To ALL Non Paying Members. A Personal Story

[Organics]

This post is really for all non paying TSF members. However it will probably resonate with a lot of paid members too. 

***I haven't been asked to write this but it is a kind of testimonial***

When I started buying precious metals years ago it wasn't a problem, as I would buy current year silver and gold bullion, and directly from very reputable online dealers. As the years went on I started getting more interested in older coins, sovereigns to be specific. However I had very little, to no knowledge on what to look for. So as I started to do research online and TSF posts kept coming up. So one day I decided to join. It's great that you can get so much information on here and post questions without being a paid member. I learned so much just from being in the background and reading all the new threads and responses. 

So a little time later after becoming acquainted to the site, I bit the bullet and started a new topic. I can't remember what my first question was, but all I can remember that after all the responses, it saved me making a very costly purchase on a coin. I continued to stay on as a free member for a little while longer, mostly because I didn't have the time to be more active, and  then found I had to ask another question. Again loads of responses and very helpful advice from members. 

I then took a moment and thought to myself. If it wasn't for TSF, I could have lost a lot of money, and also not made purchases that I would have normally passed on. So I decided to become a silver premium member. I pay £5.99 a month (the price of a coffee and croissant in London) and off course with becoming a paid member I can buy and sell on here, but that wasn't my intention. I knew it would be very unlikely that I would buy much due to the fact that I currently live in Portugal. I did it because I wanted to support the forum, due to how members have helped me. On a side note, if you are in the UK and are interested in buying PM's (Precious Metals), then there are some amazing deals to be had on here. I cry sometimes at how cheap things are, compared to dealers, ebay and over here in Portugal. I really don't care if the owner is making a big profit or not. They are providing a safe, friendly and very helpful service, that I hope to be part of for many years to come. 

So for the sake of £5.99 a month, I would highly suggest you get your credit/debit cards out, buy a premium membership, and support TSF. It's money well spent and if you're buying PM's. you'll save that several times over when you make a purchase. 

Just my personal TSF experience. 

Peace and love to all at TSF 🙏 (God knows we need it)

Edited February 13 by Organics

[Ignorant]

However compelling your endorsement may sound, I’m reluctant to become a paying member given i reside in the EU and can’t be bothered with the hassle of purchasing overseas. The hassle of dealing with customs, having to file for tax and duties returns, the relatively long delivery periods, high shipping fees, the stress of stuff getting lost or stolen let alone having to sort things out if anything goes wrong and I need to recoup my funds or need to return stuff due to goods not being up to specs or stressing about authenticity are all hassles I can do without. I’m a collector first and a stacker second. Peace of mind is worth the extra cost to me. I’m very finicky about the stuff I buy and demand that quality is on par with the price I pay. And if not so, I simply return the stuff for an exchange or refund. Besides buying from established dealers in the EU guarantees that products are legit. I sleep good at night having no worries about counterfeits. Had I lived in the UK I would signup in a heartbeat. I enjoy this forum and the interaction with likeminded people. But all things considered I don’t see the appeal as of yet. My honest 2 cents. To each their own.

Edited February 13 by Ignorant

[Organics]

24 minutes ago, Ignorant said:

However compelling your endorsement may sound, I’m reluctant to become a paying member given i reside in the EU and can’t be bothered with the hassle of purchasing overseas. The hassle of dealing with customs, having to file for tax and duties returns, the relatively long delivery periods, high shipping fees, the stress of stuff getting lost or stolen let alone having to sort things out if anything goes wrong and I need to recoup my funds or need to return stuff due to goods not being up to specs or stressing about authenticity are all hassles I can do without. I’m a collector first and a stacker second. Peace of mind is worth the extra cost to me. I’m very finicky about the stuff I buy and demand that quality is on par with the price I pay. And if not so, I simply return the stuff for an exchange or refund. Besides buying from established dealers in the EU guarantees that products are legit. I sleep good at night having no worries about counterfeits. Had I lived in the UK I would signup in a heartbeat. I enjoy this forum and the interaction with likeminded people. But all things considered I don’t see the appeal as of yet. My honest 2 cents. To each their own.

Hey 👋, I completely understand your point of view. Like you I’m from the EU and Portugal especially has one of the worst customs authorities in the world (said the DHL Portugal agent). If you noticed in my post I did say that I knew when joining that it wasn’t about being able to buy and sell for me, for all the reasons you state. I joined the silver membership because I received a lot of great advice from members and learned a lot from reading other posts. So the crunch of what I was saying was that the buying and selling is a bonus but supporting TSF (like people do with Patreon accounts) is for me a big THUMBS UP 👍 to say thank you 🙏 

[refero]

on the same boat, but still i like to share my knowledge..😂

[dicker]

For me, TSF membership is worth every penny.  Good prices, good people and happy to support a forum that is well run without the agro and abuse that exists on other forums.

[trozau]

It is best to buy locally at the best price you can get. No anxiety and worries while waiting on international shipping. Also, you get to examine the item or pick and choose from the inventory.

With regards to sharing knowledge and information, I freely share any I’ve learned and gathered through the years. My pet peeve with TSF is limiting certain areas of discussion to paying members (not only buy & sell opportunities).

Edited February 13 by trozau

[Sovhead]

3 hours ago, dicker said:

For me, TSF membership is worth every penny.  Good prices, good people and happy to support a forum that is well run without the agro and abuse that exists on other forums.

It’s a fine run machine is TSF if a member for ages there’s trust when buying and selling…new members send it first pal suits me fine and the added bonus of first hand protection of fakes by lots of long standing members who’ve seen it done it and wore the t shirt.

Membership IS worth every penny.

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

1 hour ago, trozau said:

It is best to buy locally at the best price you can get. No anxiety and worries while waiting on international shipping. Also, you get to examine the item or pick and choose from the inventory.

With regards to sharing knowledge and information, I freely share any I’ve learned and gathered through the years. My pet peeve with TSF is limiting certain areas of discussion to paying members (not only buy & sell opportunities).

I'm going to sound like a shill but running TSF requires money. TSF charges 0% commission so they have to generate money from elsewhere. It comes from membership fees and TSF merch. I understand why you don't like paywalls, I'm not a huge fan either, but the membership is worthwhile and good value if you are using the trade section. If the USA buy/sell was as busy as the UK buy/sell, I'm sure you'd have a premium membership and think the same thing

If you saw some of the discussions that are behind the paywall you would know it's a good idea to restrict access. The paywall puts content in the deep web that would otherwise show up on search engines. I dread to think what would happen if some sections of TSF were taken out of context. From that POV the paywall helps protect members and Freedom of Speech 🤗

[trozau]

1 hour ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

I'm going to sound like a shill but running TSF requires money. TSF charges 0% commission so they have to generate money from elsewhere. It comes from membership fees and TSF merch. I understand why you don't like paywalls, I'm not a huge fan either, but the membership is worthwhile and good value if you are using the trade section. If the USA buy/sell was as busy as the UK buy/sell, I'm sure you'd have a premium membership and think the same thing

If you saw some of the discussions that are behind the paywall you would know it's a good idea to restrict access. The paywall puts content in the deep web that would otherwise show up on search engines. I dread to think what would happen if some sections of TSF were taken out of context. From that POV the paywall helps protect members and Freedom of Speech 🤗

Unable to check out Sovereign & Panda topics, but what could be sensitive in there?

[modofantasma]

21 hours ago, Organics said:

I pay £5.99 a month (the price of a coffee and croissant in London)

Sign me up for one of those 

[ChrisSilver]

5 hours ago, trozau said:

Unable to check out Sovereign & Panda topics, but what could be sensitive in there?

Those sections are within the Premium Members Club, these were created from member's requests. You are welcome to discuss Sovereigns and Panda coins in the General Precious Metals, Gold, and Silver sections of the forum which are open to all members including FREE standard members. And there are indeed many many topics about such coins in those sections of the forum.

There is still a cost for TSF to provide a platform for FREE standard members, if you do not want to pay you do not need to  

Also as mentioned above TSF receive no % commission from sales, out of the multiple millions of £ that is exchanged hands each year. We think that the way TSF has ran and will continue to run is very fair for all. But if you have any suggestions or concerns you are welcome to private message me: 
 

Quote

5.4.4. Any members with genuine concerns or comments about how to improve TSF should send a private message to @ChrisSilver 


 

[dicker]

The trading section is very good for me personally. Lots of liquidity.  But it’s only 50pct of why I pay.

A well run ad free forum that is maintained and doesn’t look like something from 1995 is not that common.

And mean spirited comments on the whole don’t exist here.  

[GoldDiggerDave]

@Organics This forum is worth every single penny of the full membership.  It's cheaper than eBay charges on 1 gold coin. 

I'm please to say I have met 15-20 people in person over the years,  this is a very self policing site where everyone looks after everyone else.   

Ultimately this forum is like anything in life you get out what you put in.  

 

 

 

[Organics]

4 minutes ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

@Organics This forum is worth every single penny of the full membership.  It's cheaper than eBay charges on 1 gold coin. 

I'm please to say I have met 15-20 people in person over the years,  this is a very self policing site where everyone looks after everyone else.   

Ultimately this forum is like anything in life you get out what you put in.  

 

 

 

It sounds like you think I don’t agree with you 🤔 

[stackerp5]

Beautiful words and sentiment from all in here

When I first joined I never thought I'd buy a gold membership because you don't really NEED one as long as you pay for silver. However, as mentioned in the comments above, it's one of the ways to show appreciation for what we have here, what Chris and the mods and all other moving bits have built. There is so much work done in the background, and having a safe, technologically updated, and almost family-like community is worth every penny. When I joined the forum and bought my silver membership, I always thought to myself I'd always stick to it. Here I am, Gold membership, considering an upgrade to Platinum (hopefully soon ). Thank you all and thank you Organics for bringing this up  

[Organics]

5 hours ago, stackerp5 said:

Beautiful words and sentiment from all in here

When I first joined I never thought I'd buy a gold membership because you don't really NEED one as long as you pay for silver. However, as mentioned in the comments above, it's one of the ways to show appreciation for what we have here, what Chris and the mods and all other moving bits have built. There is so much work done in the background, and having a safe, technologically updated, and almost family-like community is worth every penny. When I joined the forum and bought my silver membership, I always thought to myself I'd always stick to it. Here I am, Gold membership, considering an upgrade to Platinum (hopefully soon ). Thank you all and thank you Organics for bringing this up  

Thank you for sharing your personal journey on TSF 🙏 

[nunoelias]

On 13/02/2024 at 09:27, Organics said:

This post is really for all non paying TSF members. However it will probably resonate with a lot of paid members too. 

***I haven't been asked to write this but it is a kind of testimonial***

When I started buying precious metals years ago it wasn't a problem, as I would buy current year silver and gold bullion, and directly from very reputable online dealers. As the years went on I started getting more interested in older coins, sovereigns to be specific. However I had very little, to no knowledge on what to look for. So as I started to do research online and TSF posts kept coming up. So one day I decided to join. It's great that you can get so much information on here and post questions without being a paid member. I learned so much just from being in the background and reading all the new threads and responses. 

So a little time later after becoming acquainted to the site, I bit the bullet and started a new topic. I can't remember what my first question was, but all I can remember that after all the responses, it saved me making a very costly purchase on a coin. I continued to stay on as a free member for a little while longer, mostly because I didn't have the time to be more active, and  then found I had to ask another question. Again loads of responses and very helpful advice from members. 

I then took a moment and thought to myself. If it wasn't for TSF, I could have lost a lot of money, and also not made purchases that I would have normally passed on. So I decided to become a silver premium member. I pay £5.99 a month (the price of a coffee and croissant in London) and off course with becoming a paid member I can buy and sell on here, but that wasn't my intention. I knew it would be very unlikely that I would buy much due to the fact that I currently live in Portugal. I did it because I wanted to support the forum, due to how members have helped me. On a side note, if you are in the UK and are interested in buying PM's (Precious Metals), then there are some amazing deals to be had on here. I cry sometimes at how cheap things are, compared to dealers, ebay and over here in Portugal. I really don't care if the owner is making a big profit or not. They are providing a safe, friendly and very helpful service, that I hope to be part of for many years to come. 

So for the sake of £5.99 a month, I would highly suggest you get your credit/debit cards out, buy a premium membership, and support TSF. It's money well spent and if you're buying PM's. you'll save that several times over when you make a purchase. 

Just my personal TSF experience. 

Peace and love to all at TSF 🙏 (God knows we need it)

My reaction to read such an awesome post from a fellow Portuguese!!!    

Although I never bought anything from TSF, I totally agree with you. I am not so often logging in this Forum but every single time I needed answers, there was always someone around to help. 

Grande Abraço e um bom fim de semana! 

[Organics]

38 minutes ago, nunoelias said:

My reaction to read such an awesome post from a fellow Portuguese!!!    

Although I never bought anything from TSF, I totally agree with you. I am not so often logging in this Forum but every single time I needed answers, there was always someone around to help. 

Grande Abraço e um bom fim de semana! 

Boa Tarde 👋. Great to hear from you 👍. If you’re anywhere near Lisbon then we should meet up for a coffee and pastel 😉. 

[nunoelias]

1 hour ago, Organics said:

Boa Tarde 👋. Great to hear from you 👍. If you’re anywhere near Lisbon then we should meet up for a coffee and pastel 😉. 

I am currently living in Germany but I will let you know when I fly back to Lisbon!    Cheers!!

[Organics]

4 minutes ago, nunoelias said:

I am currently living in Germany but I will let you know when I fly back to Lisbon!    Cheers!!

🙏🙏🙏