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Investing in precious metals has surged in popularity, capturing the attention of news outlets and dominating commercial airtime.
Many individuals choose to incorporate precious metals into their retirement portfolios, such as IRAs, while others convert their cash into gold to safeguard against inflation or economic downturns.
As the trend of precious metal investments grows, the spotlight increasingly shines on reputable sellers.
One prominent name in this sphere is Gold Avenue, a global leader in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium sales.
So, who is Gold Avenue? What products do they offer? What benefits do they provide to buyers?
This review offers a comprehensive examination of Gold Avenue, its leadership team, and its range of precious metals products.
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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 Gold Avenue passed our strict customer service standards to become one of our top recommendations.
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Prospective customers can learn how to set up a Gold Avenue account and how to buy/sell precious metals in record time. First, a quick look at Gold Avenue’s online reputation as a precious metals retailer.
Who is Gold Avenue?
Gold Avenue is the online precious metals retailer for the MKS PAMP GROUP. It rebranded and relaunched itself as Gold Avenue circa 2017/2018. MKS is a precious metals trader based in Geneva, Switzerland.
An associate of the London Bullion Market Association (LMBA), PAMP is one of the MKS PAMP GROUP’s subsidiaries. In the past, PAMP has appeared on the LMBA’s Gold List, an all but universally respected indicator of quality in the financial services industry.
MKS dates back to 1979, while PAMP to 1977 (founded in Ticino, Switzerland). ‘MKS’ refers to Mahmoud Kassem Shakarchi, the MKS founder. The PAMP brand is an acronym for Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux. MKS PAMP GROUP’s other two companies (as of this writing) include Manfra, Tordella, and Brookes (MTB) and the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC-PAMP).
MTB is a leading U.S.-based precious metals distributor. They operate a COMEX/NYMEX depository. MMTC-PAMP is a joint venture between PAMP and the Indian government. It is India’s single-largest bullion trader to date. It’s also India’s first/only LMBA “Good Delivery” refinery.
MKS, the parent company, is the original precious metals trading entity. The PAMP brand is MKS’ collection of world-renowned refineries and fabricators. MTB works with distribution and storage. Gold Avenue is the online storefront where consumers can buy, sell or trade precious metals from PAMP and other brands/mints.
The Gold Avenue Leadership Team
Alessandro Soldati
Soldati serves as the CEO of Gold Avenue. He joined the fintech company in 2017, boasting an impressive leadership and mentoring resume.
He is a serial entrepreneur with several other successful companies under his belt. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of HEC Lausanne.
Omar Liess
Liess is Gold Avenue’s Chairman of the Board. A French major, he has a degree in International Business from the European Business School in London. He has a long, fruitful relationship with the MKS PAMP GROUP, having served as an internal controller that helped reposition and strengthen the group’s digital strategies.
Mr. Liess also serves on the board of Pandion Mine Finance, an MKS PAMP GROUP partner that provides financing to mining companies. As chairman, his many responsibilities include business development and marketing.
Board Members
Gold Avenue maintains an eclectic, seasoned board consisting of three to four members. In addition to Mr. Liess, Hans Isler, and Cyril de Bavier also serve on the Gold Avenue board. Mr. Isler brings unique experience to the table, drawing on a decade with the Board of Directors at Ernst and Young.
Mr. de Bavier, a fellow graduate of the University of HEC Lausanne, is a successful serial entrepreneur, founding and serving as a managing partner of Swissroc Capital Holdings SA. Spread across multiple structured subsidiaries, the fast-growing company focuses on residential and commercial Swiss real estate.
The educational, professional, and entrepreneurial energy of Gold Avenue’s team gives this company a major advantage. Lead team members with successful businesses bring their entrepreneurial innovation, thought, and creativity to the equation.
Combined with PAMP’s unrivaled track record and the brand’s worldwide respect, Gold Avenue is instantly a strong, trusted, competitive online marketplace.
Seasoned individuals comprise the remainder of the Gold Avenue team. They include business professionals with backgrounds in finance, investing, logistics, and precious metals. The team is 15 to 20 individuals strong at any given time, consisting of an onboarding manager, a customer service manager, and customer service reps.
The MKS PAMP GROUP’s overall employee count is about 700+. The group has two refineries, an assortment of mints, and about 15 offices internationally. Gold Avenue discloses this info in a helpful sidebar on their Trustpilot page.
What do the online reviews of Gold Avenue say? This review examines the results of several aggregate consumer watchdog review websites and trusted online review sites. Take a look.
Gold Avenue: Ratings and Complaints
Gold Avenue enjoys a solid rating of 4.7 to 5.0 stars on Trustpilot. This reflects the average number of stars given by roughly 1,600+ reviewers. The number of reviewers continues to grow, which can affect exact star ratings.
Upwards of 80% of the Gold Avenue reviews on Trustpilot are positive. Reviewers praise the company’s easy setup, its smooth sales/payment process, and its prompt delivery. Other reviewers rave about the company’s product variety, its customer service, and its discreet packaging.
Gold Avenue is not accredited through the Better Business Bureau and has no BBB rating (as of this moment). However, their reputation derives tremendous strength from their parent company, the MKS PAMP GROUP. The group has 60+ successful years in precious metals, and its PAMP bars are globally recognized, sought after, bought/sold, and traded.
What Precious Metals Does Gold Avenue Sell?
Gold Avenue sells gold, silver, platinum, and silver bars and coins. Their selection of bars includes both minted and cast. Cast bars emerge from a basic mold. They undergo basic stamping or engraving before being sold, usually without special protective packaging.
Minted bars have the polished and intricate designs of officially minted coins. They come in special packaging meant to preserve and showcase the bar’s appearance. Owing to the appearance of minted bars, they can sometimes have more perceived value than cast bars of the same weight and purity value.
Search criteria on the Gold Avenue website allow buyers to narrow search results by bar size and price. Availability changes daily, but in general, minted and cast gold bars range in weight from 3.11 grams (a 10th of an ounce) to 100 grams. Search results always indicate top sellers and new items of interest to buyers.
Carbon Neutral Gold
Gold and silver purity values of products sold on Gold Avenue are 999.9% and 999.0%, respectively. The iconic PAMP Suisse Lady Fortuna gold bar, the PAMP Suisse Lunar Rabbit gold bar, and the PAMP Suisse Romanesque Cross are but a few gems for sale.
The Gold Avenue coin inventory contains gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins. Platinum and palladium coins aren’t always available to purchase.
The inventory consists primarily of popular collectible gold and silver coins and those that are IRA-eligible: the American Gold Eagle coin, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin, and the Austrian Gold Philharmonic coin, for example. Gold Avenue sells MKS PAMP GROUP carbon-neutral gold as well.
Items labeled carbon neutral indicate products and related value chains that meet international standards for annual reductions in C02 emissions. Companies must counter the effects of outstanding emissions with high-impact environmental endeavors called ‘carbon offsets.’
How to Open a Gold Avenue Account
Customers can open a Gold Avenue account in four simple steps. Click ‘Open an Account’ on any page of the website. Enter a name, DOB, email, and a password. Once opened, purchases can be made immediately.
Gold Avenue imposes an up-front purchase limit of 15,000 Swiss francs. Customers can use Gold Avenue Pay, a credit card, or a wire transfer.
Since they’re based in Switzerland, Gold Avenue accepts DGLD, American dollars, Swiss francs, euros, and British pounds.
Customers have the option of completing a Know Your Customer verification to raise the purchase maximum per transaction. After selecting products, customers have three business days to remit the funds stated on the purchase confirmation.
Gold Avenue Storage Solutions
Purchasers have the option of receiving precious metals shipped securely and discreetly to their homes. They can also store their Gold Avenue purchases in a secure, third-party facility. A worldwide leader in the precious metals industry, MKS PAMP GROUP boasts some of the most secure storage for precious metals.
Their storage facilities are based in Switzerland. The first three months of storage are free to store precious metals with a value of $100,000+. Storage is free forever if stored metals have a total value of $11,000 or less. Bars and coins having a value greater than $100,000 incur an annual fee based on the value of the stored precious metals. Storage insurance is free.
VAT-Free Products and Zero Commission
Purchasing products in Switzerland incurs a value-added tax (VAT). Gold Avenue avoids this pitfall by passing on VAT-free savings to consumers. VAT-free products must remain in storage to remain VAT-free. As a result, customers can’t have VAT-free precious metals products delivered to their homes.
Fortunately, even VAT-free precious metals are easy to sell through Gold Avenue. Gold Avenue supports secure, online sales of stored precious metals 24/7. Plus, there is a zero buyback commission fee.
Are Gold Avenue’s Products IRA-Eligible?
Gold Avenue sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins and bars that are IRA-eligible. However, the company isn’t set up to offer customers precious metals IRAs, and they don’t maintain relationships with IRS-approved trustees, custodians, and storage facilities.
To locate Gold Avenue’s IRA-eligible precious metals, consumers must do their due diligence. All precious metals IRAs must have an IRS-approved custodian and storage facility. Storing an IRA’s precious metal assets outside of an IRS-approved facility counts as a distribution, a taxable withdrawal that comes with penalties.
What consumers can do is lock in low prices on high-quality coins and bars purchased through Gold Avenue. Gold Avenue allows account holders to sell at any time. The proceeds from such sales can then be applied toward the purchase of IRA-eligible gold that can be stored in an IRS-approved depository.
Tracking a Gold Avenue Account
Tracking the ongoing health of a Gold Avenue account is easy. Each Gold Avenue account comes with its virtual wallet. The wallet allows customers to buy/sell and track their Gold Avenue account.
The account also gives Gold Avenue clients a place to tweak their profile settings and critical info, like a purchasing limit. Gold Avenue customers can also check order history and storage fees paid.
The Verdict on Gold Avenue
Gold Avenue is the online retail marketplace and reseller for the MKS PAMP GROUP. The MKS PAMP GROUP includes refineries in Switzerland currently responsible for collectively producing 80% of the entire world’s gold. Gold Avenue sources products directly from MKS PAMP GROUP, selling fully allocated precious metals retained outside of the Swiss banking system.
MKS PAMP GROUP has more than 60 years of experience to its credit. They have a wide selection of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars and coins. Their diverse stock covers a wide range of types: VAT-free silver, carbon-neutral gold, cast and minted.
They offer several secure storage options at Switzerland-based vaults. Storage is fully insured and free forever if stored precious metals don’t exceed an amount of about $11,000. Account holders are welcome to sell stored precious metals back to Gold Avenue, commission-free.
It’s regrettable that despite their illustrious, established parent company (MKS PAMP GROUP) Gold Avenue isn’t BBB-accredited. They have no Google reviews and no ratings from TrustLink or the Business Consumer Alliance.
However, their website is highly informative and easy to navigate. Prospective customers have access to a blog, precious metals guides, tutorial videos, and investment news. Customers also enjoy the benefit of extremely flexible, trend-forward purchasing and selling.
For example, their website’s Savings Assistant curates customer selections based on simple input data: type of metal and budget. Their Auto-Savings feature automates the process of making purchases for set amounts at designated intervals.
Live charts posted on the Gold Avenue website help customers make investment decisions based on the most up-to-date prices and market movement.
Remember to read out list of the Top Gold Companies to see if Gold Avenue made the cut.
>> Click HERE to read our Best Precious Metals Investment Companies list <<
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