Avoid Common Gold Mistakes

• Paying too much for the wrong Gold
• Cheap Gold dealers are a big problem later
• Disasters when others store your Gold
• Selling your Gold to the wrong people

Read this before it is too late:

Caveat Emptor - The Latin phrase "let the buyer beware" is important when making any purchases on the Internet. It's critical to having a good experience when buying gold, silver, or precious metals safely. Keep in mind, there is no government agency that licenses "gold dealers," so be sure you are dealing with a well-established company. 

A Matter of Trust - A great way to identify the most trusted gold dealers is to look for the Better Business Bureau logo. Only if you click and verify the BBB information can you be sure of getting an accurate report. Other association logos provide safety and security status. Verisign tells you the site is secure, you should not worry about losing personal information on a "Secure Verisign" website. 

The PCGS and NGC logos reflect the status of a firm's integrity among their peers in the rare coin industry. The ICTA logo is an indication of membership in the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. 

Avoid Problem Gold Dealers - A quick, easy way to avoid problem companies is to do a search on Google.com. Type in the name of a company and look for words like– complaints, reviews, and fraud. Then check out what their customers are saying. The cheapest and poorest run companies will have listings like– DO NOT TRUST, THEY LIED THREE TIMES, BEWARE OF THE SCAM. Few companies have no complaints, but customers who are screaming about a firm are an excellent source of who to avoid.

Cheap is No Bargain - Gold bullion coins are typically sold on razor-thin margins. It's a wholesale business that moves gold between the US Mint and World Mint distributors directly to gold investors. No dealer can afford to heavily discount or be substantially cheaper than another dealer. You should be just as concerned about someone that is too cheap, as well as a firm that charges 10, 20, or 30% too much. The cheap guy on auction sites may be delivering fake gold coins or never ship to you at all. Both business types are not being run to industry standards. Neither are likely to be around years from now when you want to sell your gold quickly and easily.

Beware of Fake "Rare Coins" - One of the biggest rip-offs are being perpetrated by firms who take brand new, US Mint gold coins and silver dollars, put them in nice holders, double the price, and sell them to unsuspecting investors. Attorney Generals warn repeatedly about the T.V. ads these firms operate. One of the best ways to identify them is by their fake official sounding names often with US in the name, Reserve, or trying to sound like they are part of big stock broker firm. Our advice: If you see an ad running on TV for a product you want, call us and we will sell it to you at a fair price or tell you why you should avoid this coin completely.

Never Sell Your Gold to Strangers - The biggest rip-offs are again the guys on TV who have thousands of complaints. Avoid "We Buy Gold" signs, jewelry stores, or pawn shops when selling your gold coins, silver dollars, or rare coins. Austin Rare Coins & Bullion has a team of buyers available to purchase coins that are NGC or PCGS certified. We buy gold coins, gold bullion, and silver coins paying top prices we'll above industry averages and sometimes at twice what a "We Buy Gold" store would pay. To find out what we buy go to our We Buy Gold, Silver, & Rare Coins Page.

Our Experience Pays Off for You - We offer these opinions from the perspective of the President of Austin Rare Coins, Inc.  As a firm that was incorporated in 1989, we have shipped hundreds of millions of dollars worth of precious metals. Remember... we have NO OUTSTANDING COMPLAINTS with the Better Business Bureau.