitors acronyms, you will know who is offering the referral scheme, FYI, BTW

Ah! I little too cryptic for me at this time of night, especially as I have not fully recovered from a few days driving from Bavaria.

Thanks.

... And I notice they don't tell you the % premium, which would make it too easy for intelligent customers.

Clever marketing, giving stuff "free", to get new customers on their mailing lists. I don't like it though, as I think it is very cynical.

"Sign your best friends up to us, and get a free reward (bribe) for recommending them to us even though we are not the best value or deal". Who would do this to their friends? Most people apparently!

😎

[Happypanda88]

2 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

Clever marketing, giving stuff "free", to get new customers on their mailing lists

 

I personally don't mind being on a dealers mailing list provided they post useful information like new releases that I am interested in or special offers.

For example, my local dealer in a land far far away is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.  There were special deals on offer every other month. Some of them didn't interest me like buy a tube of 25 silver bullion coins and pay for 24 or collectable proofs at X% off. 

I did take up a couple of offers. One of them was a tube of 25 silver Krugerrands and pay spot price. The other was buy a 1oz gold Britannia coin and receive a gift of a RM 1g gold bar Happy Birthday edition.  In case you're is interested to know the premium of the Britannia - it was 4.4%. With the free gift, it makes the Britannia very near spot price. 

[Happypanda88]

22 minutes ago, Happypanda88 said:

 

Not sure how I managed to reply to myself ! 😊🙄 

PS. I might as well use this space to clarify that the dealer offers were limited to 1 order per household (with the same address). So you can get your friends to order for you !  😬 

PPS. all PMs are tax free here !

Edited August 25, 2022 by Happypanda88

[LawrenceChard]

7 hours ago, Happypanda88 said:

Not sure how I managed to reply to myself ! 😊🙄 

PS. I might as well use this space to clarify that the dealer offers were limited to 1 order per household (with the same address). So you can get your friends to order for you !  😬 

PPS. all PMs are tax free here !

When you talk to yourself, at least you get sensible answers!

😎

[MonkeysUncle]

12 hours ago, SilverJacks said:

 

@AllThingsShiny, It may not have interested you much, but if you had paid a higher price for a Pamp bar, you'd have had a perfect ingot. I've always found them to be top quality, and they have the Veriscan feature too..

As I understand it (from a nice chap at a large bullion dealer in Birmingham) the scanny/ checky thing is basically bollocks. 

His advice, mirroring Mr Chards, was to buy secondary market bars unsealed from a reputable source.

There are vending machines in Arab lands that vend small packaged gold bars just like the ones that vend snacks here. I would reckon a Mars bar at the motorway services is not fake, but wouldn't trust a middle eastern vending machine as far as I could chuck it.

Literally millions of fake little packaged gold bars all over the Internet. Unless you have the fancy analysis kits that bullion dealers use you would likely not have a clue as to whether it's gold or plate gold. Heck, you'd have to take it out the packaging which defeats the object of buying a packaged bar.  Do the environment and your wealth a favour and avoid this particular form of sh![£×÷@&*+

[Britannia47]

5 gram pre-owned 'Umicore'  gold bars are shown as "awaiting stock" @ £279. Will they send this piece of bullion by post as soon as they are restocked I wonder!!!!?

[GoldDiggerDave]

Sovereigns all day mate!!!!  @Darr3nG I am going to get this printed on a pair of my Y-fonts! 

[Darr3nG]

3 minutes ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

Sovereigns all day mate!!!!  @Darr3nG I am going to get this printed on a pair of my Y-fonts! 

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

As I understand it (from a nice chap at a large bullion dealer in Birmingham) the scanny/ checky thing is basically bollocks. 

His advice, mirroring Mr Chards, was to buy secondary market bars unsealed from a reputable source.

There are vending machines in Arab lands that vend small packaged gold bars just like the ones that vend snacks here. I would reckon a Mars bar at the motorway services is not fake, but wouldn't trust a middle eastern vending machine as far as I could chuck it.

Literally millions of fake little packaged gold bars all over the Internet. Unless you have the fancy analysis kits that bullion dealers use you would likely not have a clue as to whether it's gold or plate gold. Heck, you'd have to take it out the packaging which defeats the object of buying a packaged bar.  Do the environment and your wealth a favour and avoid this particular form of sh![£×÷@&*+

Don't be concerned about the Arab vending machines, as they are almost certainly made in China.

So that's alright!

😎

[SilverJacks]

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

As I understand it (from a nice chap at a large bullion dealer in Birmingham) the scanny/ checky thing is basically bollocks. 

His advice, mirroring Mr Chards, was to buy secondary market bars unsealed from a reputable source.

There are vending machines in Arab lands that vend small packaged gold bars just like the ones that vend snacks here. I would reckon a Mars bar at the motorway services is not fake, but wouldn't trust a middle eastern vending machine as far as I could chuck it.

Literally millions of fake little packaged gold bars all over the Internet. Unless you have the fancy analysis kits that bullion dealers use you would likely not have a clue as to whether it's gold or plate gold. Heck, you'd have to take it out the packaging which defeats the object of buying a packaged bar.  Do the environment and your wealth a favour and avoid this particular form of sh![£×÷@&*+

I have always wondered how reliable Veriscan actually is. I cautiously assume that it is quite reliable and although I haven't heard of a case of it being successfully faked, I wouldn't dispute your point about its lack of relevance. That said, a pointless gimmick or otherwise, I'd rather have it than not, at least for the desirability of potential buyers when I sell them on. 

I'm sure many people would agree with you to purchase the best value available in regards to cheapest per gram, in which case you probably wouldn't be looking at bars at all. If one is to purchase on that basis then they're basically buying common sovereigns, 1oz coins and such. For me, I don't quite see things that way. For example, if I wanted a 1/10 coin, or a 5g bar etc, they command a premium that I would expect to get back as long as I can make a private sale. My only concern is any drastic change to the future marketplace preventing us from selling privately, but that's another subject.

Pamp have always had that prestige to their name, their products are minted to higher quality than other recognisable brands. They not only command a higher premium, but are typically an easier sale, particularly compared to loose bars. Nothing to do with authenticity, personally, I would happily choose Pamp over others, but that's just my opinion which I don't mean to give as advice. I do acknowledge the point made by you and other good dealers to buy the best value possible. I often wonder whether to move all my premium possessions on, and simply stack weight. But then I decide against it and continue paying more for products I perceive to be "better" in some way or other..