BullionByPost Review

Bullion By Post Review

Disclaimer: Some or all of the companies reported here may provide compensation to us, at no cost to our readers. This is how we keep our reporting free for readers. Compensation and detailed analysis are what determines how companies appear below.

In the ever-changing landscape of precious metals, choosing a reliable and trustworthy dealer is essential.

Enter BullionByPost, the UK’s leading online bullion dealer, offering an ideal mix of convenience, security, and competitive pricing.

Whether you’re an experienced investor or a newcomer exploring the world of gold and silver, this detailed review will provide everything you need to know about BullionByPost.

From their wide range of products and customer service to their pricing and delivery options, discover why BullionByPost has earned an excellent reputation in the precious metals industry.

Read on to see if this could be your go-to destination for precious metal investments.

Before we get started, investing your savings is a serious task. When it comes to adding precious metals to your portfolio, how do you know which companies to trust?

That is why we have researched every company in the industry and selected the very few with the highest customer service standards.

This way you can easily compare the best companies in the business, and choose one that fits your needs and investment goals.

Read the list to see if BullionByPost passed our strict customer service standards to become one of our top recommendations.

Or

Get a FREE Gold Information Kit from our #1 recommendation, by clicking the button below:

Protect Your Savings - Tax and Penalty Free!

About BullionByPost

The plan was to be a no-frills operation that bought low, sold high, and displayed great integrity. Bullion by Post has since diversified and now does business in the United States through a subsidiary company.
bullion-by-post-logo

Even though the company only sells British mint sets when it comes to the coins in its inventory, it's still a popular company in the United States because of the combination of forthright honesty and good deals. 

BullionByPost-website

Bullion by Post maintains a lively discussion board on its website, and customers can keep abreast of market changes and trends as well as participate in discussions with both the company and other customers.

The company makes things easy on its website. First, you can simply decide how much of which metal you want to buy. After paying for it, Bullion by Post will ship it to you or to a depository of your choice.

Why Precious Metals?

Precious metals are stable. They don't experience wild swings in prices day after day. Short-term gains are either tiny or nonexistent. Over the long haul, they provide small-but-steady growth. For example, gold traded at about $175 per troy ounce in 1980.

As of May 17, 2023, gold is trading at $1,982.19 per troy ounce, or $1,588.03 pounds sterling. So, someone who bought 1,000 troy ounces of gold in 1980 is now a millionaire without lifting a finger.

Still, it's never a good idea to "put all of your eggs in one basket." Generally, having 5%-10% of your portfolio in precious metals is enough to hedge against inflation.

The reason it's best to have just that amount is that precious metals don't give you income the way other investments can.

BullionByPost Review - Precious Metals - Gold Bar

Stocks, for example, pay dividends over time. The old adage, "You can have two sides of the investment triangle but not all three," is true in both cases. With precious metals, you have incredible stability and modest growth. You don't get income.

With stocks, you have growth and income but little relative safety and stability. It is true, however, that some stocks are similar to gold and other precious metals by being more secure than others.

An example of this would be exchange-traded funds of shares of gold-related companies or mutual funds that include precious metal futures.

Pension Schemes

In the United Kingdom, retirement accounts are called pension schemes. The two most common of these are the small, self-administered pension scheme, or SSAS, and the self-invested personal pension, or SIPP.

His Majesty's Royal Customs is the British version of the Internal Revenue Service. The HMRC sets all policies regarding either of the two most common pension schemes.

The basic difference between the two is that the SIPP is for individual investors while the SSAS is run by a group of up to 11 trustees on behalf of the investors therein.

Those investors could be any or all of the 11 trustees or, in certain cases, other folks besides. If you're unsure about anything regarding an SSAS, then it would be wise to consult an attorney.

Unlike American IRAs into which you will put physical assets, which require a custodian to handle all of the business, a British SIPP allows you to do the transactions yourself. You won't own the gold, however. Instead, the SIPP company will actually own it on your behalf.

You just get to tell them what to do. The way that a SIPP resembles an American IRA is that you have to have the gold stored somewhere other than your home. You are allowed to own any precious metal at home, though, if you don't put it into a pension scheme.

The laws regarding these pension schemes are stricter than American laws. For example, your only option for storing a precious metal in a pension scheme is to store gold because silver, palladium, and platinum are disallowed.

When you put gold into either of these pension schemes, the cost of maintaining the secure storage is 1% of the amount invested plus any value-added tax.

Special Rules for SIPPs

In the United Kingdom, it's permissible to own shares of precious metals bullion as well as full bars. These could weigh a gram or two all the way up to 400 troy ounces.

Based upon the performance of gold over the last two years, and depending on the price of gold at the time, a 400-ounce bar of gold could cost anywhere between 600,000 and 800,000 pounds, which equates to $750,000 to $1,000,000 in United States currency.

In addition to the aforementioned 1% charge for storing the precious metals, there might be additional administration fees. Depending on your personal situation, there might also be minimum requirements and maximum allowable amounts regarding the gold that you buy.

Special rules for SSASes

Small, self-administered pension schemes are complicated. Because they consist of a group of people who operate as a trust, there are rules about how to make decisions and who gets to make those decisions.

There are also rules about when you can retire, how much you can take out of the SSAS at once, how much you can use to generate income, and the like. Finally, there are also rules about how to transfer pension funds to and from other pension schemes.

Most of the time, an SSAS will be involved not only with the 11 trustees but also with one or more employers of those 11 trustees, so it pays to ask questions beforehand.

American Self-Directed IRAs

In the United States, it's allowed to have metals other than gold in your IRAs. In the British pension scheme system, you're not allowed to have precious-metal coins in your SIPP or SSAS because the British coins are not of the right purity level.

The American mints produce bullion coins of the proper purity level, which is 99.5% for gold, 99.9% for silver, and 99.95% for palladium and platinum.

The coins that you can have in your American self-directed IRA cannot be collectible coins that were, at one time, in circulation. Proof sets of coins with the right purity level are allowed.

The reason for this is that collectible coins don't hold their value forever. Certain coins that were quite expensive at one time might be worth only half what they once were. As an example, an 1881 Morgan Dollar from the New Orleans mint, bearing the mint mark "O," in very-fine condition is worth $56 today.

In 1983, the same coin was worth about $300. A proof-like example of the same coin in mint-state-67 condition would be worth $75,000 today, but that's not a guaranteed value.

The value of collectible coins is in their rarity and their demand from numismatists. The value of the coins allowed to be kept in a self-directed IRA is in the actual metals from which they're fashioned.

In any event, once you've chosen the metals you wish to purchase to put into your self-directed IRA, you have to have a custodian buy the items for you and ship them to the depository where you're required to keep them.

While you're allowed to own precious metals at home, those metals cannot be put into a self-directed IRA. Also, you must remember that any gold that you put into one of these retirement accounts must be purchased new for that purpose. You can't put any precious metals that you already own into this kind of account.

You're not allowed to access anything that you put into a self-directed IRA until you turn 59.5 years old. If you do, then you have to pay taxes on what to take out as if it were income even if you don't spend it. Once you reach 72 years of age, however, you have to start making periodic withdrawals. This applies to both versions of standard IRAs.

Bullion by Post and American IRAs

While Bullion by Post can't set up your American IRA for you, you can buy the gold you want to put into your American IRA from Bullion by Post. Thereafter, all you need to do is to have your custodian do the necessary paperwork and perform the transactions for you.

Remember, you won't ever take possession of the gold when you do this. Bullion by Post will send the precious metals you buy to the custodian, who will then contact the depository where you're going to store them to arrange shipment thereto.

Bullion by Post also sells the coins that are allowable in American IRAs for its American clients. You can get these coins in any of the allowable precious metals too.

Gold In Various Forms

Certain coins that the company sells are, however, not allowed in American self-directed IRAs. These include coins like the South African Krugerrand, so customers should be absolutely sure of what they're buying before closing their purchases.

American investors who buy precious metals from Bullion by Post will have to pay their sales taxes separately because British entities aren't able to collect the applicable American sales taxes at the time of purchase.

Also, you have to pay the applicable sales taxes before taking possession of your precious metals. United States Customs will keep your precious metals until you do.

Digigold

In the United States, there are exchange-traded funds in which investors can buy shares in companies associated with the gold trade. These include gold mines, gold-trading companies, and the like.

It's not physical gold or other precious metals, and while ETFs don't give the stability of precious-metal prices, their advantage is that they provide income possibilities.

Digital gold, or Digigold, is a fairly new version of the same concept. Instead of shares in gold-related companies, Digigold allows investors to buy infinitesimal amounts of the material. A gram of gold is currently worth about $60, but with Digigold, you can buy even less than that.

Unlike ETFs, Digigold is actually backed by the metal it represents even if the amount of the gold is too small to keep in physical form. Bullion by Post does not offer Digigold, but the Royal Mint does.

So, if you want to add it to your portfolio in addition to the physical gold you get from Bullion by Post, then that is a viable option.

Returns and Buybacks

Ever since the passage of the Financial Services Regulations of 2004, customers do not have the right to cancel orders for precious metals. Read that again.

Under the terms of the regulations, what you have the right to do is pay a fee for the termination of the contract into which you enter when you buy precious metals from a British company.

The reason for this is the fluid nature of the price of precious metals. Yes, even though precious metals are not nearly as volatile as other kinds of investing, they still change 24 hours a day.

Bullion by Gold does have a cancellation policy. They charge a fee for the termination of the contract between you and them. In addition to the termination fee, you will be responsible for any change downward in the price of the precious metals you bought since the date of purchase.

Additionally, if the price of the applicable precious metals goes up, you will not get the difference back. The company is quite explicit in its terms and conditions, so you should read them thoroughly, and if any points remain unclear, then contact Bullion by Post for further clarification. Should you prefer, then you can also contact an attorney.

Buying back your precious metals is not the same as canceling an existing order before delivery. Generally, the company will buy precious metals back at 97% of the spot price of the applicable precious metal.

They do this instead of paying the full price and charging a separate fee. Bullion by Post will also buy precious metals that you bought elsewhere at the same 97%-of-the-spot-price rate.

There are also additional terms and conditions with these buybacks, and it's also a very smart idea to read and understand them before asking the company to buy your gold. As with anything regarding the complexities of trading in precious metals, if you don't know, then ask.

Online Reviews

More than 2,500 people have reviewed Bullion by Post on Trustpilot. Of those reviews, fully 93% are five stars, which is quite astounding in a field where thousands, if not millions, of dollars, change hands "across the pond."

On the popular British online review website eKomi, more than 98% of the more than 23,000 reviews indicate a positive opinion of Bullion by Post.

BullionByPost Review - Trustpilot

Those positive reviews led to eKomi awarding the company its Gold Seal of Approval. As a British company, Bullion by Post does not have a listing with the Better Business Bureau.

Most of these positive reviews compliment the company on its customer service, interesting website, and follow-through. The few negative reviews mention problems with shipping and with the fees associated with canceling an order.

The reviews about canceling the order can be discounted, however, because the terms and conditions are clear about both the applicable laws and regulations and the fees and responsibilities, or lack thereof, of both parties. It cannot be stressed enough that you should familiarize yourself with these policies before "signing on the dotted line."

Conclusion

A recommendation of Bullion by Post is complex. For Americans, there are undoubtedly easier choices for creating self-directed IRAs into which precious metals can be invested. Buying from an American company avoids some of the costs associated with customs on international shipments.

Still, Bullion by Post has such a glowing reputation that it's hard to ignore them for all of your precious-metal needs. It truly is remarkable that more than 90% of reviewers on two websites heartily recommend the company. That's more than 25,000 reviews.

In a milieu where some companies barely have any reviews online at all, many of those being negative reviews, having that level of positive interaction is commendable.

For folks in the United Kingdom, there really isn't a better choice. The laws there are different than in the United States or in the European Union, but Bullion by Post provides accurate information regarding transactions in all applicable countries.

So, this reviewer recommends Bullion by Gold but with a caveat for Americans: Go into the transaction being fully informed. No one knows everything, so if you're not sure, then, by all means, ask the appropriate questions. For British subjects, Bullion by Post is possibly an acceptable choice.

Remember to read out list of the Top Gold Companies to see if BullionByPost made the cut.

>> Click HERE to read our Best Precious Metals Investment Companies list <<

Or, if you like what you read about BullionByPost, you can visit their website below.

Scroll to Top